In support of the above, recent studies have shown that:

(a) ‘Germ free’ lean mice that are raised in sterile conditions with no resident gut microbes take on the microbiomic structure of obese ‘conventional’ mice if living in the same cage

(b) Injecting gut micro-flora from obese mice into lean mice can make the latter fat, suggesting that the gut microbiome can change the fate of food in the diet

(c) Injecting the ground faeces of healthy humans into the gut of people with gut problems (Chrone’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome etc.) can improve these conditions, presumably by changing the gut microbiome.

Your gut therefore, could be more than just meets the eye – and that’s just the inside of it.

 

This article first appeared as a feature article in Professor Trim’s Waistlines Issue No. 28, 2012.