Metabolic Syndrome and Intestinal Bacteria

Intestinal bacteria may play role in obesity, metabolic syndrome.
The AP (3/4) reports, "Germs in the gut may help drive appetite, says new research into the link between obesity and bacteria." The scientific community has previously "shown that overweight people and normal-weight people harbor different types and amounts of microbes that naturally live in the intestine." Researchers at Emory University wanted to know why.
So, they contacted the Cornell University team who published an earlier study showing that thin mice would gain an exorbitant amount of weight after feeding on gut bacteria from pudgier rodents, according to Reuters (3/5, Fox). After the team limited caloric intake and administered antibiotic therapy, the mice lost weight, but they remained insulin-resistant. Lead investigator Andrew Gewirtz told Reuters, "What we think is that the mice are prone to intestinal inflammation." He added, "If you have a lot of inflammatory signals about, insulin won't work properly."
In other words, "excess caloric consumption is not only a result of undisciplined eating, but that intestinal bacteria contribute to changes in appetite and metabolism," HealthDay (3/4, Preidt) reported. Gewirtz also "said the findings from mice suggest 'that it's possible to inherit metabolic syndrome through the environment, rather than genetically."