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Medicine Earth Science Technology

Microbiome Changes Drive the Dieting Yo-Yo Effect, Study Finds (smh.com.au) 256

wheelbarrio writes: We've known for a long time that diet-induced weight loss is rarely permanent but until now what has been a frustration for dieters has also been largely a mystery to scientists. A paper published today in the prestigious journal Nature presents good evidence that your gut microbiome may be to blame. Studying mice fed cycles of high-fat and normal diets, the authors found that the particular bacterial population that thrives in the high-fat regime persists in the gut even once the mice have returned to normal weight and normal metabolic function after a dieting cycle. This leaves them more susceptible to weight gain than control mice who were never overweight, when both populations are exposed to a cycle of high-fat diet. The details are fascinating, including the suggestion that dietary flavonoid supplementation might mitigate the effect. My guess is that this may end up being one of the most cited papers of the year, if not the decade.
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Microbiome Changes Drive the Dieting Yo-Yo Effect, Study Finds

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  • My guess is that this may end up being one of the most cited papers of the year, if not the decade.

    Not if the food processing industry has anything to say about it.

    • Actually, the food processing industry might like this paper:

      "See, it's not the unhealthy crap we sell, it's the gut biome of the people eating our crap to blame"

  • by bankman ( 136859 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2016 @04:27AM (#53383267) Homepage

    This might explain why some recipients of FMT for treatment of C. diff. and CU have seen weight gain without changing their diets.

  • The typical concept of a "diet" (as in, temporarily changing how/what/how much you eat) is the problem here ... if you eat "a" and are fat, then eat "b" for a while to lose weight, and once you do go back to eating "a", why would you expect anything else than regaining the weight? People need to stop the concept of a diet, and instead change the way and what they eat ... there are enough studies and science around food to show that meats, sugars, fat, processed foods etc are the cause for overweight and obe

  • A lot of people do sports in a serious and committed manner but only a small % of them make it big. All those millions of other extremely fit people with the right microbiome will be great donors for health enhancing poop transplants.

    I can't wait for people to be discussing their transplants in the same enthusiastic manner that bodybuilders talk about their supplements.

    • Eat Michael Phelps Poo!

      Now you too can lose weight, eat Michael Phelps poo and you too can lose up to 100lbs in 5 weeks; don't believe us, watch these amazing testamonials:

      "I used to eat Michael Jordan's Poop and it helped a little but after switching to Phelps poo I dropped two dress sizes".

      Call now for your free sample of feces.

  • by Kokuyo ( 549451 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2016 @08:22AM (#53384043) Journal

    I'm a bit late to the party and please note that this observation is based on a sample size of one, so take that with a spoonful of salt, however:

    I've tried a few things to lose weight and I'm now below 90kg. I started at 116kg about 6 or 7 years ago. I first lost 23kg by changing my diet to less carbohydrates and more veggies and salad (where I previously ate none). I was out of a job at that time.

    This diet was assisted by a doctor and I was forbidden from doing much sports.

    After I got a job and relaxed on my diet regime, I gained another 10kg. I stayed at around 103 kg for quite a bit. Perhaps a year ago, I started chewing my food better and thus ate much less food. I lost weight to the point of weighing about 96kg.

    Then came another tough time with the kids and I tried keeping spirits up with carbohydrates, so I remained at 96 for another while.

    In last two or three months I went down to 88.8. Again by just eating less.

    During the last three years, I had a brutal bout of ulcerative colitis and spent two weeks in the hospital with a blocked colon where I couldn't keep down any food for about ten days.

    I weighed about 82 kg when I left the hospital but due to my lack of strength, just about all the weight lost was muscle mass, not fat. I was back on my normal weight a few weeks later.

    Now my theory is this: Even though I never wanted to believe it, eating less calories than you actually burn during the day plain does work. There are two caveats though:

    Without actually measuring your level of activity and your muscle mass it is a bit hard to define what your daily needs actually are.
    And second, and much more important, if you suffer from depression and stress, you are much, much more likely to have to wage a HUGE internal battle with yourself to actually keep to your diet. And when you almost inevitably fail to adhere to your diet on an especially hard day, you're WAY more likely to think yourself a failure and eat too much the next day as well or even give up on the diet altogether.

    And since you already failed, in your mind, you'll fall back on the carbohydrates to boost your mental stability again.

    I believe, much like with every addiction, that this is primarily a mental issue. Which makes it all the harder to overcome. It's not easy being in a mentally stable state when your overweight contributes to your depression.

    • Gut bacteria make a huge difference and they adapt to your diet. There are companies working on transplants, so far it's pretty much consuming excrement... It's the only treatment for some diseases, notably some antibiotic resistant ones. Gut bacteria will change what you consume depending on what they consume and they can change how full you feel based on what they give off (gases...).

      Antibiotics kill a lot of gut bacteria so they probably have an impact on weight gain and weight loss. They almost c

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