Easy to lose weight thanks to intestinal flora With this diet, you become healthy and slim

Study: Low calorie diet promotes good health thanks to intestinal flora

The intestinal flora and its effects on the immune system provide for a low-calorie diet for a healthier general condition and for increased life expectancy. These are the results of an international research team that conducted extensive nutrition studies in mice. The researchers also discovered agents that play the body a low-calorie diet. These could be used to treat overweight and obesity.

A low calorie diet prolongs the life of mice and leads to better overall health. Supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), international researchers have found the cause of this effect, in which intestinal bacteria and their influence on the immune system play a central role. In addition, scientists identified new drugs that could be used to treat obesity. The study results were recently published in the renowned journal "Cell Metabolism".

That a low-calorie diet contributes to weight loss is well known. What is new is the recognition that the intestinal bacteria play a crucial role and that they can be consciously influenced in order to benefit from positive health aspects. (Image: M.Studio/fotolia.com)

Less is more

A calorie reduction of up to 40 percent resulted in numerous positive effects in mice, such as lower blood sugar levels, faster fat burning and longer life expectancy. According to the results of the study, a 30-day low-calorie diet has already led to the many health benefits. Among other things, the rodents added an increased mass of beige fat. This type of adipose tissue is involved in faster fat burning and contributes to accelerated weight loss.

Numerous health benefits

"The immune system clearly not only combats infections, but also plays a key role in metabolic regulation," reports study leader Professor Mirko Trajkovski from the University of Geneva in a press release on the study results. Not only would the mice have more fat and less weight, they would also respond better to insulin. Your liver would process sugar and fat in a healthier way, and the rodents could endure even colder temperatures better.

New drugs against obesity

In further tests, the team examined mice that had no intestinal flora, as they grew up under sterile conditions. These sterile rodents received microorganisms from the cecum of mice on a low-calorie diet. As a result, more beige fat was formed in the sterile mice and they became slimmer. They benefited from the microorganisms without having built them themselves through a low calorie diet.

How do microorganisms affect fat burning??

In microbial community analyzes, the research team recognized that the intestinal flora of low-calorie mice produced less toxic lipopolysaccharides (LPS). These are components of the outer membrane of bacteria that are released during decay and can have a toxic effect. The researchers found that almost all health benefits were lost as soon as the LPS concentration in the blood returned to normal levels.

Normal food and benefit from a low calorie diet?

In further experiments, the scientists tested two drugs in mice. One reduced the production of toxic LPS by the bacteria, the other drug blocked the specific signaling receptor TLR4 (Toll-like Receptor 4), which is responsible for the detection of LPS signals. In this way, the research team was able to simulate a low-calorie diet with all the positive aspects, although the mice did not eat low calorie.

Coming soon the pill for obesity?

"One day, it could be possible to treat obese people with a drug that simulates a calorie restriction," Trajkovski sums up the research findings. His team is currently researching specific changes in bacterial communities and testing other compounds that inhibit LPS production and signal transduction. It can still take some time until there is actually a drug for obesity. For example, sufferers can resort to a low-energy normal-saturation diet that promotes weight loss. (Vb)