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Blame on excess pounds Intestinal bacteria control our satiety
Whether overeating, lack of exercise or eating disorders: Obesity can have many causes and many factors in the development work together. Again and again, the importance of the intestinal flora in the center of interest. Now, French researchers report that intestinal bacteria may indeed be closely related to obesity. Because these would send certain signals to the brain and thereby control satiety.
Satisfied feeling may not be determined by yourself
"Am I still hungry or already full?" So far it was assumed that this question can only be answered by our subjective feeling. But that could be quite different under certain circumstances. Researchers from the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) in Rouen, France have now shown that satiety may be controlled by certain intestinal bacteria. Accordingly, experiments have shown that the intestinal Escherichia coli bacteria about 20 minutes after the start of the meal began to produce other proteins than before in the "hungry" stage, the scientists report to Jonathan Breton in the journal "Cell Metabolism".
Intestinal bacteria control hunger. Image: ALDECAstudio - fotolia "Saturated proteins" activate appetite-regulating neurons in the brain
The team determined the different proteins and administered the proteins produced in the "full" state to laboratory rats and mice. It turned out that the animals then ate less food - regardless of whether they were hungry or already full. In a further investigation, the researchers realized that the "satiated" proteins in contrast to the "starvation proteins" influence the release of a particular satiety hormone, they also activate appetite-regulating neurons in the brain.
On the basis of these results, the scientists put forward an interesting thesis: Accordingly, it would be useful for the maintenance of the bacterial population in the intestine, if the bacteria could "communicate" with us as their "host" about whether they are hungry and therefore need new nutrients. Therefore, the timing and quantity of food we eat could be far less an autonomous decision than we thought so far, the researchers say.
Data could currently be "over-interpreted"
But the results of the French are also met with skepticism. "These are interesting experiments," said Michael Blaut from the German Institute for Human Nutrition (DifE) in conversation with the news agency "dpa". "But I think the data is currently over-interpreted," he adds. Therefore, it is unclear, whereby the observed effects were actually triggered, "on the whole this is not yet brought together well enough." Nevertheless, thanks to the current state of research, the connection between intestinal bacteria and obesity can be analyzed more and more concretely. "New molecular biology methods finally allow us to study the specific bacterial colonies in our body in detail," says Professor Stephan Bischoff from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart. Not an easy task, because it is estimated that the intestine is colonized by about 1000 different bacterial species.
Each person can be assigned to one of three different gut types
As early as 2011, an international team of researchers came to the conclusion that the intestinal flora of each human being can essentially be assigned to three different intestinal types. Accordingly, the type of intestine on the individual food utilization and thus also on the risk of obesity and obesity decide. As Professor Stephan Bischoff explains, obese people would have more so-called "firmicutes bacteria" in their intestines, which in the truest sense of the word could have "serious" consequences. Because these bacteria can convert all food constituents into energy, resulting in e.g. from fiber become usable calories. "Too much food is punished twice," says Bischoff. For the body receives too much energy on the one hand, at the same time the utilization of food would be optimized by the high proportion of Firmicutes bacteria. As a result, the excess energy is stored as a fat reserve, which is noticeable in increasing body weight on the scale.
Even if the microflora of one living thing is introduced into the intestinal tract of another, the individual information and functions would be preserved, explains Professor Philip Rosenstiel from the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel. The expert, together with other researchers, had conducted a study in mice in which enzyme deficiency led to significant health consequences: "In these animals, the immune system is weakened, the microflora in the gut is altered, and they are more prone to inflammation," says Rosenstiel opposite the "dpa". But even after the researchers had transplanted the animals excrements of healthy laboratory mice, also showed signs of inflammation.
Studies provide a bright spot for obesity treatment
Despite the skepticism about the latest research by French scientists, all of these studies could provide a "gain in knowledge" and "open up a new playground for therapeutic concepts," adds Bischoff. Because possibly could be taken in the future on the diet or drugs more targeted influence on the intestinal flora. Accordingly, the results are "a ray of hope, for example in the matter of obesity treatment" despite necessary further research and development. (No)