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

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.

Comments

Re:eating less

[bankman]

You're missing the point. This is about explaining why the same amount of food (or energy) intake affects people differently. Research into metabolic syndrome has shown that there is no simple relation: eat less -> lose weight -> get healthy. Once you know what influences weight gain or loss, given a certain amount of food intake you can adjust for other parameters.

Re:Whatever

[sjames]

So, what you're saying is that if they would just defy an inbuilt biological drive more powerful than reproduction and just below breathing for the rest of their existence without a single slip-up, they'd be fine?

Did you know we actually breath more than necessary? Try this. Inhale slowly and deliberately. But just half as deeply as normal. Now exhale. Continue like that for the next 24 hours. Ideally, you should feel just the slightest bit woozy. I'm going to say the woozy feeling will pass because people who give unsolicited advice like to say things like that, but really, it won't. Be careful not to let your attention wander, you wouldn't want to have a slip-up! People will call you horrible names relentlessly if you slip up!

Now hop to it you worthless slovenly spineless air-hog! My aesthetic sense must be appeased!

Re:eating less

[AmiMoJo]

Never trust science reporting. Here's a better source, the summary of the paper that was linked to:

Here, we identify an intestinal microbiome signature that persists after successful dieting of obese mice, which contributes to faster weight regain and metabolic aberrations upon re-exposure to obesity-promoting conditions and transmits the accelerated weight regain phenotype upon inter-animal transfer.

In other words, once a mouse has this microbiome signature they are more susceptible to obesity, i.e. it is harder for people who were once obese to remain at normal weight than for someone who was never obese.

Other studies have shown that once people become obese and start dieting their bodies go into a kind of starvation mode, where they need to keep calorie consumption down below normal levels to maintain their weight. In fact for people who were obese (not just overweight) it can be so bad that the number of calories they need to take in can be below the level at which normal western food can supply enough nutrition.

Of course this can be offset by doing a lot of exercise, but realistically people can't go for a long run every day or spend an hour on the exercise bike, especially as they get older and are probably already dealing with damaged joints from being too heavy.

So if we can find a way to reset that, perhaps by transferring the microbiome from one person to another, we can help people recover and stay at a healthy weight. I imagine it will be more effective than just berating them for being weak minded, at any rate.