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

[jellomizer]

Most of the this is simple crap is done by fat shamers who want to feel like they are a better person due to the lack of excess fat.
I have lost 50lbs and kept it off for over 3 years myself but it is hard, very hard to do. It was akin to getting my masters degree while working full time hard.
If you eat less you feel more hungry then when you get some food you will over eat.
When you start to exercise you get sore and hungry making you want to just sit and eat.
If you substitute your diet you are often not getting the nutrients you need causing you to feel out of sorts.
It isn't will power to not eat from the candy bowl, but to fight your most primal instinct for a long period. It takes a lot of hard work planning to do it. Any small factor could derail you at any time catching an illness, changing jobs, birth or death in the family.
Diet science has been pathetic because so much of us fall on the simple plan. With Diet food companies sell their plastic food as diet, where they are designed to fit this simple plan and cause us to fail.

Re: eating less

[meburke]

Yeah, it is not simple thermodynamics. The complexity of the interactions in the body is overwhelmingly mind-boggling.

Interestingly enough, more and more researchers are buying into the lower-carb side of the diet controversy. And it seems that if you lower the amount of carbohydrates in your diet, you probably have to increase your fat intake to get enough energy to prevent starvation responses. And a gut that is adapted to burning fat for energy is significantly different from a gut that burns sugars. And so on....

However, the report of a single study doesn't provide a prescription for health. Some time ago there was good discussion about creating a comprehensive science database to compare outcomes of different research. This database would report on both successful and unsuccessful experiments and research, which could possibly cut down on instances of "fads" by identifying what works, what doesn't work, and what hasn't been tested yet.

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.