While there’s now lots of evidence showing weight is strongly tied to gut bacteria, the research into just exactly how that works is still pouring in. One new study has found that the wrong sort of bacteria can change how your gastrointestinal tract perceives where you are in your circadian rhythm, and can really mess up your metabolism, leading to weight gain!
First, how do gut bacteria work? Eating a good diet low in sugar and high in fresh food leads to better quality gut bacteria while eating junk food leads to few and low-quality gut bacteria. Does that mean it’s a chicken and the egg problem, and bacteria are just a sign and symptom, a mechanism by which diet influences weight? I mean, you have to eat healthy to have good bacteria to not gain weight, so what’s so special?
Mice who are kept in a sterile environment and have no gut bacteria don’t gain nearly as much weight as normal mice when fed the stereotypical American diet. Bacteria are really telling your body how to deal with the food you eat, and then once you have certain bacteria cultivated, make things more efficient, which isn’t always good (like making fat absorption more efficient).
This brings us to the latest study. Part of your circadian rhythm is recognizing a time to eat and to rest. Some bacteria can mess with that, turning on the eat and absorb mechanism at the wrong time, and causing more calorie uptake, leading to weight gain,
The trick with stomach bacteria is that it can take a year or so to make changes and reset things. That means focusing on supporting good bacteria with a healthy diet, and a little extra support from a probiotic supplement like Flora MGR. A probiotic supplement helps add to good bacteria colonies, which is especially helpful when illness, antibiotics, and other events knock them out.
Share your thoughts in the comments:
