Human Microbiome - A Solution to Obesity?
Obesity
has been a huge problem in the world we live in today. It is one of the top
leading risks of deaths in the world, causing cardiovascular diseases, cancer,
and multiple disorders. It can also cause diabetes. A solution to reducing or
even resolving obesity is critical. Adjusting bacteria in our microbiome might
be that solution.
Researchers
have recently discovered that a drug targeting intestinal bacteria in the guts
of mice could potentially be applied to humans, and therefore lead to new
treatments for obesity and diabetes. The researchers first fed a high-fat diet
to mice. They then fed half of those mice tempol, an antioxidant drug. After
three weeks, the researchers found that the mice that received tempol were much
less obese than those that did not receive it. They concluded that somehow this
drug affected the microbiome of the mice. The tempol apparently reduces some
members of a bacteria known as Lactobacillus
in the guts of the mice. This affects the bile acids in the intestinal tract,
and somehow aids in controlling weight gain. Researchers are still unsure about
why the drug, tempol, controls weight gain the way it does. They hope that with
this new discovery, they can come up with several treatments for diabetes and
obesity in humans.
Now,
researchers need to test the treatments and its effectiveness somehow to check
for any potential side effects, including cancer. Since this discovery is
relatively new, there are still a lot of unknowns. If applied to humans dealing
with obesity, will tempol really control weight gain, or simply make us loose
weight easier? If the bacteria in the human microbiome were to be tweaked in a
way that controlled our weight, what other changes in our intestines might come
up? Could this affect our way of living, and bring up other health problems? The
unknown of this new discovery is concerning. Messing with the microbes in our
gut in order to control weight gain might seem harmless but in doing so we could
trigger the unexpected. Therefore, researchers need to handle this new
discovery carefully, and make sure they are clear on any side effects it might
have before introducing it to the public.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130924113452.htm
Ana, this study seems like it has potential but it seems like it could be harmful. I agree that obesity is a huge unhealthy problem but does not seem like it can be easily treaded with a drug. The human microbiome is a new field of study and needs to be appreciated. We take our tiny microbes for granted, we do not even know what half of them do for us. I would hate to see the drug temporal altering our gut microbiome in a negative way. If it will help obesity with no other harmful side effects than it should be implemented. I fear that if we alter our gut microbiome without knowing the full extent of the drug we might be putting our health in worse shape. This discovery will need to be studied further and tested for any harmful side effects. We need to solve the problem of obesity but without introducing any new health risks.
ReplyDeleteI have researched a similar topic for one of my articles and it's true that some gut microbes may cause obesity. But it isn't that simple to just remove or alter them because these gut microbes also help with digesting food and help our metabolism. If one of these was altered, it could be a lot more detrimental to the person. This needs to be tested before anything could be done and make sure there are no side effects to this.
ReplyDeleteWow! This article you read sounds very interesting. It looks like there can be some potential in using antioxidant drugs to target intestinal bacteria for the purpose of controlling weight gain. The researcher's study did show that in using tempol on certain mice, weight was showed; the fact that they didn't know why the drug affect the mice the way it did, that shows there's still a lot more research to be done. I can tell you feel the same way. If there was enough evidence and studies done to prove the drug's effectiveness and safeness on humans, I wonder how this would affect the bacteria that humans carry called Heliobacter pylori. This bacterium has been said to affect ghrelin, a hormone in our body that controls appetite.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting article! When researching for my blogs I have found a lot of similar articles on the subject. The idea of using a drug to affect the microbiome is a fascinating concept. This is a really exciting subject, hopefully they will discover more about it soon!
ReplyDeleteHow about we all just eat healthy and stay fit? I hate that science is encouraging solutions to obesity with drugs or surgery for a fast and "effective" weight loss process. I mean this is cool that science has come this far but it's also encouraging more laziness and makes a majority of people believe that they can slack in health and it can be easily solved with science. Treatments for diabetes are a different story and it's awesome that there are ways to help people maintain health for mistakes in lifestyle decisions.
ReplyDeleteI did an article a couple weeks ago on how big of a role gut microbes play in our bodies. I remember reading about curing obesity with microbes. Its crazy how something so small that we don’t even think about, plays such a huge role in us. Although the science of microbes is fairly new I do believe that it can open many doors. The article I did about microbes was how the microbes in our gut affects our mood and how it could possibly cure depression and other problem in our bodies. So, microbes definitely are very powerful, its just about how we can manipulate them and use them. If microbes in fact really do help us, it would be great because it would save the average person a lot of time and money; that they would be spending on diets and surgeries. I wonder if they were to release this new alternative, how much it would cost?
ReplyDelete