Can the microbes in my intestinal tract affect my body weight?

Some intriguing new studies raise the possibility that the microorganisms in your gut may also affect how much you weigh. As I described in the chapter 3 of the book, The Spectrum, there are literally trillions of microbes in your intestinal tract. When the balance of these is not disrupted by antibiotics, stress, or other factors, these microbes have a number of helpful functions in your body: they produce some vitamins, provide enzymes that help with digestion, and help metabolize cholesterol.

These microbes also affect how efficiently your body absorbs the calories in your diet. For example, mice that have been raised in germ-free laboratories and had no intestinal microbes had 60 percent less body fat than real-world mice, even though they ate more food.

It may be that variations in the number of microbes in different people’s intestinal tracts may account for part of their differences in weight. Two people may eat foods with exactly the same number of calories, but one may be more efficient at absorbing those calories than the other due to differences in their intestinal microbes.

Find out more about this book: The Spectrum: A Scientifically Proven Program to Feel Better, Live Longer,...

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