One Part Human - 10 Parts Bacteria

As obesity becomes an American epidemic, it brings a high price tag in the form of escalating death-rates, rising medical costs and an increasingly callous social stigma. Researchers are finding evidence that may shed more light on the complex group of factors that determine weight gain and metabolic rates. Genetic makeup and food intake may not be the only determiners – Dr. Jeffrey Gordon, Director of the Center for Genome Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, is heading a team of researchers at his lab to determine the correlation between weight gain and the colonies of microflora that inhabit our stomachs and intestines.

Here's an excerpt from the January 6, 2007 LA Times on Dr. Gordon's just-released study:

Intestinal bacteria found to be culprit in obesity

By Thomas H. Maugh II, Times Staff Writer

Bacteria in the intestines can modify the body's biochemistry to alter the amount of food that becomes stored in fat, according to a finding in mice reported this week that could eventually help the nation's efforts to control obesity.

Read the rest of the story here.

Easy to be Hard - Mort Garson