Posted on 12/27/2014 12:18:08 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Abstract
Microbes in the gastrointestinal tract are under selective pressure to manipulate host eating behavior to increase their fitness, sometimes at the expense of host fitness. Microbes may do this through two potential strategies: (i) generating cravings for foods that they specialize on or foods that suppress their competitors, or (ii) inducing dysphoria until we eat foods that enhance their fitness. We review several potential mechanisms for microbial control over eating behavior including microbial influence on reward and satiety pathways, production of toxins that alter mood, changes to receptors including taste receptors, and hijacking of the vagus nerve, the neural axis between the gut and the brain. We also review the evidence for alternative explanations for cravings and unhealthy eating behavior. Because microbiota are easily manipulatable by prebiotics, probiotics, antibiotics, fecal transplants, and dietary changes, altering our microbiota offers a tractable approach to otherwise intractable problems of obesity and unhealthy eating.
Introduction: Evolutionary conflict between host and microbes leads to host manipulation
The struggle to resist cravings for foods that are high in sugar and fat is part of daily life for many people. Unhealthy eating is a major contributor to health problems including obesity [1] as well as sleep apnea, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer [2-4]. Despite negative effects on health and survival, unhealthy eating patterns are often difficult to change. The resistance to change is frequently framed as a matter of “self-control,” and it has been suggested that multiple “selves” or cognitive modules exist [5] each vying for control over our eating behavior. Here, we suggest another possibility: that evolutionary conflict between host and microbes in the gut leads microbes to divergent interests over host eating behavior. Gut microbes may manipulate host eating behavior in ways that promote their fitness at the expense of host fitness....
(Excerpt) Read more at onlinelibrary.wiley.com ...
Absolutely. Figured this out several years ago.
If you have persistent gastrointestinal problems you can often alleviate them by eating various types of the pro-biotic yogurt. Drinking alcohol generally destroys a lot of good gut bacteria, but you can recoup some of them a few days later by eating that pro-biotic yogurt.
Certain other foods tend to make your beneficial gut bacteria healthy and likewise reduce the quantity of your antagonistic gut bacteria.
“Is eating behavior manipulated by the gastrointestinal microbiota?”
I think so. I know for a fact that my microflora demand coffee first thing every morning. They won’t let me get started without it.
My weakness is sugar. I must have some sugar loving bacteria in my gut.
The wife loves corn tortilla chips.
We are both overweight. Me, less so. She, more so.
OK Doctor DL, give us your recommendations. I like your theory.
-IP
There, it’s not my fault I’m fat. It’s those awful microbe’s fault.
Stop eating most carbs and eat good fats instead....when you want a cookie or cracker....have a piece of cheese....also Kimchi is good for your gut, but many find it hard to consume....I treat it kinda like medicine. The less carbs and more fat you eat, the hungry you are, and less weight issues you will have...IMHO. (I lost 15+ lbs and 9% body fat in past year and I’m 63).
Oops....should read....The less carbs and more fat you eat, the LESS hungry you are,
you probably have candida yeast in your body.
Pretty much all bacteria love sugar, but so do people. It's good if you can get it out of your diet, but it's pretty hard. I know that just as much as anyone.
The wife loves corn tortilla chips.
A lot of bacteria love starches, which is pretty much what tortilla chips are.
We are both overweight. Me, less so. She, more so.
Some of that may be genetic (it's perfectly normal for the human body to want to store fat.) and some of it may be the result of the type and quantity of bacteria you have in your system. I've read accounts of experiments on mice that have had their gut bacteria eliminated by anti-biotics and when compared to mice with normal gut bacteria, they stay thin on a diet that makes the normal mice fat.
Apparently the bacteria can break down food components that the body won't normally digest and convert them into a form that can be absorbed by the body, thereby adding more calories to the diet than the body would otherwise normally absorb from eating the food.
Years ago I sent a copy of this study to a friend of mine who is a doctor and suggested he develop the "anti-biotic" diet, which he could name after himself. He thought it was amusing but left it at that.
Anyway, it is my understanding that plants such as garlic and onions have substances in them that supress bad bacteria. Honey also.
The way the yogurt works is by boosting the population of a known good bacteria (like Bifidus regularis) which will then go to "war" with bacteria that causes stomach problems such as irritating the stomach lining.
The problem is, there are a lot of known "good" bacteria, but there are billions of unknown "bad" bacteria. (of which H. pylori and C.dificule are known ones)
The whole topic is an emerging science and it has only been in the last decade or so that people have started putting together causes and effects of various strains of gut bacteria which have so far been identified.
Here's another interesting bit. Bacteria in your gut communicate with each other by secreting chemicals which other bacteria can smell. When they are happy they secret one type of chemical, when they are unhappy they secret a different type of chemical.
Certain bacteria which are harmful secret a chemical which tells the colony to "attack". Botulism is an example of this. The colony of botulism in a stomach will grow without releasing any poison until it gets to a certain size, and then the colony will start secreting a chemical to tell all the bacteria cells to "attack" and then they will all start producing and releasing botulism toxin.
Botulism *WANTS* to kill it's host because part of it's life cycle must take place in a decaying corpse.
In any case, I advise you to read up on "probiotics" and keep up with news stories regarding what has been discovered. This is what I do as well as keeping track of what happens to me when I eat certain foods. I've figured out certain patterns for myself and it took quite awhile. I suggest that if you start feeling bad, you think back about what it is you've been eating, and see if you can find any connections between a particular food and the way it makes you feel later.
Would write more, but I have to go. Hope some of that helped.
I know some may say that. But the real point is that you are able to change your gut makeup by adding probiotics and altering the gut bacteria, which can help change food cravings from crap to better things.
Exactly correct
Would write more, but I have to go. Hope some of that helped.
++++
It definetly helped. Even the wifey though so. Much thanks.
Also recently read where fake sweeteners can screw up the bacteria in your stomach.
Eat animals, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and fruit.
Lift weights, walk, and sleep plenty.
As an anecdote, I found lowering carbohydrates and increasing fats kept me full...less apt to binge.
Nasty critters.
Meat, eggs, vegetables and yogurt diet took care of that for me years ago. The Yeast Syndrome by Dr. John Trowbridge was a life saver.
Thank you, this was so enlightening. Hit the gym with some Chobani!
I love both onion and Garlic and avoid artificial sweeteners like the plague...I found this article fascinating, as I am dealing with 40 lbs of overweight but have cravings at work that won’t stop. Going to research this more...
Yeasts consume most simple sugars. Candidiasis (from Candida albicans, the commonest internal yeast) can happen about anywhere in the body, and be obvious or not, but simply means a “yeast infection”. Yeast can produce over 100 health problems, and even when you kill off a bunch of it, you get a ‘Parthian shot’ of feeling ill, because of all the toxins the dead yeast release.
The two ways of fighting excess yeast are first, by starving it of the sugar and simple carbohydrates it feeds on, and second, by consuming substances that directly kill yeast.
And yes, you craving for sugar is likely less you, than it is likely your yeast ‘talking’.
A more direct approach is with clove oil or clove tea:
http://www.thecandidadiet.com/cloves.htm
It is quite strong, mixing a half teaspoon of powdered clove in hot water, letting it steep for a minute, then straining out the remaining powder. It does not taste good.
And you might feel mildly ill the first few times you take it, which likely means it is working and killing a lot of yeast.
Practically speaking, the bacteria alone will not make you lose weight. But they can make a diet work better and faster.
That is an understatement. Sucralose, aka Splenda, will massacre your good bacteria, but leave your bad bacteria, especially Enterobacter, untouched. Enterobacter is one of the top obesity causing bacterias.
If you consume sucralose for 12 weeks, even discontinuing it for the next 12 weeks will not recover your healthy flora.
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