Can intestinal microflora disorders lead to the development of overweight?

It is obvious that overweight and obesity are caused by the consumption lifestyle that we currently have excessive consumption of high-calorie food, too little physical activity, sedentary lifestyle, stimulants. 

Are these the only causes that cause overweight?

Researchers are concerned about finding an external factor that could be blamed for accumulating excess body fat. Meanwhile, the reason may be inside our body – in our intestines !!! Recent studies conducted in mice prove that „bacteria” can be bacteria living in the gastrointestinal tract. Bacteria constituting the natural (physiological) gastrointestinal microflora fulfill 3 basic protective, immune and nutritional roles.

In the development of obesity, the most important is the fact that at the stage of digestion and absorption of nutrients, different strains of bacteria behave differently. And so some are able to release large amounts of energy from the food consumed, that is, they simply process it better and get more calories from it. And as you know, the excess energy will then be converted into fat tissue. So far, studies on the direct effect of intestinal microflora composition on body weight have been carried out only on mice. They show that transferring bacteria from the intestines of obese mice to a normal-weight mouse increases the weight of the mice. This mechanism also works the other way, if the obese mouse is „exchanged” the intestinal microflora, characteristic for mice with normal body weight – lose weight.

Will changes in the quantitative and qualitative composition of the intestinal microflora cause weight loss also in humans?

For now, everything remains in the sphere of research. If it turned out that we would be able to modulate the quantitative and qualitative composition of our intestinal microflora, for example by administering probiotics and appropriate bacterial strains. It should be emphasized, however, that the main cause of obesity development is excessive energy intake with food. If we adjust the amount of calories we receive to our needs and energy expenses, then no bacteria are able to release excess calories from them.

So let’s look at what and in what quantity is on our plate !!!