Does the Bacteria in Our Gut Decide What We Eat For Dinner?
Link to original article - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-gut-bacteria-tell-their-hosts-what-to-eat/
In the article How Gut Bacteria Tell Their Hosts What to Eat, author Knvul Sheikh explains that bacteria living in our guts have been shown to impact our mental and physiological health. Sheikh then reports that a team of neuroscientists has recently discovered certain types of bacteria living in the digestive tract which can sense missing nutrients in the host's diet and communicate those deficits by modulating cravings for specific foods. The team demonstrated the impact of these gut bacteria by performing several experiments on a species of fruit fly. The researchers lowered the levels of different essential amino acids contained in the fruit flies' diets and found that, when offered their choice of foods, the fruit flies instinctively chose the meals containing the missing nutrients. Next, the researchers increased the quantity of several types of bacteria in the flies' digestive systems. The presence of these additional bacteria eliminated the flies' cravings for the missing nutrients.
Normally, the absence of essential amino acids in the flies' diets inhibits cell growth and interrupts cellular reproduction. However, even in the absence of these nutrients, these gut bacteria were able to create and secrete chemicals that allowed normal cellular processes to continue. In essence, the gut bacteria allowed these organisms to continue to function even though the flies were denied necessary nutritional components of their diets.
It makes sense that parasites living in the gut would have evolved some way to influence their hosts' eating behaviors. After all, bacteria eat what the host eats. Although the mechanism for this communication is not yet fully understood, more research into the ways that our digestive microbiome impacts our appetites could yield new tools in dietary medicine. For example, the introduction of certain gut bacteria may eventually be useful in treating obesity. Perhaps when deciding what is healthy to eat, we could consider what is healthy for our bacterial guests as well.
Christopher Mullin
April 29, 2017
In the article How Gut Bacteria Tell Their Hosts What to Eat, author Knvul Sheikh explains that bacteria living in our guts have been shown to impact our mental and physiological health. Sheikh then reports that a team of neuroscientists has recently discovered certain types of bacteria living in the digestive tract which can sense missing nutrients in the host's diet and communicate those deficits by modulating cravings for specific foods. The team demonstrated the impact of these gut bacteria by performing several experiments on a species of fruit fly. The researchers lowered the levels of different essential amino acids contained in the fruit flies' diets and found that, when offered their choice of foods, the fruit flies instinctively chose the meals containing the missing nutrients. Next, the researchers increased the quantity of several types of bacteria in the flies' digestive systems. The presence of these additional bacteria eliminated the flies' cravings for the missing nutrients.
Normally, the absence of essential amino acids in the flies' diets inhibits cell growth and interrupts cellular reproduction. However, even in the absence of these nutrients, these gut bacteria were able to create and secrete chemicals that allowed normal cellular processes to continue. In essence, the gut bacteria allowed these organisms to continue to function even though the flies were denied necessary nutritional components of their diets.
It makes sense that parasites living in the gut would have evolved some way to influence their hosts' eating behaviors. After all, bacteria eat what the host eats. Although the mechanism for this communication is not yet fully understood, more research into the ways that our digestive microbiome impacts our appetites could yield new tools in dietary medicine. For example, the introduction of certain gut bacteria may eventually be useful in treating obesity. Perhaps when deciding what is healthy to eat, we could consider what is healthy for our bacterial guests as well.
Christopher Mullin
April 29, 2017
This was an interesting read. I kind of understand the concept that is here, but how does our gut communicate to our brain what to eat and what nutrients we need to eat without the background knowledge that we may already have? Hopefully, there will be more research in this finding, maybe with the use of mammals or humans in the labs.
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