Imagine a trash collector paying you for the privilege of hauling away the junk. Not happening. But that’s what our gut microbes do: they digest the stuff we can’t—fiber—and then create short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) which are absolute manna for our metabolic health. Note: Counterintuitively, SCFAs are handled differently than fatty acids with long carbon chains, thus […]
obesity
Melatonin Unlocks a Microbial Key in Obesity
A natural hormone in the body, melatonin has long been supplemented by frequent flyers to ease circadian rhythms into new time zones. A newer and potentially more valuable finding is its role in weight gain and metabolism. Indeed, melatonin reduces body weight, liver steatosis, and low-grade inflammation and improves insulin resistance in high fat diet (HFD)-fed […]
Novel Microbe Targeted in Obesity: Patrice Cani PhD Reports to IPA
Among thousands of weight loss strategies–mostly futile–microbes offer hope. Solid research supports the role of gut microbes in the inflammation, fat metabolism and metabolic disorders linked to obesity. Patrice Cani PhD of Brussels, Belgium shared his research on a novel new target last month at the 2016 Probiotics Symposium at Harvard. Prior studies revealed that abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila, a […]