The International Journal of Obesity has published a new study revealing that the proportion of some bacteria in the gut may be related to how much weight we are able to lose. It means that this bacteria in your poop may play a role in personalized nutrition and help you losing weight more easily than before.
The study was conducted by researchers from the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. They observed 62 people with increased weight circumference who were assigned to follow either the New Nording Diert, full of dark greens, berries and whole grains or the Average Danish Diet. The researchers grouped these people according to their relative abundance of two different forms of bacteria: Prevotella and Bacteroides.
The result was the following: People who has higher ratio of Prevotella to Bacteroides and followed the New Nordic Diet had a larger loss of weight compared to those with that same ratio who followed the Average Danish Diet. One of the authors of the study explained: “Human intestinal bacteria have been linked to the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity and scientists have started to investigate whether the intestinal bacteria can play a role in the treatment of overweight.”