Calorie saving during a diet apparently significantly changes the gut microbiome, as a recent study shows. A “hungry microbiome” develops, which has a lasting effect on the absorption of food in the intestine and thus on the human energy balance.
Charité study: This is what saves calories with the intestines
For more than 16 weeks, the working group examined the effects of a diet on a total of 80 women who were slightly to severely overweight. In addition, all of them were already in the menopause. During these four months, the women either lost weight through a formula diet under medical supervision or kept their weight constant. The formula diet was implemented using ready-made drinks with less than 800 kilocalories per day. The subjects’ stool was analyzed regularly. These analyzes showed that the diet reduced the number of microorganisms in the intestine and changed the composition of the intestinal flora. dr Reiner Jumpertz von Schwartzenberg explains in a Charité press release: “We were able to observe how the bacteria change their metabolism in order to absorb more sugar compounds, which are then no longer available to humans. One can say that a “hungry microbiome develops. “
The scientists then transferred the stool samples before and after the diet to mice without their own intestinal flora. Within two days, the mice that received the post-diet stool lost more than 10 percent of their body mass. The mice that received the pre-diet stool, on the other hand, had no effect.
According to the Charité press release, these results could lead to possible therapy options for metabolic diseases such as diabetes. The team is now investigating how intestinal bacteria can be influenced in order to have beneficial effects on metabolism and body weight in humans.
