New obesity study links to microbes

It has been described as the ‘‘forgotten organ’’ by researchers and may just have a key role in the subtle causes of obesity.

The billions of microbes that live in the human gut are being studied by food scientists at Massey University’s Human Nutrition Research Unit in Albany.

To do so, they’ll be intimately monitoring New Zealand women’s diet and lifestyle, challenging the logic that obesity is solely explained by consuming more energy than you expend.

‘‘Definitely if you put energy in it’s got to go somewhere and, in most mammalian species, it’s deposited as adipose tissue,’’ lead researcher in the study Professor Bernhard Breier says.

‘‘But it’s also a matter of how the gut bacteria influence that process and we do know they produce a lot of metabolites.

‘‘The activity of the microbiota influence humans not only by helping digest food, but also by feeding back to the brain, and to the appetiteregulating centres, to either be hungry or not hungry.’’

While the Massey study will not directly investigate the biology behind appetite regulation at a molecular level, Breier says the nature of the bacteria colonies in the gut have a complex interplay.

‘‘It’s a symbiotic relationship between the different bacteria amongst each other and with us,’’ Breier says.

‘‘It’s almost like human communities.

‘‘You’ve got the butcher, you’ve got the baker, you’ve got the carpenter.

‘‘But you can’t live off what the carpenter produces alone, it’s an interplay.’’

What is clear is that New Zealand society is living in an ‘‘obesogenic environment’’ along with most other Western countries.

‘‘We’ve got a Western diet which is very high in energy, very high in sugar, it’s very palatable, it’s quite inexpensive, readily available everywhere, energy dense and nutrient poor in many situations,’’ Breier says.

‘‘Unless we change that there will be very little progress.’’

The Massey University nutritionists are looking for women between 20 and 40 years old, of New Zealand European and Pasifika ethnicity, to participate in their study.

Contact the research team on 09 212 7013 or email promise@massey.ac.nz