Hello everyone! I'm Reina and this is DNews. The friendly bacteria that live within us

may not only be affecting food cravings but also our moods. Research has shown that this

may even lead to a causal relationship with obesity.

Researchers from UC San Francisco, Arizona State University and University of New Mexico

have concluded that microbes do in fact influence eating habits and food choices to favor consumption

of specific nutrients that the microbes themselves thrive best on. In the past it was thought

that microbes passively took in whatever nutrients we ingested.

Bacterial species have different nutrients they thrive off of; some favor sugars, others

can favor starches, fats, et cetera. And because the human gut is directly linked to the immune

system, nervous system, and endocrine system, the community of microbes that live within

you influence your eating choices! The gut microbiome does this by releasing signaling

molecules, which allow the cells to perceive and respond correctly to the microenvironment.

Then, those signals go on to influence our physiologic and behavioral responses.

The Director of Human and Social Evolution at UCSF, explains "Microbes have the capacity

to manipulate behavior and mood through altering the neural signals in the vagus nerve, changing

taste receptors, producing toxins to make us feel bad, and releasing chemical rewards

to make us feel good."

For example, in mice particular strands of bacteria can increase anxious behavior. In

a nutshell, the bacteria didn’t like what the mice were eating so they chemically signaled

a reaction that would cause the mice to feel anxiety. The mice would then correlate the

food to be causing the anxiety and cease to continue eating it.[a]

On a larger scale, clinical trials discovered that drinking a probiotic containing Lactobacillus

casei (kay see ee), which can relieve gastrointestinal pathogenic bacterial disease, actually improved

low moods.

Dr. Carlo Maley, director of the UCSF Center for Evolution and Cancer explains

"Bacteria within the gut are manipulative. There is a diversity of interests represented

in the microbiome, some aligned with our own dietary goals, and others not."

The speed with which the microbiome can change may be encouraging to those who seek to improve

health by altering microbial populations. This usually happens through food and supplement

choices, by ingesting specific bacterial species in the form of probiotics, or by killing targeted

species with antibiotics. According to researchers, optimizing the balance among bacterial species

in our gut may allow us to lead less obese and healthier lives.

Researchers[b] proposed further studies to investigate the power microbes hold over us.

They say that "Targeting the microbiome could open up possibilities for preventing a variety

of disease from obesity and diabetes to cancers of the gastro-intestinal tract. We are only

beginning to scratch the surface of the importance of the microbiome for human health.”

What do you think? Would you get a gut microbe transplant in hopes of improving your health?

Tell us in the comment section down below, don’t forget to give that like button some

love and subscribe if you haven’t already! For more of my videos head on over to sourcefed

and sourcefednerd! Thanks for tunin in!