Mice transplanted with gut bacteria from overweight humans gained more weight than mice given gut bacteria from normal weight subjects – even when mice were fed the same diet – the National Food Institute (NFI) study found.
Bacterial communities
The NFI transferred bacterial communities from 32 children and adolescents – half of whom were overweight and half within the normal weight range – into specially-bred mice with no bacteria in their intestines.
“The bacteria in the intestines of mice with the smallest weight gain were less capable of converting dietary fibre in the feed, which partly explains the weight difference,” Professor Tine Rask Licht from the NFI said.