This past week the national media attempted to cover the breaking news story that obesity was linked to the wrong type of bacteria in your stomach.  The inability of each station’s supposed health expert to properly explain what the study meant is a testament to the poor training physicians have in actually understanding how the human body functions.  As soon as a story isn’t involved with a surgery, diagnostic procedure, or drug to be given they are at a loss. 

The widely reported story was based on animal research performed at Emory University School of Medicine.  Lead author, Matam Vijay-Kumar, PhD, has been studying a mouse engineered to lack an important gene signal that helps to recognize bacteria propelling themselves around, Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5).  This one change causes the mouse to have an excessive appetite (eating 10% more than normal), develop insulin resistance, have high blood pressure, have elevated levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, develop fatty liver disease, and become 20% heavier than normal mice.  In short, the mouse develops the condition known as metabolic syndrome that is an epidemic in America.  The mouse also tends to develop ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

The researchers determined that it is the flora content, or microbiota of the intestinal tract that is the source of the problem.  Because the mouse lacks TLR5 the wrong type of bacteria overgrow in the stomach.  Interestingly, when the researchers transferred the overgrown bacteria to normal mice they also developed metabolic syndrome abnormalities.  This overgrowth of bacteria fueled obesity and it was found that the bacteria actually made the mice have inappropriate food cravings.  If food was restricted the mice did not get fat but insulin resistance persisted, which of course leads to type II diabetes.

While there are over a thousand different kinds of bacteria that naturally live within your digestive tract, there are two main classes:  Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes.  TLR5 mice have abnormal Firmicute populations causing the problem. 

“It has been assumed that the obesity epidemic in the developed world is driven by an increasingly sedentary lifestyle and the abundance of low-cost high-calorie foods,” says senior author Andrew Gewirtz, PhD, associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. “However, our results suggest that excess caloric consumption is not only a result of undisciplined eating but that intestinal bacteria contribute to changes in appetite and metabolism.”

Earlier Research on Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes

The famous mouse that makes no leptin, the ob/ob mouse, eats endlessly and becomes extremely obese.  This mouse has a 50% reduction in Bacteroidetes and a proportional increase in Firmicutes.  This means that the condition of obesity itself is causing there to be excess numbers of Firmicutes. 

Through a variety of experiments with genetically altered mice scientists now believe that excessive populations of the wrong type of Firmicutes activate enzymes that promote the storage of fat in fat cells (adipocytes).  This means that what is going on in your gut can have a direct impact on where calories go in your body.

Firmicutes are gram positive bacteria, many of which are friendly and essential to human digestion, such as Lactobacillus.  On the other side of the Firmicute coin are Streptococcus, responsible for many infections.  Other potential problematic forms of Firmicutes include strains of Clostridium and H. pyloria.  H. pyloria is a normal inhabitant in your stomach.  When it overgrows it causes ulcers.  As an undesirable level of a Firmicute it may also help cause obesity and heart disease.  I mention it in particular as it is a common human health problem.

What Does All This Mean to Your Health?

The short answer is plenty.  A bit more explaining is required.

Also this past week Chinese researchers released a report on 3.3 million microbial genes obtained from the fecal samples of 124 individuals from Denmark and Spain. The gene set is 150 times larger than the entire human genome.  Over 99% of the genes are bacterial, indicating between 1,000 and 1,150 prevalent bacterial species.  Each individual has at least 160 species, which are also largely shared.  This is the first catalog of organisms found in the human digestive tract. 

In this preliminary work the researchers identified gene signals associated with obesity and Crohn’s disease.  “Apart from helping you digest, these bacteria may also play a very important role in ... diseases like Crohn’s disease, cancer, obesity,” said lead author Jun Wang, executive director of the Beijing Genomics Institute.

Wang and colleagues in China are working on a similar 120-sample study in Chinese hospitals.  “There are four groups: obese diabetics, obese non-diabetics, lean diabetics and lean non-diabetics. And we found some interesting bugs related to each type of diabetes,” Wang said.

In other words, gene signals arising from populations of gut bacteria have a direct interaction with human metabolism – a dramatic finding.

Another angle to this problem is that bacteria produce endotoxin from the shedding of their cell wall called lipopolysaccharide (LPS). LPS is commonly studied compound as it reliably induces inflammation.  Researchers have found that gut-derived bacterial LPS enters the bloodstream and directly triggers insulin resistance, especially liver-related insulin resistance that is typically accompanies type II diabetes.  Furthermore, a chronic high-fat diet for four weeks raises LPS two-three times normal levels.  It is also documented in obese women that LPS activates inflammation that sets the stage for metabolic disease.

Of great importance is the fact that LPS is another factor that inhibits leptin from entering your brain correctly.  LPS has been shown to cause a rise in blood levels of leptin, meaning that it directly induces leptin resistance.  It also raises blood levels of triglycerides, which are the main known cause of leptin resistance at the blood-brain barrier. 

It has been demonstrated in overweight and obese children that a lack of friendly flora and an excess number of the Firmicute Staphylococcus aureus are common findings. 

Overweight women are known to have imbalanced microbiota with excess numbers of Firmicutes in the Clostridium and Staphylococcus families.  This problem is aggravated during pregnancy when the mother’s immune system is down-regulated so as not to reject the fetus, leading to excessive weight gain during pregnancy.  Furthermore, the mother’s microbiota pattern is typically passed to the child.  Interestingly, women given friendly flora probiotic supplements in the first trimester of pregnancy had less abdominal fat 1 year after pregnancy.

Another study shows that friendly flora can directly communicate to the Firmicute H. pyloi and stop it from producing the toxic LPS that interferes with human metabolism.

Collectively, all of these studies show a clear path from the overgrowth of the wrong digestive bacteria to the creation of leptin-resistant and insulin-resistant obesity which eventually leads to higher risk for type II diabetes and heart disease.

While killing Firmicutes with antibiotics does lessen the metabolic problems of TLR5-lacking mice, that remedy in humans would be of no value as it would encourage regrowth of equally bad if not worse Firmicutes, encourage the overgrowth of another anti-metabolic population – Candida albicans, and make the societal problem of antibiotic resistance and new superbugs even worse than it already is.

Rather, it appears that natural remedies are the front line of defense against this problem.  This begins with diets that do not promote imbalanced digestion; i.e., diets too high in fat, refined sugar, alcohol, and junk food.  Encouraging the growth of friendly flora with probiotic supplements (acidophilus) and prebiotic supplements (various types of fiber) is another very workable solution. 

There are also many natural compounds known to kill inappropriate gram positive bacteria in the digestive tract.  Oregano oil, medium chain fatty acids, bovine colostrum, and bovine lactoferrin are but a few examples of nature’s toolbox.  These all have significant advantages over antibiotics as they do not breed germ resistance or disturb the good flora.  While helping to reduce the surplus population of unwanted bacteria they also reduce any surplus population of Candida albicans – unlike antibiotic drugs that encourage Candida albicans overgrowth.

It has always been important to your health to correct any type of digestive problem – actually solving it and not just covering it over with antacids that further induce the spreading of undesirable bacteria in your stomach by reducing your front line of defense (stomach acid).  Now we see that improving your digestive tract can also have a significant impact on your metabolism, weight management, and cardiovascular health. 

After 8 weeks the animals did not develop insulin resistance; rather they had reduced levels of blood sugar, insulin, triglycerides, and total cholesterol.  A detailed analysis showed that multiple genes affecting blood sugar and the production of fat from sugar had been activated in a favorable manner that supported healthy metabolism.

The study tested low-fat, low-carbohydrate, and Mediterranean diets over a two-year period in 140 overweight people (88% men, average age 51).  It found that any of the diets could produce cardiovascular benefit as long as a certain amount of weight was lost.  This means that it is the process of weight loss, not dietary components, that are responsible for the improvement.

In the two-year period those with 11 pounds of weight loss had more improvement in their arteries than those with 7 pounds.  Those losing the most weight that also lowered their blood pressure from diet had the most benefit in terms of arterial improvement.
Because participants already on blood pressure medication or cholesterol medication were left on them, the study was able to prove that it was the diet-related weight loss, not the drugs, which were improving the health of arteries.  This is consistent with what I have been saying for years:  better numbers on paper due to drugs is not the same thing as better numbers because you are actually healthy.

In other words, if you are on blood pressure medication and you are not losing weight then there is little chance you are reversing the health condition in your arteries.  Conversely, naturally lowering your blood pressure from the process of weight loss sets true cardiovascular improvement into motion.

This is good news for overweight people.  It means you don’t have to lose all the weight to create an environment within your body that starts to unravel the issue of heart disease.  It means that if you just get consistently on track, and maintain that consistency over time, you can significantly improve your health.  You will get to your goal weight sooner or later – but health benefits start during the early phases of such an improvement effort.

Researchers conducted tests in two groups of mice on the brain’s opioid receptors involved with pleasure signaling and metabolism. One group had the kappa opioid receptor genetically deactivated (“knocked out”) and the other group was normal. Both groups were given a high fat, high sucrose, energy dense diet for 16 weeks. While the control group of mice gained significant weight and fat mass on this diet, the mice with the deactivated receptor remained lean.

According to Traci Ann Czyzyk-Morgan, one of the researchers involved in the work, “the data presented here support the hypothesis that overactivation of kappa opioid receptors contribute to the development of obesity specifically during prolonged consumption of high-fat, calorically dense diets.”

One of the great problems facing overweight Americans is that for every mechanism we have to activate fat burning and promote weight loss are a dozen mechanisms to promote weight gain.  This was useful during evolution as food scarcity was a primary threat to survival.  Ironically, we are now killing ourselves by eating too much.

This research helps make the point that individuals who struggle with weight loss efforts despite eating well and exercising are likely to have genes set wrong.  These gene settings are not necessarily permanent, but if a person is to get over the problem and reset nerve-related gene settings they will also need to get more energy into their brain and restore synaptic plasticity in nerve function.

In the Pediatrics study researchers analyzed children ages 1-17.  The heaviest children had multiple markers of excess inflammation.  Among very obese children ages 3-5, more than 42.5 percent had elevated CRP compared to only approximately 17 percent of healthy weight children. Among older children the difference was even more pronounced. In ages 15-17, 83 percent of the very obese had elevated CRP compared to 18 percent of the healthy weight.

“These findings were a surprise to us,” said lead author Asheley Cockrell Skinner, Ph.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics in the UNC School of Medicine. “We’re seeing a relationship between weight status and elevated inflammatory markers much earlier than we expected.”

Such inflammation is known to trigger damage to the arteries setting the stage for earlier disease.  The reality of such potential disease is confirmed by the NEJM study involving American Indian children born between 1945 and 1984.  This is a unique study population as rates of obesity in this group occurred earlier in time due to their extreme inability to tolerate the American junk food diet.  Thus, they offer a view of what is likely to become of the current generation of American children with similar rates of obesity.

The obese children in this long-term study were found to have a 230% increased risk of death before age 55.  Along with obesity, childhood high blood sugar and high blood pressure were found to be excellent predictors of future early death.  Interestingly, high cholesterol in childhood was not linked to early mortality (not what the statin-scam industry wants to hear). 

While a flat stomach is always best, the easiest way to monitor excessive weight gain in your child is to realize that their wasteline in inches should never be more than 1/2 their height in inches.  Crossing this line is associated with an increse in cardiovascular disease markers in children.

Michelle Obama jumped on the new report while speaking to the School Nutrition Association conference in Washington on Monday, placing the blame on parents, educators and policymakers.  “Our kids didn’t do this to themselves,” Obama said.  “From fast food, to vending machines packed with chips and candy, to a la carte lines, we tempt our kids with all kinds of unhealthy choices every day.”

It might help if Mrs. Obama pointed her finger at the primary source of the problem, the food industry, especially the blatant purveyors of food garbage: Coke, Pepsi, McDonalds, Burger King, etc.  Unless she calls them out and focuses on the damage they are causing to our children her progress will be negligible.  Unfortunately, she already has omitted the word “organic” when describing her White House Garden after getting attacked by the industry that loves chemicals and GMO mutant food. 

Snacking – More than a Problem of Excess Calories

Our society desperately needs a new version of Nutrition 101.  Public health officials are obsessed with the number of calories consumed – not the reasons why individuals consume calories they know they shouldn’t.  Government panels of so-called experts have proclaimed that the only way to lose weight is to cut back on calories or to exercise more.  While nobody is going to argue with this advice if it is given to a couch potato pigging out on junk food, it is of little value to a person who eats well, exercises, and still has trouble with weight or is not able to reach their goal weight. 

If you exercise more you must eat more or you won’t have any energy, will feel irritable, your immune system becomes depressed, and you will be at high risk for binge eating and yo-yo dieting.  If you eat less you will lose weight for a while and then your metabolism will slow down to the level of calories you are now eating, creating a starvation response to dieting that is certain to evoke a yo-yo response – just ask Oprah.  If you eat even less you will at some point become malnourished or anorexic.

In order to break free of this metabolic catch-22 you must manage the hormones that are activated when you eat.  As it turns out, the act of snacking, not the amount of calories snacked on, throws hormone switches that govern how your body utilizes or fails to utilize the calories that are consumed.  Eating too often is like a repetitive strain injury to your metabolism.  It causes a problem called leptin resistance, which induces obesity and inappropriate cravings for food.  This is a different issue than the simple notion of the total number of calories consumed.  It is about the efficiency your body has to metabolize calories.  Make mistakes and you set yourself on a path of weight gain and incessant, inappropriate cravings for food.

Since 2002, I have explained extensively in my books on the Leptin Diet that snacking is the primary cause of inefficient metabolism leading to obesity and the early onset of disease.  The diet pundits who tell people to snack to stoke their metabolism are doing nothing more than using food as a drug and their advice is ruining the health of our citizenry.  It is little wonder that we now have a nation of food addicts.

Mrs. Obama could directly influence this problem in a positive way by orchestrating a campaign to prevent snack breaks in schools and replace them with exercise times.  School exercise has been progressively lacking as it was deemed there wasn’t enough time for it as students needed to focus on academic achievement.  Educators failed to realize that exercise reduces the desire to eat inappropriately, pumps blood to the head so students can focus better, and actually builds learning-related nerve networks that make children more intelligent.  Students who are not overweight and are physically fit are sick less often – meaning they can actually show up for class in the first place.  Mrs. Obama could combine her obesity campaign with a rejuvenated President’s physical fitness campaign.

Food Profits at the Expense of Health

The government’s school lunch program has been a bonanza for the low-quality food industry.  The recommendations of the food pyramid determine what kinds of foods the government will buy to feed our kids.  This process is governed by industry lobbying, not health.  The fact that refined carbohydrates are still allowed in this pyramid has nothing to do with health and everything to do with the profits of food producers.

While it is appropriate to criticize the blatant producers of junk food, it is equally appropriate to shine a spotlight on the makers of low-quality food that is being pawned off on our children in the name of “healthy.”  Why do you think kids turn to junk food and branded fast food for lunches?  School lunches are notoriously nutritionally “dead.” 

This problem will take years to solve, but there is no reason we shouldn’t get started on it.  Is Mrs. Obama up to the challenge?  This requires taking on the mainstream food industry, the makers of refined trash that contain addictive chemical stimulants in their food (making every effort to ensure flavor-based brand addiction).  This means directly taking on those who profit from our children overeating.

There are several solutions.  Demand a country of origin label on all foods consumed in the school lunch program (a buy American campaign).  Demand a miles to market label on all foods eaten (let’s get local fresh-food farmers in the loop, while reducing the carbon footprint).  Demand labeling of food as organic or not and name the pesticides used (let’s make it educational, allow kids to taste the difference for themselves).  Demand food containing GMO mutant food is labeled as such (don’t worry, no kid will eat it and the rats won’t either).  If the government is going to provide food as part of education then it should be educational.  The makers of junk food and low-quality food have been ruining the health of our children for long enough. 

As long as food companies can put addictive flavoring additives and compounds designed to stimulate dopamine production into our food supply we will have children who want to eat all the time.  The problem isn’t just about snacking; it’s about fundamental food addiction.  Unfortunately, Mrs. Obama will also have to take on her husband’s industry-friendly FDA if she is to make any lasting progress on this issue.

While individual responsibility, including correct parental examples and guidance will always have the most impact on a child, government can play a role.  However, that role should be directed at problems that are beyond personal control such as the various lobbies influencing government to put poor quality food in the schools.

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Byron J. Richards, expert clinical nutritionist, is the author of Mastering Leptin and the Leptin Diet. He is the first to explain how hormone efficiency improves metabolic function and combats obesity.

The researchers found that when hours in front of the TV were from non-commercial DVDs or non-commercial educational TV then obesity risk did not increase.  Enter the junk food commercials and obesity risk soars.

I’ll never forget the mother that came in for an appointment to get some help with her child’s eating habits.  Her wake up call was pushing her child down the supermarket aisles in a cart and being stunned as her child could sing the jingle for virtually every item of junk food in the store.

A second study lends further support to this notion, showing that less TV time (less exposure to commercials), ensuring adequate sleep (needed for optimal fat burning), and a family dinner (wherein higher quality food is typically prepared) reduced the risk of obesity in children by 40%.  These are relatively easy things for most parents to implement into their lifestyles and can have a profound benefit to the health of their children.

Sure it’s a free world, but as long as your children are living in your house then turn off the TV or enjoy programming that contains no commercials.

The researchers found that eating low carbohydrates following the exercise period enabled better insulin sensitivity, meaning that your muscles and liver could more readily take up blood sugar.  However, eating a low calorie meal following aerobic exercise did not improve insulin function.  This means you should not try to starve yourself in an effort to lose weight.  By eating an appropriate calorie-size meal of mostly protein, fat, and veggies (avoid bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, dessert) at the next meal following your aerobic exercise period your are much more likely to get insulin working in your favor.

Of course, ensuring you get adequate protein at the meal before and/or after exercise also helps ensure that you have adequate protein nutrition to properly repair and recover from the exercise.  Individuals with a lack of protein in their diet do not enjoy the progressive improvement in fitness that exercise can provide when you are properly protein nourished. 

While there are many dietary supplements which can also help promote better insulin function, this is a great tip for maximizing the benefit of aerobic exercise.  Fitness from exercise is of course an important goal.  However, many of the benefits of exercise are not due to fitness per se, but due to changes that take place in your physiology over the next 24-48 hours. By eating properly at the meal following exercise you are likely to improve blood sugar function even on the next day.  If you consistently do aerobics three times a week, eating correctly at the meal following each workout, then you are likely to improve insulin and blood sugar function for the entire week. 

The immune regulating gene is called FOXO and it is conserved in virtually all animals – meaning that this is a fundamental survival operation of your immune system.  It is apparently a preservation system left over from evolution wherein a common problem was not having enough food.  This mechanism was used to offer direct immune support in a time of less energy.  It specifically is found to help maintain natural balance at points of interface with foreign bacteria (mucosal membranes such as sinuses, lungs, your digestive tract, vaginal, etc).

Rule #2 of the Five Rules of The Leptin Diet is to eat three meals a day and not to snack.  This is done to optimize the function of insulin and leptin in response to meals.  When you eat more often you are more prone to storing calories as fat.  This new study convincingly demonstrates that snacking also disturbs your immune system, reducing its ability to fight off invaders.  This is not a trivial immune point.  This form of immune defense is active throughout the day when insulin levels decline.

Of particular importance is the finding that grape seed extract can go to the gene-regulating source of the inflammation which is known as NF-kappaB.  Nutrients that show an ability to support healthy regulation of NF-kappaB, which is the brain of every cell’s stress response, show that the nutrient is significantly relieving the condition of cellular stress that otherwise wreaks havoc with human health.