Gut bacteria transfer helps lower obesity risk in adolescents, even years later.
Are obesity and gut microbes interconnected? Science says, “Yes!”
A groundbreaking study, which was done eight years ago on 87 obese adolescents, supports the concept of fecal transfer, which involves taking the good bacteria from the gut of healthy donors and giving them in capsule form to an individual with a less healthy gut microbiome, making a difference in their height and weight(1✔ ✔Trusted Source
Long-term health outcomes in adolescents with obesity treated with faecal microbiota transplantation: 4-year follow-up
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).
Fecal Microbial Transplant Follow-up
Following the study, a follow-up was done, which was published recently, suggesting some evidence of health benefits with the gut microbial transfer. This follow-up study evaluated 63% (55/87) of the original participants of the previous study.
Obesity Risk Gradually Reduced!
Fecal Microbial Transplant (FMT) recipients showed clinical improvements in body composition and metabolic health compared to the control group in the follow-up study.
The key findings included
- Smaller waist circumference (up to 10cm decrease)
- Reduction in total body fat (about 4.8%)
- Reduced systemic inflammation
- Reduced risk of metabolic syndrome
- High levels of good cholesterol (HDL) aid in removing excess cholesterol from the bloodstream into the liver, where it is broken down and removed from the body.
All these findings from the follow-up study suggested that the obesity risk gradually reduced. More important was the impact on metabolic syndrome, the researcher highlights. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of five conditions—high blood pressure, high blood sugar, large waist circumference, high triglycerides (fat in the blood), and low HDL (‘good’) cholesterol.
With overweight being a global problem, this follow-up study is giving hope in saving countless sufferers from the ill effects of excess weight!
Reference:
Long-term health outcomes in adolescents with obesity treated with faecal microbiota transplantation: 4-year follow-up
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40877311/
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