Worldwide obesity has doubled since 1980. In 2014, 1.9 billion adults and 40 million kids under the age of 5 were considered overweight.
These figures are expected to significantly rise over the next decade, according to the World Health Organization, largely because more people are eating highly processed foods.
Commission on Ending Childhood #Obesity's 6 main recommendations for governments:
— WHO (@WHO) January 25, 2016
1. Promote intake of healthy foods pic.twitter.com/lZHK2Jszdw
One of the worst aspects of obesity is that it changes how the body works, making it hard to return to a healthy weight.
One series of changes involves the microbiome, the collection of bacteria that lives mostly in the gut.
The microbiome is incredibly diverse. It performs functions ranging from training the immune system to influencing mood.
It also facilitates digestion, controls hunger and extracts and distributes nutrients from food.
In a healthy microbiome, these processes work harmoniously and contribute to overall wellbeing.
Scientists have found that obesity tends to diminish microbiome diversity, while also causing a specific bacteria that promotes weight gain, Firmicutes, to flourish.
When someone eats a diet high in processed food (sugars, fats, additives) it starves and pollutes the microbiome. Bacteria enjoy fiber, vitamins and minerals (aka vegetables). They do not like loads of processed fats and sugars and additives. Scientists have found that junk foods can impact the microbiome in as little as 24 hours.
Over time, a junk diet has significant effects.
The degraded microbiome is unable to carry out normal weight-control functions and the firmicutes, in particular, actively push the body to gain more weight even if it’s taking in less food.
This is then compounded by the fact that people eating a high-sugar, high-fat diet tend to crave a high-sugar, high-fat diet.
Plus, a diminished microbiome also affects mood and causes inflammation, among other complications, that may cause a person to self-medicate with junk food.
Needless to say, this is a vicious cycle that’s hard to break.
But poop pills may be a solution
I know. That sounds like ridiculous click-bait.
But fecal matter is basically a bounty of gut bacteria and a growing body of research suggests it can be useful in treating a broad range of conditions.
Obesity may be one such condition.
When fecal matter from a healthy person is purified, put into a pill and then ingested by an obese person, it can promote microbiome regeneration. New bacteria enters and proliferates. As the microbiome recovers its diversity, it may start to act normally again, overriding the desire to eat junk food and allowing a person to lose weight.
Researchers have already demonstrated this outcome in mice. Obese mice ingested bacteria from a normal-weight mouse and returned to a healthy weight. Conversely, when bacteria from an obese mouse were ingested by normal-weight mice, they became overweight.
The cause and effect was also observed when bacteria from humans was put into mice.
Studies are underway to see if humans will react similarly, but there’s little reason to doubt that a regenerated microbiome will have a positive effect on weight.
Now--poop pills are only one (potential) part of a global solution.
Most importantly, countries have to start cracking down on the marketing and distribution of processed foods. Kids should not be inundated with manipulative advertisements and grocery stores should skew their offerings away from, not towards, junk food.
Obesity is increasingly a problem of income. When you don’t have a lot of money, you may be more inclined to buy cheap, processed food for your family.
This is unfair.
People from all economic backgrounds deserve to have nutritious food available to them all the time and governments have to play a role in helping them achieve this kind of diet.
When people are empowered to eat wholesome, nutritious diets, they are more likely to lead healthy, fulfilling lives.