Scientists say gut microbes may play role in yo-yo weight loss and gains

Scientists studying yo-yo dieting in mice say the tendency for people to regain excess weight rapidly after successfully slimming may well be due to their microbiome - the trillions of microorganisms in the gut. The researchers found that changes in the gut microbiome that occur when an obese mouse loses weight can persist for many months, and that this contributes to accelerated weight regain later if the diet lapses. If, as the researchers believe, a similar thing happens in obese people, they said, it could help explain why so many of them fail to keep their lost weight off, and often put on more than they lost in the first place. The study was published November 24th in the journal Nature. In a telephone briefing about their work, professors Eran Segal and Eran Elinav of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, said that while there has been good progress in studying obesity and its causes, relapsing obesity is poorly understood. "People go on diets over and over again - and keep failing," Segal said. "It's a very common problem. Up to 50 per cent of obese people suffer this relapsing pattern." To try to find out why, Segal and Elinav experimented with mice, giving them...

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