Ever feel powerless to resist cravings for snacks or unhealthy food? Turns out there may be a good reason for that.

The bacteria in our digestive system – known as our “flora”, could control our urge to eat too much according to new research. It may even make us anxious until we give in and eat.

“What has been observed in humans with regard to obesity is that there seems to be a difference in the number of kinds of bacteria in the gut,” said Rob Knight of the University of Colorado, Boulder. “That number is much lower in obese people than in healthy people.”

Researchers have also seen differences in bacteria between mice bred to be obese versus those of normal weight. In one experiment, researchers found that an obese mouse’s gut microbes extracted more of the calories from a given parcel of food than did those of non-obese mice.

This caused the obese mice to gain more body fat than the non-obese mice did.

But even stranger, in a type of mouse with a different mutation that leads to obesity, transferring gut microbes from the obese mice into other mice led the non-obese mice to eat more.

“They’re not any better at extracting energy from the food. They’re just hungrier apparently,” Knight said. “There are more microbial cells in your body than there are brain cells. They may be outvoting you when it comes time to order (at the restaurant).”

If gut microbes can tell mouse brains to eat more, could they have other effects on the brain? Researchers are finding that the answer is yes

“We’re now starting to see direct impacts of the gut microbial community on host behavior,” Knight said.

Experiments have shown that mice with no gut microbes show differences in how much they move and in their anxiety-like behavior than mice with normal gut bacteria.

Mice treated with “probiotic” Lactobacillus bacteria showed a different gene expression in the brain, reduced anxiety behavior and stress hormone levels than untreated mice.

What This Means:

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