Obesity Maybe Linked To Stomach Bacteria

Maybe it's germs that are making you fat



Researchers found a strong connection between obesity and the levels of certain types of bacteria in the gut. That could mean that someday there will be novel new ways of treating obesity that go beyond the standard advice of diet and exercise.

According to two studies being published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, both obese mice and people had more of one type of bacteria and less of another kind.

A "microbial component" appears to contribute to obesity, said study lead author Jeffrey Gordon, director of Washington University's Center for Genome Sciences.

Obese humans and mice had a lower percentage of a family of bacteria called Bacteroidetes and more of a type of bacteria called Firmicutes, Gordon and his colleagues found.

The researchers aren't sure if more Firmicutes makes you fat or if people who are obese grow more of that type of bacteria.

But growing evidence of this link gives scientists a potentially new and still distant way of fighting obesity: Change the bacteria in the intestines and stomach. It also may lead to a way of fighting malnutrition in the developing world.

"We are getting more and more evidence to show that obesity isn't what we thought it used to be," said Nikhil Dhurandhar, a professor of infection and obesity at Louisiana State University's Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

"It isn't just (that) you're eating too much and you're lazy."

Dhurandhar wasn't part of the research, but said it may change the way obesity is treated eventually.

He said the field of "infectobesity" looks at obesity with multiple causes, including viruses and microbes. In another decade or so, the different causes of obesity could have different treatments. The current regimen of diet and exercise "is like treating all fevers with one aspirin," Dhurandhar said.

In one of the two studies in Nature, Gordon and colleagues looked at what happened in mice with changes in bacteria level. When lean mice with no germs in their guts had larger ratios of Firmicutes transplanted, they got "twice as fat" and took in more calories from the same amount of food than mice with the more normal bacteria ratio, said Washington University microbiology instructor Ruth Ley, a study co-author.

It was as if one group got far more calories from the same bowl of Cheerios than the other, Gordon said.

In a study of dozen dieting people, the results also were dramatic.

Before dieting, about 3 percent of the gut bacteria in the obese participants was Bacteroidetes. But after dieting, the now normal-sized people had much higher levels of Bacteroidetes — close to 15 percent, Gordon said.

"I think that gut bacteria affects body weight," said Virginia Commonwealth University pathology professor Richard Atkinson, who wasn't part of the research team and is president of Obetech Obesity Research Center in Richmond. "I don't think there's any doubt about that and they showed that."

The growing field of research puts more importance in the trillions of microbes that live in our guts and elsewhere, crediting it with everything from generations of people getting taller to increases in diabetes and asthma.

People are born germ-free, but within days they have a gut blooming with microbes. The microbes come from first foods — either breast milk or formula — the exterior environment, and the way the babies are born, said Stanford University medicine and microbiology professor David Relman, who was not part of the study.

For decades, doctors have treated bacteria in a "warlike" manner, yet recent research shows that "most encounters we have with microbes are very beneficial," Gordon said.

"Much of who we are and what we can do and can't do as human beings is directly related to microbial inhabitants," Relman said.

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Doctor? I want to set up an appoinment for a gut flush and bacteria change. How much simpler could it all get? I hope this research at least sheds some light on why we get fat. Heaven only knows I could use a little less fat.

Tracking Santa On The Web!

Let NORAD Help You Track Santa



We watched Jean Shepherd's A Christmas Story recently, and it was fun to hear my kids laugh throughout one of my favorite holiday movies, a well-told story by a radio legend. Watching Ralphie listening to the radio stirred vague memories of tuning into Jean Shepherd's radio show, with my family riveted to his every word. But it also reminded me of the only time as a kid I remember being riveted to the radio instead of the TV: Christmas Eve, listening to the NORAD sightings of Santa on his marathon gift run.



NORAD's Santa tracking operation moved onto the web in 1998, and kids and parents can go to the NORAD Tracks Santa web site and track the big fella's movements in six languages. The story goes that NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) got involved in Santa's movements after its predecessor, CONAD (Continental Air Defense Command), got calls about Santa's whereabouts after Sears & Roebuck mistakenly misprinted a Santa hotline telephone number in newspaper ads in 1955. The commander who answered the first child's call gave out the requested info, and a tradition was born. When CONAD became NORAD, the bi-national air defense command for the United States and Canada in 1958, it took over the duties of tracking Santa's around-the-world flight.



Kids can check out the Santa webcams that "capture images of Santa and the Reindeer as they make their journey around the world."



My kids have also liked the Santa at Claus.com web site, where they can check if they've been naughty or nice. But they have grown suspicious in the past when some of the same phrases popped up after they put in different friends' names. (As always, this is a good teachable moment to tell young kids not to put in full names or other personal information if they send an e-mail to Santa.)

Bush Illegally Silences Critic of Iran Policy

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Can impeachment proceedings be far behind? If these accusations are true, then there should at least be a congressional probe into Bush's actions. I would suggest a recall vote over impeachment.

One Of The Lost Climbers Found Dead In Snow Cave

Mt. Hood body identified as Kelly James


HOOD RIVER, Ore. - A missing climber found dead in a snow cave on Mount Hood was identified as a Dallas man who had placed a distress call to relatives a little more than a week ago, a person close to the family said Monday.



Searchers found the cave Sunday near the spot located by cell phone signals traced from Kelly James, who made a four-minute call to his family Dec. 10 just below the summit, said Jessica Nunez, a spokeswoman for the climber's family.

On Monday, a recovery team was expected to retrieve the body, which remained on the mountain over night because darkness made it too dangerous to retrieve. The search for two other climbers also was to resume on the treacherous north side of Oregon's highest mountain.

The discovery of James' body brought a sad conclusion to a long week of anxious optimism in the search for three men on the 11,239-foot mountain.

Family members had relied on intense religious faith along with confidence that the extensive mountaineering experience of the trio would save them from a week of blizzard storms and single-digit temperatures that kept search teams and helicopters at bay.

James, 48, had told his family that his climbing party was in trouble and that Brian Hall, 37, also of Dallas, and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, 36, of New York City, had headed back down, apparently for help. James may have been injured.

His body was found in a second snow cave near the first, about 300 feet below the summit. Rescuers found two ice axes, a sleeping bag or pad and rope in the first. It was not known if any gear was in the second cave.

James' mother, Lou Ann Cameron, told The Associated Press she did not want to talk about her son and referred questions to the Hood River County Sheriff's Office.

Monday's search would center on possible descent routes on Eliot Glacier and Cooper Spur, relatively lower levels of the mountain, in case the other two got down that far, said Pete Hughes of the sheriff's office, the lead agency in the search.

"Eliot Glacier is real dangerous so we will do that by air only," Hughes said Monday. "It's a bad avalanche area with crevasses. There are still people in crevasses that have never been recovered."

Near the first snow cave, helicopters had spotted rope that had been intentionally laid out in a Y-shape, which climbers often use to indicate their location. There also was an ice spike and footprints, apparently headed up the mountain, said Sgt. Gerry Tiffany, a spokesman for the Hood River County sheriff's office.

Searchers dug through the first cave to ensure no one was there and took the equipment, which will be examined for clues. The second cave with the climber's body was found a short time later.

It was not immediately clear which cave was occupied first, or why or when the climber, or climbers, decided to move from it.

Weather conditions have been harsh since the three were reporting missing, with heavy snow and wind gusts of up to 100 mph. The snow stopped Saturday, but wind of up to 50 mph blew the fresh snow, hampering visibility.

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This is very sad news. Everyone's hopes had been so high that the climbers would be found in time. Now, one family has lost a father and husband. All our heartfelt regards go out to Kelly James' family. This Christmas will be a sad one for them. Always.Please pray very hard for the rremaining 2 climbers. Pray that they are found alive and soon. If they are already beyond our help, then I pray they are at least found soon.

Carolina Loses. Playoff Hopes Dead In Carolina

Pittsburgh 37, Carolina 3

December 17, 2006

AP - Dec 17, 4:57 pm EST


CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- It may be too late, but the Pittsburgh Steelers are finally playing like last season's Super Bowl team.

Willie Parker rushed for 132 yards and a touchdown and Ben Roethlisberger threw for a score and ran for another to lead Pittsburgh past the Carolina Panthers 37-3 on Sunday, delighting the thousands of their loyal fans who turned Bank of America Stadium into a virtual Steelers home game.

The Steelers (7-7) also blocked a punt and returned another for a touchdown as they won their third straight game and kept their faint playoff hopes alive. The Steelers, who started 2-6, have allowed 13 points in the past three games.

"We've been there before. We've played on the road in December and we've played on the road in January," Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher said. "This football team knows that mind-set you have to have to win."

It's still going to be difficult for the Steelers to make the playoffs, but Carolina's chances are virtually over after it turned in another stinker.

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If anybody asks, I will be away in mourning all week. Dressed in black and moaning a lot. You won't be able to miss us. A crowd of guys and gals all huddled over bellyaching about the Panthers loss to Pittsburgh. Btw, good luck to Pitt, they'll need it. Have a good week.