June 18, 2012 

Happy Father's Day to all of the great men who have given in order to raise the next generation.

The understanding of the complex disease that it is obesity continues to evolve in the scientific community.  

In the June 2012 issue of scientific american there is an article entitled The ultimate social network that discusses another piece of the obesity puzzle.  

Our bodies contain 10 times more foreign DNA than our own and the owners of the DNA are microbes, especially bacteria.  These bacteria provide us with beneficial effects including help with digestion and self defense.  We cannot survive without them it turns out.  

In respect to obesity, we see an effect in regulating metabolism.  A bacterium known as H. pylori was previously believed to only have negative effects in our body.  Further research now shows that this bacteria when eradicated in humans in an effort to reduce stomach ulcers subsequently causes weight gain.  

The mechanism is unknown but is related to ghrelin, a hunger signal hormone, not being effectively reduced if you have no H. pylori in your stomach.  

How complex is the world of our body! 

So, in 2012 we have accumulated enough data to teach us that obesity has associations with:

1) abnormal friendly bacteria - micro biome

2) chemical exposure

3) overindulgence on carbohydrates including high fructose corn syrup

4) lack of activity

5) genetic predisposition

6) hormonal imbalances

 Link