United States: Researchers have tried to establish whether specific types of gut bacteria are associated with compulsive eating, as a new report shows.
More about the finding
Investigators have determined that the Proteobacteria family of gut bacteria had produced more amounts in people and mice with a food addiction.
Other strains of gut bacteria are lower in food addicts and mice, as Blautia bacteria illustrate, and members of the Actinobacteria family, investigators note.
Further, food addiction lowered when the mice consumed prebiotics that stimulated bacterial concentrations in the gut, including Blautia, said Elena Martin-Garcia, the researcher and professor of medicine and life sciences at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona.
According to Martin-Garcia, the results suggested the “potential protective effects of increasing the abundance of Actinobacterial and Bacillota against the development of food addiction.” as US News reported.
According to experts, Blautia does belong to the Bacillota family.
How was the study conducted?
To do so, the investigators employed a food addiction scale that enabled them to identify the condition in both mice and humans.
The scale entails assessing persistent food-seeking, motivation to acquire food, and compulsive drive.
Thus, it was determined that food addiction resulted in an elevation in Proteobacteria and a reduction in Actinobacteria and Blautia.
The same trends were identified in 88 people by the specialists.
As Martin-Garcia stated, “The findings in both mice and humans suggested that specific microbiota could be protective in preventing food addiction,” and “In particular, the strong similarities in the amount of Blautia underlined the potential beneficial effects of this particular gut bacteria.”
What more has the study shown?
In the matter of food addiction, an experiment was performed in mice, which presented essential findings: according to the transformed results, every time the Blautia levels of mice increased, their food addiction decreased.
Martin-Garcias demonstrated the findings at the annual meeting of the Federation of European Neurosciences Societies in Vienna, and the results were published in the journal Gut on June 26.
Martin-Garcia added during the news release, “Understanding the crosstalk between alterations in behavior and bacteria in the gut constitutes a step forward for future treatments for food addiction and related eating disorders,” as US News reported.