Some guts are better than others when it comes to harvesting energy

Some Danes have a gut microbial composition that, on average, extracts more energy from food than other Danes, according to new research from the University of Copenhagen. This study is a step towards understanding why some people gain more weight than others, even though they eat the same foods.

study: Stool energy density is positively correlated with intestinal transit time and related to microbial enterotypeImage Credit: Lightspring/Shutterstock

It’s unfair that some people gain weight just by looking at a plate of Christmas cookies, while others don’t gain a single gram even if they dare to eat them. Part of the explanation may be related to the composition of our gut microbiota.

The researchers studied the residual energy in the feces of 85 Danes to estimate how effective gut microbes are at extracting energy from food. mapped the gut microbial composition of

Results show that about 40% of participants belong to the group that extracts more energy from food on average compared to the other 60%. The researchers also observed that the person who drew the most energy from food was, on average, 10% heavier, gaining an extra 9 kilograms.

Henrik Roager, associate professor at the University of Copenhagen, said: of nutrition, exercise, and sports.

Associate Professor Henrik Roager in the lab.Image Credit: University of Copenhagen

May increase risk of obesity

Result is, Overweight It’s not just about eating healthy and exercising. It may also have something to do with the composition of a person’s gut microbiota.

Participants were divided into three groups based on their gut microbial composition.The so-called B-type composition (governed by bacteroides bacteria) were more effective at extracting nutrients from food, observed in 40% of participants.

Following this study, researchers suspect that part of the population may be disadvantaged by gut bacteria that are too effective at extracting energy. may increase the calories available to the human host from

“The fact that our gut bacteria are good at extracting energy from food is basically a good thing. However, if we consume more than we consume, the excess energy provided by our gut bacteria will be lost over time. may increase the risk of obesity.

Intestinal surprise short transit time

From the mouth to the esophagus, the stomach, the duodenum, the small intestine, the large intestine, and finally the rectum, the food we eat passes through several stations along the way, taking 12 to 36 hours before the body extracts it all. I will travel food nutrients.

The researchers also studied the length of this journey for each participant with similar eating patterns. I hypothesized that it would become a person.

“We thought that a longer digestive transit time would extract more energy. We also knew that it would pass, which made us think,” says Henrik Roager.

Confirms previous studies in mice

New studies in humans confirm previous studies in mice. In these studies, germ-free mice that received gut microbes from obese donors were more sensitive than mice that received gut microbiota from lean donors, even though they were fed the same diet. It turns out that I gained a lot of weight.

Still, the researchers suggested that differences in weight gain may be due to the fact that gut bacteria in obese people are more efficient at extracting energy from food. , and a theory confirmed by a new study by the Department of Sports.

“It is very interesting that the group of people who have less energy left in their stool also weigh more on average. However, this study does not provide evidence that the two factors are directly related. We hope to investigate this further in the future,” says Henrik Roager.

About gut bacteria:

• Everyone has a unique composition of gut bacteria shaped by genetics, environment, lifestyle, and diet.
• The collection of intestinal bacteria, called the gut microbiome, is like the entire galaxy in our gut, a staggering 100 billion per gram of stool.
• Gut bacteria in the colon help break down the parts of food that our body’s digestive enzymes can’t break down, such as dietary fiber.
• Humans can be divided into three groups based on the presence and abundance of three major groups of bacteria that most people have: type B (bacteroides), R type (Ruminococcaceae), and P-type (Prevotella).

About studsy

• The energy content of stool specimens from 85 overweight Danish women and men was examined.
• Participants were men and women between the ages of 22 and 66.
• Forty percent of the participants fell into a group characterized by low gut microbial diversity and short transit times of food through the gastrointestinal tract.
• This group was also found to have less stool residual energy compared to the other two groups, but could not explain the difference in habitual diet.
• The researchers also observed that the group with less energy in their stool weighed more than the other groups.