In Gut Research’s Latest Advance, Bacteria From Thin Humans Can Slim Mice Down
By GINA KOLATA
Published: September 5, 2013
The trillions of bacteria that live in the gut — helping digest foods, making some vitamins, making amino acids — may help determine if a person is fat or thin.
The evidence is from a novel experiment involving mice and humans that is part of a growing fascination with gut bacteria and their role in health and diseases like irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn’s disease. In this case, the focus was on obesity. Researchers found pairs of human twins in which one was obese and the other lean. They transferred gut bacteria from these twins into mice and watched what happened. The mice with bacteria from fat twins grew fat; those that got bacteria from lean twins stayed lean.
I think this is an amazing discovery, although I am concerned as to where we will go next with this information. I am not sure where I stand on the ethicality and morality of genetic manipulation, and transferring bacteria seems very close to that topic. Could our society accept such major modifications to human bodies through scientific advancements? I wonder if this could eventually be applied to humans as a method of weight loss, especially when it could help beyond cosmetic reasons but rather for someone's critical health concerns.
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