Comment Re:And it's ever changing (Score 2, Informative) 193
Yes, and changing the population of gut bacteria in mice can control whether the mice stay thin or get fat.
Briefly, mice with no gut bacteria were innoculated with bacteria from either obese or lean mice. The animals given bacteria from obese mice got fat, the animals given bacteria from lean mice stayed thin. There's a good writeup here.
The details for humans aren't known, but it seems likely that it's basically the same for us. I used to know a guy who worked on classifying gut bacteria. He was always desperate for samples so almost all of his friends had, at some stage,kept a food diary then provided him with a turd in a box to work on. It's important work, but we were all secretly afraid that our samples were actually going into the construction of some sort of shrine...
Also: farts are gas released by your gut bacteria, not directly from you. So if you have a particularly deadly brand it's not your fault, it's your bacteria.
Briefly, mice with no gut bacteria were innoculated with bacteria from either obese or lean mice. The animals given bacteria from obese mice got fat, the animals given bacteria from lean mice stayed thin. There's a good writeup here.
The details for humans aren't known, but it seems likely that it's basically the same for us. I used to know a guy who worked on classifying gut bacteria. He was always desperate for samples so almost all of his friends had, at some stage,kept a food diary then provided him with a turd in a box to work on. It's important work, but we were all secretly afraid that our samples were actually going into the construction of some sort of shrine...
Also: farts are gas released by your gut bacteria, not directly from you. So if you have a particularly deadly brand it's not your fault, it's your bacteria.
