How Can Gut Bacteria Affect Weight Maintenance?

Are you struggling to maintain a healthy weight?

If so, you may want to check in with your gut. Research has shown that our gut bacteria—specifically, the wrong kind of gut bacteria, or lack of microbial diversity—can hinder weight management.1

This post offers a brief overview of the gut and explains how you can improve your gut microbiome and support better weight management.

Gut health: an overview

Our intestines, or gut, are key to our digestive system and have been linked to many other aspects of our health, affecting everything from our cognitive wellbeing to our skin health and potentially our ability to lose weight.2

Our gut hosts 100 trillion microbes at any given time, and the majority of these microflora are good for us. That said, not all microbes provide the same health benefits.2

This is because we each have a unique composition of microbiota in our gut microbiome—consisting of various strains of bacteria, viruses, and protozoa (a group of single-celled microorganisms)—some of which have been shown to influence our weight and overall health. If our microbiota become less diverse, or if the amount of specific, beneficial microbes in the gut shifts, it may affect our health in various ways.2

What factors influence the gut microbiome?

Our gut breaks down the food we eat into small particles. The smallest particles are absorbed into the blood, while the rest are eliminated from the body.3

The process of digestion that takes place in the intestines is where the impact of gut bacteria is the most significant. While the majority of these bacteria help to break down food and nutrients in the gut, some are better-equipped to facilitate digestion, and potentially help with weight management, than others.3

Put simply: If the gut has higher levels of certain types of bacteria, this could be a reason why it’s more difficult to lose weight.

Some factors that can disrupt the gut microbiome and affect weight management include:4

• Poor diet

Fiber fuels healthy bacteria, while sugar promotes unwanted types of bacterial strains, parasites, and yeast. Research has shown a fibrous, low-sugar diet is better for gut health.4

• Sedentary lifestyle

If you don’t get much exercise, you may want to rethink your approach. Lack of physical activity may reduce gut bacterial diversity and potentially make you more susceptible to weight gain.5

• Stress

Even the most relaxed people experience stress from time to time. Chronic stress is much more serious, however, as it can disrupt the gut microbiome, reducing the numbers of beneficial bacteria for weight management as well as affecting overall health.

Strategies to improve gut health and promote weight loss

Results from a study published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings reveals that even with a strict diet and exercise program, specific activities of the gut bacteria can disrupt the microbiome and make weight loss difficult.6

This is important because currently, more than two-thirds of American adults are either overweight or at risk of being overweight.7

Healthy weight loss and management are crucial to overall health—and this is where understanding research on probiotic strains is valuable.8

In addition to a nutritious diet and regular exercise, certain strains may improve gut function. Clinical studies have shown that strains, such as Bifidobacterium lactis B420, support body weight regulation and have been shown to help control body weight and body fat.8

While certain probiotic strains may be ideal for weight management, along with a comprehensive wellness regimen, they are not a substitute for a healthful diet and active lifestyle. Please speak to your healthcare practitioner before changing your diet. 

For more information on nutrition and gut health, please visit the Metagenics blog.

References:

1. Muñiz Pedrogo DAet al. Gut Microbial Carbohydrate Metabolism Hinders Weight Loss in Overweight Adults Undergoing Lifestyle Intervention With a Volumetric Diet. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 2018;93(8):1104-1110.
2. Hurley AK. The Garden in Your Gut. https://www.johnshopkinshealthreview.com/issues/fall-winter-2015/articles/the-garden-in-your-gut. Johns Hopkins Health Review. Accessed May 27, 2019.
3. Komaroff AL. Do gut bacteria inhibit weight loss? https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/do-gut-bacteria-inhibit-weight-loss. Harvard Health Letter. Accessed May 27, 2019.
4. University of Colorado Boulder. Gut Check: Exploring Your Microbiome. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318441.php. Accessed May 27, 2019.
5. University of Colorado Boulder. Gut Check: Exploring Your Microbiome. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318441.php. Accessed May 27, 2019.
6. Dangor J. Makeup of an individual’s gut bacteria may play role in weight loss, study suggests. https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/makeup-of-an-individuals-gut-bacteria-may-play-role-in-weight-loss-mayo-study-suggests/. Mayo Clinic News Network. Accessed May 27, 2019.
7. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Overweight and Obesity Statistics. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/Documents/stat904z.pdf. Accessed May 27, 2019.
8. Putaala H et al. Effect of four probiotic strains and Escherichia coli O157: H7 on tight junction integrity and cyclo-oxygenase expression. Res Microbiol. 2008;159(9-10):692-698.

CLA: A Very Special Oil

NewsmaxHealth

Wednesday, March 6, 2013 09:06 AM

By: Russell Blaylock, M.D,

The main omega-6 oil, called linoleic acid, can trigger inflammation when consumed in excess. This can cause a number of diseases, and may also worsen many existing diseases.

However, if linoleic acid undergoes a chemical alteration called conjugation, it becomes a very healthy oil. In fact, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) can reduce cancer risk and cancer growth, lower LDL (bad) cholesterol, lower triglycerides, reduce inflammation, and improve brain function.

The effects of various forms of CLA differ and vary among the tissues of the body. For example, the effect on the liver is somewhat different than in the brain.

A number of studies have examined how CLA affects cells. It operates through multiple mechanisms, such as cell-signaling, effects on cell membranes, production of eicosanoids, and genetic effects.

One of the best-studied effects of CLA is its ability to prevent cancer and reduce the growth and spread of certain cancers. Several animal studies have shown that CLA inhibited tumors of the breast, colon, and stomach triggered by carcinogenic chemicals.

In one of the studies, CLA did not reduce the number of pancreatic tumors induced by a carcinogenic chemical, but it significantly reduced the metastasis (spread) of the tumors, which is the main reason cancers are deadly. (For more information on fighting cancer, read my special report "Prevent Cancer Before It's Too Late.'')

Caution should be exercised in giving CLA to cancer patients, as some studies have found that for less-common tumors — cancer of the small intestine and certain liver cancers, for instance — CLA can actually make the tumor grow faster.

But for most cancers, CLA suppresses both growth and spread. These include:

• Colon cancer

• Breast cancer

• Prostate cancer

• Primary brain tumors (gliomas)

• Pancreatic cancer

 

Several companies are now selling CLA as a weight-loss product. This, however, is a bit misleading, as it may make people actually gain weight by increasing muscle growth along with the loss of fat tissue. Muscle is much heavier than fat.

Rats given CLA experienced a dramatic loss of subcutaneous fat. A recent analysis of a number of human studies also found fat loss, but it was less impressive. For detailed information on losing weight, read my special report "The Fat Cure: Health Secrets to Losing Weight Permanently."

I once had a young female patient who had a problem with localized fat accumulation that was resistantto both exercise and dietary control. I put her on 2,000 mg of CLA twice a day. Over the next several months, she lost the unwanted fat.

What was interesting about this case was that the fat was localized in her thighs, which can be the most difficult to lose. Yet she lost that fat without losing excess fat in other areas.

In repeating this treatment for other patients CLA has also been found to reverse obesity caused by monosodium glutamate, or MSG, which can be a very difficult fat to lose. It also works well against intra-abdominal fat — the kind that is particularly inflammatory and harmful.

 

© 2013 NewsmaxHealth. All rights reserved.

The Astounding Health Benefits Of One Simple Action

One simple activity can exert a tremendous influence over your health, lowering your risk of Alzheimer’s, protecting your heart, defending against cancer, decreasing your risk of disability, controlling your weight and increasing your life expectancy. Scientific research proves the health-power of this activity, but most people don’t seem to understand how much it can improve their lives.
Medical researchers have been astonished by the health-promoting effects of simply walking every day. While most Americans seem addicted to a couch potato lifestyle, scientists have proven that a daily walk (or, even better, several walks a day) improves the health of just about every part of the body.

The benefits of walking go from head to toe.

Brain Protection
Research at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania shows that walking can slow the development of memory problems and even slow the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
“We found that walking five miles per week protects the brain structure over 10 years in people with Alzheimer’s and MCI (mild cognitive impairment), especially in areas of the brain’s key memory and learning centers,” says researcher Cyrus Raji, Ph.D. “We also found that these people had a slower decline in memory loss over five years.”

Raji’s study showed that physical activities like walking are associated with larger brain size. Cognitively impaired people needed to walk at least 58 city blocks, or approximately five miles, every week to prevent brain shrinkage volume and slow cognitive decline. People with normal brains needed to walk at least 72 city blocks, or six miles, per week to maintain brain volume and significantly reduce their risk for cognitive decline.

Heart Protection
An exercise like walking also supports the health of the cardiovascular system and keeps the heart and arteries functioning better.

In a study where doctors worked with overweight heart patients, they found that long walks were the perfect way to lose weight and improve cardiovascular health.

“The higher-caloric exercise, consisting of almost daily long-distance walking, resulted in double the weight loss and a greater fat mass loss than standard cardiac rehabilitation exercise,” says researcher Philip A. Ades, M.D., director of cardiac rehabilitation and prevention at the University of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington. “And probably most importantly, these patients improved their insulin sensitivity to a greater degree.”

Weight Loss
If other people in your family are overweight, you may have inherited a tendency to gain weight. But that genetic inheritance doesn’t have to be your immutable destiny. A walking program can cut that genetic liability by 50 percent, according to a study at the Harvard School of Public Health. On the other hand, if you bury yourself in the couch all day, watching television and snacking, you’re just telling your obesity genes to pack on the pounds.

“While previous studies have looked at how physical activity affects genetic predispositions, this is the first study that directly looked at the effect of the sedentary behavior of television watching on the body mass index (BMI) of individuals with a genetic predisposition to obesity,” says Qibin Qi, Ph.D., study author and a postdoctorate research fellow in the department of nutrition at Harvard.
“In our study, a brisk one-hour daily walk reduced the genetic influence towards obesity, measured by differences in BMI, by half. On the other hand, a sedentary lifestyle marked by watching television four hours a day increased the genetic influence by 50 percent.”

Walking Toward Health
A wide range of research on walking has established other impressive benefits:

• A study at Vanderbilt University shows that walking can reduce a woman’s risk for endometrial cancer by as much as 40 percent. “This adds to the growing body of literature indicating that high levels of physical activity are associated with reduced risk of some cancers, including endometrial cancer,” says lead author Charles E. Matthews, Ph.D.
• Older adults can decrease their risk of disability and increase their likelihood of maintaining independence by 41 percent when they walk regularly, according to research at the University of Georgia.
• Brisk walking can lower the risk of cancer progression in men diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to a study at the University of California, San Francisco and the Harvard School of Public Health. “The important point was the intensity of the activity — the walking had to be brisk for men to experience a benefit,” says Erin Richman, Sc.D., the first author on the study. “Our results provide men with prostate cancer something they can do to improve their prognosis.”

One Foot In Front Of The Other
The human body needs to walk and exercise every day to stay healthy. In contrast, the couch potato lifestyle kills. As one scientist who has researched the benefits of walking puts it, you should “walk often and walk far.”

You’ll be glad you did.

Carl Lowe -  Sep 04, 2012
About the Author: has written about health, fitness and nutrition for a wide range of publications including Prevention Magazine, Self Magazine and Time-Life Books. The author of more than a dozen books, he has been gluten-free since 2007

Do You Suffer from Stress, Insomnia, Depression or Excess Weight?

Are You Looking for Ways to Change? We have a simple program that is as natural as laying back and closing your eyes.



Simply put, visualization is the process of forming mental images; it is the primary component of the imagination.

Visualization is at the core of the human ability to create, innovate and dream.

Many of history's inventors and artists attribute their success to an exceptional ability to visualize. Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Henry Ford, and the great composer, Chopin all reported using creative visualization to spark their imaginations. Additionally, Albert Einstein once said he came up with the theory of relativity by imagining what would happen if he could travel through space on the tip of a light beam.

Creative visualization can transport you out of a state of stress or fear, and into a new space of inner calm, peace and tranquility. Additionally, a natural byproduct of creative visualization occurs when the body goes loose and limp, creating the relaxation response - the perfect state for learning and focusing on goals.

Mind/Body Support

Visualization has long been the primary tool for mind/body support. From a scientific perspective, we know, that because visualization directly impacts the body's neurological system, it can have a direct influence on us physically.

Try this for an example: Imagine I have just handed you a large, yellow, juice-filled lemon. You slice the lemon into quarters and bring one of the quarters to your mouth and bite into it . . . what happened? Did your mouth begin to pucker? Did it fill with saliva? This is a naturally occurring neurological response to an imagined thought.

Have you ever watched a horror film, and, in the midst of the excitement, found your palms sweating and your heart pounding? You knew it was "just a movie," right?

If your mind can cause this kind of impact on your body, is there any reason it can't relax your muscles, overpower nicotine, stimulate your metabolism, or even do away with chronic pain?

Why Use Creative Visualization and Guided Relaxation Together?

We all have an inner critic, a part of our mind which, based on past experience, rejects unfamiliar information without proper evaluation. This is known as the critical factor. Studies show that relaxation techniques subdue this critical factor, making you receptive to new ideas. Even though it may seem counterintuitive to "let go in order to gain control," this is exactly what happens during the relaxation response.

Through NewReality's visualization techniques, you experience positive and appropriate ways to imagine your personal goals. This helps you remain optimistic and motivated toward changes that bring about your success.

CVR Provides the Missing Link to Wellness

Recent research shows excessive stress can suppress the immune system. Therefore, it's vital to incorporate a program of stress reduction and relaxation into your everyday routine. By reducing anxiety and stress, and increasing relaxation, you can boost your immune system and use your own unlimited resources to improve your life.

But don't think CVR is only a nice, relaxing daydream. People who regularly relax with CVR processes enjoy a number of side-benefits. These may include:

• Increased blood flow to the brain, resulting in clearer thinking, better concentration, improved memory and enhanced creativity
• A 21% increase in serotonin, which calms the mind and body and creates an overall sense of wellbeing
• A 25% increase in endorphins, the hormones that flow through your body when you feel happy
• Better sleep patterns. Twenty minutes of CVR can be equivalent to 2-3 hours of sleep, so you may find yourself sleeping less, feeling more rested, accomplishing more, and finding extra enjoyment in life
• Soaring energy levels
• More fulfilling relationships
• Improved career satisfaction
• A clearer sense of purpose
• And last, but certainly not least, a seemingly effortless ability to manage stress