People accustomed to a calorie-rich diet may not be able to reap the full benefits of switching to a healthy diet immediately due to the works of the bacterial community inside the gut, suggests new research.
Certain human gut bacteria need to be lost for a diet plan to be successful, said the study that identified the organisms that help promote the effects of a particular diet.
“If we are to prescribe a diet to improve someone’s health, it’s important that we understand what microbes help control those beneficial effects,” said study senior author Jeffrey Gordon from at Washington University in St. Louis.
“And we’ve found a way to mine the gut microbial communities of different humans to identify the organisms that help promote the effects of a particular diet in ways that might be beneficial,” Gordon noted.