WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - According to a recent study published in Gut, scientists have identified a specific gut bacteria, which appears to be related to compulsive eating and obesity.
'A number of factors contribute to food addiction, which is characterized by loss of control over food intake and is associated with obesity, other eating disorders, and alterations in the composition of bacteria in the gut microbiome,' said Professor Elena Martin-Garcia, of Pompeu Fabra University, Spain.
'Until now, the mechanisms underlying this behavioral disorder were largely unknown.'
The research team used the Yale Food Addiction Scale to diagnose food addiction, which contained 35 questions, measuring persistent food-seeking, motivation to obtain food and compulsive behavior.
Tests on the mice with an addiction to food found that it had higher levels of Proteobacteria, and lower levels of Actinobacteria and Blautia. Same results were noted in humans also.
'The gut microbiota signatures in both mice and humans suggest possible non-beneficial effects of bacteria (belonging to the Proteobacteria phylum) and potential protective effects of increasing the abundance of Actinobacterial and Bacillota against the development of food addiction,' noted Prof Martin-Garcia.
Professor Rafael Maldonado, who leads the university's Laboratory of Neuropharmacology, commented, 'These results from our study may allow us to identify new biomarkers for food addiction and, most importantly, to evaluate whether the beneficial bacteria could be used as potential new treatments for this obesity-related behavior, which, at present, lacks any effective therapeutic approaches'.
Copyright(c) 2024 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2024 AFX News
