Recently, the American online publication HealthDay News published interesting data on a new respiratory test, which is able to predict the likelihood of obesity in patients, according to an online edition for girls and women from 14 to 35 years Pannochka. net This simple test is used to identify one bacterium that gives doctors information about the body fat content.

The microflora, that is, the trillions of bacteria that inhabit our digestive tract, maintains the necessary balance in the body. If pathogenic bacteria begin to multiply more actively, then a person experiences the symptoms of a so-called dysbacteriosis: bloating, constipation or diarrhea.

A recent study published in the journal "Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism" suggests that a similar scenario is possible with obesity.

Participants in the study were required to take lactulose syrup. Within 15-120 minutes after this, they took respiratory samples. The amount of adipose tissue in the participants' body was evaluated in two ways. The first, traditional method included the calculation of the body mass index. The second method consisted in measuring the electrical conductivity of the body, which is significantly different in fat and other tissues.

Those participants, whose breathing tests revealed more methane and hydrogen, had a higher BMI and more fat tissue than participants whose gas composition of exhaled air was normal. This dependence is related to the vital activity of the intestinal bacterium Methanobrevibacter smithii.

Researcher Dr Rushi Mathur, director of the diabetes clinic at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, USA, says that apparently when this bacterium begins to multiply intensively in the intestine, the body begins to accumulate fat faster and the person becomes fuller.

Scientists are sure that a method based on measurement of the gas composition of exhaled air will help to more accurately assess the fat tissue of the patient than other methods. They say that obesity is a disease that affects not only the size and shape of the body.

If the results of the study are confirmed, then for the treatment of obesity, fundamentally new approaches can be proposed. One possibility, for example, will be probiotics, which help restore the natural balance of microorganisms in the intestine. These drugs can play an important role in the treatment and prevention of obesity.

Dr. Spiros Mezitis, an endocrinologist at the Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, says: "This is a very important study that revealed a completely new relationship between BMI and the state of the intestinal microflora. We need to do further work to understand how the bacterium Methanobrevibacter smithii is associated with the obesity epidemic, and how it can be affected ".

Another prominent expert, Dr. Peter Green of the Center for Celiac Studies at the University of Columbia (New York) said it is still too early to think about using probiotics to combat obesity. Dr.

Green daily uses respiratory tests to diagnose gastroenterological patients with symptoms such as bloating, diarrhea, or constipation. He believes that the state of microflora may not always be such an important indicator, as California scientists assure.

Dr. Red Dwake from the Cleveland Clinic rightly remarked that if scientists can suppress a pathogenic bacterium and help patients lose weight faster, then still very much will depend on their lifestyle and eating habits.

medbe. en.

Keywords:.