May be contagious- obesity!

Scientists have claimed that obesity could be contagious, after a study from Yale University discovered that gut microbes could be to blame for excess weight.

Obesity and liver disease could be triggered by proteins called inflammasomes which can alter microbes in the stomach, say the researchers.

The real discovery came when researchers found that this altered microbe environment could actually be passed on, meaning that being overweight could be infectious.

So far seen only in mice, if it proves true for humans as well it could go some way to explaining why husband and wife pairs seem to put on weight together, or why best friends seem to influence each other’s weight gain.

The report, published in the journal Nature, concentrated on researchers who fed a group of mice bred for fatty liver disease a Western-style high fat diet. Not surprisingly, the mice gained weight. The Yale team says this was due to microbes which changed the bacteria in the stomachs of the mice.

The real discovery came, however, when healthy mice were then housed in the same cage as the mice with fatty liver disease. The new mice also gained weight and got fatty liver disease.

The only explanation was that the altered intestinal environment of the mice was somehow transferred or contagious.

When the mice were given antibiotics to eliminate the stomach microbes, both the liver disease and obesity fell.

Yale Professor of Immunobiology, Richard Flavell, senior author of the study, said: “We could make a mouse fatter just by putting it in the same cage as the other mouse. When healthy mice were co-housed with mice that had altered gut microbes, the healthy mice also developed susceptibility for development of liver disease and obesity.”

The results suggest that bacteria may be just as important as diet in encouraging obesity.

Flavell conceded that there was still a great deal of research needed but said that examining whether obesity could be contagious in humans was the next step.

He added: “We found, in mice, that targeted antibiotic treatment brought the microbial composition back to normal, and thus eased the liver disease. Our hope is that our findings may eventually lead to a treatment for humans.”