Gut Bugs for the win?

Updated 4.23.2013; reformatted 9.17.2015
An article in Mother Jones (Mother Jones: Our gut bugs make us fat?) inspired this writing.

It's all about the microbiome.

The article is an overview of the science of the human gut microbiome and its relationship to inflammation levels. Apparently eating a greasy breakfast with a ton of refined carbs (specifically a McDonald's breakfast meal) causes inflammation levels in the body to increase and remain increased for hours.

However, if you drink a class of orange juice with the McDonald's meal, the inflammation doesn't occur. So it's not about how much you eat, says Dr. Daresh Dandona of State University New York- Buffalo, it's what you eat. High fiber breakfasts (such as fruit) don't cause inflammation.

It's all about inflammation.

One hypothesis for metabolic syndrome is that inflammation causes it. In this hypothesis inflammation is not a symptom, but a cause. The hope is that the inflammation hypothesis will be able to explain why some obese people are perfectly healthy and some thin people have metabolic syndrome.

If it does turn out that the microbiome determines obesity, then the likelihood of a pill to cure obesity is greater.

Another point for Nutritarians?

If you agree with the hypothesis, then Joel Fuhrman's nutritarian way of eating is one to consider, with its emphasis on high nutrient foods that lower inflammation. Of course, these foods tend to be lower in calorie than processed, refined foods. Lower caloric intake leads to weight loss, which alone will lower inflammation.

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