Geographic variation of human gut microbes tied to obesity
Saturday, February 15, 2014 - 05:01
in Health & Medicine
Researchers know that obese people have a different balance of microbes in their guts: more Firmicutes, fewer Bacteroidetes. Now researchers have found that people living in northern latitudes have a greater proportion of the Firmicutes associated with obesity than do people living farther south, and a smaller proportion of Bacteroidetes. The implications are unclear, though microbes may evolve with people to better extract energy from food in colder climates.