5 non-food things that make us FAT

Kirstie Brewer (BBC News, 4/28/18, ); Ashley Wells, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterl

I'm not fat. I have American thighs. And my gut bacteria (and emotions) make me eat.

 

Five things you might be surprised affect weight

There's a healthy person in here. Just wait.

People might think battling obesity is down to sheer willpower, but medical research says otherwise.

Here are five potentially surprising factors that can affect our weight, as unearthed by The Truth About Obesity.

1. Gut microbes

Prof. Tim Spector has been tracking their progress over 25 years as part of the Twins Research UK study.

 

He believes a lot of their weight differences are down to the tiny organisms -- microbes [probiotics, beneficial bacteria] -- that live deep in the gut. 

 

"Every time you eat anything, you're feeding a hundred trillion microbes. You're never dining alone," he says. 

 

A stool sample from each twin revealed Gillian, the thinner of the two, had a very diverse range of microbes, whereas Jackie had very few species living in her gut. 

 

Don't call me "fat"! I'm "big boned."

"The greater the diversity, the skinnier the person. If you're carrying too much weight, your microbes aren't as diverse as they should be," says Prof. Spector, who found the same pattern in a study of 5,000 people.

Having a healthy and varied diet, rich in different sources of fiber, has been shown to create a more diverse range of gut microbes. 

 

Prof. Spector warns most Britons [to say nothing of the SAD Americans or "Standard American Diet people of the USA"] eat only half the fiber they should. Good sources of dietary fiber include:

• wholegrain breakfast cereals
• fruits, including berries and pears
• vegetables, such as broccoli and carrots
• beans
• pulses
• nuts

2. The gene lottery

Why do some people diligently follow diets and exercise regularly but still struggle to see results, while others do very little and don't pile on the pounds?

Scientists at Cambridge University believe 40-70% of the effect on our weight is down to variation in the genes we inherit. "It is a lottery," says Prof. Sadaf Farooqi... More