Gut bugs, not just food and laziness, tied to weight gain

Beijing: Body fat or obesity is caused by bacteria and not by laziness or over eating alone, according to research by Chinese scientists. 
    The bacteria can actually make genes generate fat, a report in the state-run China Daily said on Wednesday quoting a research team led by Zhao Liping, a professor of microbiology and associate dean at the School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. They pointed out the precise link between a particular kind of bacteria and obesity, it said. 
    The paper was published on December 13 in the journal of the International Society for Microbial Ecology. 
    It showed that a pathogen, or infectious agent, isolated from the gut of an obese human induced obesity and insulin resistance in germ-free mice. In the study, researchers found an excessive growth of endotoxin-producing bacteria, accounting for 35% of the gut bacteria, in an obese patient, the report said. PTI