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A new research find that Bacteria living in the gut may impact an individual's weight, fat and good cholesterol levels. The findings of the study suggest that microbes in the gut are strongly linked to the blood level of HDL (good cholesterol) and triglycerides. The study appeared in Circulation Research. Bacteria in the gut contributed to 4.6% of the difference in body fat, 6% in triglycerides and 4% in HDL.
Jingyuan Fu, associate professor of genetics at University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands, "Gut bacteria may be added as a new risk factor for abnormal blood lipids, in addition to age, gender, body mass index (BMI) and genetics."
Research team studied the association between gut microbes and blood lipid levels in 893 people in the Netherlands. They identified 34 different types of bacteria that contributed to differences in body fat (BMI) and blood lipids such as triglycerides and the good cholesterol known as high-density lipoprotein (HDL).
Fu said, "Surprisingly, gut bacteria had little relationship with bad cholesterol (low-density lipoproteins or LDL ) or total cholesterol levels. As less than 30% of bacteria in the human gut have been cultured, we know very little about who they are and what they do. With state-of-art deep sequencing technology, we are now able to identify them."
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