

Is eating behavior manipulated by the gastrointestinal microbiota? - mparramon
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/doi/10.1002/bies.201400071/

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dlss
This is a very interesting (though not new) hypothesis.
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21303428](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21303428)
is the usual citation.

Neither paper has data how much of your dietary behavior is microbe related,
which is a shame. Here's the data I have from developing a pseudo-FMT
probiotic:

During initial beta testing, I found myself snacking less and forgetting to
eat. The forgetting to eat bit was extremely abnormal, as I'm usually very
regular about meal times. I also found myself eating breakfast for the first
time since starting at college.

These and the experiences of my co-founder were sufficiently interesting that
we added questions to our pilot study, where 72% of participants reported a
reduction in food cravings and mild weight loss.

So the effect is much bigger than you might imagine. Here's a customer
describing his rather extreme subjective experience:

 _" I started a total fast on Monday, and for the first 3 days only consumed
water or green tea (and your probiotic), and today I only had BCAAs and a
plain salad with vinegar, and so far this has been by far the easiest fast
I've ever done. I haven't even gotten to the point where I feel physically
hungry yet, and even my psychological desire for food is much weaker than it
has been in past fasts."_

If anyone here is interested in a longer discussion of health related
microbiome research,
[http://www.generalbiotics.com/science](http://www.generalbiotics.com/science)
(which my co-founder wrote) provides a fairly through overview.

~~~
zoba
What do you mean by "developing a pseudo-FMT probiotic"? How did you do that?
I ask because your results are interesting enough that I'd like more
information to understand if I should pursue it.

~~~
maroonblazer
I believe he's referring to the product he's selling [1].

I've been struggling with digestive issues all my life. The recent findings on
gut microbiome have interested me. I checked out the site below and appreciate
the rigor behind the product development. Enough that I'll part with $37 to
see if it helps.

[1][http://www.generalbiotics.com/](http://www.generalbiotics.com/)

------
dschiptsov
> Alternative hypotheses for unhealthy eating and obesity

Where is the hypothesis that states of hunger and states of anxiety are
"signaled through the same mechanisms" (sorry, no time to locate all the long
names) and, that the state which in other languages is called "being full" is
gives "relief" from anxiety and stress. In other words, overeating is just a
misuse of food as an answer to increased stress.

Binge eating is not like binge drinking of a stupid youth, it is like "aged"
alcoholism of "staying stable" with a glass in each two hours. And it is much
closer to tobacco smoking than to drug abuse (there is a nice course "Drugs
and Brain" on coursera, btw).

Sometimes I wish I could be one of these "meme"-scientists claiming that they
have found oversimplified single cause (it is microbes, like fly, stupid!) for
a vastly complex, multiple-causation phenomena. Of course, microbes have some
influence over host's eating behavior, via described neuro-chemical feed-back
loops, but of course this is not a "single" or even the "most powerful" cause.

"Change of social norms" was a good insight - now it is OK to live this way.

~~~
tlholaday
> an answer to increased stress

It appears you did not read the article.

The microbes increase the host's feeling of stress (dysphoria) because it
influences the host to overeat.

~~~
dschiptsov
More than everything else? Without quantitative analysis - does it amount for
a 0.5% of stress or 3% (which I think is intractable problem) it is an "empty
message". Nightfall also increase a feeling of stress, so what? TV increases
it more than darkness. How could you distinguish between these causes of
stress outside a lab?

