Certain gut bacteria may encourage obesity, according to a study that appears on Thursday in Nature, the weekly British science journal.
The intestine has two groups of bacteria — the Firmicutes and the Bacteroidetes — that help to break down food. They account for more than 90 percent of intestinal bacteria types.
Washington University researcher Jeffrey Gordon led a team that found the amount of Bacteroidetes is lower among obese people than among lean people.
They did further experiments in mice, finding that the gut bacteria of obese mice not only had fewer Bacteroidetes than their skinny counterparts, but also was rich in genes that broke down hard-to-digest foods more easily.
Fewer calories remained in the feces of the obese mice than in those of the lean ones, which suggests the chubby rodents were able to extract more energy from their food thanks to their stomach bacteria.
In another test, 12 obese people went on a diet for a year, eating either food that was low in fat or low in carbohydrates, and their gut germs were monitored during this time.
Before the diet, the intestines of the obese group were higher in Firmicutes and lower in Bacteriodetes than the control group.
After the diet, the Firmicutes fell back and the Bacteriodetes increased.
The human intestine has around 100,000 billion bacteria.
The rise in obesity is blamed almost universally on a shift to high-fat, high-sugar diets and an inactive lifestyle over the past few decades.
But scientists are also interested in additional factors that could explain why the obesity crisis has emerged so quickly and why some individuals are more likely to gain weight than others. (AFP)
根據英國科學週刊《自然》週四的報導,某些腸細可能會引發肥胖。腸內有兩組有助於分解食物的菌叢︰F菌叢與B菌叢。腸內有九成以上的細菌是由它們組成。
華盛頓大學研究員傑夫瑞.高登領導的小組發現,胖子的B菌叢數比瘦子的少。
他們進一步以老鼠實驗發現,胖鼠的腸菌不只比瘦鼠少,也富含更易分解難消化食物的基因。
殘留在胖鼠排泄物的卡路里比留在瘦鼠的少,意指胖齧齒動物的胃菌可以幫牠們從食物吸取較多能量。
另一項實驗中,十二位過重者節食一整年,只吃低脂或低碳水化合物的食物,並觀察這段期間的腸菌。
節食之前,相較於體重節制者,過重者腸內的F菌叢較高,B菌叢也較低。
節食後,人體的F菌叢減少,B菌叢增加。人類腸內約有一百兆個細菌。
數十年以來,一般都把變胖歸咎於高脂高糖飲食的轉變,以及缺乏活力的生活方式。
不過科學家也對其他成因,如肥胖危機為何如此快速浮現,以及有些人為何較容易變胖,相當感興趣。
(法新社/翻譯:賴美君)
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
It’s no secret that Japanese people have a deep affection for noodles. Like in the rest of East Asia, noodles are an important staple food, second only to rice. Japanese people have enjoyed noodles for over 1,000 years. The first noodles came from China and were introduced around 800 CE. As time passed, noodles in Japan not only became widespread but also developed some unique Japanese characteristics. The three most popular types of noodles in Japan are ramen, soba, and udon. Ramen, typically made from wheat flour, is usually thin and firm. The dough is kneaded and left to
Rice is an essential ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine. Many foods are made of rice, adding more variety to our cooking, such as rice cake, or “gui.” Wagui is made by steaming rice flour batter in a bowl. The term “gui” refers to a type of food made from rice, while “wa” refers to a bowl. The pronunciation of “gui” in Taiwanese Hokkien is similar to the word for “nobility” in Chinese, so it is common for people to prepare various types of gui, including wagui, as offerings to the gods or ancestors,. 米是台灣重要的主食,用米製成的食品十分多元,豐富我們的飲食,如米做成的「粿」。粿的意思是米做成的糕點,碗粿是將在來米漿倒入碗中蒸熟,因而得名。粿因為音同「貴」,因此碗粿等粿食常用作供品祭拜神明和祖先。 nobility (n.) 高貴,高尚;貴族 offering (n.) 供品 While Taiwan may not be
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