Here's an alternative explanation for the obesity epidemic:
Blame it on bacteria. A small group of scientists say their
research in mice suggests that a large part of the difference
between fat people and thin people may come down to the microbes
that live in their guts. The human digestive system is home to
between 10 trillion and 100 trillion bacteria -- at least 10
times the number of human cells in the body. ''This makes us
more microbe than man," said Dr. Jeffrey Gordon, director of the
Center for Genome Sciences at Washington University School of
Medicine in St. Louis. In exchange for shelter and a plentiful
food supply, these bacteria boost their host's digestion by
extracting nutrients from otherwise indigestible food particles.
Gordon believes, though his science isn't there yet, that people
with certain communities of gut microbes may get more calories
from their food -- and therefore pack on more fat -- than people
with a different set of bugs. Manipulating these bacteria by
diet or medications may