Faculty Opinions recommendation of Microbial ecology: human gut microbes associated with obesity.

Two groups of beneficial bacteria are dominant in the human gut, the Bacteroidetes and the Firmicutes. Here we show that the relative proportion of Bacteroidetes is decreased in obese people by comparison with lean people, and that this proportion increases with weight loss on two types of low-calorie diet. Our findings indicate that obesity has a microbial component, which might have potential therapeutic implications. PMID: 17183309 Funding information This work was supported by: NIDDK NIH HHS, United States Grant ID: P30 DK056341-06 NIDDK NIH HHS, United States Grant ID: P30 DK056341-05S2 NIDDK NIH HHS, United States Grant ID: P30 DK056341