Researchers To Study Whether Stool Transplants Can Forestall Diabetes.

Most of the microbes are found in the lower intestine, where they digest food that wasn’t broken down higher in the gastrointestinal track. But a high-calorie diet of fast food and highly processed and sweetened foods gets broken down earlier, leaving few leftovers for most of the microbes. “So you can imagine that if microbes are not getting fed, they are hungry and they’re going to tell the brain, ‘Eat more,’ ” Khoruts said. “We’re eating more and we’re getting fatter, and the cycle continues.” Eventually, the microbes go extinct, and the only way to fix the problem is a fecal transplant from a lean, healthy donor. Obese people, studies have shown, have less diverse microbiota than lean individuals. And the microbiota found in remote tribal peoples — who haven’t been exposed to antibiotics or processed foods — are far more diverse than those found among urbanites. http://www.startribune.com/local/284227581.html