Breakthrough Study Links Gut Bacteria to Food Addiction and Obesity

New research reveals the communication mechanisms between your brain and gut.
An international team of researchers has pinpointed certain gut bacteria linked to the development of food addiction in both mice and humans, which can contribute to obesity. Additionally, they have identified bacteria that have a protective effect against food addiction.

The research was recently presented at the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) Forum 2024 and published simultaneously in the journal Gut.

Professor Elena Martín-García, from the Laboratory of Neuropharmacology-NeuroPhar in the Department of Medicine and Life Sciences at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain, told the FENS Forum: “A number of factors contribute to food addiction, which is characterized by loss of control over food intake and is associated with obesity, other eating disorders and alterations in the composition of bacteria in the gut – the gut microbiome. Until now, the mechanisms underlying this behavioral disorder were largely unknown.”