Are Bacteria Making You Hungry?

Over the last half decade, it has become increasingly clear that the normal gastrointestinal (GI) bacteria play a variety of very important roles in the biology of human and animals. Now Vic Norris of the University of Rouen, France, and coauthors propose yet another role for GI bacteria: that they exert some control over their hosts' appetites. Their review was published online ahead of print in the Journal of Bacteriology.

This hypothesis is based in large part on observations of the number of roles bacteria are already known to play in host biology, as well as their relationship to the host system. "Bacteria both recognize and synthesize neuroendocrine hormones," Norris et al. write. "This has led to the hypothesis that microbes within the gut comprise a community that forms a microbial organ interfacing with the mammalian nervous system that innervates the gastrointestinal tract." (That nervous system innervating the GI tract is called the "enteric nervous system." It contains roughly half a billion neurons, compared with 85 billion neurons in the central nervous system.)

Read more here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121219142301.htm