Maggie Stanislawski, Ph.D., is not a bug expert in the traditional sense. She’s an assistant professor of biomedical informatics who spends her days studying the gut microbiome—an entire world of tiny organisms living in our digestive system.
These organisms include bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microbes. Scientists believe that they may hold the key to better health, especially when it comes to weight loss.
Stanislawski is using her background in math, statistics, and public health to understand how these “gut bugs” can be influenced to help people lose weight and keep it off.
In a recent study, she looked at how the gut microbiome changes during intermittent fasting (IMF), a popular dieting method, compared to daily calorie restriction (DCR). This research is part of a larger study called DRIFT.
The main study found that people who followed intermittent fasting lost more weight than those who reduced calories daily. This opened a door for Stanislawski and her team to explore what was happening in the gut during the process.
Science already shows that there is a link between gut microbes and obesity in humans. But understanding how these microbes help with weight loss in people is more difficult than in animal studies. In her study, published in the journal Nutrients, Stanislawski tried to uncover how these microorganisms affect weight loss and weight maintenance.
One of her goals is to understand if certain changes in gut microbes help people keep the weight off after dieting. Many people regain the weight they lose, but animal studies show that a strong change in the gut microbiome may help prevent that.
She and her team noticed that as people improved their diet and exercise, the diversity of their gut microbes (called alpha diversity) also improved. Those with greater diversity tended to lose more weight.
They also kept the weight off better after the program ended. This suggests that changes in gut health could be helping with long-term success.
They also found that specific types of gut bacteria may play an important role. For example, certain bacteria produce short-chain fatty acids like acetate, butyrate, and propionate.
These substances help reduce inflammation, support the gut lining, and may help control hunger. These acids can even activate a hormone called GLP-1, which helps reduce appetite and is mimicked by popular weight-loss medications.
One bacterium called Akkermansia muciniphila makes acetate, and it was linked with better weight and health outcomes in the intermittent fasting group but not in the daily calorie restriction group.
Short-chain fatty acids may also help the body burn more energy, even while at rest. This could help explain why some people are better at maintaining weight loss. The team is also interested in studying the effects of exercise alone on the gut microbiome to see how that changes weight outcomes.
Looking ahead, this kind of research could lead to more personalized weight loss plans. Doctors might one day recommend specific foods or probiotics based on a person’s gut bacteria. Even fecal transplants—currently used for treating serious infections—are being explored as a way to improve gut health and possibly support weight loss.
As for her own habits, Stanislawski tries to eat a wide variety of plant-based foods each week to feed her gut microbes. She avoids processed foods and includes prebiotic-rich vegetables and fruits in her diet.
She believes that eating 30 or more different fruits and vegetables each week, as shown in the American Gut Project, is a good way to support a healthy microbiome.
Her work shows that weight loss is not just about willpower or counting calories. It may also involve understanding and working with the tiny bugs inside us. With more research, our gut microbes could become important allies in the fight against obesity.
If you care about weight loss, please read studies that hop extract could reduce belly fat in overweight people, and early time-restricted eating could help lose weight .
For more health information, please see recent studies about a simple path to weight loss, and results showing a non-invasive treatment for obesity and diabetes.
The study is published in Nutrients.
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