One in four have too little intestinal bacteria

One in four people in a new study had too little intestinal bacteria to be able to prevent internal inflammation.
Some 292 people from Denmark were assessed as part of a EU-funded research programme led by Professor S. Dusko Ehrlich and results showed that 25 per cent have up to 40 per cent less gut microbes than average.
This is important because not having enough bacteria in this area of the body has been proven to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes development and obesity.
But there is action that overweight people can take. A French research team recently reported that maintaining a low-fat diet for six weeks can increase the diversity of gut microbes, which helps reduce inflammation and the risk of prediabetes.
Despite these revelations, Professor Ehrlich warns that not enough is known about intestinal bacteria and it is unclear why some people have lower than normal levels.
Finding this out is the EU-backed team’s main goal, with exposure to antimicrobial agents in early childhood a leading hypothesis among scientists.