Weight gain could be 'completely prevented' by vaccine uncovered in new research
Millions of people turn to diets and exercise this time of year to keep their weight in check. Between challenges and trends like Dry January and Veganuary, there are many ways Scots can make significant lifestyle changes in 2025.
It's not all about the numbers on the scales - being happy, confident, and following the age-old saying of 'everything in moderation' is a healthy way to approach weight loss if that is what motives you and keeps you on track.
Out of all the fads, though, researchers have teased that a vaccine to prevent weight gain may be on the horizon. New University of Colorado Boulder research suggests a surprising tool could help you achieve your body goals - exposure to beneficial bacteria.
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The study, published in journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity in December, shows that animals injected weekly with a microorganism found in cow's milk and soil were essentially immune to weight gain from a high-fat, high-sugar diet.
"What is so striking about this study is that we saw a complete prevention of diet-related weight gain in these animals," said senior author Christopher Lowry, professor of integrative physiology. "This suggests that exposure to beneficial bacteria can protect us against some of the negative health outcomes of the typical Western diet."
Healthy forms of bacteria, referred to as "old friends" by scientists, evolved alongside humans. Over time, as we moved from farms to urban environments, we lost touch with it, putting us at higher risk for inflammatory diseases.
Lowry found that an organism called M. vaccae, present in cow's milk and soil, can prevent stress-induced inflammation and health problems in mice. He explored the idea of developing a "stress vaccine" derived from dirt-dwelling microbes to see if it helped to counter brain inflammation and anxiety that can come with a poor diet.
The experiment went like this: one set of adolescent mice was fed standard, healthy food for 10 weeks. The other consumed the rodent equivalent of Big Macs and fries. Half of each group also got weekly injections of M. vaccae.
All groups ate about the same number of calories, and all the mice gained some weight as they matured into adulthood. As expected, the untreated junk food group began to gain significantly more weight at about six weeks than the healthy eaters.
By the study's end, they weighed about 16 percent more than the healthy eaters and had significantly more visceral fat—the "bad fat" that collects around organs and can boost risk of heart disease and diabetes.
To Lowry's surprise, there was no difference in weight gain between the junk food group that got injections of good bacteria and the healthy eaters, "suggests that M. vaccae prevents the excessive weight gain induced by a Western-style diet".
Lowry says the best way to get exposed to "old friends" is to get out in nature, work in the garden and eat a variety of fresh vegetables - because ditching junk food is easier said than done.
"More than half of the food sold in grocery stores is junk food," Lowry said. "It's everywhere and it's hard to avoid. If we can simply restore our exposure to these old friends, we could potentially prevent weight gain and other health impacts even in the presence of our terrible Western diet."
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