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Gut microbiota signatures of vulnerability to food addiction in mice and humans
Food addiction is a complicated illness marked by an inability to manage one’s food consumption, which may lead to obesity and change the makeup of the gut flora. The purpose of this study by Samulėnaitė et al. (2024) was to look at how the gut bacteria may contribute to the processes that underlie food addiction. The scientists identified unique gut microbiome patterns linked with vulnerability to severe food addiction by classifying persons and mice into subpopulations based on the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) 2.0 criteria. Both human and animal cohorts exhibited notable similarities in gut microbiota signatures linked to food addiction. These signals indicated that Proteobacteria bacteria may have negative impacts, whereas Actinobacteria bacteria may have protective benefits against the emergence of food addiction. Specifically, addicted individuals showed a decreased relative abundance of Blautia wexlerae, while addicted mice exhibited reduced levels of the Blautia genus. Administering non-digestible carbohydrates lactulose and rhamnose, which promote Blautia growth, resulted in increased Blautia levels in mouse feces alongside significant improvements in food addiction behaviors. Similarly, oral administration of Blautia wexlerae as a probiotic also improved food addiction symptoms. These findings highlight the interplay between behavioral changes associated with food addiction and gut microbiota composition. They provide insights that could lead to novel treatments targeting gut microbiota to alleviate food addiction and related eating disorders in the future. [NPID: Food addiction, gut microbiota, proteobacteria, actinobacteria, non-digestible carbohydrates, lactulose, rhamnose]
Year: 2024
