Obesity is infectious intestinal disease, scientists say

"I put on weight even if I look at a piece of cake," some people may often say. They are right. Many obese people find it extremely hard to lose weight. At the same time, a human being with a normal weight may not eat just for one day to lose up to a kilo of his or her weight. Why does it happen like that? Scientists say that the reason for obesity lies in intestines. Does it mean that obesity can be contagious?

Recipes of new magical diets and weight loss pills appear on a regular basis. However, the number of obese people in the world continues to grow. The share of overweight people among the adult population of the planet increased during the recent 12 years from 8.5 in 1997 to 14.5 percent in 2009 - by 6.5 million people. It goes without saying that some reasons that make people gain excessive weight are obvious (redundant nutrition or sedentary lifestyle, etc). However, there are many other important, albeit unknown, theories.

The phenomenon of infectious obesity became known as "infectobesity." The term was coined in 2001 by Indian professor Nikhil V. Dhurandhar.

There are as many as 100 quintillion bacteria living on a human being. Five hundred pairs of various bacteria species live inside the human body. The quantity of bacteria is the largest in the human intestines. One of the main functions of intestinal bacteria is to help the body digest food. The bacteria also protect the body from the intervention of pathogenic microorganisms. The bacteria also help us receive the maximum from the food that we eat. For example, they turn lipids into the nutrients that humans are capable of digesting. MORE>>>>>