AusSMC Briefing - Go with your gut: How yo-yo diets, poop pills and modern food are changing our insides

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2016-01-19 09:00

Australia; NSW; QLD; SA

*ONLINE BRIEFING - Recording now available* - Yo-yoing between eating well during the week and bingeing on junk food over the weekend is likely to be just as bad for your gut health as a consistent diet of junk, new UNSW research suggests. Published this week in the journal Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, the study found even intermittent exposure to junk food three days a week was enough to shift the gut bacteria in rats to match that of obese rats consuming the diet continuously. But why are the tiny cells in our stomach, known as gut microbiota or the microbiome, so important? How has it changed from our days as cave men? And most importantly, are poo transplants the next best thing to help you lose weight and cure you of disease? Join us for this online news briefing where three experts will take us through some of the latest microbiome research, as well as its long history, and clarify any gut feelings you may have over poop pills.

Media release

From: Australian Science Media Centre

*Briefing recording now available - see link below*

Yo-yoing between eating well during the week and bingeing on junk food over the weekend is likely to be just as bad for your gut health as a consistent diet of junk, new UNSW research suggests.

Published this week in the journal Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, the study found even intermittent exposure to junk food three days a week was enough to shift the gut bacteria in rats to match that of obese rats consuming the diet continuously.

But why are the tiny cells in our stomach, known as gut microbiota or the microbiome, so important? How has it changed from our days as cave men? And most importantly, are poo transplants the next best thing to help you lose weight and cure you of disease?

Join us for this online news briefing where three experts will take us through some of the latest microbiome research, as well as its long history, and clarify any gut feelings you may have over poop pills.

The briefing will discuss the following issues:

The latest research from UNSW on yo-yo dieting and its effect on gut bacteria
How the microbiome affects more than just our stomachs
How our changing diet over 100,000s of years has affected our insides

Speakers:

Professor Margaret Morris, Head of Pharmacology at UNSW and author of the yo-yo dieting study out this week
Professor Matt Cooper, Director, Centre for Superbug Solutions, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland
Dr Laura Weyrich, ARC DECRA Fellow in the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA at the University of Adelaide

Date: Wed 20 Jan 2016
Start Time: 9.30am AEDT
Duration: 46 mins
Venue: Online

Attachments

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Media Release The University of New South Wales PDF , 244.2 KB

Other Australian Science Media Centre, Web page Link to full briefing recording

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Organisation/s: Australian Science Media Centre, The University of New South Wales, The University of Queensland, University of Adelaide

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