Deportation and how a diet of bacteria might cure the obesity epidemic?

A news item the other day caught my eye: “Obese South African wins reprieve from deportation”. Evidently, the gentleman in the story was threatened with deportation from New Zealand due to his weight, the potential health care costs that might result, and the reluctance of the government to pay for any publicly-funded care that might result from his obesity. This is Mr. Buitenhui (he reportedly now weighs 130 kilograms, down from 160 kilograms a year or so ago). I hope he remains healthy and in whatever country he desires to live within.

Albert Buitenhui
Photo courtesy of www.dailytelegraph.com

Anyway, after better understanding how obesity became related to someone’s potential deportation, I saw this article: “Bacteria from Lean Mice Prevent Obesity in Peers”. The study, “Gut Microbiota from Twins Discordant for Obesity Modulate Metabolism in Mice” reported in Science, details how overweight mice became thinner after exposure to human gut bacteria from lean humans.  The mental leap I made (pretty easy leap) was that all that might be needed is for my thin neighbor to provide me with some of his skinny bacteria and I’d lose some weight. Although the details of how the right skinny bacteria get from one’s person’s intestinal tract into mine by an acceptable method haven’t been worked out, time and money will resolve the issues.
So this seemingly inexpensive (how much could bacteria cost to make?) and simple answer to obesity led me to wonder how much money might be available to make people thinner. Since money typically follows large populations with health issues, a review of the wealth of information from the American Heart Association’s 2013 Statistical Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2013 Update A Report From the American Heart Association provided the answer: “68% of US adults were overweight or obese (73% of men and 64% of women)”

Wow! I mean almost 7 out of 10 Americans are either overweight or obese? When did this all happen? Looking at the data from the AHA’s 2013 report shows a gradual increase from 1962 on:

So, there are plenty of overweight and obese people in the US who would benefit from weight reduction.  Further, projected health care costs attributable to cardiovascular disease (one of the undesirable outcomes of obesity) lead the list of top 20 diagnoses for health care spending:

The increase can partially be explained by the extent of the population with risk factors like obesity and being overweight coupled with the aging of the US population. [see “Demographics – Hold on, the ball is already rolling downhill!” for more on US demographics]

The area of microbiota is fascinating to me. If you want to dive a bit deeper into the subject a great place to start would be a special supplement in Nature devoted to microbiota.  Their description: “The human body is colonized by a vast number of microbes, collectively referred to as the human microbiota. The link between these microbes and our health is the focus of a growing number of research initiatives, and new insights are emerging rapidly, some of which we are proud to present in this special collection.”The biopharma world is looking for innovation; I think positively exploiting microbiota is one way to creatively innovate.