There is a bacterium responsible for the change in metabolism that induces the return of weight after a diet, but there is also a way to stop this process: forfeiting proteins
When we stop a diet, we often end up gaining weight. And until now it was not understood why: a new study conducted by the Shanghai Academy of Sciences has identified the reason, namely the bacteria responsible for the change in metabolism.
But there is also good news: a protein-based diet or the use of penicillin-based antibiotics could limit this process, helping us to maintain a healthy weight.
Why do we regain weight after a diet
Thanks to experiments conducted on mice subjected to 10 different diet protocols, the Chinese team was able to demonstrate that the ‘blame’ for the return of the kilos lost during a diet is to be attributed to Lactobacillus and its metabolites, which increase in the intestine of animals once the fast has ended. This change in the microbiome causes intestinal tissues to start absorbing fat again.
The test makes researchers think that the same dynamic takes place in the intestine of humans and that periods of intermittent fasting or calorie control encourage the gut to increase its ability to extract fat from our diet, making weight regain more likely.
“Weight regain after a diet is still a major challenge and the underlying mechanisms remain largely elusive,” write the researchers in the Nature Metabolism article, but “Here we demonstrate that refeeding after various types of dieting induces rapid of fat and increased intestinal absorption of lipids, which contributes to the increase in fat mass after the diet“.
The benefits of a protein based diet
The researchers also identified a way to prevent the weight from returning after dieting: By feeding mice a series of diets with different levels of protein, they found that a high protein diet limited the growth of the Lactobacillus, thus limiting the amount of accumulated fat.
“Feeding a high protein diet after dieting significantly prevents the accumulation of fat mass and also partially maintains the fat loss effect induced by the diet”: this is the secret to preventing the increase of weight after diet.
This finding leads the research team to conclude that the reason many people have trouble maintaining weight loss may not just be that they eat more or spend less time exercising after a diet, but just a fundamental change of the microbiome.
Penicillin to avoid weight gain
Also, it appears that penicillin treatment is capable of limit the growth of the Lactobacillus bacterium, potentially offering another antibiotic-based approach to prevent weight gain after dieting.
Now the Chinese team continues the study investigating the effects of a high protein diet to help maintain a healthy weight.