another article on gut bacteria

[flyingiguana]

I don't what it is about you folks, but when I see these articles I immediately think of you all:

 

http://www.latimes.com/science/la-sci-sn-low-fiber-diet-gut-microbiota-generation-20160112-story.html

 

"Western diets damage gut microbiota over generations, in ways hard to reverse...."

 

If a population eats a low fiber diet long enough, the high fiber loving bacteria just won't be around anymore.  Common sense, but now there's a study showing it in mice.

[regentrude]

Over generations of exposure to diets low in fiber, the research shows that a microbiotic population die-off threatens to drive some of the trillions of species that live in healthy human guts to the brink of extinction.

 

The bolded can't possibly be correct. There are not trillions of species living in the gut.

Edited January 13, 2016 by regentrude

[goldberry]

The bolded can't possibly be correct. There are not trillions of species living in the gut.

 

Later it says 

There are no "charismatic megafauna"--the equivalent of tigers and elephants--among the trillions of microbes that colonize the gut. 

 

Maybe they means microbes, not species.

[regentrude]

Overall, I do not find the result terribly surprising. If I recall correctly, to a large degree the colonization of an infant's gut happens during the birth process - which means the baby won't acquire bacteria the mother's intestine does not possess.