Altering gut bacteria pathways may stimulate fat tissue to prevent obesity
The research team, led by J. Mark Brown, Ph.D., of Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute, studied the metabolic pathway that creates trimethylamine oxide (TMAO), a chemical produced by gut bacteria during digestion of key nutrients -- choline, lecithin and carnitine -- found abundantly in animal products, such as red meat, processed meats, egg yolks and liver. Dr. Brown's colleague on the current study -- Stanley Hazen, M.D., Ph.D. -- previously showed that high levels of TMAO are associated with a higher risk of severe cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke. Since cardiovascular disease and obesity are so closely linked, the team hypothesized that TMAO may also be involved in metabolic pathways that lead to obesity. They focused on a host enzyme called flavin-containing monooxygenase 3(FMO3), which converts TMAO into its active form. They discovered that mice that had a missing or deactivated FMO3 gene were protected from obesity, even when fed a h...