Oral Bacteria may be Associated with Obesity

Obesity is now being considered as a worldwide epidemic because of the increase in the number of people who are becoming overweight.

Researchers have been considering the fact that obesity might be caused by an infectious agent, particularly an oral bacteria. Researchers have been studying about the possible causes of obesity in order to prevent the epidemic that is apparently increasing every year.

Researchers believe that this preliminary work may provide some clues between the connections of oral bacteria to the pathology of obesity.

In this study, the researchers are trying to compare the difference between the bacterial composition of the saliva of overweight women and non-obese women. J.M. Goodson and his colleagues have measured the bacterial composition of obese women and non-obese women. They have collected saliva samples for 313 subjects composed of obese women. The results of the salivary composition were compared against 232 healthy women who are not overweight.

DNA analysis was used to determine the bacterial composition and population in the saliva. Based from the data that the researchers have found, bacteria called Selenomonas noxia were present in almost 98.4% of the samples from the obese women. The levels of the bacteria present in the saliva were more than 1.05% of the total salivary bacteria.

Based from the analysis, the composition of bacteria in the saliva changes as the individual becomes obese. These bacteria may be an indicator that obesity is developing. Researchers suggest that there is a need for further research to be able to determine that oral bacteria really have something to do with the pathology of obesity.