High-sugar diet disrupts the gut microbiome, leading to obesity (in mice)

Sugar may disrupt the community of bacteria living in the gut, thereby depleting crucial immune cells and causing obesity down the line, a new mouse study suggests. 

So far, the results have been shown only in mice. But if follow-up studies show similar trends in humans, that could eventually lead to treatments for metabolic disease and obesity, said senior author Ivaylo Ivanov, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.