Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.

Yacold also partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for gut health, an investigator-led research program.

To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.

.jp. That's y-A-K-U-L-T.C-O.J-P. When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on Yacult.

This is Scientific Americans' 60-second science.'m Karen Hopkin. Got a minute?

Think it's your inability to resist cheesecake that's making it tough to fit into your skinny genes?

Your bacteria may share some of the blame. Because a new study in mice shows that the response of

intestinal microbes to a high-fat diet ends up triggering the release of a hormone

that makes mammals feel hungry, causing them to eat even more. The finding is served up in the journal Nature.

Previous work has shown that the types of bacteria in the gut in diabetic or obese individuals

are different from the bacteria in healthy people. But does this bacterial makeup contribute to these disorders, or is it just a side effect?

To unravel this mystery, researchers put mice on a high-fat diet.

The animal's experience a build-up of a chemical called acetate, particularly in the large intestine.

That location points to gut bacteria, which can produce acetate as a possible culprit.

So the researchers wiped out the microbes using antibiotics or a simple saline wash,

and acetate levels plummeted.

Okay, so the gut bacteria in fat-fed mice make acetate.

What does acetate do? Well, it gets the involuntary part

of the nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system, to put out the call to produce more

insulin. Unfortunately, in this case, acetate also gets the parasympathetic nervous system to stimulate

production of a hunger hormone called gurelin. And the more fats an animal consumes, the more acetate it makes, which means the more

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