I recently read about fecal transplant as a solution to certain gastric infections. Ppatient had chosen to get a transplant from her daughter who was healthy but obese. The person recovered from the infection but over the next months gained a significant amount of weight or so I read, I forget exactly where
There have been similar experiments with mice, where the mice take on the body characteristics of the obese mice after receiving their gut bacteria.
My diet when I was younger was quite Sad. I started watching my weight as a teenager but was not heavy until my late 20s. Since then whenever I gain weight it is never 2 lbs a year, it is more like 20 lbs at a time over a period of months. This happened the first time I really gained weight and continues to happen when I am not watching my weight. Note the first time this happened although I had watched my weight I had never been a yoyo dieter or even ever lost a significant amount of weight. When not on keto I am unable to maintain weight homeostasis I have no idea why. I was able to in my early 20s but not since my second significant weight gain in my 20s
This same thing happened to my youngest son, he was my thinnest child and then over a winter when he was 6 he gained a significant amount of weight. You can track it in pictures. He still struggles with weight and appetite (not putting him on keto until he is done growing). I have thought about going back and asking the pediatrician to track his antibiotic usage in that period although I do not know that it is related. He was not an exceptionally sickly child or anything but did get the normal amount of strep and ear infections
Assuming there is something to this, short of a transplant, what can we do to encourage thin bacteria? I already eat prebiotics, fermented food, plain greek yogurt, psllium and chia seeds and try to limit Advil and Tylenol as much as possible