Stimulated by evidence that bacterial (and viruses) inhabit previously unsuspected parts of the human body, the (US) National Microbiome Project, funded by the National Institutes of Health, has for the past five years conducted research into microbe-human mutualism and pathologies in their many respects (Michael Balter, "Taking Stock of the Human Microbiome and Disease", Science: 336, 8 June 2012, 1246-7). Evidence of the role of ubiquitous bacteria in diseases is now pouring in. Some of the evidence is observational, without biochemical, genetic, and other cellular level detail; but the evidence is overwhelming about the complicity of bacteria in many diseases, especially "autoimmune" diseases and inflammatory diseases.
I have accordingly amplified my previously brief hints about the role of bacteria in generating obesity by citing the recent review of evidence in Science, in my series on the causes of obesity.
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