ABC News - Scientists studying the power of probiotics to fight obesity got more than they bargained for: Not only does yogurt make mice slimmer; it also makes them sexier.
Studies in humans suggest eating yogurt may help stave off age-related weight gain. But Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers Eric Alm and Susan Erdman wanted to know why.
“Maybe it has to do with the healthy bacteria that live in our guts,” said Alm, an evolutionary biologist, explaining how there are 10 times more bacteria in the body than human cells. “Maybe probiotics in the yogurt have something to do with the effects on weight.”
To test the theory, Alm and Erdman fed one group of mice a normal mouse diet and another group the same diet with a mouse-sized serving of vanilla yogurt.
“One of the first things we noticed was their fur coat,” said Erdman, assistant director of comparative medicine at MIT. “It was so thick and shiny; shockingly shiny.”
But shiny fur wasn’t the only thing that set the yogurt-eating mice apart from their siblings: They were also slimmer, and the males had “swagger.”
