OneAndOneIs2

The modern world is full of contradictions. As previously-fatal diseases such as diabetes becomes easily treatable, there is no longer any 'selection pressure' removing carriers of genetic susceptibility to diseases from the gene pool.

The upshot of this is that the diseases will increase in number. Great for the people who manufacture the cure, but less great for the population as a whole. By finding a treatment for a condition, you actually make it afflict more people.

A possible solution is to use genetic engineering to remove 'faulty' genes so that inherited disorders are not passed on. But there are so many issues that arise when you start thinking about tampering with human genes.

So what about an alternative way of using GE to improve human health?

As we all know, the typical western diet is far too high in carbohydrates, particularly sugars; and fats, particularly saturated fats.

So here's an idea. We've all seen "friendly bacteria" yoghurt advertised - at least, I have, and with the miniscule amount of TV I watch, if I've seen it the whole world has.

What if you were to GE these bacteria to be even more friendly?

It doesn't actually matter how much sugar you eat. Seriously, it doesn't. What matters is how much gets through your gut and into the bloodstream.

So if you had a whole load of bacteria that got there first...

Some bacteria can polymerise sugars into cellulose - which we can't digest. If the bacteria in our stomachs could be engineered to "soak up" the excess sugar and convert it in this manner, they would eliminate one of the big excesses from our diet, and also provide us with both extra fiber, and water - both of which we could mostly do with more of.

And if those bacteria used the cellulose to put a wall around themselves, like plant cells do, and then absorbed all the fat they could find.. well, then all that sugary fatty food would be turned into millions of tiny balls of indigestible, fat-filled grains of fiber.

Sure, it wouldn't solve every problem. But if bacteria COULD be engineered to do this, it could stop an awful lot of diet-related health problems at a stroke.

No pun intended ;o)