Study: Cold Climate May Make You Fat

DETROIT (WWJ) - It's yet another reason to dislike the cold if you don't already.

UC Berkeley and University of Arizona researchers say people who live in the Northern Hemisphere are fatter because of the cold climate — but not for the reasons you might think.

They say gut bacteria that raise the risk of obesity thrive in low temperatures.

In humans, obesity is associated with two different types of bacteria normally found in the intestine.

Their study of about a thousand people from 23 countries found people who live further from the equator tend to have more of the bacteria that make you fat and fewer of the kind that make you skinny.

Guess what? Obese people also have that mix.

In previous research, when obese people were put on a diet, their proportion of fat-storing bacteria decreased, and the fat-burning bacteria increased, in line with their loss of body fat.

Read more about the research HERE.