Study shows digestive bacteria picky about what we consume

CHICAGO - Gut bacteria - colonies of bacteria that live in the human digestive tract - appear to have fairly picky dining habits, with one type preferring high-fat, fast-food fare, and another preferring a high-fiber feast, US researchers said on Thursday.

Researchers are increasingly trying to understand the interplay of bacteria and their human hosts.

"We know our human bodies are colonized with tons and tons of bacteria and other organisms. In your colon alone, you have more bacterial cells than you have human cells in your whole body," said Dr James Lewis, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, who worked on the study published in the journal Science.