Feeling kind of full of yourself over the holidays? You're not alone but there may be help on the horizon! An article on MSNBC.com reveals new findings about the roles that microbes play in your digestive tract. Two different types were isolated and they were found to be partially to blame for how many calories your body could separate from different types of food. 

"In one study, Gordon and colleagues looked at what happened in mice with changes in bacteria level. When lean mice with no germs in their guts had larger ratios of Firmicutes transplanted, they got “twice as fat” and took in more calories from the same amount of food than mice with the more normal bacteria ratio, said Washington University microbiology instructor Ruth Ley, a study co-author.It was as if one group got far more calories from the same bowl of Cheerios than the other, Gordon said.

Of course this is great news for the people that claim that no matter how much they diet they can never lose weight. It may take years of research before they will actually be able to harness the benefits of these findings but at least it gives people some hope!