If someone likes to eat chocolate, she may have gut bacteria which like chocolate according to some articles that I have read.
If I do not eat chocolate for a long time, would their number be decreased and other (bad) bacteria dominate the gut?
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$\begingroup$ I think I heard of procedures to innoculate bacteria into guts of humans. $\endgroup$– Ro SivCommented Nov 9, 2015 at 1:01
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2$\begingroup$ @RoSiv - oh yeah - sterilally referred to as fecal transplantation - I will refrain from going into answering this question O.o $\endgroup$– AliceD ♦Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 1:11
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1$\begingroup$ @AliceD From the title I totally thought they were going for Antibiotics... silly me. $\endgroup$– AMRCommented Nov 9, 2015 at 2:19
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1$\begingroup$ @AMR - I got fooled by the title too. I also thought it was about antibiotics - and how to re-populate the intestinal microfauna. I didn't read further and commented. Luckily without answering.. It seems a bit of a twin question, and quite an unclear one too. $\endgroup$– AliceD ♦Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 2:40
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$\begingroup$ The article ( as far as I understood from quickly scanning over it) is more about bacteria in your gut generating cravings for different types of food. The ones "liking chocolate" are more likely to like high-sugar food. If you wouldn't eat any sugar at all, some of them might die out, but others will be able to utilise other nutrients. (Very, very basically said.) $\endgroup$– skymningenCommented Nov 9, 2015 at 12:43
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So the question your essentially asking is "Do certain types of bacteria like a specific nutrient, and if so will they dissipate or die off if I do not acquire that nutrient?"
Let's give a specific example for comparison. Lactose intolerance is a prevalent disorder among many people and those who do have the intolerance, if aware, tend to steer clear from lactose containing foods. Some studies have been shown that correlate lactose consumption to amount of lactose-containing bacteria in the gut.
So I would say if your asking if you remove a nutrient from your diet will a particular bacteria suffer i.e die then yes. Although be aware that many bacteria are able to break down a variety of different nutrients, and in the case of a cupcake which is loaded with sugars, and fats, I would say a large majority of gut residing bacteria are able to use that as energy in one form or another.
Here's an article comparing lactose-tolerant, and lactose intolerant individuals, not chocolate, but a good start. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2898492/
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$\begingroup$ Lactose is a better example than chocolate, thanks. $\endgroup$– SolekCommented Nov 10, 2015 at 9:21