Gut Bacteria May help in Preventing Metabolic Syndrome
Healthy bacteria that reside in the intestine may assist treat or protect against metabolic syndrome, with respect to a new research presented in the journal Gastroenterology.
Metabolic syndrome is a combo of risk aspects that enhance risk for cardiac issues and diabetes. When an individual has 3 of the following risk aspects, they have metabolic syndrome:
- A large waistline
- Higher levels of triglyceride (a type of fat identified in the blood)
- Reduced high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol level
- High fasting blood sugar
Individuals with metabolic syndrome are two times as probably to develop cardiovascular issues and 5 times as probably to develop diabetes as the general population, with respect to the National Institutes of Health.
The American Heart Association statement that around 34% of American adults have metabolic syndrome, and it is getting more common, prompting researchers to investigate possible reasons.
The team behind the new research – from Georgia State University (Atlanta) and Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) – had identified in earlier research that modified gut microbiota (intestinal bacteria) performs a role in metabolic syndrome.
Along with promoting the inflammation that brings to metabolic syndrome, modified gut microbiota stimulates chronic inflammatory conditions like as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
New research describes mechanisms recognized in earlier research
With respect to Dr. Andrew Gewirtz, a professor in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State, the new research has filled in the information about how these mechanisms work.
“It’s the loss of TLR5 on the epithelium,” he describes, “the cells that line the surface of the intestine and their capability to rapidly react to bacteria. That capability goes away and outcomes in a more aggressive bacterial population that receives closer in and generates elements that drive inflammation.”
In a model of mouse siblings, the scientists confirmed that the modified gut microbiota that encourages inflammation is more aggressive than other bacteria in infiltrating the epithelium.
Some of the mice in the research were losing the TLR5 gene, which the scientists identified triggered modifications in the inflammation-driving bacteria that promoted metabolic syndrome.
Dr. Ruth Ley describes the results:
“These outcomes recommend that establishing a means to enhance a more balanced microbiota can treat or avoid metabolic disease.
They ensure the concept that modified microbiota can promote low-grade inflammation and metabolic syndrome and advance the actual mechanism. We demonstrated that the modified bacterial population is more competitive in infiltrating the host and generating substances, such as flagellin and lipopolysaccharide, that additional promote inflammation.”
In that research, individuals followed either a low-fat diet, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with nut products or a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil, and they were observed for an average of 4.9 years.
The people who observed the Mediterranean diets experienced a decrease in blood glucose levels and abdominal obesity. At the begin of the research, 64% of individuals had metabolic syndrome. However, by the end of the research, 28.2% of the individuals following Mediterranean diets no longer fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome.