In a recent study from Georgia State University, researchers find that human’s metabolic disease, particularly type 2 diabetes, is linked to having bacteria that invade the colon.
This finding provides insight on how people develop unhealthy blood glucose levels.
Metabolic syndrome is the term for a group of factors that increase a person’s risk for heart disease, diabetes and stroke. It has become more common nowadays because more people are obese.
The risk factors include a large waistline, a high triglyceride level (type of fat found in the blood), low HDL (good) cholesterol level, high blood pressure and high fasting blood sugar levels.
Gut microbiota is the communities of microscopic living organisms that inhabit the gut.
They live in the outer regions of the mucus and remain a safe distance from epithelial cells provide a benefit to the host.
However, the microbiota that encroach upon host cells drive chronic inflammation that interferes with the normal action of insulin, leading to type 2 diabetes.
In this study, the researchers used samples from human participants who were at least 21 years old with no major health problems besides diabetes.
The participants underwent colonoscopy for colon cancer screening. The researchers find that type 2 diabetes is correlated with having bacteria that penetrate the mucus lining of the colon
The researchers believe their finding provides important information for understanding diabetes.
Previous studies in mice have indicated that bacteria that are able to encroach upon the epithelium might be able to promote inflammation that drives metabolic diseases.
This research shows that this is also a feature of metabolic disease in humans, specifically in type 2 diabetics.
The finding may have opened a new field of investigation in metabolic function and type 2 diabetes.
The study is published in the journal Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
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