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Can Bacteria Control Obesity and Diabetes?
#1
Excess Body Fat? Bacteria may be the remedy!

A group of scientists predicts that there may be a possibility of using the common gut inhabitant Akkermansia muciniphila, a Gram negative bacterial species living in large numbers in the intestinal mucus layer of humans, for developing a treatment for obesity and type-2 diabetes. Their research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in May 2013, confirms that A. muciniphila can actually reduce obesity (genetic and diet-induced) in mice. It was also observed that plasma glucose levels of the mice were reduced significantly after oral administration of the bacterium.

Obesity and Type 2 diabetes

Obesity, defined by the WHO as the excessive accumulation of fat within the body up to the levels that presents a health risk, is recognized as a leading preventable cause of death all over the world. A person with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more is generally considered obese. Obesity is the cause of a number of persistent diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and some cancers. Obesity is usually diet-induced although genetics may also be a key to the disease in some individuals.

Type 2 diabetes (non-insulin-dependent diabetes) results from the body’s ineffective use of insulin. Diabetes may lead to many disorders including cardiovascular diseases, foot ulcers, blindness and kidney failure.

Obesity and Type-2 diabetes are often interlinked. The conditions such as gut barrier disruption, gut inflammation, metabolic endotoxemia and alteration of gut microbial population are often considered as characteristics of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Some gut flora can make you fat

Effect of intestinal flora on obesity and its related disorders is of great interest to the researchers throughout the world. Previous literature suggest that gut microbiota, helping to break down otherwise indigestible foods increase the amount of energy extracted from the diet, thus leading to obesity. One such study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science in November 2004, reports that upon introducing gut microbiota from normal mice into germ-free recipients, a rapid increase in body fat content in those mice was observed even without any increase in food consumption.

On the contrary…

This research, however, presents contrasting evidence that the normal gut inhabitant, Akkermansia muciniphila is associated with reducing both diet-induced and hereditary obesity. This bacterium makes up 3–5% of the intestinal microflora of healthy human and its numbers exhibit inverse correlation with body weight of humans and mice.

The study demonstrated that the abundance of the said bacterium greatly reduced in genetically and diet-induced obese mice. Furthermore, when the mice were fed oligofructose as a prebiotic, the levels of the bacterium in the gut were restored completely, in turn resulting in the elimination of metabolic endotoxemia, reduction of the total fat mass and decrease in body weight of those mice. Although the exact mechanism by which the oligofructose supports the bacterial growth is yet to be explained, these results support the fact that the bacterium A. muciniphila plays a key function in controlling the obesity.

This study also reveals that oral administration of viable A. muciniphila cells to a population of mice which were fed a high-fat diet reversed diet-induced disorders such as endotoxemia, obesity and hyperglycemia. There was also a significant reduction in body weight and insulin resistance index of the mice. These effects could not be reproduced when the mice were fed heat-treated bacterial cells.

The effects of administration of the bacterium in humans are yet to be established through human clinical studies. Nevertheless, this research lays the foundation for using the bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila as a treatment for preventing obesity and metabolic disorders associated with it.

References

1. Everard, A., Belzer, C., Geurts, L., Ouwerkerk, J. P., Druart, C., Bindels, L. B., ... & Cani, P. D. (2013). Cross-talk between Akkermansia muciniphila and intestinal epithelium controls diet-induced obesity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

2. Backhed, F., Ding, H., Wang, T., Hooper, L. V., Koh, G. Y., Nagy, A., ... & Gordon, J. I. (2004). The gut microbiota as an environmental factor that regulates fat storage. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences., 101(44), 15718.
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#2
As you are talking about the bookstore so I think you have a great information..
Wall according to my information bacteria helps to regulate metabolism in mice..
The gut is home to innumerable different bacteria complex ecosystem that has an active role in a variety of bodily functions. I just get this all information In a study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences..
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