The Danger Of Having Too Few Gut Bacteria

An international team of scientists have found that having too few gut bacteria is associated with increased risk of obesity and diabetes.

AsianScientist (Sep. 13, 2013) – An international team of scientists has found that one in four Danes have too few bacteria living in their intestines.

According to the study, published in Nature, this increases their risk of obesity and developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

The finding reveals what could be a significant problem in wealthy developed countries as many people in such countries could have similar gut bacteria deficiencies.

The team, comprising experts from Europe and China, used advanced DNA analysis and bioinformatics methods to map human intestinal bacteria from 292 Danes.

Through this genetic analysis, they found that a quarter of the subjects have up to 40 percent fewer gut bacteria.

These people also have reduced bacterial diversity and harbor more bacteria that cause low-grade inflammation.

“Our study shows that people having few and less diverse intestinal bacteria are more obese than the rest,” said Prof. Oluf Pedersen, who headed the Danish contribution to the study.

“They have a preponderance of bacteria which exhibit the potential to cause mild inflammation in the digestive tract and in the entire body.”

“This is reflected in blood samples that reveal a state of chronic inflammation, which we know from other studies to affect metabolism and increase the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.”

There is good news for overweight individuals with too few gut bacteria, however: another paper in the same issue of Nature reported that by maintaining a low-fat diet for just six weeks, they can, to some extent, increase the numbers and diversity of intestinal bacteria.

The articles can be found at:
Chatelier et al. (2013) Richness Of Human Gut Microbiome Correlates With Metabolic Markers.
Cotillard et al. (2013) Dietary Intervention Impact On Gut Microbial Gene Richness.

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Source: Health Canal. Photo: PNNL/Flickr/CC
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

Li Yanhui is an undergraduate studying Life Sciences (Biomedical Science) at the National University of Singapore, Singapore. She aspires to a career in research and medicine.

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