somuch4food
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- Aug 23, 2018
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How and why our bodies starve gut bacteria
"The results of Reese and colleagues' analysis revealed that bacteria are kept on a short leash in the human gut: they have access to around 1 nitrogen atom per every 10 carbon atoms. This is much less than what free-living microbes get: 1 nitrogen atom to every 4 carbon atoms, on average."
"The more protein the researchers gave the mice, the more the number of gut bacteria increased. Moreover, when Reese injected the animals with nitrogen, she noticed that part of the nitrogen reached the gut bacteria.
This, she explains, suggests that a host mammal is able to secrete nitrogen via the cells lining its gut in order to feed the bacteria.
"Our findings," says David, "support the idea that we've evolved a way to keep our bacteria on a leash by leaving them starving for nitrogen."
David explains that this "also explains why the Western diet might be bad for us. When people eat too much protein, it swamps the host's ability to take up that nitrogen in the small intestine, and more of it ends up making its way to the large intestine, eliminating our ability to control our microbial communities."
"As part of that study, the scientists administered antibiotics to 10 mice over a period of 5 days, and they collected stool samples — which they analyzed — on a daily basis from the animals.
This experiment demonstrated that, in the absence of bacteria to "eat" them, substances such as nitrate or sulfate overaccumulated in the gut."
"The results of Reese and colleagues' analysis revealed that bacteria are kept on a short leash in the human gut: they have access to around 1 nitrogen atom per every 10 carbon atoms. This is much less than what free-living microbes get: 1 nitrogen atom to every 4 carbon atoms, on average."
"The more protein the researchers gave the mice, the more the number of gut bacteria increased. Moreover, when Reese injected the animals with nitrogen, she noticed that part of the nitrogen reached the gut bacteria.
This, she explains, suggests that a host mammal is able to secrete nitrogen via the cells lining its gut in order to feed the bacteria.
"Our findings," says David, "support the idea that we've evolved a way to keep our bacteria on a leash by leaving them starving for nitrogen."
David explains that this "also explains why the Western diet might be bad for us. When people eat too much protein, it swamps the host's ability to take up that nitrogen in the small intestine, and more of it ends up making its way to the large intestine, eliminating our ability to control our microbial communities."
"As part of that study, the scientists administered antibiotics to 10 mice over a period of 5 days, and they collected stool samples — which they analyzed — on a daily basis from the animals.
This experiment demonstrated that, in the absence of bacteria to "eat" them, substances such as nitrate or sulfate overaccumulated in the gut."
