A new study revealed that glucose (blood sugar) is transmitted naturally from blood to the small intestine, as friendly intestinal microbes feed on it and turn it into a substance that the body needs.
The study also showed that Metformin, which is used to treat diabetics, increases glucose secretion by 4 times. Understanding this new physiological mechanism may develop innovative therapeutic strategies to regulate the intestine microbium.
The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Kobe in Japan and published its results in Communications Medicine on March 3, and the Yurrick Alert website was written about.
What do the intestinal microbes make with sugar we offer it?
The intestinal microbes help us produce short sequential fatty acids, which are the primary energy source of cells that lined our intestine, and it was previously believed that the only source is to ferment dietary fiber.
Short -chain fatty acids are one of many substances our body needs, but it cannot produce them himself.
The results of a previous study of the team showed that people who consume metformin to treat diabetes are more than in their intestine than others.
“If glucose is already secreted in the intestine, it is reasonable that this affects the symbiotic relationship between the intestine microbium and the host (the human body),” says the endocrine scientist at the University of Cuban Ogaoa and Wattaro.
The team found that glucose is secreted first in the “fasting” (Jejunum), which is part of the small intestine, and it is transmitted from there to the large and rectal intestine, then turns into short sequential fatty acids in the large intestine.
“It was amazing to find that individuals who did not take metformin showed a certain level of glucose secretion in the intestine,” Ogawa explains.
He added that “this discovery indicates that the secretion of glucose in the intestine is a general physiological phenomenon in animals, and metformin works to enhance this process.”
Metafornin increased the release of glucose in the intestine almost 4 times in both humans and mice, regardless of whether they have diabetes or not.
Ogawa and his team are now conducting more studies with the aim of understanding how metformin and other diabetes drugs affect glucose secretion, intestinal microbes and metabolic products.
He says: “The secretion of glucose from the intestine represents a physiological phenomenon that has not been identified before. Understanding the basic molecular mechanisms and how medicines interfere with this process may lead to the development of new treatments aimed at regulating bowel microbes and microbes.”