Diabetes may start in the intestines, research suggests

http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/23409.aspx

“The mice had substantial changes in their gut microbiome,” Semenkovich says. “But it wasn’t the composition of microbes in the gut that caused the problems.”

Instead, Wei says, the mice got sick because of a defect in fatty acid synthase. The mice without fatty acid synthase had lost the protective lining of mucus in the intestines that separates the microbes from direct exposure to cells. This allowed bacteria to penetrate otherwise healthy cells in the gut, making the mice sick.

“Fatty acid synthase is required to keep that mucosal layer intact,” Wei says. “Without it, bad bacteria invade cells in the colon and the small intestine, creating inflammation, and that, in turn, contributes to insulin resistance and diabetes.”

Wow. Thanks, 9rugrats5. This is very interesting to me. Despite normalizing occasionally, my blood sugar has proven to be fairly intractable over time. I don't have diabetes, but it's an issue of concern. I have occasional bouts of intestinal "difficulty" but nothing chronic or debilitating. Lack of FAS and damaged mucosal lining in the intestines could explain what's going on. Maybe for lots of other semi-bewildered people, as well

Would have been nice if they postulated what damaged the body's ability to produce FAS (was it an organic defect or induced by environmental factors such as intake of transfats, alcohol, a highly acicic diet, etc.).

Anyway, great article!

Thanks whodathunkit. I have also felt that insulin related issues might be a side effect. I wonder if the normal mucous layer has healthy planktonic or biofilmic bacteria, and a compromised or depleted one is under attack by harmful ones.

Edit- What I mean to say pertains to this quote “Fatty acid synthase is required to keep that mucosal layer intact” Could it be that if there's one episode of illness or body malfunction when the mucosal layer depletes and then the harmful bacteria take control and do not allow FAS to do it's work. If that is a possibility, then working on improving healthy gut flora might help in restoration of mucosal layer, consequently helping insulin related disorders.

There's another thread floating around near the top of the queue lately which also suggests that too many antioxidants can have an adverse effect on insulin sensitivity. I've been kind of "antioxidant heavy" with supplements for quite a while (long before I got to this board), and even when my diet was really bad I usually took a bunch every day. In light of that and this article I'm going to stop the with the heavy antioxidants for a while, and do some more intensive work on my gut and gut flora, see what happens to my blood sugar.