Researchers in Sweden have shown that gut bacteria can regulate your amino-acid and glutathione production, in the small intestine, the colon and the liver, effectively controlling your health.
Glutathione is the body’s number 1 antioxidant and is incredibly important to your good health. Hitherto, nutritionists thought that all you had to do was eat more greens, fresh vegetables and fruits and the oxygen levels in your cells would increase.
Now, scientists in Sweden at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, have discovered that bacteria in the human microbiome regulate the levels of glutathione and effectively control your health.
This is yet another crucial factor and yet more substance to Chris Woollams’ book ‘Heal Your Gut – Heal Your Body’. Since 2009 he has argued that your gut bacteria lie behind all illness – both physical and mental.
Published in Molecular Systems Biology, the findings of the research help complete our understanding of how non-essential amino acids are synthesised providing detoxifying essential antioxidants. Co-author, Adul Mardinoglu a biology researcher in the Biotech Department adds, “Gut microbiota regulate your glutathione and amino acid metabolism, not only in the small intestine but also in the liver and the colon”.
Some gut bacteria were even shown to consume glycine, which is one of the three amino acids required for the synthesis of the body’s glutathione.
Mardinoglu points out that since decreased levels of glycine and other amino acids have been linked to type-2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and other metabolism-related disorders, further study of this area was crucial.
Go to: All cancer begins in the gut
References
- A. Mardinoglu, S. Shoaie, M. Bergentall, P. Ghaffari, C. Zhang, E. Larsson, F. Backhed, J. Nielsen. The gut microbiota modulates host amino acid and glutathione metabolism in mice. Molecular Systems Biology, 2015; 11 (10): 834 DOI: 10.15252/msb.20156487
