Extreme sugar consumption is linked to a number of non-communicable illnesses, together with weight problems, heart problems, metabolic syndrome, and kind 2 diabetes. Animals naturally crave sugar, and uncontrolled sugar preferences can result in excessive sugar consumption, elevating the chance of hyperglycemia and metabolic illnesses.
Earlier analysis means that meals cravings in people are pushed by alerts from the intestine to the mind, highlighting the intestine’s essential function in shaping dietary preferences. Nevertheless, the regulation of sugar choice is complicated, and the precise affect of intestine microbes stays unclear.
In a examine revealed in Nature Microbiology, a analysis workforce led by Prof. LIANG Xinmiao from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese language Academy of Sciences, collaborating with Prof. ZHU Shenglong and Prof. CHEN Yongquan from Jiangnan College, recognized an intestinal bacterium that may scale back dietary sugar consumption, opening up new avenues for the therapies of weight problems and metabolic illnesses.
Researchers analyzed the blood of 18 mice with induced diabetes and 60 sufferers with sort 2 diabetes. They recognized low ranges of free fatty acid receptor 4 (FFAR4) within the blood cells of each diabetic mice and people, alongside an elevated sugar choice in people with FFAR4 mutations. Additionally they discovered that decreased intestine FFAR4 ranges considerably have an effect on the abundance of the intestine microbe Bacteroides vulgatus and its key metabolite, pantothenic acid. Pantothenic acid activated the GLP-1-FGF21 hormone axis.
These outcomes revealed a novel mechanism of the gut-liver-brain interplay. In mouse fashions, researchers validated this complicated interplay. Bacteroides vulgatus and pantothenic acid have been administered to diabetic mice, which demonstrated their results on sugar choice in mice.
The findings revealed a novel regulatory mechanism underlying sugar choice, and that intestinal fatty acid receptors play a vital function in regulating sugar consumption conduct.
This examine gives a promising technique for diabetes prevention. The event of tissue-specific FFAR4 agonists or focusing on Bacteroides vulgatus gives new approaches for stopping diabetes. Future scientific research are important to validate the applying of the gut-liver-brain interplay as a nutrient-sensing pathway for managing metabolic illnesses.
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Journal reference:
Zhang, T., et al. (2025). Free fatty acid receptor 4 modulates dietary sugar choice through the intestine microbiota. Nature Microbiology. doi.org/10.1038/s41564-024-01902-8.