Friday, March 5, 2010

Gene Sequencing Yields Picture of Human Gut

Read this article in Business Week about how researchers have identified 160 different species of bacteria in the gut. One interesting finding - people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have 25% fewer bacterial genes than healthy people, indicating that those with IBD have less diversity in their gut.

An excerpt:
"This is so rich. It could help in so many different ways. It could help us understand diseases like inflammatory bowel disease [IBD], Crohn's and ulcerative colitis. It could help us with problems like malnutrition and obesity. It could help us understand many different metabolic problems from liver disease to kidney to heart disease," said Dr. Martin Blaser, chairman of the department of medicine at New York University Langone Medical Center and a professor of microbiology at New York University School of Medicine in New York City. "This is really a landmark study."
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2 comments:

  1. Mrs. EdMarch 6, 2010 at 8:25 AM

    Great Article! Maybe one day they will start taking note of who lives in your gut and the impact of diet. But hey, it sounds like they are paying more and more attention to the role of bacteria balance/imbalance at least.

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  2. Beating Crohn'sMarch 7, 2010 at 2:30 PM

    Hey Mrs. Ed,

    Another story that expands on this topic (including how inflammation may lead to obesity):

    http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=genetics-in-the-gut

    Best,
    BC

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