{"id":1496409,"date":"2024-02-13T01:09:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-13T01:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenqueen.com.hk\/?p=70789"},"modified":"2024-02-13T01:09:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T01:09:00","slug":"how-food-and-the-gut-microbiome-can-stimulate-your-bodys-natural-ozempic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/02\/13\/how-food-and-the-gut-microbiome-can-stimulate-your-bodys-natural-ozempic\/","title":{"rendered":"How Food and the Gut Microbiome Can Stimulate Your Body\u2019s \u2018Natural Ozempic\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Christopher Damman, Associate Professor of Gastroenterology, School of Medicine, University of Washington<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro<\/a>\u00a0are weight loss and diabetes drugs that have made quite a splash in health news<\/a>. They target regulatory pathways involved in both\u00a0obesity and diabetes<\/a>\u00a0and are widely considered breakthroughs for weight loss and blood sugar control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But do these drugs point toward a root cause of metabolic disease? What inspired<\/a> their development in the first place?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It turns out your body produces natural versions of these drugs \u2013 also known as incretin hormones<\/a> \u2013 in your gut. It may not be surprising that nutrients in food<\/a> help regulate these hormones. But it may intrigue you to know that the trillions of microbes in your gut<\/a> are key for orchestrating this process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am a gastroenterologist<\/a>\u00a0at the University of Washington who studies how\u00a0food and your gut microbiome<\/a> affect health and disease. Here\u2019s an inside-out perspective on the role natural gut hormones and healthy food play in metabolism and weight loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Specialized bacteria in your lower gut take the components of food you can\u2019t digest like fiber<\/a> and polyphenols<\/a> \u2013 the elements of plants that are removed in many processed foods \u2013 and transforms them into molecules that stimulate hormones to control your\u00a0appetite and metabolism<\/a>. These include GLP-1, a natural version of Wegovy and Ozempic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n GLP-1<\/a>\u00a0and other hormones like\u00a0PYY<\/a>\u00a0help regulate blood sugar through the pancreas. They also tell your brain that you\u2019ve had enough to eat and your stomach and intestines to slow the movement of food along the digestive tract to allow for digestion. This system even has a name: the\u00a0colonic brake<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prior to modern processed foods, metabolic regulatory pathways were under the direction of a diverse healthy gut microbiome<\/a> that used these hormones to naturally regulate your metabolism and appetite. However, food processing<\/a>, aimed at improving shelf stability and enhancing taste, removes the bioactive molecules like fiber<\/a> and polyphenols<\/a> that help regulate this system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Removal of these key food components and the resulting decrease in gut microbiome diversity may be an important factor contributing to the rise in\u00a0obesity and diabetes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\nA broken gut<\/h2>\n\n\n\n