They published their results on Wednesday, January 3, 2024 scientific journal Nature.
Blood as an energy source
The human gut is home to trillions of bacteria and other microbes that require different types of carbohydrates for energy. It used to be thought that they mainly got these carbohydrates from our food. New research from Jingyuan Fu and Hermie Harmsen now reveals that intestinal microbes can also use sugars associated with our blood type as an energy source, because they are exported as mucus in the intestine.
The researchers discovered this through a strong link between the genetic variation ABO and a missing component in an important intestinal microbe called Faecalibacterium. ABO determines our blood group and each blood group has its own type of sugar. The missing part in Faecalibacterium turned out to contain a specific sugar pathway, allowing them to use sugar from type A blood as an energy source. ‘This shows that our genetic composition determines which bacteria we have in our intestines,’ says Harmsen.
Contribution to better health
When bacteria use type A blood sugar, it leads to a healthier and more diverse community of gut microbes, the researchers found. And that contributes to better heart health and metabolism in people with blood group A. Fu: ‘microbiome therapy, such as fecal transplantation, is a good method for disease prevention and treatment. Our research suggests that treatment is likely to be more effective if we match the genetics of the microbiome to the patient’s genes.’
‘Now that we know that our genetic makeup determines which bacteria are in our intestines, this seems to help explain the variations we see in how people respond to nutrition and therapy,’ Harmsen adds. ‘What is good for people with blood group A may not be good for people with blood group B or O.’
2024-01-04 16:02:14
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