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in collaboration with
Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)
Medical validation:
October 21, 2022
This work published in the scientific journal Cell shows that dietary sugar alters the intestinal flora and leads to a loss of immune cells.
Glucose is vital for the body: it provides the energy necessary for each of our cells. However, in excess, dietary sugar contributes to an imbalance of the intestinal microbiota – an ecosystem of microorganisms essential to the good health of the body. The results of this study were published in the scientific journal Cell.
An altered microbiota
To arrive at this observation, the scientists studied the effects of a diet high in fat and sugar on the intestinal microbiota of mice, a set of microorganisms essential to prevent the onset of certain diet-induced metabolic diseases. (diabetes, obesity, etc.).
Result: after only four weeks of testing, the animals following this diet developed a metabolic syndrome (characterized by a large waist circumference due to excess abdominal fat), by depleting the Th17-inducing microbes.
The diet tested also favored the growth of a type of bacteria in the mice that surpasses the “good” bacteria, partners of intestinal immunity. The microbiota of the mice was therefore largely altered.
” Sugar eliminates filamentous bacteria, and protective Th17 cells disappear accordingly “, specifies in a press release Ivalyo Ivanov, one of the authors of the study.
Conversely, once the sugar was eliminated, the mice were completely healthy:
” When we fed mice a sugar-free, high-fat diet, they retained intestinal Th17 cells and were completely protected against the development of obesity and pre-diabetes, while eating the same number of calories “, he continues.
These results thus highlight the obvious interaction “between diet, microbiota and intestinal immunity in the regulation of metabolic disorders”, conclude the researchers.
NO to diets, YES to WW!
The storage of fat in the abdomen considerably increases the risk of developing sometimes very serious health problems: insulin resistance (prediabetic condition), cardiovascular diseases (myocardial infarction, stroke), type 2 diabetes, liver disease (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, cirrhosis) or kidneys, sleep apnea or gynecological disorders.