Thiamine Affects Gut Bacteria

Zachary A. Costliow Patrick H. DegnanA new study published September 26, 2017 from Zachary A. Costliow, Patrick H. Degnan at the University of Illinois points out that all gut microbes require thiamine, (Vitamin B1).

They discovered that the gut microbe Bacteroidetes can make their own endogenously,take it in from the environment or both.

This is very exciting news as it shows how important the role of thiamine is required for our microbes in the gut. The universal requirement for this essential co-factor and the diverse strategies for acquisition result in scenarios that would force competition or cooperation among gut microbes.

See this YouTube video to explain more:

Because sugar requires vitamin B 1 to metabolize it, Dr. Derrick Lonsdale points this out saying “in much the same way as gasoline requires a spark plug to burn it, taking sugar on its own in the form of empty calories easily overwhelms the power of thiamine to carry out its function.” If we have been consuming a diet in highly refined sugar, Thiamine Deficiency can still happen even when consuming adequate amounts of thiamine in the diet, this is called high caloric malnutrition.

It is also noteworthy to point out that many disease states such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s, obesity, and even cancer are associated with radical changes in the composition of the gut’s microbes.

Since Thiamine levels influences how the gut’s microbial community the researchers say that “Thiamine may be an excellent target for developing treatments for these diseases”

For these reasons, I strongly believe that Thiamine Deficiency (Vitamin B1) is one of the primary drivers of diabetes.Considering how the microbial community changes, I really think this will allow a future tests for thiamine health, as the current gold standard for testing thiamine levels is transketolase it is very hard to find labs that test for it, let alone doctors knowing that the test exists.

Study Source – http://msystems.asm.org/content/msys/2/5/e00116-17.full.pdf

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