Williams Cancer Institute: HOW SUGAR ALTERS THE PROPER FUNCTIONING OF THE MICROBIOME AND IMMUNITY

HOW SUGAR ALTERS THE PROPER FUNCTIONING OF THE MICROBIOME AND IMMUNITY

In fact, “Man is what he eats” and this is important to the proper functioning of the intestine where the microbes are essential for health, therefore, sugar affects the intestinal microbiome, can cause weight gain, prediabetes and metabolic diseases, then we must take care of the food to protect the microbiomes that help with our immune system, it has been discovered that the consumption of sugar is the responsible of the elimination in the body of the filamentous bacteria which protect the cells Th17 which are the ones that regulate insulin in the body, which is why it regulates obesity and many chronic diseases that affect health.

Hence the importance of including probiotics in our diet which take care of the intestinal microbiome, in other words, they help the bacteria found in the intestine, which collaborate with the digestion and good absorption of food, it is believed that the microbiome of each person is unique and they play an important role in the body by being related to the immune system, which protects us from infections and diseases, if at any time this system is altered for any reason it could be bad for health, also affecting metabolism, in addition these alterations could affect the development of some type of cancer modifying the way in which the body reacts to these cancers and their treatments, since some cancer treatments use inflammation that can sometimes enhance the effectiveness of the treatments.

Day after day the relationship between the human microbiome and the development of cancer is studied, microbes can also stimulate the inflammatory reactions that cause cancer.

Currently we must consider that food is very important to maintain a healthy body, it is not only about how much food we consume but what we eat since everything has to do with a greater risk of acquiring chronic diseases, due to the high sugar consumption and constant inflammation considering that the immune system would have to be active much longer, thus it prevents the normal functioning of the body.

Generally, if we do not take care of the food that we acquire in our daily diet, we can somehow modify the microbiota that is in the intestine which has many important functions in our body and which help prevent inflammation that can affect our health. They help control cholesterol and glucose, weakening in this way the immune system.

Tumors are avid devourers of glucose, the essential fuel of cells, that is how, despite much research, there is still no proof that sugar increases the risk of cancer, it is known that it feeds it, but knowing how feeding cancer cells is still a challenge, in the same way it is recommended in immunotherapy treatment to deprive tumor cells of sugar, and therefore having a low-carbohydrate diet since this could improve the prognosis of cancer.

References:

Leitch, C. (2022, 4 September). Sugar Disrupts the Microbiome, Altering Immunity. Labroots. Taken on September 10 in 2022, from https://www.labroots.com/trending/microbiology/23504/sugar-disrupts-microbiome-altering-immunity

El Microbioma y Cáncer. (s. f.). CancerQuest. Taken on September 10 in 2022, from https://www.cancerquest.org/es/biologia-del-cancer/microbioma?gclid=Cj0KCQjw39uYBhCLARIsAD_SzMT3vHnnPHtnpsSE3QiKhbvttB13B-XISb3t_jKUGLaY9Y0vgTkX2BEaAjGHEALw_wcB

El azúcar y el cáncer. (s. f.). Taken on September 10 in 2022, from://www.ayudaalpacienteoncologico.org.ve/guias/21/el-azucar-y-el-cancer/