Gastroenterology

A new study from Cedars-Sinai has examined whether a specialized diet could improve symptoms of gastrointestinal disorders linked to an imbalance in gut microbiota.

Gut microbes that were thought to feed exclusively on dietary fiber also get fed sugar from our guts, from which they produce short-chain fatty acids that are crucial to many body functions. The Kobe University discovery of this symbiotic relationship also points the way to developing novel therapeutics.

A transcutaneous electrical stimulation system (TESS) is effective in reducing both symptoms and esophageal acid exposure time in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), according to a study published online Jan. 23 in Neurogastroenterology & Motility.

Beneficial gut microbes and the body work together to fine-tune fat metabolism and cholesterol levels, according to a new preclinical study by investigators from Weill Cornell Medicine and the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University’s Ithaca campus.

Researchers at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) and the Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) in Würzburg have identified a protein and a group of small ribonucleic acids (sRNAs) in Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, which regulate sugar metabolism. These discoveries shed light on how this gut microbe adapts to varying nutritional conditions.