Interested in losing weight, curbing your appetite, treating your sleep apnea, and any other benefits weight loss drugs like Ozempic offer, but looking for a more natural alternative? Researchers at Jiangnan University in China may have found a natural way to regulate blood sugar and sugar cravings, similar to the way Ozempic does.
The solution they discovered regulates a naturally occurring microbe found in everyone’s gut called Bacteroides vulgatus, which plays a role in the regulation of the GLP-1 hormone.
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Maybe you’ve heard the term “GLP-1 inhibitor” in advertising for Ozempic and Ozempic-like weight loss drugs. The study found that the presence of Bacteroides vulgatus could enhance GLP-1 secretion, which in turn could control blood sugar levels, curb sugar cravings, and tamp down your appetite.
During experiments with mice, the researchers inhibited the production of a gut protein called Ffar4, which decreased the amount of Bacteroides vulgatus in the gut, thus lowering levels of FGF21, a hormone that plays a role in your sudden inexplicable cravings for sweets.
All that to say, targeting specific microbes in the human gut could eventually lead to the management of sugar cravings and help people improve blood sugar control.
While the results in mice are promising, further research is needed to confirm whether similar effects can be achieved in humans. Nevertheless, the study provides a potential strategy for diabetes prevention and a deeper understanding of the gut’s role in regulating sugar consumption.
Where Ozempic works by mimicking a natural hormone that signals satiety in the brain, this technique would, in theory, provide you more of a gut microbe you already create naturally. It’s still too early to tell what form this discovery will take, should it ever make it to market, but it would provide at least a somewhat more natural alternative to the weight loss drugs of the day.
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