Reference Number: 230
Year: 2017
Link: Link to original paper
Health: Gut Microbiome - Creating Healthier Bread to Support Optimal Gut Health | Osteoarthritis
Inclusions: Berries>Cranberries
Summary
Chondroitin sulfate (CS) has shown either ameliorating or aggravating effects on osteoarthritis (OA) in separately conducted clinical trials. Because CS is usually administered orally, it should be affected by or would impact on the individual gut microbiota. Evidence is accumulating that CS can nourish sulfatase-secreting bacteria (SSB) and sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB). To decipher how can an individual gut microbiota determine the clinical values of CS for treatment on OA, we suggest here that CS would give distinct outcomes for OA treatment depending on Akkermansia muciniphila, a gut commensal probiotic bacterial species as optimal presence albeit also behaving as mucus-eroding bacteria (MEB) when abundant presence. Briefly, CS would ameliorate OA if A. muciniphila is present due to without overgrowth of SSB and SRB, whereas CS would aggravate OA if A. muciniphila is absent because of failure in or lack of competition with abundant SSB and SRB. By noting such a frequently ignored phenomenon, we urge the development of non-orally administering CS to minimize its side-effects and extend it to other medicinal applications.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS STUDY
The composition of the gut microbiome may have the potential to influence the body’s response to medication. This study suggests that the effect of medication taken orally for osteoarthritis may be determined in part by the population of certain bacteria in the gut microbiome. These bacteria are positively influenced by the consumption of (among other things) cranberry extract.
This demonstrates the potential for the gut microbiome influencing a patient’s response to treatment for medical conditions and the importance of a deeper understanding of how these microbes can be controlled by diet.
