“If the intestines are broken and leaky due to obesity… Onset, exacerbation of asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, dementia, etc.”
The reason why asthma patients with severe symptoms must lose weight has been revealed. According to the results of a study at Nottingham Trent University in the UK, if the intestines are damaged by obesity and cause leaky gut syndrome (leaky gut syndrome), it causes asthma and worsens symptoms.
When obesity causes a small hole in the inner wall of the intestine, ‘intestinal permeability’ increases, resulting in leaky gut syndrome (leaky gut syndrome). Unlike when the intestines are normal, harmful substances such as various external toxins and germs (bacteria) invade. In addition to asthma, leaky gut syndrome can cause various diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, dementia, aging, ulcerative colitis, and food allergies.
First author of the study, Nottingham Trent University researcher Kristina Parenti (doctoral candidate) said, “There has been no study so far on the effect of leaky gut due to obesity on asthma.” This is the first time that the mechanism of obesity-increased intestinal permeability-leaky gut syndrome-asthma exacerbation and onset has been identified. He emphasized that “toxins in the intestine caused by obesity are the main culprits in worsening asthma symptoms.” Asthma, if not well controlled, can lead to complications such as fatal asthma attacks, lung infections, and fatigue.
The research team investigated the relationship between body weight and intestinal permeability in 98 patients (29 males and 69 females) with severe, poorly controlled asthma. The average age of the men was regarding 53 years, and the average body mass index (BMI) was regarding 29 (kg/m2). The average age of the women was regarding 46 years, and the average BMI was regarding 32 (kg/m2). The research team conducted a blood test to detect intestinal permeability markers (markers), lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP), calprotectin, and asthma-related inflammatory markers (granzyme-A, IL-5, IL-6, CCL-4). number was measured.
The results of the study showed that patients with poorly controlled asthma had significantly higher levels of the intestinal permeability marker, and these levels increased as they gained weight. In addition, it was found that as the level (concentration) of LBP increased, the level of asthma-related inflammatory markers also increased. A previous study, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, found that people with abdominal obesity were 1.44 times more likely to develop asthma than the general population. This is true when looking only at the waist circumference, not the whole body obesity. People with both abdominal obesity and general obesity had a 1.81-fold higher risk of asthma.
Researcher Parenti said, “Improve the function of the intestinal wall by improving dietary life, etc., and it is expected that the symptoms of asthma patients who are obese can be greatly alleviated.” In addition to the small number of patients with severe uncontrolled asthma, the research team plans to recruit a much larger number of patients with well-controlled asthma and conduct further research.
The results of this study (Investigating the effect of obesity on gut damage, systemic inflammation, enhanced asthma severity due to gut derived bacteria, endotoxin) were presented at the recently held British Society for Endocrinology and introduced by the American Society for the Advancement of Science portal ‘Eureka Alert’.
