Comp. 2 Paper

Submitted By GarenSwartling24
Words: 1265
Pages: 6

Diabetes and Intestinal Bacteria

The rapidly growing disease, diabetes, has become increasingly more apparent in our new younger generation. Type II diabetes can be acquired by eating unhealthy foods and the lack of exercise, while Type I diabetes is a trait people are born with. Food we consume undergoes mechanical and chemical digestion and is absorbed through the three sections of our small intestines. This is the reason why it is important to grasp the idea of bacteria as a source of digestion and how it can influence our chances of getting diabetes or even preventing it.
There are a large number of bacteria in our intestines that aid with digestion and the complex process of breaking down molecules that give nutrition to our bodies. The article written on Science Daily describes that imbalances in the bacteria in our intestines can lead to Salmonella and Crohn’s disease. This is because our diets, if too rich in sugar or fat, can heavily upset the equilibrium in our intestines necessary to digest food and provide nutritional value. The second article, from Modeling Immunity, brings forth a recent study that shows by re-allocating a certain bacteria from the stomach, a stabilization of the bacteria in the intestines will help control glucose levels and body weight. These bacteria from the stomach are harmful on their own, but their role in the intestines creates a preventative measure of diabetes.
As a diabetes epidemic emerges, it is important to find ways to prevent, treat, and possibly cure this disease. Sharing a large amount of the genes that make humans susceptible to diabetes, mice serve as the model when studying the effects diabetes has on the body. Diabetes occurs because of an instability that hinders the body’s ability to produce insulin which helps stabilize certain chemical levels. It would then make sense to predict that if this instability caused diabetes, the possibility of re-stabilizing the natural function within our body may slowly start to bring back the equilibrium that allows our pancreas to function optimally once again. This, however, is not as simple as it sounds because it seems that once our natural function to produce insulin stops, it does not start again and the necessity to inject an outside source of insulin is necessary. Well if it can’t be cured, how can it be prevented?
Starting at the root of the problem is important because diabetes rates have increased in adults to 36 percent while the percentage in children and teenagers is up to 17 percent. Diabetes starts, and is prevalent during infancy, as habits are formed by each individual. Both articles imply that the only way to prevent diabetes in through a balance in one’s activities, whether those are exercise or diet. The Modeling Immunities article raises the possibility of potentially having some kind of administrable drug containing the Helicobacter pylori, the damaging stomach bacteria, which could be applied in the intestines. The bacterium shows properties that reduce insulin resistance and mutations in cells within the intestines. A reassuring fact is that both articles emphasize the great distance diabetes research has come and how mice have helped study many of its effects.
The importance of these findings has garnered my attention because as a part family where diabetes is common, there is the heightened chance and probability of getting the disease through unhealthy lifestyle choices. Diabetes has been in my family for many generations taking the lives of several relatives. The articles have both given me a certain amount of reassurance that preventative measures may soon be accessible to people prone to this disease. Also, the fact that this remedy comes from our own bodies opens doors into the possibility of a cure that does not include a large amount of drugs with their many side effects. Strangely, as the Science Daily article progressed, a fact emerged that hygiene and cleanliness are main contributors to the