Hydrogen’s key role in keeping our guts in good order.
Fans of the seriously brilliant TV series Slow Horses will be aware of the predilection of spy boss Jackson Lamb to let rip a noxious fart regardless of the sensitivities of his colleagues and superiors.
The robust flatulence is a key characteristic defining the dishevelled and seemingly dissolute lifestyle of the ageing spook who presides over Slough House, but is a propensity to bake malodorous air biscuits a sign of an unhealthy digestive system?
It ain’t necessarily so, say boffins from Monash University and Hudson Institute of Medical Research, who have put in some of the hard yards investigating the role of gut microbes and the generation of hydrogen.
Publishing last week in the journal Nature Microbiology, the research team details how hydrogen is made and used in the human gut and the positive role the flammable gas plays in supporting overall gut health.
According to the study’s first author, Dr Caitlin Welsh, hydrogen, which is produced when bacteria ferment undigested carbohydrates from our diets, plays a bigger role in gut function than previously thought.
The study found that a specific enzyme, called Group B [FeFe]-hydrogenase, was mainly responsible for making hydrogen in the gut and that the enzyme worked by using a specific chemical reaction involving iron and another protein called ferredoxin.
Healthy people had a lot of these enzymes in their gut, the researcher said, but people with Crohn’s disease had fewer of them and more of other types of hydrogen-producing enzymes.
“Most people release about a litre of gas per day [More like one litre per fart for Jackson Lamb – Ed] and half of that is hydrogen. But hydrogen is more than just the gas behind flatulence – it’s a hidden driver of gut health,” Dr Welsh said in a media release.
“Our study shows hydrogen shapes the gut microbiome in surprising and varied ways. It helps some beneficial bacteria thrive in the gut and keeps digestion going.”
The research team added that while gas production in the gut was a normal process, “excessive hydrogen production can signal gut problems” and that abnormal hydrogen levels could be associated with infections, digestive disorders, and sometimes cancers.
The team hopes that these newly discovered links could help the understanding of gut conditions and guide development of new microbiome-based treatments.
We imagine such advances can’t come soon enough for the long-suffering employees of Slough House, or anyone that owns a canine companion prone to releasing a barking spider just as you get the car on the road.
You’ll breathe easier if you let your story fluffies off the chain in the general direction of Holly@medicalrepublic.com.au
