Diabetes, H. Pylori Bacteria Linked in New Study
Baku, March 15 (AZERTAC). One of the awe-inspiring and somewhat frightening things about modern medical science is when it discovers that something seemingly innocuous from medical history could have a scary impact on your health in later years- such is the case with a new link researchers discovered between a common bacterial infection and diabetes. H. pylori itself can be enough of a health problem for those infected with the bacteria, sometimes leading to ulcers and scarily increasing risk of stomach cancer. But while ulcers and stomach cancer are a bit intuitive as they could ostensibly result from direct damage to the lining of the stomach, the link to diabetes made in the new study- published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases- is a troubling theory. Data from the study came from two US National Health and Nutrition Surveys, and the research discovered that the presence of H. pylori bacteria “was consistently associated with elevated levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c),” which in turn indicates abnormal blood glucose levels and diabetes. The link was strongest in obese participants, and in a news release accompanying the study, New York University School of Medicine researchers Yu Chen and Dr. Martin Blaser theorized that levels of stomach hormones that affect glucose regulation could be responsible for the link. Chen and Blaser also suggested that perhaps antibiotic treatment could be beneficial for older patients observed to be obese in order to eliminate H. pylori infections. Dr. Minisha Sood is an endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City not involved with the research- but Sood says that while the study doesn`t prove a direct link, the findings are helpful in attacking the problem from all angles: “This associative data serves as a foundation for future research, possibly even to examine whether eradication of H. pylori may be beneficial from a glucose tolerance standpoint.” The study examining the diabetes-H. pylori link is available in the March 14th edition of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
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