Big-data research on gut microbes shows promising results for treating obesity, allergies, cancer, Parkinson’s disease and other illnesses, a Taichung-based doctor said on Saturday at an event to inaugurate the Taiwan Microbiota Consortium.
Microbes inhabiting the digestive tract have a significant affect on digestive, metabolic and autoimmune disorders, said Wu Chun-ying (吳俊穎), doctor of gastroenterology and hepatology at Taichung Veterans General Hospital and the consortium’s president.
Microbes extracted from feces could be administered by pills or suppositories to change a patient’s gut flora to treat ailments, he said citing an international study, adding that doctors in the US has been treating pseudomembranous enteritis using this method.
Wu said the gut microbiota of laboratory mice and humans share a 90 percent similarity, adding that he successfully introduced microbes to mice that maintained their weight, despite them consuming normal portions and being prevented from exercise.
Mice undergoing the procedure had lower rates of diabetes and normal levels of blood lipids, blood sugar and liver function, he said, adding that human clinical trials were conducted in 2015.
Researchers used to focus on a single microbe species, but analyses aided by information technology have enabled mass research of thousands of microbial species at a time, Wu said.
Recent studies revealed that gut microbes play a surprisingly important role in many diseases and disorders that range from obesity, allergies, cancer, depression, Parkinson’s disease and autism, he said.
Gut microbes are being researched in the US, Japan and Western Europe, and human clinical trials have begun in many nations, Wu said, calling on the government to promote research in the field.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Restarting the No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant would take up to 18 months, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said today. Kuo was answering questions during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee, where legislators are considering amendments to the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條) amid concerns about the consequences of the Pingtung County reactor’s decommissioning scheduled for May 17. Its decommissioning is to mark the end of Taiwan’s nuclear power production. However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) that would extend the life of existing
RSS