Under the action of the diet in the tissues of the organic changes, which may be a long time to have a positive impact on metabolism and to reduce the risk of cancer. This is evidenced by a study published in the journal Developmental Cell.
For scientific work, the researchers used fruit flies, which in such instances constitute a good object, since the results are likely to project on mammals.
In the gut of flies, as in mammals, there are stem cells that produce hormones and nutrients. Scientists have found that stem cells can develop into a particular cell type under the influence of different types of food. Especially sensitive to such influences, young body.
Omnisky Rebecca (Rebecca Obniski) from the Carnegie institution (Carnegie Institution for Science), lead author of the study, along with colleagues found that changes in the amount of consumed cholesterol can program cells for the development of new, specialized types of cells from stem cells.
Increasing the amount of cholesterol in the diet resulted in a greater number of cells with hormonal activity, and its reduction to the appearance of a greater number of cells intake nutrients.
This shows that low availability of nutrients in the diet, especially at a young age, leads to a change in the structure of the intestine with long-term consequences for metabolism, which may eventually lead to metabolic diseases.
Children born to mothers with eating disorders, often further forced to deal with obesity. Our findings could explain the physiology of why this occurs, says Omnisky.
The study’s authors say that understanding the impact of food on the structure of the organs could help scientists to use diet to combat aging and diseases of adults. For example, new discoveries explain why a diet rich in fats contributes to the development of some types of colon cancer.
Ukrainian Andrei