Metabolic Disorders Journals

Metabolic disorders are characterised by the lack of an enzyme or cofactor coded in the host genome, resulting in deficiency of the product downstream from the enzymatic block, an excess of substrate upstream from the block and potentially activation, and/or inhibition of other metabolic pathways which can result in widespread metabolic disturbance. Disorders of host intermediary metabolism, either inherited or acquired, may be aggravated or potentially ameliorated by the metabolic activity of the indigent intestinal flora. Microbial ammonia generation is problematic in liver failure, and in rare inherited metabolic disorders of the urea cycle (UCD), where endogenous detoxification pathways are compromised; beyond suppression by broad spectrum antibiotic therapy and accelerated gut transit, selection for non-ammonia generating probiotic organisms, e.g. lactobacilli could be advantageous. Aside from the effects of diet and intestinal flora on endogenous hormones, the microflora may influence the bioavailability, metabolism and effects of ingested phytochemicals. Phytoestrogens first came to prominence in Western Australia in the 1940s with the outbreak in sheep, of “Clover Disease”, an economically catastrophic infertility syndrome. Attributed to ingestion of isoflavone phytoestrogens, greatly enhanced oestrogenic potency by ruminal microbial demethylation of formononetin to equol was later established. In 1982, equol was reported in human urine, and subsequently, found to increase in response to soy ingestion in some, but not all human subjects, but abolished by antibiotic ingestion

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Last date updated on April, 2024