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upstart writes:

For some Greenlanders, eating sugar is healthy:

"Adult Greenlanders with the genetic variation have lower BMI, weight, fat percentage, cholesterol levels and are generally significantly healthier. They have less belly fat and might find it easier to get a six pack. It is amazing and surprising that a genetic variation has such a profoundly beneficial effect," says University of Copenhagen biology professor Anders Albrechtsen.

Along with colleagues from the University of Copenhagen, the University of Southern Denmark and a number of research institutions and public agencies in Greenland, Professor Albrechtsen analysed data from 6,551 adult Greenlanders and conducted experiments on mice.

The results demonstrate that carriers of the genetic variation have what is known as sucrase-isomaltase deficiency, meaning that they have a peculiar way of metabolizing sugar in the intestine. Simply put, they do not absorb ordinary sugar in the bloodstream the way people without the genetic variation do. Instead, sugar heads directly into their intestine.

"Here, gut bacteria convert the sugar into a short-chain fatty acid called acetate, which in previous studies has been shown to reduce appetite, increase metabolism and boost the immune system. That is most likely the mechanism happening here," explains Mette K. Andersen, an assistant professor at the Center for Metabolism Research at the University of Copenhagen and first author of the study.

The reason for this widespread genetic variation among Greenlanders is due to a diet that has stood out from that of the rest of the world for millennia.

[...] While the variation has clear health benefits for adult Greenlanders, it is problematic for their children.

"Younger carriers of the variation experience negative consequences due to their different type of sugar absorption. For them, consuming sugar causes diarrhea, abdominal pain and bloating. Our guess is that as they age, their gut bacteria gradually get used to sugar and learn how to convert it into energy," explains Torben Hansen, a doctor and professor at the University of Copenhagen's Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research.

Journal Reference:
Mette K. Andersen, Line Skotte, Emil Jørsboe,et al. Loss of sucrase-isomaltase function increases acetate levels and improves metabolic health in Greenlandic cohorts. Gastroenterology, 2021; DOI: 10.1053/j.gastro.2021.12.236

Original Submission