Is the gut the key to obesity? the involvement of the intestine in obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus and fatty liver disease in man.

Worldwide, the increasing number of people with obesity and accompanying disorders such as diabetes and fatty liver disease is a considerable problem. The studies gathered in this dissertation emphasize the role of the intestine both in obesity as in fatty liver disease. They showed for example that obese people have a specific composition of intestinal bacteria that involves local inflammation in the intestine and systemic inflammation that is measurable in the blood. Moreover, we found indications that people with overweight and diabetes have more small intestine cells.
Finally, we studied fatty liver disease, a disorder that starts with relatively innocent liver fattening, but can lead to serious liver infection, liver failure and liver cancer. The blood of people with liver infection contains higher concentrations of antibodies against these bacterial products that occur in the intestine. We also found that the diagnostics of this fatty liver infection can be simplified by means of breath analysis.