Yasmina Kattou
8:50 a.m., September 20, 2022
Do you really know what happens to your body after you eat your meal? Without the intestines, digestion would be impossible. Several French researchers want to unlock the secrets of this mysterious organ. Inrae, the hospitals of Paris and AgroParisTech have launched a vast study, called “French Gut”.
We are 66 million French people and there are 66 million different intestines! Mapping the microbiota, i.e. the thousands of bacteria and other non-pathogenic fungi that live in our intestines, is the “French Gut” project. Led by Inrae, the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Paris hospitals and AgroParisTech, the study hopes to collect 100,000 faecal samples by 2027 and therefore calls for donations. of your stools.
The aim of this vast study: to understand how our microbiota works
Our “second brain” as scientists call it, has a predominant role in our general well-being. The billions of micro-organisms that populate our digestive system influence our sleep, the occurrence of diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s or the development of cancer. The aim will be to understand to what extent the microbiota influences certain pathologies.
In the long term, knowledge of our intestines will make it possible to act in a preventive manner, explains one of the leaders of the study, Robert Benamouzig. He is head of the gastroenterology department at the Avicennes hospital in Bobigny: “The purpose of French Gut will be to be able to make early diagnoses and above all to identify, even before the development of the pathology, situations that predetermine in order to try to intervene. It is also, why not, treatment in the sense of rebalancing the microbiota which could be pathological into microbiota which could be healthy”, he explains to Europe 1.
For this study, stool donations are needed
You can help science from home. Just go to the “Le French Gut” website, after answering a few questions about your eating habits, you will receive the necessary equipment for the sample at your home. As a kit for colorectal cancer screening. All French adults are invited to participate regardless of their state of health. Certain conditions must be met: such as not having had a colonoscopy or taken antibiotics three months before the donation.
Source: Europe1
Brayden White, a veteran sports writer at Global Happening, brings his wealth of knowledge and expertise to the sports section. With over a decade of experience, he is committed to delivering high-quality coverage of the latest games and events.
