Eating Sushi Can Give You Special Digestive Powers

Like sushi? Eat enough of it and you may get digestive superpowers.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on April 08 2010

Creative Commons photo by Poolie.

Like sushi? Eat enough of it and you may get digestive superpowers.

Many people are afraid to eat raw fish because they believe the bacteria in it might make them sick. But as it turns out, just the opposite is true: the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) recently discovered a gene for an enzyme from marine bacteria in human intestines. The enzyme can aid in digesting seaweed, and helps people to extract more energy from the food. Curiously, the enzyme was present only in the Japanese people examined—who traditionally have a diet rich in the seaweed that the enzyme is naturally found in.

The enzyme gene doesn’t appear in all Japanese people: it showed up in just 5 out of the 14 Japanese people whose intestines were studied, but was not present in the intestines of anyone from North America in the sample group.

“The number is low,” researcher Mirjam Czjzek told New Scientist. “But we can say that apparently this enzyme is present only in Japanese and not in [North] Americans.”

In theory, Americans who eat plenty of seaweed should be able to grow their own enzyme genes—but only if they collect raw seaweed to create their sushi. Restaurant sushi is typically roasted, which will destroy the enzyme. So odds are, you’ll only manage to pick up the special gene with a trip to Japan. (Don’t forget your chopsticks!)

Filed under: Health and Wellbeing, Science, Weird,

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