The researchers found a link between lower levels of butyrate-produced gut bacteria and increasing signs of diabetes.
According to the research team from the University of Gothenburg, a mix of microbes in the human gastrointestinal tract provides important clues to how any future event of type 2 diabetes can be prevented, predicted, and treated. The new research describes how gut microbiota can contribute to type 2 diabetes and predict who will develop a disease-based gut microbe. By studying healthy individuals, researchers explored new possibilities of how the gut microbiota is affected by the disease or its treatment. Previous studies in this area have examined the connection between diabetes and gut bacteria, and compared healthy people with most patients with such conditions.
Now, the team reveals that an individual’s unique gut microbes can be used to estimate the possibility of developing type 2 diabetes. The research was published in the Cell Metabolism journal. The same research team had shown in previous research that intestinal bacteria can contribute to type 2 diabetes. During this research, the researchers examined data collected from more than 1,000 people with different signs of prediabetes. Prediabetes does not usually have any symptoms or signs. One possible sign of prediabetes is darkened skin on certain parts of the body. The team found distinct gut bacteria differences in people with prediabetes in comparison to a healthy group.
Individuals with impaired fasting glucose showed minimal differences whereas impaired glucose tolerance was associated with higher bacterial changes. Moreover, the researchers found that individuals with different signs of prediabetes and those who recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes showed lower levels of butyrate-produced gut bacteria. The researchers found a link between lower levels of butyrate-produced gut bacteria and increasing signs of diabetes. With many such studies, it is impossible to know the cause of this relationship. However, further research is required to understand whether the microbiome is only responding to metabolic disease, or directly causing subsequent metabolic problems.