A recent study suggests that specific gut bacteria might help to treat patients with type 2 diabetes.
Prevalence of Diabetes in the United States
According to recent reports in the National Diabetes Statistics Report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 34.2 million Americans of all ages have diabetes. With more than 90% diagnoses with type 2 diabetes.
Those with type 2 diabetes are unable to produce insulin because their cells do not respond to it. As a result, these cells do not absorb sugar efficiently, resulting in the rise of blood sugar levels. Left unchecked, type 2 diabetes could cause internal organ damage.
The Western diet, which is prevalent in the United States, consists of high-level refined sugars and saturated fats. This increases the risk of the population of developing type 2 diabetes.
Recently, scientists and researchers set out to identify how specific gut bacteria might play a vital role in the association between diabetes and diet.
Gut Bacteria and Diabetes
The gut microbiome that includes hundreds of species of bacteria is a long-forgotten organ. Recently, scientists have discovered that an imbalance in the microbiome known as dysbiosis can be linked to adverse health conditions.
In 2019, a study suggested that a disturbance in the gut microbiome may contribute to a person's development of type 2 diabetes.
A recent paper, published in Nature Communications, suggests the possibility of a small number of specific bacteria may be critical to the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
Scientists from the University of Vienna, Austria, the National Cancer Institute, the Oregon State University, and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda carried out the research.
The study notes that specific bacteria that are not regarded as critical influencers may significantly impact an individual's health.
How Microbiome Impacts Metabolism
Research on mice combined with previous data on human and mice experiments was vital to the study. The scientists fed different groups of mice, a regular diet and food equivalent to a Western diet.
As expected, mice fed on a Western diet developed insulin resistance and glucose intolerance, which are the main contributing factors to type 2 diabetes.
The study also notes a significant change in the composition of the mice's microbiome.
Afterward, a Transkingdom Network analysis was applied, a data-driven model between microbes and the body to further identify which specific gut bacteria contributed the most to the change in the mice's metabolism.
Because of this, researchers were able to narrow down to four bacteria that appeared to play a vital role in intensifying or reducing harmful effects of a Western diet: Lactobacillus gasseri, Romboutsia ilealis, Lactobacillus johnsonii, and Rumococcus gnavus.
Further investigation of human research identifies the four bacteria related to Americans' body mass index on a Western diet.
Those with higher levels of the two" improvers" had a much lower BMI, while those with higher "worseners" are more likely to have higher BMI. The data also show that the R. ilealis is present in over 80% of people with obesity.
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