Accumulating Evidence Links Type Of Gut Microbiome To Both Type 1 And Type 2 Diabetes.

reports on “accumulating evidence linking” the gut microbiome to “both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.” Recently, a study of twins “revealed altered function and composition of the gut microbiome in participants with biomarkers of subclinical type 2 diabetes, suggesting a role for the microbiome prior to disease onset.” In addition, the study authors “found ‘functional changes reflecting a response to oxidative stress comparable to that previously observed in chronic type 2 diabetes and inflammatory bowel diseases.’” A 2013 study published in BMC Medicine revealed “an association between type 1 diabetes and significant alterations in the composition of gut microbiota, which the authors said could be associated with participants’ glycemic levels.” In a paper published in BMC Medicine in 2013, Spanish researchers presented the first study demonstrating an association between type 1 diabetes and significant alterations in the composition of gut microbiota, which the authors said could be associated with participants' glycemic levels.1 “Moreover, the quantity of bacteria essential to maintain gut integrity was significantly lower in the children with diabetes than the healthy children,” they reported. Another 2013 study found similar differences in adult patients with prediabetes and newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes vs those with normal glucose tolerance, and further showed a significant association between microbiota diversity and fasting plasma glucose and C-reactive protein.2 Subsequent studies have begun to shed light on the temporal relationship between diabetes pathogenesis and the microbiome, including a trial comparing veterans with normal glucose tolerance to those with prediabetes. The findings suggest “a role for microbiota in early stages of diabetes development” and that “specific taxa are associated with glycemic stability over time,” according to the paper.3 Additionally, a twin study published in 2016 by researchers at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Seoul National University in South Korea revealed altered function and composition of the gut microbiome in participants with biomarkers of subclinical type 2 diabetes, suggesting a role for the microbiome prior to disease onset. The authors also found “functional changes reflecting a response to oxidative stress comparable to that previously observed in chronic type 2 diabetes and inflammatory bowel diseases,” they wrote.4 http://www.endocrinologyadvisor.com/diabetes/role-of-the-gut-microbiome-in-diabetes/article/515444/