Researchers from China studied microbes in the gut of 345 Chinese adults, some with and some without type 2 diabetes. They identified more than 60,000 markers, or indicators, associated with type 2 diabetes, and suggested that some of these markers could be used to indicate a risk of type 2 diabetes before the disease develops. The team also discovered that people with type 2 diabetes had a smaller amount of helpful microbes in their gut than those without the disease, and their wellbeing was even more at risk due to an abundance of potentially harmful bacteria in the gut also.
However, the findings presented a chicken-or-the-egg dilemma, as it was not clear whether the microbial changes in the gut led to the development of type 2 diabetes, or if these changes occur because a person already has type 2 diabetes. Nonetheless, study senior author Jun Wang, executive director of the Beijing Genomics Institute in Shenzhen, argued that these findings offer clues that might help develop new treatments: ‘I think our study provides many targets for disease prevention and treatment through gut microbiotia in the near future’.
As of yet, the cause of type 2 diabetes is unknown, though many people believe it is often caused by obesity. Experts suggest the cause of diabetes derives from a combination of genetic and environmental factors, and doctors who weren’t involved with the study were sceptical about its promises to foster useful insights and treatments.
According to Dr. Stuart Weinerman, associate chief of the division of endocrinology at North Shore University Hospital/Long Island Jewish Medical Centre in New York, ‘There’s no way right now that you can say there’s a cause-and-effect relationship. It could be that the patients with diabetes were treated with drugs that changed their gut flora. Or maybe they ate differently? This is an interesting hypothesis — that gut bugs could influence diseases states — but it’s far from proven’.
The researchers of this study admit that there’s still a question as the changes in bacterial balance actually cause type 2 diabetes, but Wang stated that they are working on new studies to try to answer that question.