The bacteria in your gut can give you type 2 diabetes, finds study

The bacteria in your gut can affect the cells'ability to respond to insulin and thereby contribute to developing type 2 diabetes, shows study.

Did you know that your gut bacteria has the potential to give you type 2 diabetes. That is exactly what a recent study has shown according to which gut bacteria has the ability to affect how cells respond to insulin, thereby contributing to type 2 diabetes, highlighted a recent media report. The study found that the gut microbiota of people with treatment-naive type 2 diabetes can be associated with a different metabolism of the amino acid histidine, which, according to experts, is mainly obtained from the diet.

This link can result in formation of imidazole propionate, a substance that can impair the cells' ability to respond to insulin. Based on this observation, the researchers found that reducing the amount of bacterial-produced imidazole propionate can be a new way of treating patients suffering from such conditions.

"This substance does not cause all Type-2 diabetes, but our working hypothesis is that there are sub-populations of patients who might benefit from changing their diet or altering their gut microbiota to reduce the levels of imidazole propionate," reportedly said Fredrik Backhed, Professor at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. This study has been published in the journal Cell and was conducted on 649 participants.

"Our findings show clearly how important the interaction between gut microbiota and diet is to understand our metabolism in health and disease," said Backhed, according to a media report. Not just this, the results also highlighted that gut bacteria from different individuals can generate completely different substances that may have very specific effects in the body.