How the Microbiome Might Predict Diabetes, Premature Birth and Gut Diseases

Over the last 10 years, the U.S. National Institutes of Health has invested $170 million to better understand the universe of bacteria that live within us—the so-called microbiome. In the first phase of the project, researchers focused on cataloguing the myriad types of microbes found throughout the body, including in the mouth, nose, gut, and reproductive tract. The latest phase of the research, described in three papers published May 29 in Nature and Nature Medicine, focused on better understanding how changes in those microbial populations affect three conditions: diabetes, preterm birth and inflammatory bowel diseases. A growing body of research is finding links between how diet, weight, and environmental exposures, among other things, can affect the mix of bacteria that make up our microbiomes. There are still no clear guidelines for specific microbial combinations that could help avoid or treat disease, but the latest studies bring us closer to developing them. The microbiome and diabetes In the study on diabetes, published in Nature and led by Michael Snyder, director of the center for genomics and personalized medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, a team of researchers followed 106 people for nearly four years, profiling their microbiomes from nasal swabs, stool samples, and blood every three months. The volunteers came in for extra visits when they caught colds or the flu, and, at their will, during stressful events such as job changes, weight ga...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized diabetes gut microbes microbiome Reproductive Health Research Source Type: news