Gut microbiota is the new name for the microbe population residing in our intestine. Human gut microbiota contains tens of trillions of microorganisms, including almost 1000 different species of known bacteria with more than 3 million genes (150 times more than the human genes). The microbiota in our intestine is like a personal identity card specific to each individual.

The gut microbiome is suggested to play a role in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) development. Gut microbiota mainly comprises of Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria. The distribution of these bacteria is supposed to be largely determined by our diet patterns. Any alteration, such as the lack of bacterial diversity or an overgrowth of certain bacteria can lead to dysbiosis (an imbalance in the gut’s microbial composition) and can result in metabolic disease. Dysbiosis has thus been found to be highly correlated with obesity and diabetes, as well as a spectrum of other diseases. For example, individuals with pre-diabetes or T2DM have a moderate degree of gut microbial dysbiosis in terms of a reduction in the abundance of certain universal butyrate-producing bacteria and an increase in various other pathogenic bacteria. Such decreased levels of butyrate-producing gut microbes in T2DM individuals were thus suggested to lead to the disease and its complications.

Many therapeutic approaches such as dietary modifications, prebiotics, probiotics, antibiotics, antidiabetic drugs (biguanides [metformin], alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, GLP-1 receptor agonists [e.g. liraglutide], DPP-4 inhibitors etc.), fecal transplantation, bariatric surgery etc. are being explored nowadays to effectively alter the composition of gut bacteria so as to prevent or treat T2DM.

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