TOPLINE:
The gut microbiome biodiversity is lower in patients with prediabetes than in healthy individuals, and the microbiota have less of the species involved in key physiology and metabolism roles.
METHODOLOGY:
- The association between gut bacteria, diet, glucose metabolism, and insulin resistance has been established, but there is a lack of research in the Asian population.
- Here, researchers sought to examine the differences in the gut microbiome composition between patients with prediabetes and healthy individuals.
- They evaluated 57 patients with prediabetes from the Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital and compared them to biobank data from 60 healthy adult individuals as the control population (all ages 18-65 years).
- All participants with prediabetes were required to keep a 3-day food record and collect fecal samples on the third day. Overall, 117 fecal samples were collected.
- In patients with prediabetes (fasting blood glucose levels of 100-126 mg/dL and A1c levels of 5.7%-6.5%), researchers compared gut microbiome differences by low and high intake in five nutrient groups — carbohydrate, protein, fat, fiber, and calories.
TAKEAWAY:
- Bacterial biodiversity was lower in patients with prediabetes than in healthy individuals (Kruskal-Wallis test; P < .05).
- Biobank fecal sample data from healthy individuals vs patients with prediabetes showed higher relative abundances of bacteria that support the integrity of the intestinal mucosa such as Anaerostipes and Faecalibacterium. Healthy samples also showed higher relative abundance of Blautia, Bifidobacterium, Clostridium, Mediterraneibacter, and Butyricicoccus.
- Bacteroides, Phascolarctobacterium, Parabacteroides, and Paraprevotella were more abundant in the fecal samples obtained from patients with prediabetes.
- Fecal samples obtained from patients with prediabetes who followed a low- vs high-carbohydrate diet showed a higher gut microbiome diversity (Kruskal-Wallis test; P < .05) and relative abundance of Coprococcus, which works with dietary fiber to maintain gut barrier integrity.
IN PRACTICE:
"A balanced intake of appropriate nutrients and a high-fiber diet may be helpful in maintaining normal physiological metabolism and diversity in the intestinal bacteria," the authors wrote.
SOURCE:
This study, led by Wei-Lin Chang, Department of Nutrition, Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, New Taipei City, Taiwan, was published online in Nutrients.
LIMITATIONS:
The findings of this study may not be applicable to the general population as only a small sample of patients with prediabetes were recruited. The healthy control individuals in the biobank data set were younger (about 53 vs 58 years) and had higher body mass index (about 25 vs 23) than individuals in the prediabetes group. The dietary composition of either group was also not analyzed for differences, which may have led to differences in the gut microbiome composition observed in this study.
DISCLOSURES:
This work was supported by Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.