In a new study, researchers found the importance of daytime-dependent fluctuations of the gut microbiome in relation to type 2 diabetes.
Their study encompassing more than 4000 people, and it is the first study in this field based on a large prospective human study.
The research was conducted by a team at Technical University Munich.
The microbial composition of the intestines is complex and varies widely from one individual to another.
Many factors such as environmental factors, lifestyle, genetics or illnesses affect the intestinal ecosystem of helpful gut bacteria.
The team found when certain gut bacteria do not follow a day-night rhythm, so if their number and function do not change over the course of the day, this can be an indicator of a potential type 2 diabetes disease.
Knowing this can improve the diagnosis and outlook of type 2 diabetes.
These arrhythmic bacteria—those that are not changing between day and night—are a marker for potential disease. Researchers refer to this as a risk signature.
Mathematical models also show that this microbial risk signature consisting of arrhythmic bacteria helps to diagnose diabetes.
The scientists emphasize that apart from bacteria and their variations over the course of the day, other factors such as the body mass index play a role in being able to better predict a person’s future medical conditions.
Registering the time of day when taking human fecal samples for research purposes can heavily influence disease diagnostics.
This research supports the hypothesis that changes in the gut microbiome have an effect of nutrition-related diseases.
How gut bacteria changing (or not changing) during the day affect other microbiome-associated diseases such as Crohn’s disease or intestinal cancer may be subject to further scientific examination.
One author of the study is Dirk Haller, Professor for Nutrition and Immunology at TUM.
The study is published in Cell Host & Microbe.
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