Today’s post focuses on the gut microbiome and how it impacts management of Type 1 Diabetes
The incidence of autoimmune type 1 diabetes (T1D) is increasing worldwide and disease onset tends to occur at a younger age. Unfortunately, clinical trials aiming to detect predictive factors of disease, in individuals with a high risk of T1D, reported negative results. Hence, actually there are no tools or strategies to prevent T1D onset. The importance of the gut microbiome in autoimmune diseases is increasingly recognized and recent data suggest that intestinal dysbiosis has a pathogenic role in T1D by affecting both intestinal immunostasis and the permeability of the gut barrier. Gastrointestinal Microbiota and Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: The State of Art
The changes in gut microbiota could lead to alterations in the gut immune system, such as increased gut permeability, small intestinal inflammation, and impaired tolerance to food antigens, all of which are observed in T1D. Gut microbiota and type 1 diabetes
Lots of big words … here’s the bottom line for a T1D with microbiome dysfunction: The changes in gut microbiota could lead to alterations in the gut immune system, such as increased gut permeability, small intestinal inflammation, and impaired tolerance to food antigens, all of which are observed in type 1 diabetes. Even children diagnosed with T1D have reduced gut microbiota diversity.
In terms that the effects in managing T1D: Changes in the gut microbiome are associated with glycemic control and disease-related complications. Altogether, these results suggest that the gut microbiome is not only important in the context of type 1 diabetes development but may also be involved in the development of diabetes-associated complications. The Gut Microbiome Composition Is Altered in Long-standing Type 1 Diabetes
Gastrointestinal symptoms occur commonly in people with diabetes, and include gastro-esophageal reflux, bloating, nausea, constipation, diarrhea and fecal incontinence. It has been suggested that more than 50% of individuals attending outpatient diabetic clinics will at some stage experience a distressing gastrointestinal symptom. Gastrointestinal motor dysfunction is also common in diabetes and may have an impact on glycemic control. Of the motor dysfunctions, gastroparesis, or delayed gastric emptying, is the most important. Gastrointestinal Disorders in Diabetes
What doctors wish patients knew about improving gut health by Sara Berg for AMA-Assn.org, 17 March 2023, as a part of a series called What Doctors Wish Patients Knew which provides physicians with a platform to share what they want patients to understand about today’s health care headlines.
A healthy gut is essential for overall health and well-being, establishing proper digestion, metabolism and immunity. Meanwhile, poor gut health has been linked to a range of health conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, allergies and mental health disorders. But understanding how to maintain a healthy gut can set patients’ digestive health on the right track.
Gut health refers to the well-being of the digestive system, which is responsible for breaking down food, absorbing nutrients and eliminating waste from the body. It is home to trillions of microorganisms—including bacteria, viruses and fungi—that are collectively known as the gut microbiome. In this installment, March Seabrook, MD, a gastroenterologist in private practice in West Columbia, South Carolina, and delegate in the AMA House of Delegates for the American College of Gastroenterology, discusses the importance of gut health.
“When someone presents to the gastroenterologist, the symptoms that are going to make us raise the antennas to look at the microbiome are people who often have irritable bowel syndrome symptoms,” Dr. Seabrook said. “From a symptom standpoint, if somebody says they have no abdominal pain, no nausea or vomiting, have had one brown, formed bowel movement a day and feel great, then obviously we don’t look for any biome issues,” Dr. Seabrook said. “But if they present with unexplained abdominal bloating or gas, diarrhea and abdominal pain, that is a red flag to me as a gastroenterologist.
Read more: What doctors wish patients knew about improving gut health
The Wild World Inside Your Gut by Alice Callahan for NYTimes.com, 23 February 2023.
We tackled everything from heartburn, stress, spicy foods and colon cleanses to antibiotics and more. So grab a kombucha, get comfortable and read on for everything you’ve wanted to know about the wild world inside your gut.
The Wild World Inside Your Gut
And a repeat of a wonderful Zoom session with 2 renowned physicians from Stanford University School of Medical (Dr. Marina Basina and Dr. Linda Nguyen), all about Type 1 diabetes and the Gut. Some really great explanations and information.
This past year I reviewed 4 grants about gut microbiome and arthritis. Mostly RA. Three were turned down and one was funded. The problem is that until standards are determined and humans adequately measured it is difficult to get objective outcomes. In RA the research to date shows highly variable associations with disease activity and the quality or amount of gut microbiome helpful activity
None of that means it will not work, just that we have to musk better research to establish population standards for at least a valid association. Now that research would have gotten funded. But each of these wanted to manipulate the gut microbiome without understanding good or bad.