Gut microbiota disorders cause type 2 diabetes mellitus and homeostatic disturbances in gutrelated metabolism in Japanese subjects

Abstract

Few studies have investigated the hostmicrobe metabolic axis in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This study aimed to determine and compare the nutrient intakes and metabolic markers and to elucidate the relationships among these factors in Japanese T2DM patients and control individuals. Fiftynine Japanese T2DM patients and 59 matched healthy control individuals participated in this study. We examined the differences regarding the participants’ dietary habits, microbiota, and fecal shortchain fatty acids, and analyzed the relationships between the gut microbiota and blood metabolic markers in the T2DM patients and the control subjects. The T2DM patients consumed more carbohydrates, and had lower fecal propionate and butyrate concentrations, larger fecal popula tions of Bifidobacterium spp. and bacteria of the order Lacto bacillales, and smaller fecal Bacteroides spp. populations than the control individuals. In the T2DM patients, the level of Bifido bacterium spp. correlated negatively with the carbohydrate intake and the level of bacteria of the order Lactobacillales corre lated negatively with the protein intake. T2DM patients have gut dysbiosis that may contribute to disease onset and influence its prognosis. Furthermore, homeostatic disturbances in the gutrelated metabolism may underlie the pathogenesis of T2DM.