A collection of trillions of bugs found in the gut could help predict a person’s risk of type 2 diabetes earlier, according to research from the Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu.

Researchers found that human gut microbiome – which is a collection of bugs that live in your intestinal tract – can be used to predict changes in type 2 diabetes-related glucose regulation, up to four years ahead of the development of type 2 diabetes.

Gut microbiome is bacteria in the digestive system and plays a key role in digesting food and nutrients; gut bugs are also important processes in the metabolism, body weight and immune regulation.

Early detection and management of type 2 diabetes can reduce the risk of complications.

Results showed that changes in the gut microbiome can be used to predict changes in glucose regulation primarily related to insulin levels and insulin secretion.

“Our study design allowed us to compare predictions made a year and a half and four years ahead, which showed significant differences,” said Oliver Aasmets from the University of Tartu.

“Using gut microbiome as a risk factor for predicting various diseases is a promising research area, but further studies in different populations and with larger sample sets are needed in order to validate the results and to further develop the prediction models,” said Associate Professor Elin Org.

The research has been published in the American Society for Microbiology Journals. You can read more on this research here.

What you should know

· Gut bugs could help predict a person’s risk of type 2 diabetes.

· This could help identify people at high risk of type 2 diabetes and enable earlier interventions to lower that risk