Researchers from Monash University, the University of Sydney and the University of Queensland have discovered that a plant-based food supplement could improve gut health and strengthen the immune system in individuals with type 1 diabetes.
Published in Microbiome, the microbiota-targeted clinical trial tested 21 adults with type 1 diabetes that incorporated a six-week supplement into their daily diet.
The results of the six-week supplement trial showed increased production of metabolites called short-chain fatty acids by the gut microbiota, which has an important role in preventing type 1 diabetes.
“People with 1 diabetes have shown altered gut microbiota and reduced production of short-chain fatty acids in stools and blood,” says senior author and lead investigator of the clinical trial, Dr Eliana Marino from Monash University.
“We previously have demonstrated that the supplement used in this human study protected mice from diabetes (Marino et al., Nat Immunol 2017).”
The clinical trial showed that participants’ blood immune cells developed a more regulatory phenotype post-intervention.
“We were very excited to find that blood immune cells had become more regulated. Because type 1 diabetes is caused when the immune system becomes too activated and attacks the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas,” says co-lead Associate Professor Hamilton-Williams from the University of Queensland.
“Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong autoimmune disease that is on the rise with no cure. Individuals living with type 1 diabetes depend on insulin treatment. As a consequence, they can develop late life-threatening inflammatory complications, such as kidney failure, neurological and cardiovascular diseases,” adds co-lead Associate Professor Sonia Saad, University of Sydney
“While glucose control and insulin requirements didn’t change overall, the participants with the highest short-chain fatty acid concentrations showed the best glucose control after the supplementation,” says co-lead Dr Kirstine Bell, from the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney.
According to Dr Marino, “using this supplement for longer and starting it earlier in the disease could potentially stop the immune attack, preserving insulin-producing cells and improving glucose regulation”.
“This dietary supplementation represents a safe and accessible alternative therapy for many children with type 1 diabetes or other autoimmune diseases. Also, it could decrease the risk of subsequent inflammatory complications such as cardiovascular disease as clinical trials are underway,” says Dr Marino.
