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New Specialized Diet for Type 1 Diabetes

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New Specialized Diet for Type 1 Diabetes

A recent publication by a team of researchers from the Monash University revealed that a diet high in short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) might help to strengthen the immune system and ward off type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Type 1 diabetes is characterized by a lack of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Science has yet to pinpoint the exact cause of this disease, but suspected culprits include diet, hygiene, genetic, and the use of antibiotics.

The gut is nicknamed as the second brain—for a very good reason. The gut microbiome has become a hot topic in the past few years due to its implications in various diseases, one of them being diabetes. Specifically, the bacterial fermentation that occurs in the gut gives birth to two compounds, butyrate and acetate, that “promotes gut barrier function” and fight against inflammation.




The team over at Monash University assessed the effect of a diet high in resistant starch—the kind that gets fermented in the colon and produces acetate and butyrate— in non-obese, diabetes-prone mice. Contrary to the traditional healthy eating regime that involves lots of vegetables and fiber-rich foods, this specialized diet would need to be followed through with a dietitian according to the lead scientist Charles Mackay.

The first of its kind, the result of this study was presented at the 2016 International Congress of Immunology in Melbourne.

This study is published in the Nature Immunology on March 27, 2017.