A new study published in Nature reveals that the composition of a person’s gut bacteria plays an important role in the development of type 2 diabetes. The number of people suffering from type 2 diabetes is rising rapidly worldwide, and now a new study suggests that gut bacteria can reveal whether you have the disease. The study has shown that people with type 2 diabetes have a high level of pathogens in their intestines. The more than 1.5 kilograms of bacteria that exist in each of our intestines, the more these bacteria have a huge impact on our health. This bacteria usually live in a very sensitive and balanced environment, but if this balance is disturbed our health will suffer. In this new study, scientists studied the intestinal bacteria of 345 people from China, 171 of whom had type 2 diabetes. The research team managed to find a biological indicator that could one day be used to make an earlier diagnosis of type 2 diabetes more quickly. The study, recently published in the scientific journal Nature, also confirms that people with type 2 diabetes have a harsher bacterial environment in their intestines that contributes to different drug resistance. A similar study in Danish patients with type 2 diabetes also found a significant imbalance in the function and composition of gut bacteria. This study focused on whether abnormal gut bacteria were associated with the risk of developing diabetes. In the new study, scientists transplanted bacteria from the intestines of type 2 diabetics into mice and observed whether the mice developed diabetes. This new finding suggests a possible link between bacteria in the gut and type 2 diabetes in Chinese. The big question now is whether examining changes in gut bacteria affects the development of type 2 diabetes, or whether it simply reflects the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes.