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Healthy feces have been used for faecal transplants for years. But there is now hope that it can also play a critical role in the fight against diabetes 1.<!– –>
Researchers from Amsterdam UMC receive 1 million euros from the Diabetes Fund and the Diabetes Onderzoek Nederland foundation for research into the role of intestinal bacteria in type 1 diabetes, both organizations have announced. Previous research showed that a faecal transplant could potentially play an important role in the fight against the disease.
The intestines contain many bacteria, yeasts and viruses, the so-called microbiome. This appears to play a role in sugar metabolism and the immune system. People with type 1 diabetes have a different microbiome composition. Their immune system in the intestines also looks different.<!– –>
Through the nose
During a faecal transplant, people with type 1 diabetes receive healthy faeces from a donor. The stool is cleaned of food residues, and goes in diluted form with a tube in the nose to the intestines. It is painless and the recipient does not smell or taste it.
“We want to ‘polish up’ the function of the pancreas of people with type 1 diabetes through a poo transplant,” says researcher Max Nieuwdorp. With this they could give a patient a more stable disease, with fewer glucose peaks and troughs and therefore fewer diabetes complications. Ultimately, this could potentially lead to new treatment and hopefully a cure or reversal of type 1 diabetes, even if people have had the disease for some time. “I am very optimistic about this.”
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