Data from NIH microbiome project offer insights into diabetes and more

Three newly released datasets from the NIH’s Human Microbiome Project offer insights into how bacteria in our bodies influence diabetes, inflammatory disease, and preterm births. The researchers looking at the microbiome’s relationship with diabetes seemed to find that those at risk for developing the disease had a different microbial makeup and that their diabetes could perhaps be triggered by developing an infection. The IBD data suggested that people with the disease seemed to be lacking seven species of bacteria that, in healthy people, could be protecting against the condition. Finally, the scientists who looked at preterm births linked the presence of certain bacterial species in vaginas to the risk of delivering prematurely. While the data only establish associative links to disease, the information could serve as a foundation for future work into therapies.