Gut dysbiosis: A pathway to glucose dysregulation?

Abstract

Various reports have emerged on the possible nature of the complex and dynamic cause-effect relationship between gut dysbiosis and abnormal glucose homeostasis. These reports have suggested or experimented with diverse therapeutic strategies to tackle gut dysbiosis and glucose intolerance caused thereof. This review is aimed at re-aligning reports of pathophysiology and treatment modalities of gut dysbiosis and suggesting focal points of future research that will fast-forward a more encompassing clinical applications in the management of glucose intolerance. Literature search was done using databases including Pubmed, Pubmed Central, Embase, and Google scholar. The search terms used were (“glucose intolerance” OR “glucose dysregulation” OR “diabetes” OR “dysglycemia” OR “prediabetes”) AND (“gut dysbiosis” OR “abnormal gut microbiota” OR “gut microbiota” OR “gut microflora” OR “abnormal gut microflora”). On Initial search, the titles and abstracts of 632 literatures returned were checked for relevance to the review topic. Subsequently, 88 literatures that fulfilled the set criteria were critically reviewed and relevant contents extracted for this review. In conclusion, the treatment of gut dysbiosis can help to ameliorate glucose intolerance. These treatments include prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics, antibiotics, and even antidiabetics.