bacteria are everywhere even in the far reaches of space bacteria love the human body and every inch of the body is teeming with these little microbes some of which are beneficial while others are not the digestive system is especially rich in microbial life and the gut bacteria are known to aid in digestion and improve general health even promoting weight lossrecent study showcases bacteria can be both cause and cure for diabetesthe human gut its role in diabetes the human digestive system contains an estimated 10 trillion to 100 trillion bacteria and other microscopic organisms with each person housing at least 160 different species of organisms some researchers now believe that this community of microbes in the human gut contributes to the onset of lowgrade inflammation which in turn may affect body weight and glucose sugar metabolism people with type 2 diabetes or obesity have shown changes in the composition of their intestinal microorganisms called the gut microbiota that healthy people do not have there are some bacteria in the intestine which produce a gas called methane in some studies it has been found that this flourishing population of methaneproducing microbes in the digestive tract can directly contribute to weight gain methane has also been shown to slow movement through the intestines allowing a greater amount of time for the body to absorb nutrients and extract calories from foodwhy some people are prone to obesity and diabetesthe role of bad bacteria a specific bacterial species m smithii is responsible for the majority of methane production in the human body and it was also observed that people with high intestinal concentrations of these bacteria tend to have more body fat and increased bloodsugar levels these individuals also extracted a greater number of calories from the same quantity of food than those with lower levels of m smithii leading to considerable weight gain over time this may explain why some people experience difficulty with losing weight even with a healthy diet and exercise usually the microorganisms living in the digestive tract benefit us by helping convert food into energy however when this particular organism m smithii becomes overabundant it may alter this balance in a way that causes someone to be more likely to gain weightthe role of good bacteria another bacterium akkermansia muciniphila digests mucus and makes up 35 of the microbes in a healthy mammalian gut but the intestines of obese humans and mice and those with type 2 diabetes have much lower levels to study this mice were fed a highfat diet the researchers found that these mice had 100 times less a muciniphila in their guts than mice fed normal diets the researchers were able to restore normal levels of the bacterium by feeding the mice live a muciniphila as well as prebiotic foods that encourage the growth of gut microbes the effects of this treatment were dramatic compared with untreated animals the mice lost weight and had a better ratio