Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jul;16(7):1315-1324.
doi: 10.1111/jdi.70061. Epub 2025 May 7.

Association of the gut microbiota with type 2 diabetes: Links to disease and remission in the Japanese population

Keita Kinoshita  1   2   3 , Naoki Ozato  1   2 , Tohru Yamaguchi  2 , Kenta Mori  1   2 , Yoshihisa Katsuragi  1   2 , Noriaki Sato  4 , Seiya Imoto  4 , Kazushige Ihara  3 , Koichi Murashita  5 , Shigeyuki Nakaji  3 , Tatsuya Mikami  6
Affiliations

Association of the gut microbiota with type 2 diabetes: Links to disease and remission in the Japanese population

Keita Kinoshita et al. J Diabetes Investig. 2025 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Although the gut microbiota is associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and its remission in clinical settings, their relationship in the general population remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the association between the gut microbiota and T2D and its remission in a population-based setting.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1,639 Japanese participants with (n = 106) or without (n = 1,533) T2D. The gut microbiota was compared between the two groups using multivariable-adjusted logistic regression. The relative abundance of the gut microbiota in fecal samples was calculated using 16S ribosomal RNA amplification. The association between the gut microbiota and T2D remission was determined via longitudinal analyses.

Results: Six genera were independently associated with T2D; a higher abundance of Faecalibacterium, Blautia, Roseburia, and Oscillibacter was significantly associated with a lower odds ratio for T2D, whereas a higher abundance of Megasphaera and Lactobacillus was significantly associated with a higher odds ratio for T2D. Of these, only Blautia abundance was significantly increased in the remission group compared with that in the non-remission group. In the remission group, an increase in Blautia abundance was significantly correlated with an increase in adiponectin level and skeletal muscle mass.

Conclusions: Specific gut microbes were significantly associated with T2D and its remission. The gut microbiota may represent a potential area for further exploration in T2D treatment and prevention. However, additional large-scale cohort studies or intervention studies using a probiotic or prebiotic approach are needed to validate these findings.

Keywords: Gut microbiota; Remission; Type 2 diabetes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

K. K., N. O., T. Y., K. M. (Kenta Mori), and Y. K. are employed by Kao Corporation (Tokyo, Japan). All other authors declare no potential competing interests. The results of the study are presented clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate data manipulation.

Approval of the research protocol: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Hirosaki University COI‐NEXT (HCN2024‐19‐0723) and conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed consent: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to the health check‐up. In this study, participants had the opportunity to object to the use of their data, but none of the participants did.

Approval date of Registry and the Registration No. of the study/trial: N/A.

Animal studies: N/A.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparison of the gut microbiota between the non‐type 2 diabetes (T2D) and T2D groups. (a) Comparison of α‐diversity (Shannon index) between the non‐T2D and T2D groups. Data are presented as means with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). P‐values were calculated using the Mann–Whitney U test. (b) Comparison of β‐diversity (PCoA plot of Bray–Curtis dissimilarity) between the non‐T2D and T2D groups. P‐values were calculated using permutational multivariate analysis of variance. (c) Comparison of relative microbial abundance using the logarithmic LDA score of effect size between the non‐T2D and the T2D groups. Analysis was performed using α = 0.05 and a threshold of the logarithmic LDA score = 3.0. (d) Association between the gut microbiota and T2D. Data are presented as odds ratios (per one SD) with 95% CI. Logistic regression models were used, with adjustments for age, sex, smoking status, exercise habits, alcohol intake, energy intake, total dietary fiber intake, and visceral fat area. *FDR < 0.05; **FDR < 0.01; ***FDR < 0.001. FDR, false discovery rate; LDA, linear discrimination analysis; PCoA, principal coordinate analysis; OR, odds ratio.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of changes in the six genera between non‐remission and type 2 diabetes (T2D) remission groups. Data are presented as adjusted means with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Linear regression models were used, with adjustments for baseline parameters of sex, age, smoking habits, exercise habits, alcohol intake, energy intake, dietary fiber intake, visceral fat area, and abundance of each gut microbe.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. International Diabetes Federation , IDF diabetes atlas, 10th ed. International Diabetes Federation, 2021. https://diabetesatlas.org/atlas/tenth‐edition/.
    1. Roussanne MO, Erawijantari PP, Avelina AS, et al. Gut microbiome composition is predictive of incident type 2 diabetes in a population cohort of 5,572 Finnish adults. Diabetes Care 2022; 45: 811–818. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Heitmeier S, Kiessling S, Clavell T, et al. Arrhythmic gut microbiome signatures predict risk of type 2 diabetes. Cell Host Microbe 2020; 28: 258–272.e6. - PubMed
    1. Gou W, Ling CW, He Y, et al. Interpretable machine learning framework reveals robust gut microbiome features associated with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care 2021; 44: 358–366. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang H, Gou W, Su C, et al. Association of gut microbiota with glycemic traits and incident type 2 diabetes, and modulation by habitual diet: A population‐based longitudinal cohort study in Chinese adults. Diabetology 2022; 65: 1145–1156. - PMC - PubMed

Supplementary concepts