Why carry out this study?

Controlling postprandial glycemic response (PPGR) is a crucial part of mitigating the current epidemic of metabolic diseases including obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, as well as cardiovascular and liver diseases.

Tools facilitating the mass adoption of dietary choices to maintain normal glycemic levels would be an important step towards halting the hyperglycemia epidemic. Previous studies have considered metagenomic data, and ours is the first metatranscriptomic study.

The primary goal of this study was to determine the impact of microbial gene expression (at the functional level) on PPGR.

What was learned from the study?

We demonstrate for the first time that metatranscriptomic activity of the gut microbiome is correlated with PPGR among adults.

Our study identifies new microbial features, linking molecular pathways to glycemic control, including the fucose metabolism pathway and the indoleacetate production pathways.