Hello everyone. I'm Monica Reinagle and you're listening to the

nutrition Diva podcast welcome. This week we're talking about some new research on the relationship between our

microbiome, the beneficial bacteria that hang out in our intestines, and our ability

to process sugar.

As you probably know in type 2 diabetes,

the body's ability to regulate blood sugar levels

is gradually degraded.

And this condition typically develops in midlife, but it is now often seen in children or young adults. And if left unchecked, type 2 diabetes, which now affects about 1 in ten Americans, can lead to a host of serious even deadly

consequences, blindness, loss of limbs, kidney failure, heart disease, even premature death. So it's not surprising that a lot of

time and money is spent screening and treating people for this disease. Metformin,

this is a drug used to lower high blood sugar, is the fourth most commonly

prescribed a drug in the US. But of course, restoring the body's ability to deal with blood

sugar naturally would be far preferable to treating it

for the rest of your life with drugs.

Doctors screen for type 2 diabetes by testing blood glucose levels. A reading of 99

milligrams per desal liter is considered normal. A reading between 100 and 125 is

considered pre-diabetes and a fasting blood sugar over 125 signals type 2 diabetes.

Although diabetes can lead to severe complications, it's largely asymptomatic in its early phases.

And so this elevated blood glucose reading is usually the first indication of trouble.

At that point, it is sometimes possible to turn things around with diet and lifestyle modifications.

Losing weight if you need to, getting more exercise, eating a healthy diet, all of these can help you restore your body's ability to process

carbohydrates. Now I want to make sure to point out that type 1 diabetes is a

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