Chinese team aims to put ‘smart’ diabetes probiotic on US shelves within 2 years
Chinese researchers have engineered a probiotic that could make diabetes care as simple as drinking a cup of yogurt or swallowing a capsule. The “smart” bacterium, designed to sense high blood sugar and automatically release a glucose-lowering hormone, performed on par with the blockbuster drug Ozempic in animal tests, according to a study published in Nature last week. The team at East China…
Chinese scientists have developed a "smart" probiotic that could revolutionize diabetes management by simply being consumed as a supplement. The innovative bacterium, dubbed Gift, can sense elevated blood sugar levels and autonomously release a glucose-lowering hormone. In animal trials, the probiotic performed nearly as well as the widely used diabetes medication Ozempic.
The research team at East China Normal University in Shanghai has filed patents for Gift and is now preparing for pharmaceutical-grade production to bring the product to the US and European markets within two years. Diabetes is a prevalent health issue, affecting over 530 million adults globally, with numbers expected to rise to more than 850 million by 2050.
Current treatments for diabetes often involve daily oral medications or insulin injections. The Gift probiotic works by remaining inactive when blood sugar levels are normal but kicks into action when glucose levels rise, releasing the GLP-1 hormone to help regulate blood sugar. Clinical tests on mice and monkeys have shown that a single oral dose of Gift can significantly lower blood glucose levels for up to three days.
The engineered probiotic also improves lipid profiles and helps prevent complications associated with diabetes. While initially developed to assist diabetic patients, the Gift probiotic's modular design allows for potential applications in treating other metabolic disorders such as obesity and fatty liver disease.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
