Restoring gut bacteria may be the key to lowering a baby's Type 1 diabetes risk, according to a new study. As such, babies who have been given antibiotics for an infection may no longer face the reality that as they age, they have a higher likelihood of becoming diabetic.

Researchers from Rutgers University believe that by restoring a baby's microbiome to what it was at birth, they remove the risk the baby had of developing Type 1 diabetes as a result of taking antibiotics, according to EurekAlert!

The study, which was published in the journal, Cell Host & Microbe, found that the key to restoring the gut microbiome is to perform a maternal fecal transplant. This process involves the transplantation of "stool from a healthy donor into the gastrointestinal tract for the purpose of treating C. difficile colitis," according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

In this case, the healthy donor would be the mother.

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C. difficile colitis occurs when the microbiome of the gut has been disturbed by antibiotics. This is because while antibiotics work to rid the body of the bacteria causing an infection, by removing the bad bacteria, the good bacteria are removed as well.

With the removal of the good bacteria, C. difficile colitis begins to multiply in the gut and can cause everything from diarrhea to life-threatening symptoms, according to the Mayo Clinic. Symptoms of C. difficile begin to show within five to 10 days after beginning a course of antibiotics.

Those who have C. difficile colitis are also at a higher risk of developing Type 1 diabetes. According to Medical Xpress, this is because after taking antibiotics, C. difficile colitis has a much easier time of causing inflammation to major organs and by doing so, increases the "risk of immune-mediated diseases," including that of Type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes affects nearly 13,000 children every year in the United States, according to the Cleveland Clinic. As such, it is one of the most common autoimmune diseases little ones face.

While in many cases, it is unknown what causes Type 1 diabetes to occur in children, when infants are given antibiotics to ward off infection, they risk becoming diabetic as they age.

To find a way to keep babies from developing diabetes as a result of antibiotic use, researchers performed a study on baby mice.

According to the study, researchers gave mice antibiotics between five and 10 days of life. They then split the group of mice into two categories which were those who received a maternal fecal transplant and those who were not.

The results showed that the mice who received the transplant had their gut microbiome "partially restored" and their risk for diabetes diminished, according to EurekAlert! In other words, their gut bacteria looked as though they had never taken antibiotics.

While there are further studies that need to be conducted to see if a maternal fecal transfer is an answer to keeping babies from being at risk for Type 1 diabetes after receiving necessary antibiotics, it is a step in the right direction. After all, there should not have to be a trade-off for treating an infection that is as big as risking developing a life-long condition in the future.

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Source: EurekAlert!, Medical Xpress, Cell Host & Microbe, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic