Beetroot for managing diabetes and its associated gut dysbiosis: Current findings and challenges
Eric Banan‐Mwine Daliri, Daiva Baltriukienė, Aurelijus Burokas
Abstract
There is strong evidence that diabetes is closely linked with gut dysbiosis such that insults to the gut microbiota can lead to diabetes. Meanwhile, since diabetes can be caused by a variety of tissue dysfunction, it would be ideal to develop single therapeutic strategies that aim at mitigating the condition and modulating the gut microbiota towards a healthy state. However, as it is difficult to define what a healthy gut microbiota is, the strategies would need to result in a healthy functional change in the microbiota. Recently, the use of functional foods for promoting health and modulating the gut microbiota is on the rise and colored vegetables such as beetroot have shown promising results. Meanwhile, the possible mechanism by which beetroot consumption combats diabetes through gut microbiota modulation is not established. Therefore, in this work, we discuss our current knowledge about the possible mechanism by which beetroot exerts antidiabetic effects as well as the challenges and future perspectives in this field of research.