Research

Hormonal

Supplementation with Lactobacillus gasseri or Lactobacillus johnsonii attenuates western diet-induced type 2 diabetes phenotypes in mice by improving hepatic mitochondrial health and reducing liver lipid accumulation.

If you are at risk for type 2 diabetes due to a high-sugar/high-fat diet, specific strains of Lactobacillus (L. gasseri and L. johnsonii) may help protect your liver's ability to process fats and manage blood sugar. They work by improving the health of liver mitochondria and increasing protective antioxidants like glutathione, rather than by changing your gut bacteria. This suggests that targeting liver health via specific probiotics could be a strategy for metabolic prevention.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Our gene expression and electron microscopy studies show that two species from Lactobacillus genus act upon mitochondria in the liver leading to the improvement of lipid metabolism.
Richard R. Rodrigues et al. · Nature Communications · 2021

Why this rating

Strong mechanistic evidence (transcriptomics, electron microscopy, metabolomics) and consistent in vivo results, but limited to murine models and specific strains.

Source

Transkingdom interactions between Lactobacilli and hepatic mitochondria attenuate western diet-induced diabetes

Richard R. Rodrigues et al. · Nature Communications · 2021

DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-20313-x

mechanism_onlyCited 172×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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