The Role of Diet and Gut Microbiota in Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes incidence is rapidly growing throughout Westernised nations. Dietary differences between societies may account for this bias. Digestion of dietary starch by gut bacteria into nutrients, namely the short chain fatty acids acetate and butyrate, can promote a healthy immune system. In this thesis, we demonstrate how greater consumption of starch leading to high amounts of acetate or butyrate in the body of mice can encourage protective regulatory T cells and iNKT cells, as well as suppress the harmful autoreactive T and B cells which cause diabetes. Ultimately, we show that such starch-based diets protect from diabetes.