Diabetes has become a global health challenge, affecting more than 500 million people. In response to this problem, the latest research by international scientific research teams from Britain, France and Canada found that the intestinal microbial metabolite trimethylamine (TMA) can improve blood sugar control by regulating immune response, providing a new idea for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The relevant results were published on the 8th in the journal Nature Metabolism. This research breakthrough is closely related to the discovery made 20 years ago. At that time, it was pointed out that high-fat diet would lead to the production of certain bacterial components in the body, which would activate the immune system and trigger inflammation, eventually leading to insulin resistance in diabetes patients. Although this viewpoint was not widely accepted in 2005, it has now become a recognized scientific fact. Now, researchers have finally discovered a way to combat this process. They observed that gut bacteria utilize naturally occurring nutrients in certain foods, namely dietary choline, to metabolize and produce TMA, which can improve blood sugar control. TMA can block the activity of key protein IRAK4 in the immune system, thereby reducing inflammation and restoring insulin sensitivity. Under normal circumstances, a high-fat diet activates IRAK4, triggering an inflammatory response and indicating a nutritional imbalance in the body. Researchers have found through human cell models, mouse experiments, and molecular target screening that TMA can directly bind to IRAK4 and inhibit its activity, thereby reorganizing metabolic reactions and reducing inflammation caused by fat. Even more surprisingly, TMA was able to block systemic inflammation and reduce sepsis mortality in mouse experiments. The study also found that whether it is through experiments to make cells or mice no longer produce IRAK4 protein, or by blocking IRAK4 with drugs, it can produce beneficial effects similar to TMA, providing a new potential target for the treatment of diabetes. (New Society)