In a small study that supports previous findings connecting certain digestive bacterial species with obesity and type 2 diabetes, Turkish researchers have found inconsistencies in the "microbiota" of those affected by the aforementioned conditions compared with that of healthy individuals.

Microbiota is a scientific term to describe the digestive bacterial community, composed of at least 160 species, and is considered part of the immune system for its ability to ward off a variety of diseases.

"The gut microbiota may be used as an important marker to determine the risk of these metabolic diseases -- obesity and diabetes -- or it may become a therapeutic target to treat them," says Yalcin Basaran, MD, an endocrinologist from Gulhane Military Medical Academy School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.

In the study, researchers worked with 27 severely obese adults, 26 adults newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and a control group of 28 healthy adults.

A selection criterion was the absence of medications and antibiotics in the system, which can alter microbiota composition.

Researchers say fecal analysis showed greater microbiota diversity in the healthy subjects, and that the obese and diabetic groups were missing several important species.

"Further studies should be carried out to elucidate if the gut microbial changes are a cause or effect of metabolic diseases," says Basaran. "Manipulation of intestinal bacteria could offer a new approach to manage obesity and Type 2 diabetes."

The study succeeded in linking several conditions to specific bacterium, as patients' body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and blood sugar control, among other factors, corresponded to their respective counts of certain species.

Although maintining diverse microbiota is a matter of diet for most individuals, transplantation via fecal matter may be necessary for cases in which altering eating habits does not bring results.

Also known as fecal bacteriotherapy, fecal transplants have been used sparingly in recent history, although they are increasingly common as studies continue to emerge pointing to microbiota as playing a key role in a variety of health aspects.

The idea may sound extreme, but fecal transplants were first suggested as a way of engrafting new microbiota to fight diabetes in a 2010 study. A 2012 study presented at the International Liver Congress used fecal transplants to associate diabetes with microbiota, independent of obesity.

Results of the new study were presented at a joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago.