Nutrition work in diabetes and the gut microbiome

Hi, my name is Lizaveta Hilman, I am a qualified nutritionist and a personal trainer with a lot of passion for nutrition and healthy lifestyle.

Today I would like to tell you a little bit about myself and my work as a nutritionist. I moved to the UK when I was 15 from Belarus, I went to a private boarding school which was both interesting and very challenging. I found passion for healthy lifestyle during my first degree at UCL, where I studies Economics and Business. Instead of following the financial career after graduation I decided to take a risk and study again, this time Nutrition. Looking back, this was honestly the best decision I have made!

So currently I am working two roles, one is at the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme and second is at Atlas Biomed Group. At the NHS my job is to educate those who are at risk of developing T2D on healthy nutrition, exercise and lifestyle. I really love it, the work is targeted on changing dietary and lifestyle habits which, you probably know, is not easy! Atlas Biomed Group is the first provider of an IVD CE certified test system for human gut microbiome 16s rRNA sequencing. Atlas has two tests: the DNA Test and the Microbiome Test. My role involves helping people to understand how food that they eat affects their gut health, provide personal nutrition recommendations based on their microbiome test results. Importantly, they can ask those embarrassing questions that they can’t discuss elsewhere 😉

Currently I’m also finishing MSc in Clinical Nutrition at Roehampton University and have been absolutely loving the course. I am currently applying for a PhD to continue my research in the nutrition field.

Gut microbiome and type 2 diabetes

You might already know that there is a link between type 2 diabetes and gut microbiome. I will tell you a little more how and why.

Research shows that beneficial species of bacteria are less abundant in the gut of patients with type 2 diabetes when compared to healthy people. The western diet, which is high in saturated fat, refined sugars and highly processed food, has been linked to raised inflammatory markers. Healthy individuals have higher levels of butyrate-producing bacteria like E. rectale, F. prausnitzii, Roseburia intestinalis, and R. inulinivorans compared to patients with T2D. These bacteria need dietary fibres to produce butyrate, which has important anti-inflammatory functions. The fibres are also sometimes called prebiotics, that’s because they promote the growth of beneficial bacteria.

I’m honoured to be a guest at Nutritank and share my experience working in the field. I am happy to see medical students and doctors willing to be educated on nutrition and lifestyle medicine bridging the gap between medicine and nutrition. I think it is an amazing platform which will help to improve the knowledge and provide a better level of care as a result.