--- title: Antibiotics Are Linked To Type-2 Diabetes description: A new study finds that people who develop type-2 diabetes also used significantly more antibiotics—even 15 years before they were diagnosed canonical: https://time.com/4013398/antibiotics-diabetes/ author: Mandy Oaklander article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-27T17:00:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:01.508Z article:section: Health og:title: Antibiotics Are Linked To Type-2 Diabetes og:description: A new study finds that people who develop type-2 diabetes also used significantly more antibiotics—even 15 years before they were diagnosed og:url: https://time.com/4013398/antibiotics-diabetes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Antibiotics Are Linked To Type-2 Diabetes twitter:description: A new study finds that people who develop type-2 diabetes also used significantly more antibiotics—even 15 years before they were diagnosed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Antibiotics Are Linked To Type-2 Diabetes > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=732d61a6-d51f-46f1-a471-9d55178ccc8c&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Competing in the Olympics with Type-1 Diabetes [Watch (HLS stream): Competing in the Olympics with Type-1 Diabetes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KPOeLGMG.m3u8) (6:00)  _Published 2010-02-22. Kris Freeman is in his third Winter Olympics on a U.S. cross-country skiing team, defying the doctors who told him he'd never be able to compete with diabetes_  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Aug 27, 2015 5:00 PM UTC  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Aug 27, 2015 5:00 PM UTC A new [study](http://press.endocrine.org/doi/10.1210/jc.2015-2696) published in the _Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism_ finds that people who develop type-2 diabetes used significantly more antibiotics—even 15 years before they were diagnosed—than people without the disease. The researchers used data from citizens of Denmark, since the country has a single-payer national health insurance system with detailed health and pharmacy records. Using national health registries, the researchers looked at 170,504 people who had type-2 diabetes and tracked their prescriptions for antibiotics. They matched those people with 1.3 million other Danish citizens of the same age and sex who did not have diabetes and compared data from the two groups. People with type-2 diabetes were more likely to receive more courses of antibiotics (0.8 prescriptions per year) than those who didn’t have the disease (0.5 prescriptions per year). An increased use of antibiotics was detected up to 15 years before people with type-2 diabetes were even diagnosed; an increased usage was also found after diagnosis. **MORE**: [How This Common Drug Can Have Lasting Effects On Kids](http://time.com/3941418/antibiotics-children-health-risks/) The study wasn’t designed to be able to determine a cause, but the authors point out two interpretations of the results. One is that people who go on to develop type-2 diabetes are more vulnerable to infections years before they’re diagnosed, so it would make sense for them to take more antibiotics. The other theory is that antibiotics raise the risk of type-2 diabetes. This second theory is derived largely from research in rodents, and it’s the one that compels [Dr. Martin Blaser](http://time.com/3822950/martin-blaser-2015-time-100/), professor of medicine and microbiology at New York University Langone Medical Center and a longtime researcher of the effects of antibiotics. (Blaser was not involved with this study but is familiar with the research.) “When you take antibiotics,” he says, “you change the composition of the microbiota”—your personal collection of bacteria in the body that communicates with human cells. Blaser has a hypothesis for how this might work in children who develop type-1 diabetes: the change in composition from taking antibiotics also alters metabolism, possibly making people more likely to become diabetic. “This work coming out that antibiotics might be affecting adults in a similar fashion is a little surprising to me, but in no way shocking,” he says. “I thought by the time you’re adult things are pretty much fixed, but maybe they’re not.” The results of the study are not conclusive. But Blaser says they add to the body of research about the potential risks of antibiotics. “It’s evidence consistent with the idea that antibiotics have cost—not just monetary cost, but a biological cost in terms of potentially causing long-term effects,” he says. “As we’re studying it more and more, it suggests that things may bounce back, but it may not be the same normal, and it may predispose to other diseases—including important diseases, common diseases, like type-2 diabetes.” ## Transcript [00:00] >>One of the first things I was told when I was [00:01] diagnosed is what I couldn't do. And the first thing I [00:05] was told is that I couldn't be an Olympic cross- country [00:06] skier because it had never been done before. And my [00:10] question was, well, how did you know it can't be done [00:12] if no one's ever tried it? The innovations that have [00:14] come out in the past few decades have been [00:17] revolutionary. So, perhaps the doctors that first told [00:21] me I couldn't do it were still living in the age of the old [00:23] medications. It's getting better all the time and it [00:28] still stinks to have diabetes, but it's definitely the best [00:30] time in history to have it. [00:32] >>Kris Freeman is a very accomplished cross- country [00:34] skier. He also has type 1 diabetes. The Vancouver [00:39] Winter Games are his third Olympics and he talked to [00:41] TIME recently about what it's like adding the extra [00:44] medical challenge to his athletic career. [00:47] >>I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was [00:49] 20 years old in the summer of 2000. I [00:54] was training full time with the U. S. ski team. I had just [00:57] given up a full scholarship at the University of Vermont [01:00] to train for my first Olympics in 2002. And in [01:05] a routine blood test, I really hadn't seen any severe [01:08] symptoms of the disease yet. My glucose came back [01:11] as double the normal levels. I was sent to [01:15] an endocrinologist and diagnosed within 5 minutes. A [01:17] type 1 diabetes happens when the immune system [01:21] attacks the pancreas and kills the islet cells which [01:26] produce insulin in your body. Without insulin, you [01:29] cannot use glucose in your body and utilize glucose [01:33] in your body. It just stays in your bloodstream, which [01:35] can cause a host of health issues. In a nutshell, having [01:39] diabetes means that you have an internal organ that [01:41] doesn't function anymore and you have to become that [01:45] internal organ. You have to learn how to do what that [01:47] organ is supposed to do. So, I had to become very [01:50] conscious of my diet. I learned a lot about the glycemic [01:53] index, how fast various carbohydrates, various foods [01:56] get absorbed in the body. And what I learned was that [02:01] the more whole grains, the more natural you eat, the [02:04] easier it is to control. But with my lifestyle, what really [02:08] is tricky is that my training and the exertion I'm putting [02:12] out everyday changes so much. And the exertion that I [02:15] put out there depends on-- changes how receptive my [02:18] body is to glucose. If I just burned a ton of it, I don't [02:21] need much insulin to restock myself. But if I have been [02:24] sitting on the couch all day, I'm gonna need a ton of [02:26] insulin to get the same amount of sugar into my [02:28] system. And so, I'm also constantly aware of how much [02:31] stress I've been putting on in my body. For the first [02:33] eight years I was diabetic, I used the violent syringe [02:36] method to manage my diabetes and I hadn't used a [02:39] pump primary because with the traditional pump, [02:43] there's the risk of the exposed tubing freezing. In my [02:46] sport, we're allowed to race in temperatures as cold as [02:49] >>4 Fahrenheit and that was a concern of my doctor [02:52] and I because I used-- I need the insulin while I'm [02:54] racing. But at the same time, in order to manage my [02:57] diabetes properly when I was on the road going from [02:59] venue to venue, changing climates, changing foods, I [03:03] was having to take as many as 12 shots a day. And I [03:06] still wasn't achieving quite the control I wanted. So, [03:09] when I heard about a new product called the OmniPod, [03:13] which is a patch insulin pump. It's the first one and it [03:17] adheres directly to the skin, so there's no exposed [03:19] tubing so my body heat actually keeps it warm. And [03:23] then there is-- You can see a very small plastic tube [03:27] on-- in that clear window that is actually going into my [03:30] skin. And that skin is going into the subcutaneous [03:34] fat. That's where-- That's where insulin is absorbed. [03:38] This communicates through infrared to this device. [03:40] >>Okay. [03:41] >>And when I tell it to and I first put it on, it will inject [03:46] a small plastic tube into my body with a needle and it [03:49] just goes-- punches it in and the needle retracts. So, it [03:51] just leaves a tube in there. It actually doesn't hurt [03:54] much at all. My insulin management is still evolving. I'm [03:57] still learning the best way to use my insulin in races. [04:01] I feel like I've really got a great strategy now for the [04:06] 15- kilometer races. I'm still fine- tuning what I do for [04:09] the longer 30 kilometers and 50- kilometer races. I'm [04:12] not as confident in my dosing plan there. Obviously, [04:16] I've got those two races coming up this next week and I [04:18] have a plan and I think it's gonna work, but it definitely [04:22] throws another variable into my racing, you know. A [04:25] normal cross- country skier has to worry that their [04:28] muscles might be a little sluggish or that their skis are [04:30] gonna be slow. I have an extra variable and it's the [04:34] first one I take care of. This is a glucose monitor. This [04:38] is called-- This is a lancet. This is the test strips. This [04:41] is the actual monitor. I can do this anywhere between 4 [04:44] and 12 times a day. Leading up to a race, I will [04:48] often test at least 6 times in the morning to make sure [04:51] my blood sugar is spot on before I go. So, what I just [04:54] did is I put the strip at the end into [04:58] the-- into the port at the end of the monitor and [05:02] this blood sample indicates that it's ready. So, [05:06] I cock the lancet. I put it to my [05:10] skin. I push a lancet into my body. Get a small sample [05:14] of blood. I put it on the test strip and [05:19] hopefully my blood sugar is in the good range at the [05:21] moment. It's at 1: 30, which is slightly higher than I [05:24] would prefer, but it's well within the good range. [05:26] Everyday, I learn more about it and it becomes the [05:29] next day's easier than the day before even now and [05:34] I really like to stress especially the young that there's [05:37] really no limits to what you can do with this disease. It's [05:41] a completely manageable disease. I won't like it can be [05:44] very frustrating at times, but it's totally manageable [05:48] and that you should never stop something that you're [05:51] dreaming about because you have diabetes. It's totally [05:54] unnecessary. 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