Rationale, design and baseline characteristics of the Microbiome and Insulin Longitudinal Evaluation Study (MILES).

The longitudinal design and robust characterization of potential mediators will allow for the assessment of glucose and insulin homeostasis and gut microbiota as they change over time, improving our ability to discern causal relationships between the microbiome and the insulin homeostasis traits whose deterioration determines T2D, setting the stage for future microbiome-directed therapies to prevent and treat T2D.