Will This Discovery Help Reverse The Effects of a High Fat Diet?
Researchers who have completed a study on the effects of a high fat diet on type-2 diabetes believe new therapies could be one result of their study. Experiments on mice and on human tissue showed them a trigger.
The team from the University of California and Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, including Dr. Kazuaki Ohtsubo and his collegues, looked into how fat interferes with the sugar sensors in the body. Since obesity has been linked to doubling the number of diabetic cases in the last 30 years, the team believes that a full understanding of the process should be understood.
In the blood, sugar is controlled by pancreatic beta cells. Most people have heard of insulin as the hormone related to diabetes, so what naturally happens is when sugar levels reach too high a level, the body’s cells release insulin bringing the levels back down to normal. The body also has an enzyme called GnT-4a that absorbs glucose and determines how much is in the blood.
Effects of a high fat diet increase free fatty acids in the blood. These acids obstruct two other proteins which are involved in creating GnT-4a. The two proteins are FOXA2 and HNF1A.
A high fat diet encourages the body to ‘cover-up’ the levels of sugar in the blood. This means the cells cannot be sure of the levels and do not know how much insulin to produce.
The lead researcher in the study, Dr Jamey Marth, said “The observation that beta cell malfunction significantly contributes to multiple disease signs, including insulin resistance, was unexpected.” He believes the discovery may allow beta cell gene therapy or the introduction of drugs that will help the natural path remain visible. This may be able to prevent the onset of type-2 diabetes and mask the effects of a high-fat diet.
Faye Joyce has written 108 articles on EpostMedia.
