 |
|
The role of fat as a signal substance
February 10, 2003Fat is not only a much-discussed food substance. Fat can also function as a signal substance in the body and activate a special receptor in the cells of important organs like the heart and liver. This opens opportunities for new ways of explaining the genesis of diabetes, a disease that is strongly associated with obesity.
This new role for fat was discovered by a team of researchers headed by Professor Christer Owman and Associate Professor Björn Old of the Wallenberg Neuroscience Center at Lund University, Sweden. They have found a previously unknown receptor on the surface of cells in the heart, liver, and muscles as well as the insulin cells of the pancreas.
A receptor can be likened to an antenna on the surface of a cell that receives chemical signals from its surroundings relays them inside the cell. Many of our most common diseases have to do with disturbances in the function of various receptors.
The Lund scientists' discovery involves a receptor for fats, or rather a whole family of receptors that are activated by short, medium-length, and long fatty acids. They have dubbed these receptors FFARs (free fatty acid receptors).
The fact that fats can function as signal substances to activate events inside the cell is an entirely new insight. It is also interesting that the newly discovered receptors have a clear connection with diabetes: they are influenced by modern anti-diabetes drugs (so-called glitazones), and they exist on the surface of cells of precisely those organs that are involved in sugar metabolism: the liver, muscles, heart, and pancreas.
"The discovery of FFAR can provide a new explanation for the connection between fat and diabetes," says Professor Christer Owman. He hopes the research breakthrough will help to clarify the dual role of fats in the body, being both essential to life and potentially damaging.
The research team has also been able to demonstrate that the newly discovered receptors also occur in the brain. In this context there are possible connections to the importance of fats in the development of the brain and of brain disorders like Parkinson's disease. Christer Owman and his associates hope to be able to study this more closely in the future.
These research results are now being published in the prestigious international journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. The research team has applied for a patent on the function of these receptors in order to be able to use them to develop drugs for diabetes and obesity.
VetenskapsrÃdet (The Swedish Research Council)
Diabetes Current Events and Diabetes News RSSAnnual Report Targets Chronic Kidney Disease in the United States
A 30 percent increase in chronic kidney disease over the past decade has prompted the U.S. Renal Data System (USRDS) to issue for the first time a separate report documenting the magnitude of the disease, which affects an estimated 27 million Americans and accounts for more than 24 percent of Medicare costs.
Study provides insight on a common heart rhythm disorder
University of Iowa researchers and colleagues in France have identified a gene variant that causes a potentially fatal human heart rhythm disorder called sinus node disease.
Compassion meditation may improve physical and emotional responses to psychological stress
Data from a new study suggests that individuals who engage in compassion meditation may benefit by reductions in inflammatory and behavioral responses to stress that have been linked to depression and a number of medical illnesses.
Oral vitamin D may help prevent some skin infections
A study led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine suggests that use of oral Vitamin D supplements bolsters production of a protective chemical normally found in the skin, and may help prevent skin infections that are a common result of atopic dermatitis, the most common form of eczema.
MU Researchers Identify Proteins that Play Important Role in Blood Vessel Dysfunction in Type 2 Diabetes
According to the American Heart Association, three-fourths of people with diabetes die of some form of heart or blood-vessel disease.
JDRF funded study links 'hygiene hypothesis' to diabetes prevention
A research study funded by JDRF suggests that a common intestinal bacteria may provide some protection from developing type 1 diabetes. The findings provide an important step towards understanding how and why type 1 diabetes develops in people, and may lead to potential cures.
Post-term pregnancies risk infant's life and health, UCSF studies show
Infants born more than one week past their due dates have a higher risk of both impaired health and death, according to two new studies by authors from the University of California's San Francisco and Berkeley campuses.
Mentally ill smoke at 4 times the rate of general population, says University of Melbourne study
Australians with mental illness smoke at four times the rate of the general population, says a new study from the University of Melbourne.
Newly identified cells make fat
To understand where fat comes from, you have to start with a skinny mouse. By using such a creature, and observing the growth of fat after injections of different kinds of immature cells, scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Rockefeller University have discovered an important fat precursor cell that may in time explain how changes in the numbers of fat cells might increase and lead to obesity.
Food for thought -- regulating energy supply to the brain during fasting
If the current financial climate has taught us anything, it's that a system where over-borrowing goes unchecked eventually ends in disaster. It turns out this rule applies as much to our bodies as it does to economics. Instead of cash, our body deals in energy borrowed from muscle and given to the brain.
More Diabetes Current Events and Diabetes News Articles
 | Diabetes For Dummies (For Dummies (Health & Fitness)) by Alan L., MD Rubin Covers the latest glucose meters and insulin treatments The straight facts on treating diabetes successfully and living a full life Want to know how to manage diabetes? Leading diabetes expert Dr. Alan Rubin gives you reassuring, authoritative guidance in putting together a state-of-the-art treatment program. You'll learn about all the advances in monitoring glucose, the latest... |
 | The First Year: Type 2 Diabetes: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed (First Year, The) by Gretchen Becker After Gretchen Becker was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 1996, she educated herself on every aspect of this chronic condition — by reading medical and scientific books and journals, talking with doctors and listening to her own body. In 2001, she marshaled everything she had learned as a "patient-expert" into the first edition of this book, which she has now completely updated and revised.... |
 | Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars by Richard K. Bernstein The standard text on living with diabetes, newly revised and updated with all the latest scientific findings. Since its first publication in 1997, DR. BERNSTEIN'S DIABETES SOLUTION has become the treatment of choice in the medical field. In this revised and updated edition of his work, Dr. Bernstein provides an accessible, detailed guide to his revolutionary approach to normalizing... |
 | The 30-Day Diabetes Miracle: Lifestyle Center of America's Complete Program to Stop Diabetes, Restore Health,and Build Natural Vitality by Franklin House, Stuart Seale, Ian Blake Newman A revolutionary program for combating and reversing diabetes. Over the past ten years, Lifestyle Center of America has emerged as the center in the country that offers a proven-successful program to combat diabetes-and even reverse its adverse effects on the body. Now available in book form for the first time, LCA's program enables individuals to actually get to the root of their problems by... |
 | The 4-Ingredient Diabetes Cookbook by Nancy S. Hughes |
 | Reversing Diabetes: Reduce or Even Eliminate Your Dependence on Insulin or Oral Drugs by Julian Whitaker Since it was first published over a decade ago, REVERSING DIABETES has enabled hundreds of thousands of people with type 2 diabetes to control their condition, naturally and effectively, with diet and exercise. Now thoroughly revised and updated with new material, this classic guide will show you how to reduce, or even eliminate, your dependence on insulin or oral drugs-while losing weight and... |
 | American Diabetes Association Complete Guide to Diabetes by American Diabetes Association The most complete self-care guide available from the leaders in diabetes informationThe most up-to-date information on:• New Diabetes Drugs and Insulin • Achieving Blood Sugar Control• Preventing Complications • Handling Emergencies • Testing • Using a Meter • Insulin Pumps• Nutrition • Exercise • Sexuality • Pregnancy • Insurance • And Much, Much MoreThe American... |
 | The 30-Day Diabetes Miracle Cookbook: Stop Diabetes with an Easy-to-Follow Plant-Based, Carb-Counting Diet by Bonnie House, Diana Fleming, Linda Brinegar, Linda Kennedy, Ian Blake Newman The indispensable companion to The 30-Day Diabetes Miracle, featuring more than 200 recipes to help stop diabetes and reverse many of its effects. With more than 200 vegetarian and vegan dishes, and an emphasis on “good carbs,” plus menus, helpful tips and advice, and full nutritional information, this cookbook will help people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes eat and live well. From breakfast... |
 | The All-Natural Diabetes Cookbook by Jackie Newgent The All-Natural Diabetes Cookbook won the 2007 Gourmand Best in the World Award in the category of Best Health and Nutrition Cookbook The only whole food cookbook for people with diabetes—featuring 150 recipes Eating with diabetes means eating healthy. But many cookbooks for people with diabetes substitute artificial sweeteners and processed foods at the expense of great flavor. Now if... |
 | There Is a Cure for Diabetes: The Tree of Life 21-Day+Program by Gabriel Cousens Diabetes has become a seemingly unstoppable national epidemic, affecting more than twenty million Americans. Conventional wisdom calls it incurable, but renowned Dr. Gabriel Cousens counters that claim with this breakthrough book. There Is a Cure for Diabetes lays out a three-week plan for reversing the negative genetic expression of diabetes to a physiology of health and well-being. Dr.... |
| © 2008 BrightSurf.com |