Fat Cells That Protect You From Diabetes?

In Medical News Today, researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center demonstrated the mechanisms of how type 2 diabetes is prevented in the body by fat cells. For fat cells to keep blood sugar and insulin regulated at good levels, fat cells need sugars that come from food. If fat cells don’t have the amount of sugar that comes from food, then they may not be able to maintain healthy levels in the body.  In some cases of people who have obesity, glucose is blocked from getting into the fat cells causing the body to become insulin resistant which increases blood sugar levels causing diabetes to occur. In this study, researchers located and examine the effects of the fat gene in a mouse model confirmed their results with fat tissue from both lean and obese people.

[caption id="attachment_4740" align="aligncenter" width="493" caption="Glucose and insulin flow in the body"][/caption]

From the research, they have found “that a lone gene could shift the metabolism of the fat cell so dramatically and then, that turning on this master switch selectively in adipose tissue is beneficial to the whole body”, said Dr. Barbara Kahn. Researchers have found a gene that was discovered by other scientists in the liver that helps in the understanding of how fat cells protect the body from diabetes. This gene converts sugars into fatty acids, and when the glucose levels rise in the body, this gene replicates a more active version of itself to allow for sugar molecules to be taken apart and remade into fatty acid.  In the study, Dr. Kahn injected mice with genetic alterations of  GLUT4 (glucose transport). In the set of mice that had approximately 10 times the amount of GLUT 4 didn't exhibit any signs for diabetes; however, in the set of mice that didn't have the GLUT4 developed diabetes. There will be further research done.

This was very interesting to read. I considered fat cells being damaging instead of being beneficial because of the way it has been portrayed. I believe that there are many misconceptions in science that we do not of yet because these misconceptions haven’t been tested against, and we still accept them as completely true. It is great to hear that fat cells can possibly be used in the future to treat type 2 diabetes because, as of the current moment, the most commonly used medicine for type 2 diabetes is metformin. For those who suffer with disease or those who are trying to prevent them, it can tremendously help having more options. While this study was specific to type 2 diabetes, maybe they will do research in the future for type 1 diabetes. If a proper diet and daily exercise regimen is maintain,  diabetes can also be maintained or prevented. Diabetes is not just based on your genetics; it is also influenced on your external environment.