Researchers discovered that increasing the secretion of a certain protein in one of the different types of fat in the human body could effectively protect against the increased risks of diabetes of an individual. The brown fat protein would be able to alter the white fat cells' behavior linked with obesity.
Scientists hope that further understanding the biological basis for various types of fat could lead to new treatments of obesity and complications linked to it.
Diabetes Prevalence and the Obesity Crisis
According to National Diabetes Statistics Report by the CDC, for 2020, roughly 34.2 million Americans are living with diabetes. While more than 80 million adult Americans have prediabetes.
89% of Americans living with diabetes are overweight, which resonates with recent studies of the unparalleled link between the obesity crisis and diabetes prevalence in the population.
Obesity and diabetes remain the major cause of mortality and morbidity in the US. Some evidence indicates that weight gain and obesity are linked with increased risks of diabetes. Yearly, there is almost 300,000 US adults death related to obesity in a paper published in JAMA.
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Fat-Burning Boosting Protein Diminished Diabetes Risks
The type of fat associated with beer bellies, love handles, and the storage of excess body energy in flabby tissues is known as white fat. On the other hand, brown fat burns calories and is in charge of keeping your body warm when temperatures decrease.
There have been studies considering promoting brown fat formation as a way of burning fat and shedding weight; however, the authors of the new study are focusing on how brown fat can safeguard against a patient's development of type 2 diabetes.
A study published in the journal Nature Communications, entitled "Perilipin 5 links mitochondrial uncoupled respiration in brown fat to healthy white fat remodeling and systemic glucose tolerance", focused on the perilipin 5 protein that coats lipid droplets in the body's cells, especially around brown fat.
Researchers delved into its role by experiment on mice that have been genetically engineered to have higher levels of PLIN5 proteins in their brown fat.
Huge percent obesity is driven by type 2 diabetes and its many complications, including high blood- sugar levels, resistance to insulin, and fatty liver disease. The mice showed positive signs in these areas, showing significantly lowered blood sugar levels, less fatty livers, higher insulin sensitivity than the control group of mice that had regular levels of the fat-burning protein reports New Atlas.
Upon further investigations, researchers identified that the reason behind the positive effects was linked to changes in the genetically engineered mice' brown fat tissue mitochondria, which were found to have adapted to burn more fat at room temperature, resembling if the mice were in a cold environment.
Scientists also saw evidence that the white fat of the engineered mice shrunk in size and showed decreased signs of inflammation.
Perry Bickel, the lead author, says that by using the natural systems, researchers may be able to help patients make fat depots healthier and potentially treat obesity-associated diabetes.
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