Gabe Mirkin, M.D.
A paper in the Journal of Cell Metabolism (March 2005),
shows how being overweight can cause diabetes. Being
overweight fills your fat cells so they can’t store much more fat.
Then the body stores fat in muscles and liver. This causes
muscles to produce a chemical called PPAR-Alpha which causes
muscles cells to bring in and burn more fat, which prevents
muscles from using sugar for energy. So blood sugar levels rise.
The fat in muscle cells also blocks insulin receptors from
grabbing onto insulin which prevents insulin from driving sugar
into cells. This drives blood sugar levels even higher.
Daniel P. Kelly, director of the Center for Cardiovascular
Research at the Washington University in St Louis, genetically
engineered two different types of mice: one type that made extra
PPAR-alpha in their muscles and another that lacked that
molecule. They found that mice that overproduce PPAR-alpha
become diabetic even though they are thin, because the muscle
cells can burn only fat for energy, which prevents muscle cells
from using sugar. This causes blood sugar levels to rise very
high and the mice to become diabetic. On the other hand, mice
who did not make PPAR-alpha grew very fat, but did not develop
diabetes. If the scientists could make a drug to block PPAR-
alpha, perhaps they could prevent diabetes. This research
explains why the majority of people who develop diabetics are
also obese. More
March 25, 2006