Brown fat, already known as a super calorie burner,' could also be a key to treating Type 2 diabetes, study shows
Health News

Brown fat, already known as a super calorie burner,' could also be a key to treating Type 2 diabetes, study shows


Better understanding brown fat could lead to future ways of treating obesity and type 2 diabetes, Abby Phillip reports for The Washington Post.

A recent study published in The Journal of Cell Biology found that brown fat cells are not only great "super calorie burners," burning calories as they help keep the body warm in cold temperatures, but are also a "super vacuum," producing a substance that sucks up excess glucose in the blood and transports that sugar into the brown fat cells, where it can be burned to produce heat, Phillip writes.

For people with type 2 diabetes, whose bodies do not use insulin properly and as a result have high blood glucose levels, these findings could lead to new drugs that can activate brown cells and reduce blood glucose levels without insulin, Phillip reports.

"If you can start the tissue to burn and produce heat, then you can actually in a way take away excess glucose in the blood," Tore Bengtsson, one of the study's authors told Phillip. "Now we actually understand how this production of these glucose transporters work."

Kentucky has the fifth-highest incidence of diabetes and obesity among all the states, with almost one in five Kentuckians diagnosed with diabetes or prediabetes and one in three adults in considered obese. Obesity can lead to the development of Type 2 diabetes.

"The implication of this is normally when you have Type 2 diabetes you have to inject insulin to reduce your blood sugar levels," Bengtsson told the Post. "However you could make a medicine which is not based on insulin signalling. It's a completely new pathway that can be targeted for taking up glucose in the blood."

Bengtsson told the newspaper "that he is working on the next step in the research -- looking for specific ways of activating the cells, which will be crucial for the development of new drugs."




- Insulin Patch Could Take The Place Of Injections For Diabetes
In 2013, 10.6 percent of Kentucky adults had diabetes, a big increase from 2000, when 6.5 percent had the disease, according to the 2015 Kentucky Diabetes Report. In a few years, diabetics may no longer need to inject insulin, and researchers...

- Researchers Say Aggressively Treating Pre-diabetes Could Stop Or Delay Future Diabetic Complications
Treating pre-diabetes as if it is diabetes could delay or prevent future related health complications, according to doctors from three leading research institutions and the American Diabetes Association, says a press release from the University of North...

- Study Concludes That Fasting Can Reduce Cholesterol Levels For People In Danger Of Developing Diabetes
New research suggests that occasional fasting can help pre-diabetics from developing diabetes, which is more common in Kentucky than most states. After 10 to 12 hours of fasting, the body looks for other energy sources to sustain itself, so it removes...

- Study Shows A 15-minute, Moderate-speed Walk A Half-hour After Eating Can Control Older Folks' Spikes In Blood Sugar
It's no news that walking is good for your health or for preventing diabetes, but a new study published in Diabetes Care says a 15-minute, moderate-speed walk about 30 minutes after eating, which is when blood sugar spikes, is most beneficial...

- Diabetic Youth Have Medical Costs Of More Than $9,000 A Year
Children who have diabetes incur medical costs of more than $9,000 a year, a number that is six times greater than for children who don't have the disease, a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found. Most of the expenses...



Health News








.