Research sheds light on why not all obese patients develop type 2 diabetes (A high sugar & fat diet causes two gut bacteria families to encourage macrophages to enter white fat cells)

Medical Xpress / Oregon State University / Journal of Experimental Medicine ^ | March 4, 2022 | Zhipeng Li et al

[ConservativeMind]

Researchers have invented a new analytical method that sheds light on an enduring mystery regarding type 2 diabetes: Why some obese patients develop the disease and others don't.

For some patients, their body does not properly respond to insulin—it resists the effects of insulin, the hormone produced by the pancreas that opens the door for sugar to enter cells. In the later disease stages, when the pancreas is exhausted, patients don't produce enough insulin to maintain normal glucose levels.

In either case, sugar builds up in the bloodstream and impairs many major organs, sometimes to disabling or life-threatening degrees. A key risk factor for type 2 diabetes is being overweight, often a result of eating too much fat and sugar in combination with low physical activity.

"Our experiments and analysis predict that a high-fat/high-sugar diet primarily acts in white adipose tissue by driving microbiota-related damage to the energy synthesis process, leading to systemic insulin resistance," said Morgun.

In the study, the scientists relied on transkingdom network analysis and multi-organ network analysis. They also conducted experiments in mice, looking at the intestine, liver, muscle and white adipose tissue, and examined the molecular signature—which genes were being expressed—of white adipose tissue macrophages in obese human patients.

"Diabetes induced by the western diet is characterized by microbiota-dependent mitochondrial damage," Morgun said. "Adipose tissue has a predominant role in systemic insulin resistance, and we characterized the gene expression program and the key master regulator of adipose tissue macrophage that are associated with insulin resistance. We discovered that the Oscillibacter microbe, enriched by a western diet, causes an increase of the insulin-resistant adipose tissue macrophage."

"We previously showed that Romboutsia ilealis worsens glucose tolerance by inhibiting insulin levels, which may be relevant to more advanced stages of type 2 diabetes," Shulzhenko said.

[Engedi]

I found out I had diabetes when I quickly dropped 20# and wasn’t trying; along with vision was blurry. I was late 50’s when diagnosed.

Started on meds and gained weight back.

My Grand-mother was diabetic and had to have insulin shots. Early 60’s when diagnosed as type 2.

I think diabetes is also hereditary. My sister is diabetic as well type 2, late 50’s when diagnosed.