Washington, March 25 (TNS): It is known that being overweight or obese leads to poor health, but it may be less known that abdominal fat is the most harmful type. Until now, researchers were unsure of the mechanisms responsible for this but now, they reveal how an enzyme produced by our liver raises the risk of diabetes.
Inflammation in the fat around the belly is particularly harmful, and new research reveals when it comes to the harmful consequences of excess fat, the way it is distributed across the body is key. Medical News Today have recently reported on studies showing that abdominal fat is deeply tied to type 2 diabetes and heart disease. We have also covered studies suggesting that women, in particular, could be at an increased cardio metabolic risk if they have a higher waist-to-hip ratio.
Additional research has found that belly fat is particularly dangerous when inflamed. Older studies have shown that local inflammation in the adipose tissue leads to cardiometabolic abnormalities such as insulin resistance. But the exact mechanism responsible for this connection between adipose tissue inflammation and cardiometabolic disorders has remained somewhat unclear for instance, researchers have wondered whether the inflammation is “a cause or a consequence of insulin resistance. Now, researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, NY, help to shed some much-needed light on the issue; they reveal that the liver contributes to this inflammation. The team was led by Dr. Ira Tabas who is the Richard J. Stock Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the findings were published in the journal Nature. Dr. Tabas and his colleagues used obese mice to test whether blocking an enzyme called DPP4 would lower the inflammation in their abdominal fat.
The researchers focused on DPP4 because humans who already have diabetes are prescribed DPP4 inhibitors to help them manage their symptoms. DPP4 inhibitors work by preventing the enzyme from interacting with an insulin-boosting hormone. Low-calorie sweeteners may promote metabolic syndrome Low-calorie sweeteners may promote metabolic syndrome. People with metabolic syndrome are much more likely to develop diabetes. To prevent it, new research suggests that these people should avoid artificial sweeteners.
