Researchers at UCLA have uncovered a key reason why obesity increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes.
Their study, published in Cell Reports, reveals that the size of fat cells plays a critical role in how the body processes energy.
This breakthrough could lead to new treatments for diabetes and other obesity-related diseases.
Why fat cells matter
Fat cells are often misunderstood.
They store energy from food and help regulate blood sugar levels by releasing important hormones. However, in obesity, fat cells become too large and stop working properly.
This leads to excess energy being stored in unhealthy places, such as the liver or heart, causing diseases like fatty liver disease and cardiovascular issues.
The UCLA team found that obesity disrupts the body’s ability to create new, smaller fat cells. Normally, fat stem cells produce new fat cells to store energy efficiently. However, in obese individuals, these stem cells lose a crucial component called ribosomal factors. Without ribosomal factors, the cells cannot grow or function properly, and energy gets trapped in oversized, unhealthy fat cells.
A surprising drug solution
In experiments with obese, diabetic mice, researchers used a drug called rosiglitazone.
The drug restored ribosomal factors in fat stem cells, allowing them to produce smaller, healthier fat cells. Even though the mice remained obese, their diabetes symptoms disappeared because their fat tissue started working properly again.
“It’s like replacing an overfilled storage unit with several smaller ones,” explained Dr. Claudio Villanueva, the study’s senior author. “The system becomes much more efficient.”
Rosiglitazone is already used to treat Type 2 diabetes, but this study is the first to explain how it works at a molecular level. The findings open the door to developing new drugs that could improve glucose metabolism with fewer side effects.
Hope for the future
Beyond diabetes, this research may lead to therapies for other diseases caused by obesity, such as heart disease.
Dr. Villanueva hopes the discovery will benefit communities at higher risk for obesity and diabetes, including Latinos, like his own family members who have struggled with the disease.
“Understanding how fat cells function brings us closer to creating better treatments for obesity-related illnesses,” he said. This study provides new hope for managing Type 2 diabetes and improving the health of millions worldwide.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies about the cooking connection between potatoes and diabetes, and low calorie diets may help reverse type 2 diabetes.
For more health information, please see recent studies about protein power: a new ally in diabetes management, and pineapple and diabetes: A sweet surprise.
Source: UCLA.
