Obesity and the Path to Diabetes
For a long time circumstantial evidence pointed to the likelihood that obesity and diabetes were linked, it could be seen in the growing numbers of obese people at the same time that we see a growing incidence of diabetes cases. It became accepted that an overweight person was a prime candidate for developing diabetes and heart disease, and perhaps, other health conditions.
But now we have the proof, obtained by studies done by a team of researchers under the leadership of assistant professor Matthew Watt of Monash University in Melborne, Australia. In July of this year, the respected journal “Cell Metabolism” published results of their discoveries into the role of fat in the development of type 2 diabetes. Monash University is a leading institute in medical research, in addition to Melborne, it has several campuses in distant parts of the world, including Malaysia and South Africa.
What professor Watt and his colleagues have discovered in the case of obesity is that the fat cells themselves initiate the journey down the path that leads to diabetes. Fat was assumed to be just an inert form of fuel, a storage site from which the body could call on for energy, if required, at some future time. But that view has now changed with the recognition that fat is a dynamic organ that interacts with many other organs, including the brain, the liver, and skeletal muscles that control the body’s fuel usage.
When fat cells accumulate, as they do with developing obesity, they produce and release a protein called PEDF (short for pigment epithelium-derived factor for those who like a full explanation) and this protein sets off a series of events that result in type 2 diabetes. The protein released by the fat cells desensitizes liver and muscle cells, impairing their ability to react normally to the presence of insulin in the blood stream. The insulin is there, released by the pancreas, in response to increasing levels of glucose in the blood that occurs quite naturally and routinely after food is eaten,
The role of insulin is to act as the delivery mechanism as it carries glucose to the recipient cell’s receptors, the cells that require glucose. The insulin interlocks with the cell receptors allowing the passage of the glucose into the needy cells. But the desensitized cells are unable to accept the glucose that is brought to them by the insulin as they would in the normal insulin-glucose-to-cell process.
When the desensitized cells are unable to obtain the required measure of glucose that would have been carried to the cells by insulin, signals go out to the pancreas again asking for more insulin. The pancreas is where insulin is manufactured, on demand so to speak, and this is when another major step on the path to diabetes occurs, because the repeated demands on the pancreas to produce more insulin leads to the pancreas being so overworked that it just shuts down or at best produces less than is required.
No insulin, or insufficient insulin means there is no way to get glucose into the cells, desensitized or not, resulting in too much glucose in the blood. When glucose levels rise above normal healthy levels and stay high it means trouble. Too much glucose in the blood, by definition, is diabetes.
This does not happen instantly but a gradual increase in body fat will gradually lead to the situation described above. However long it takes, the critical thing is that the end result is the same, the diabetic condition will exist, a condition that is just as difficult to deal with in the end as it would be to take measures to prevent it happening in the first place.
If you are on the path to obesity, DO NOT WAIT until you become technically classified as obese with a BMI (Body Mass Index) in the range of 30 to 40 or over. To avoid the eventual onset of type 2 diabetes and to enjoy a healthy life with a better chance of being free from the possibilities of other disease conditions, do the right thing as soon as possible – modify the diet to reduce fat consumption and fat accumulation. Exercise daily if possible but several times a week at least.
It is not necessary to reach athletic status or become a marathon runner but do exercise at a sufficiently strenuous level to burn off some of the excess calories, it’s good for the heart and good for the mind and you will have the satisfaction that you are not a couch potato victim like so many others.
But get help to guide your efforts, obtain advice from your doctor with regard to the adoption of an exercise regime. And get the support of your friends and family, you will be doing the right thing and may even become a role model for someone else.
Jim Robinson, the author of this article has also written for e-zine on other diabetes related topics as well as on several popular science and cultural subjects. Being himself a diabetic, his diabetes website discusses the steps in menu planning and weight loss, exercise and other topics of importance to fellow diabetics. Worth a visit, check it out!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_K._Robinson
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