Research notes that when people overeat, they produce an excess of fatty acids which can be burned as energy. However, in some people, those fatty acids are transformed into ceramides.
It is an ironic twist of fate when a thin and seemingly healthy individual is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It runs contrary to our preconceived notions about the disease. So how do anomalies that see Jack Sprat developing diabetes while his obese wife, who eats no lean, remains fit and healthy occur?
Well, the answer to that paradox may be the result of a toxic accumulation of fat metabolites known as ceramides. Roughly translated, it means that although obesity is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, new research suggests that it is a particular type of fat that may trigger the disease. That may explain why 12 percent of the cases of type 2 diabetics diagnosed between 1990 and 2011 featured people of normal weight.
New research led by Scott Summers, Ph.D., chairman of the University of Utah Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology , indicates that the phenomenon might be the result of a toxic class of fat metabolites called ceramides. Summer and team have demonstrated that a buildup of ceramides impaired the fat tissue from working normally in mice.
The research notes that when people overeat, they produce an excess of fatty acids which can be burned as energy. However, in some people, those fatty acids are transformed into ceramides.
“It’s like a tipping point,” Summers noted. “Ceramides impact the way the body handles nutrients. They impair the way the body responds to insulin, and also how it burns calories.”
“Scientists believe that genetics may trigger ceramide accumulation,” said Bhagirath Chaurasia, Ph.D., and assistant professor at the University of Utah.
“By blocking ceramide production, we might be able to prevent the development of type 2 diabetes and or other metabolic conditions, at least in some people,” Chaurasia said.
