Stem Cell Health News: The Missing Link Between Diabetes and Obesity

Friday, September 18, 2009

The Missing Link Between Diabetes and Obesity

September 18, 2009

The missing link between obesity and diabetes may be a protein called SPARC, which interferes with the normal storage of fats in the body explaining why 80% of diabetics are either overweight or obese.

Researchers from England and Sweden have combined efforts to study SPARC hoping it will eventually be the means of bringing about new treatments for diabetes.

The key components of the study were insulin, leptin, and SPARC. All participants were obese and pre-diabetic.

1. Insulin: This is the hormone that controls the amount of sugar in the blood.
Sugar is produced from the food we eat, particularly carbohydrates.
2. Leptin: This is a hormone regulating appetite.
3. SPARC: This is a protein that prevents the proper storage of fat by causing scarring of fat tissue and associated with diabetes predisposition.

Professor John Wilding of the University of Liverpool explains the relationship between these. "We tested fat tissue of patients at University Hospital Aintree and found that an increase in leptin also increases SPARC levels, which reduces the safe storage of fat through the development of abnormal tissue scarring.