Evolving energy requirements among populations the key to fighting diabetes?
We already know that diabetes is on the rise in urban parts of the world where sedentary lifestyles are a plenty. But did you know that Asian Indians are on the rise faster then others. It is believed that 32 million such people have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and that number will double in the next quarter century or so. Scary!
Research is being done to better understand why Asian Indians are developing diabetes at such a fast rate when they have lower BMI’s and typically better diet guidelines.
Researchers observed that the Indian subjects, irrespective of their diabetic status, had a greater degree of insulin resistance than the American subjects of Northern European origin, even though the study subjects were not obese, a condition commonly associated with insulin resistance. Earlier research has established that people with insulin resistance typically have poorly functioning muscle mitochondria. Mitochondria are the part of cells responsible for converting energy from nutrients to ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the chemical form of cellular energy that the body uses for almost all functions. “Our study showed that the Indian diabetic and nondiabetic subjects with insulin resistance actually had mitochondrial function that was higher than those observed in the Northern European American subjects,” says Dr. Nair.
So are there different energy requirements of different groups of people? And if so wouldn’t that be key in fighting diabetes among populations? Yee ha- I think they have themselves a little breakthrough with this. We will see more of this among other groups for sure.
via Science Daily
Tags: adaptation, asian indians, culture, Diabetes Management, mitochondria, populationsRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Research
1 opinion for Evolving energy requirements among populations the key to fighting diabetes?
Mel
Mar 7, 2008 at 5:02 am
I love bananas and eat them often (I had one last evening at bedtime). Like you, if I eat anything else with it, it’s a low / no carb selection. What I can’t handle is milk. It shots my bgs through the roof so I switched to soymilk and it’s no trouble.
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