Insulin Resistance, Inflammation and a Muscle-Saving Protein →
In the online May 2 issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine publish three distinct articles exploring:
- the complex interactions of lipids and inflammation in insulin resistance
- the roles of omega 3 fatty acids and a particular gene in fighting inflammation
- how elevated levels of a particular protein might delay the muscle-destroying effects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Type 2 diabetes has reached epidemic proportions around the world, fueled in large part by the equally alarming expansion of obesity as a global health problem. But while it’s well-known that obesity is the most common cause of insulin resistance – the primary metabolic abnormality in type 2 diabetes – researchers have only recently begun to effectively parse the underlying, complicated relationships between lipids (fats and related molecules essential to cell structure and function) and chronic tissue inflammation (a key cause of obesity-induced insulin resistance).