More and more number of people are living with diabetes and many others are prediabetes. About 90 to 95% of all diabetic people have type 2 diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, people suffering from a do not produce enough of the hormone insulin. On the other hand, in type 2 diabetes, the body produces insulin but it cannot use it properly.

Being overweight or obese is a common risk factor for diabetes but however it doesn’t only happen in such overweight or obese people. People with healthy weight may also suffer from this problem. More than 10% of people diagnosed with diabetes may have normal weight. Scientists were clueless why this can happen. New research may have shed light on not only why people who have healthy weight are still prone to type 2 diabetes, but also why some people are more susceptible to diabetes than other people.

New research

According to recent research, it can be a certain kind of fat that makes people prone to type 2 diabetes, irrespective of their weight.

A recent scientific study found that it may be a certain kind of fat that produces type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes may be caused by buildup of toxic fat and this is what the study found out.

There is a toxic class of fat metabolizes known as ceramide that can cause type 2 diabetes. Buildup of ceramide is prevents the fat tissue from working normally. They tested this in mice and found that in mice ceramide buildup prevents the fat tissue from working normally.

After overeating, some of the excess fat going into the body gets either stored or burn for energy. But in case of some people, excess fat just turns into ceramides. And ceramide can impact the way your body handles nutrients. It can also negatively impact the way the body response to insulin and how it burns calories.

When after some time too many ceramides accumulate in the fat tissue, the body reaches a tipping point. The fat tissues present in your body stop working properly and fat goes into the blood vessel, heart or the peripheral tissues.

Previous studies on ceramides linked it to diabetes by at least three different mechanisms. This particle can result in death of pancreatic beta cells, can increase insulin resistance and reduce insulin gene expression.

In the recent study when they added extra ceramides to fat cells in mice, the element made the mice insulin resistant and they were unable to burn calories. On the other hand, mice that had fewer ceramides did not develop any insulin resistance. It is also found that mice with excessive ceramides were also prone to diabetes and fatty liver disease development.

What the study means

The study suggests that some people may be predisposed to turning excess fat into ceramides instead of turning them into calories. Skinny people may get diabetes or fatty liver disease if genetics or something else triggers ceramide accumulation. That may be the reason why some of the Asian countries have a higher diabetes rate than the US even when the obesity rate is relatively low in comparison.

References 1. Diabetes Freedom
2.Role of ceramide in diabetes mellitus: evidence and mechanisms
3.Plasma Ceramide Species Are Associated with Diabetes Risk