A new study has revealed that ceramide, a toxic fat metabolite, can cause type II diabetes when it accumulates in the body. Type II diabetes is a disease where the body is unable to produce adequate insulin for metabolism.
About 12 percent of patients affected by type II diabetes between 1990 to 2011 were not overweight. This research disproved the fact that obesity is linked to an increased risk of diabetes.
Scott Summers, senior author and chairman of the Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology, said that ceramides, a type of fat metabolite considered toxic, causes type 2 diabetes.
The study, which was carried out on lab mice, proved that the toxic fat buildup prevents fat tissue from performing its normal function in the body.
When ceramide was added to the fat cells in mice, they became resistant to insulin and were unable to burn off calories. The results of the study were published in the latest issue of Cell Metabolism.
When a person eats excessively, fat will either be burned for energy or stored in the body. For some people, the fat is immediately converted into ceramides.
Ceramide accumulation adversely affects the body's metabolism and possesses three mechanisms which increase the possibility of type II diabetes, according to the study.
The first mechanism includes the death of pancreatic beta cells. The second mechanism involves the increased resistance of insulin. The third mechanism is the reduced gene expression of insulin.
Bhagirath Chaurasia, the lead author of the study, said that the research suggests that thin people can get diabetes or fatty liver disease if their genetic makeup triggers the accumulation of ceramide.
Based on the recent results of the study, scientists are looking at genetic mutations that predispose people to ceramide accumulation. Summers aims to develop treatments that could inhibit the synthesis of ceramide, thus reducing the occurrence of type II diabetes.