Pancreas fat crucial for type 2 diabetes

Wednesday December 2nd, 2015

Dietary interventions for type 2 diabetes may help reverse the disease, say researchers from Newcastle University, UK, after a study of fat accumuulation in the pancreas.

Professor Roy Taylor and his team looked at the link between type 2 diabetes and fat accumulation in the pancreas. They recruited 18 people with the disease and nine people without, all due for gastric bypass surgery for obesity.

Before and after surgery, participants were assessed for weight, fat levels in the pancreas and insulin response. Those with type 2 diabetes had increased levels of fat in the pancreas.

Eight weeks after surgery, weight loss was similar in both groups - about 13% of initial body weight. However, levels of fat in the pancreas fell to normal among those with type 2 diabetes, but did not change in the non-diabetics.

The team say the study shows that "the excess fat in the diabetic pancreas is specific to type 2 diabetes and important in preventing insulin being made as normal".

When that excess fat is removed, insulin secretion increases to normal levels and the patients were diabetes-free and came off medication, they add.

Details were published yesterday evening (1 December) in the journal Diabetes Care.

"For people with type 2 diabetes, losing weight allows them to drain excess fat out of the pancreas and allows function to return to normal," says Professor Taylor. "So if you ask how much weight you need to lose to make your diabetes go away, the answer is one gram! But that gram needs to be fat from the pancreas. At present the only way we have to achieve this is by calorie restriction by any means - whether by diet or an operation."

Taylor, R. et al Diabetes Care 1 December 2015

Tags: Diabetes | Diet & Food | Gastroenterology | UK News

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