foodconsumer.org: High Fat Diet raises Type 2 Diabetes Risk

High Fat Diet raises Type 2 Diabetes Risk
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admin on 10/29/2009 23:46:00
 
Thursday Oct 29, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) -- A high fat diet may increase one’s
risk for  type 2 diabetes, according to a new study published in the Nov 2009
issue of  Experimental Biology and Medicine.
The study, led by AM de Assis and  colleagues from Universidade Federal do Rio
Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, RS,  Brazil showed rats on a high fat diet for a
year significantly increased body  weight and impaired insulin sensitivity.
Early  studies have found that DNA damage may be associated with type 2 diabetes
 mellitus and its complications.
The current study was intended to  evaluate the effects of fat intake on glucose
dyshomeostasis and DNA injury in  rats.
For the study, the researchers treated rats with a high fat or a  high
heat-treated fat diet for 12 months and then recorded biological parameters 
such as blood sugar, insulin tolerance, glucose tolerance and fat cell glucose 
oxidation, along with general health parameters such as body weight, 
retroperitoneal and epididymal adipose tissue.
They found both diets  increased body weight and impaired insulin sensitivity in
the rats as tests  showed.  Insulin sensitivity has been inversely associated
with risk of  diabetes.
However, only animals subjected to the thermally treated high  fat diet showed
decreased epididymal fat cell glucose oxidation.  The  heat-treated high fat
diet promoted an increase in lipid peroxidation in the  liver, causing
significant damage in lipids.
The high fat diet, on the  other hand, caused more severe damage in blood and
hippocampus DNA, but the  heat-treated high fat diet caused even more damage
than the high fat  diet.
The researchers concluded "These results show a positive  correlation between
high fat diet, glucose dyshomeostasis, oxidative stress and  DNA damage."
An estimated 20 million Americans live with diabetes, a  health condition that
can lead to severe medical complications.
By David Liu and editing by Rachel Stockton