insulin resistance tagged posts

Eating Red Meat may Increase your Risk of Type 2 Diabetes—not a lot of people know that

packaged meat
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Red meat has been a part of diets worldwide since early man. It is an excellent source of protein, vitamins (such as B vitamins) and minerals (such as iron and zinc). However, red meat has long been associated with increasing the risk of heart disease, cancer and early death. What may not be so well known is the link between red meat consumption and type 2 diabetes.

A paper published in The Lancet in September 2024 highlighted this link to type 2 diabetes using data from the Americas, the Mediterranean, Europe, south-east Asia and the Western Pacific (20 countries included).

This recent study, with nearly 2 million participants, found that high consumption of unprocessed red meat, such as beef, lamb and pork, and processed meat, such as bacon, sa...

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High-Fat Diets Trigger Inflammatory Immune Cell Generation in Bone

High-fat diets drive the production of inflammatory immune cells in the bone  marrow of mice
High-fat diets trigger inflammatory immune cell generation in bone

A study suggests that high-fat diets fuel the creation of inflammatory immune cells in the bone marrow of mice. The results may help explain how high-fat diets trigger inflammation, which can contribute to the development of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and other complications in individuals with obesity.

An invasion of inflammatory immune cells, called monocytes, into fat tissue is a hallmark of obesity, but what leads to this harmful phenomenon is unclear. Many immune cells, including monocytes, are produced in the bone marrow, which is very sensitive to environmental changes. Scientists have already shown that fat cells in the bone marrow rapidly expand in response to a high-fat diet.

“We wanted to know ...

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The Paired Perils of Breast Cancer and Diabetes

A breast cancer cell captured in the process of division, with tubulin (a structural protein) in red; mitochondria in green; and chromosomes in blue. Photo credit: Wei Qian\National Cancer Institute

Researchers have discovered a mechanism linking breast cancer and diabetes, each of which promotes development and growth of the other. Breast cancer and type 2 diabetes would seem to be distinctly different diseases, with commonality only in their commonality. Breast cancer is the second most diagnosed malignancy after some types of skin cancer; approximately 1 in eight U.S. women will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of their lifetime. More than 10 percent of the U.S...

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Close the Blinds during Sleep to Protect your Health

Exposure to even moderate ambient lighting during nighttime sleep, compared to sleeping in a dimly lit room, harms your cardiovascular function during sleep and increases your insulin resistance the following morning, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.

“The results from this study demonstrate that just a single night of exposure to moderate room lighting during sleep can impair glucose and cardiovascular regulation, which are risk factors for heart disease, diabetes and metabolic syndrome,” said senior study author Dr. Phyllis Zee, chief of sleep medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine physician. “It’s important for people to avoid or minimize the amount of light exposure during sleep.”

There is already evidence that li...

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