Non-obese and lean Indians also subject to type 2 diabetes: study

Contrary to popular belief, not only obese and overweight people, but also non-obese and thin people may be prone to type 2 diabetes.

A recent study has shown that while most Western diabetics are also obese and overweight, in India nearly 20 to 30% of people with diabetes are non-obese and even some are lean.

The incidence of type 2 diabetes shows a rising trend in India and elsewhere in the world. This comes mainly from insulin resistance. Increasing obesity and sedentary lifestyle are considered to be the main factors of insulin resistance and diabetes that results from it. However, the new study has broken the myth that the only causal factor is the increase in obesity.

Insulin resistance occurs when muscles, body fat and liver cells begin to resist the signal that the insulin hormone tries to send to get glucose (also called sugar in the body, the body's main fuel source) out of the blood and into the cells. Insulin resistance leads to diabetes, which in medicine is known as type 2 diabetes or T2D.

The researchers measured the insulin levels of 87 diabetics (67 men and 20 women) as well as peptide C levels. In fact, pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin also release peptide C, a polypeptide composed of 31 amino acids. Although C-peptide does not actually affect a person's blood sugar level, the doctor can measure the level to determine the amount of insulin produced by his or her body.

Why did researchers measure C-peptide levels and insulin levels in diabetics under study? Indeed, peptide C is secreted at a more constant rate of time to the other with respect to insulin secretion. In addition, C-peptide levels are more stable than insulin level (its half-life is nearly six times that of insulin), which makes it easier to test the beta cell response, says 'study. The results revealed that those included in the study had overall signs of adiposity characterized by a high rate of body fat, abdominal fat and fatty liver, which may not be visible from the body. ;outside.

The study concluded that non-obese (BMI less than 25) and even lean (BMI less than 19) Indians exhibit high body fat, excess fat in the liver and skeletal muscles, and skeletal muscle mbad. less. In particular, they have ectopic fats in the liver (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease) and in the pancreas (nonalcoholic pancreas disease), which can contribute to insulin resistance leading to diabetes even at a young age.

The researchers also found high levels of insulin and C peptide in the 87 diabetic patients studied. The study indicates that such patients would benefit better from pharmacotherapy using insulin sensitizers or from a weight loss treatment.

Anoop Misra, president of Fortis C-DOC, who led the study, summed up the results of the study at India Science Wire: "Indians have normal weight, high body fat and low muscle mbad. They are not overtly obese but have not only a high fat mbad, but also a fat that is in the essential organs of metabolism, liver and pancreas. Once this happens, the action of the insulin hormone becomes compromised and the blood sugar level begins to rise, "

"Indian doctors should urge patients to lose weight, even if they belong to the normal category of body mbad index (BMI), in order to maintain the body's habitus." a leaner side. This could prevent diabetes in those who do not, and blood sugar is better managed in diabetic patients, "he added.

The results of this study were published in the journal Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Research & Reviews. The research team included Shajith Anoop, Anoop Misra, Surya Prakash Bhatt, Seema Gulati and Harsh Mahajan.