Tag: Insulin

A new systematic review lends support to the idea that statins, which are life-saving cholesterol-lowering drugs, are associated with an increased risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes [1]. Statins’ dark side Statins, drugs that improve the lipid profile by reducing harmful LDL cholesterol, are considered one of the biggest successes in medicine in...

Scientists publishing in Nature Metabolism have determined that in obese people, healthy diet and exercise bring stronger metabolic benefits than diet alone [1]. Better together There are two major interventions at hand for weight loss without resorting to medications: diet and exercise. However, recent research suggests that they are not interchangeable. Forgoing either one can...

  Researchers have genetically engineered lettuce to produce human insulin. The resulting plant-based drug, which can be taken orally, was successfully tested in mice [1]. An epidemic and a costly drug Diabetes mellitus has reached epidemic proportions, affecting about half a billion people worldwide. This debilitating metabolic disease, which also exacerbates numerous processes of aging...

A new open-label, randomized, controlled study published in Cell showed that zero-calorie sweeteners are metabolically active and some might impair glycemic response in healthy adults [1]. What does “sugar-free” mean? The human brain is the main consumer of glucose in the body, and glucose availability is paramount for neurons to generate action potentials and release...

A recent study in Clinical and Translational Medicine followed people who went 5 days without eating and found improvements both immediately afterwards and up to 98 days later. Fasting for longevity Fasting is a practice in which an individual abstains from food and calories for a given length of time. There have been many preclinical...

Recent research published in Nature Biomedical Engineering has shown a way to dramatically improve the feasibility of transplanting therapeutic cells, particularly pancreatic islet cells, while protecting them from the recipient’s immune response. What Is the Pancreas and What Does It Do?The pancreas primarily functions as an exocrine and endocrine gland. It supports digestion by excreting...