A surprise discovery of a protein that helps regulate glucose may be especially good news for shift workers, and could lead to new ways of treating obesity and diabetes.
Online PR News – 27-October-2010 – Biologists experimenting with mice have uncovered a possible new biological approach to treating obesity and type 2 diabetes. Their work also raises some interesting questions about the role disturbances in the human sleep cycle plays in the rise of diabetes in the US and other industrialized countries...
Sunday, October 31, 2010
OSU study links light exposure to obesity in mice
A recent Ohio State study found that eight weeks of exposure to light at night caused mice to gain nearly 50 percent more weight than mice given eight hours of darkness daily...
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Study says sitting down changes our body chemistry
If you're sitting down you may want to get up and take a walk around. A new study says that sitting actually changes our bed (sic) chemistry, affecting how long we live. Researchers found that when lab mice were prevented from running around they put on weight. Being sedentary turns off an important chemical that burns fat.
People sitting longer than six hours a day are more likely to die from diabetes, heart disease and obesity. Men are 18% more likely, women are 37%.
People sitting longer than six hours a day are more likely to die from diabetes, heart disease and obesity. Men are 18% more likely, women are 37%.
Gluttonous Male Mice Give Diabetes to Daughters
A prospective dad’s diet may affect the health of his future children, suggests a study of cross-generational nutritional impacts in mice.
Males were fed a high-fat diet, becoming obese and diabetic, then mated with lean, healthy females. At six weeks of age, or the mouse equivalent of puberty, their daughters became glucose-intolerant, a major step toward diabetes.
That overweight moms are more likely to have overweight babies is known, but the phenomenon hadn’t before been demonstrated in males of any species...
Males were fed a high-fat diet, becoming obese and diabetic, then mated with lean, healthy females. At six weeks of age, or the mouse equivalent of puberty, their daughters became glucose-intolerant, a major step toward diabetes.
That overweight moms are more likely to have overweight babies is known, but the phenomenon hadn’t before been demonstrated in males of any species...
Shining a Night Light on Obesity
f you're wishing upon a star in hopes to stop packing on the pounds, you might already be jinxing yourself. A recent study finds that continual exposure to light at night may lead to weight gain, even without changing physical activity or eating more food. Researchers say that instead of wishing upon the stars . . . maybe you should sleep under them.
Researchers found that mice that were exposed to a moderately dim light at night over eight weeks had a body mass that was around 50 percent more than other mice that lived in a standard light-dark cycle. "Although there were no differences in activity levels or daily consumption of food, the mice that lived with light at night were getting fatter than the others," which Laura Fonken, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in neuroscience at Ohio State University, was quoted as saying.
The study revealed that the mice living with light at night eat at times they normally wouldn't, which is a main factor of their weight gain. One study showed that mice exposed to light at night -- but with food restricted to normal eating times -- gained no more weight than did mice in a normal light-dark cycle.
"Something about light at night was making the mice in our study want to eat at the wrong times to properly metabolize their food," which Randy Nelson, co-author of the study and professor of neuroscience and psychology at Ohio State, was quoted as saying. If these results are confirmed in humans, it would verify that late-night snacking is a possible risk factor for obesity.
In another study, mice were housed in one of three condition: 24 hours of constant light, a standard light-dark cycle (16 hours of light at 150 lux, 8 hours of dark), or 16 hours of daylight and 8 hours of dim light (approximately 5 lux of light).
Researchers measured the amount of food the mice ate each day, in addition to how much they moved in their cages each day using an infrared beam crossing system. Furthermore, body mass was calculated each week. Compared to mice in the standard dark-light cycle, mice that were exposed to dim light at night showed notably higher increases in body mass, beginning in the commencement of the study and continuing to end.
Light-at-night mice had gained 12 grams of body mass by the end of the experiment, compared to 8 grams for those in the standard light-dark cycle. It was reported that mice in constant bright light additionally gained more than those in the standard light-dark cycle; however the scientists stated that the dim light-at-night mice were better comparisons to the light exposure human generally are exposed to.
What's more, the dim light-at-night mice showed higher levels of epididymal fat as well as impaired glucose tolerance - a marker for pre-diabetes...
Researchers found that mice that were exposed to a moderately dim light at night over eight weeks had a body mass that was around 50 percent more than other mice that lived in a standard light-dark cycle. "Although there were no differences in activity levels or daily consumption of food, the mice that lived with light at night were getting fatter than the others," which Laura Fonken, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in neuroscience at Ohio State University, was quoted as saying.
The study revealed that the mice living with light at night eat at times they normally wouldn't, which is a main factor of their weight gain. One study showed that mice exposed to light at night -- but with food restricted to normal eating times -- gained no more weight than did mice in a normal light-dark cycle.
"Something about light at night was making the mice in our study want to eat at the wrong times to properly metabolize their food," which Randy Nelson, co-author of the study and professor of neuroscience and psychology at Ohio State, was quoted as saying. If these results are confirmed in humans, it would verify that late-night snacking is a possible risk factor for obesity.
In another study, mice were housed in one of three condition: 24 hours of constant light, a standard light-dark cycle (16 hours of light at 150 lux, 8 hours of dark), or 16 hours of daylight and 8 hours of dim light (approximately 5 lux of light).
Researchers measured the amount of food the mice ate each day, in addition to how much they moved in their cages each day using an infrared beam crossing system. Furthermore, body mass was calculated each week. Compared to mice in the standard dark-light cycle, mice that were exposed to dim light at night showed notably higher increases in body mass, beginning in the commencement of the study and continuing to end.
Light-at-night mice had gained 12 grams of body mass by the end of the experiment, compared to 8 grams for those in the standard light-dark cycle. It was reported that mice in constant bright light additionally gained more than those in the standard light-dark cycle; however the scientists stated that the dim light-at-night mice were better comparisons to the light exposure human generally are exposed to.
What's more, the dim light-at-night mice showed higher levels of epididymal fat as well as impaired glucose tolerance - a marker for pre-diabetes...
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Obesity therapy gains as test rats don’t overeat
One of the more offbeat ideas in the business of developing drugs to treat obesity has some new evidence behind it.
Boston-based Gelesis, the developer of a super-absorbent capsule designed to swell up in the stomach and make people feel full, said its treatment was able to help rats reduce their food intake over 18 hours. The findings were presented at the Obesity Society’s recent annual meeting in San Diego.
While it’s too early to say the treatment will work in people, many other weight-loss drugs have been tripped up by safety concerns. But the rat study is interesting, in part, because it comes about six months after Gelesis reported on a more rigorous clinical trial of 95 patients. The other study showed that the capsules helped people feel full after meals and less hungry in between...
Boston-based Gelesis, the developer of a super-absorbent capsule designed to swell up in the stomach and make people feel full, said its treatment was able to help rats reduce their food intake over 18 hours. The findings were presented at the Obesity Society’s recent annual meeting in San Diego.
While it’s too early to say the treatment will work in people, many other weight-loss drugs have been tripped up by safety concerns. But the rat study is interesting, in part, because it comes about six months after Gelesis reported on a more rigorous clinical trial of 95 patients. The other study showed that the capsules helped people feel full after meals and less hungry in between...
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Phospholipid shows anti-obesity potential, in mice at least
Supplementation of the diet with the phospholipid phosphatidylinositol may exert an anti-obesity effect by modifying gene expression in the liver, suggests a new study with mice.
If the findings, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, can be repeated in further studies, it could see phosphatidylinositol established as an ingredient with potential weight management potential...
If the findings, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, can be repeated in further studies, it could see phosphatidylinositol established as an ingredient with potential weight management potential...
Nighttime Light Ups Weight in Mice
The gentle glow of the television at night may be contributing to the obesity epidemic, findings from a mouse study suggest.
Mice exposed to even dim light at night gained significantly more weight and lost glucose tolerance compared with mice housed in a dark environment at night, Laura K. Fonken, a graduate student at Ohio State University, in Columbus, and colleagues found.
The night light-exposed mice didn't eat more or move around less overall, but did shift to more munching at off hours when they were inactive...
Mice exposed to even dim light at night gained significantly more weight and lost glucose tolerance compared with mice housed in a dark environment at night, Laura K. Fonken, a graduate student at Ohio State University, in Columbus, and colleagues found.
The night light-exposed mice didn't eat more or move around less overall, but did shift to more munching at off hours when they were inactive...
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Getting to the bottom of diabetes and kidney disease
Diabetic kidney disease may result as much from a failure of certain renal cells to access insulin as it does from runaway blood sugar, a new study shows. The findings in mice suggests that targeting the condition known as insulin resistance might protect the kidneys of people with diabetes, researchers report in the October Cell Metabolism.
Fully half of all kidney disease that leads to dialysis or a transplant occurs in people with diabetes, and most have the common type 2 form that typically shows up in adulthood. Type 2 diabetes has clear links to obesity, lack of exercise and insulin resistance in which cells fail to capture glucose efficiently from the bloodstream after digestion of food. While the precise cause of insulin resistance remains unclear, there’s no question it starves cells, forces the pancreas to work overtime making more insulin and leaves a person with high blood sugar...
Fully half of all kidney disease that leads to dialysis or a transplant occurs in people with diabetes, and most have the common type 2 form that typically shows up in adulthood. Type 2 diabetes has clear links to obesity, lack of exercise and insulin resistance in which cells fail to capture glucose efficiently from the bloodstream after digestion of food. While the precise cause of insulin resistance remains unclear, there’s no question it starves cells, forces the pancreas to work overtime making more insulin and leaves a person with high blood sugar...
Video feature: Developing a treatment for obesity based on natural appetite suppression
Over 30 000 deaths a year are caused by obesity in England alone and yet the need for safe and effective anti-obesity therapies is largely unmet. With funding from the Wellcome Trust's Seeding Drug Discovery initiative in 2007, Professor Bloom and his team have developed a novel, synthetic form of pancreatic polypeptide that can cause a significant reduction in food intake and body weight in mice. The lead compound, PP1420, entered phase I clinical trials in mid2010. If successful, the proposed research may lead to a treatment within five - eight years.
Saturday, October 02, 2010
Blueberries Help Fight Artery Hardening, Lab Animal Study Indicates
Blueberries may help fight atherosclerosis, also known as hardening of the arteries, according to results of a preliminary U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-funded study with laboratory mice. The research provides the first direct evidence that blueberries can help prevent harmful plaques or lesions, symptomatic of atherosclerosis, from increasing in size in arteries...
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