Question:
How Obesity Causes Diabetes: Not a Tall Tale? If anyone has access to this article, a summary would be much appreciated.
Answer:
The epidemic of obesity-associated diabetes is a major crisis in modern
societies, in
which food is plentiful and exercise is optional. The biological basis of this
problem has been explored from evolutionary and mechanistic perspectives.
Evolutionary theories, focusing on the potential survival advantages of ''thrifty'' genes
that are now maladaptive, are of great interest but are inherently speculative and difficult to
prove. Mechanistic studies have revealed numerous fat-derived molecules and a link
to inflammation that, together, are hypothesized to underlie the obesity-diabetes
connection and thereby represent prospective targets for therapeutic
intervention.
How Obesity Causes Diabetes:
A Biological Perspective
Although once considered a passive fuel
depot, adipose tissue is now recognized to
be an endocrine organ that communicates
with the brain and peripheral tissues by
secreting hormones regulating appetite and
metabolism (22). These functions appear to
be modulated by the location of the adipose
tissue (visceral versus subcutaneous) (23), by
the size of the average adipocyte in the tissue
(24), and by adipocyte metabolism of glucose
(25) and corticosteroids (26).
Ofcourse, natural selection itself has the potential
to solve these health crises, but only
when they threaten the survival of our
species. A more optimistic view is that we
can turn the tide of these epidemics by
focusing on mechanistic questions such as
how obesity causes diabetes. It is hoped that
harnessing this knowledge will allow us to
successfully intervene before natural selec-tion
takes over.
