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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Doctors know obese patients are at an increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. But researchers now say the fat itself could be causing these diseases.
Fat biopsies from the upper thighs of lean and obese patients revealed to researchers that the fat tissues in obese patients were actually sick compared to the fat in lean patients.
The obese fat samples themselves were more inflamed than lean fat samples and showed significant stress on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) -- a component of all cells that helps synthesize proteins and monitor how they are folded.
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When stressed, ER produces several proteins that ultimately lead to insulin resistance, which plays a major role in the development and progression of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
Study authors say losing weight can help reduce stress on the ER, thus lowering the risk of insulin resistance and the resulting conditions. According to the National Institutes of Health, each time a body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 is raised by one point, the risk for diabetes increases 25 percent and the risk for heart disease increases 10 percent.
SOURCE: Diabetes, 2008
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