Obesity and insulin resistance age cells.A person who is overweight and has reduced sensitivity to the hormone insulin may be aging prematurely, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. new research. Such people develop diseases associated with aging, such as type 2 diabetes type 2 diabetes n. See diabetes mellitus. and heart disease, earlier than normal. However, the mechanism by which being overweight and having insulin resistance Insulin Resistance Definition Insulin resistance is not a disease as such but rather a state or condition in which a person's body tissues have a lowered level of response to insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas that helps to regulate the level lead to age-related diseases has been unclear. To see whether obesity and insulin resistance affect aging at the cellular level, Gerald Berenson of the Tulane University School of Medicine History Founded in 1834, Tulane University School of Medicine is the 15th oldest medical school in the United States. Today the medical school is but one part of the Tulane University Health Sciences Center, which includes the School of Medicine, the Tulane University Hospital in New Orleans and his colleagues examined blood samples drawn at least 10 years apart from participants in the ongoing Bogalusa Heart Study. The focus of the study, which has been running in Bogalusa, La., since 1973, is to identify cardiovascular-disease risk factors over the course of people's lifetimes. The researchers analyzed white blood cells White blood cells A group of several cell types that occur in the bloodstream and are essential for a properly functioning immune system. Mentioned in: Abscess Incision & Drainage, Bone Marrow Transplantation, Complement Deficiencies from 49 study participants. The team measured the length of telomeres on the ends of the chromosomes. These protective caps shrink with each division of a cell, and the length of a cell's telomere telomere /telo·mere/ (tel´o-mer) an extremity of a chromosome, which has specific properties, one of which is a polarity that prevents reunion with any fragment after a chromosome has been broken. is considered a measure of the cell's age. The telomeres of white blood cells in study participants whose weight and insulin resistance had increased between the times they gave blood samples shortened considerably more than did telomeres of people whose weight and insulin response remained steady, the researchers report in the May 3 Circulation. The finding suggests that obesity and insulin resistance may stress cells and thus accelerate aging, Berenson and his colleagues say.--C.B. |
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