Katharina Buczek
Over 37 million Americans currently have diabetes, with between 90 and 95 percent of these cases being type 2 diabetes, according to the CDC.
Type 2 diabetes causes cells to respond abnormally to insulin– also known as insulin resistance. So, the pancreas attempts to produce more insulin in order to get the cells to respond.
Over time, though, the pancreas cannot keep up– leading to rising blood sugar, which can damage the body and lead to other severe health problems such as kidney disease, heart disease, and vision loss.
There are also several risk factors for type 2 diabetes, including obesity, age, physical inactivity, and genetics.
According to a new study conducted by researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, though, there may be a gender predisposition gap.
More specifically, the team found that women and men with diabetes predisposition actually have different risk factors forecasting prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.
Low serum levels of adiponectin– an adipose tissue protein– among healthy women was a strong independent predictor of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes in the future.
Conversely, low serum levels of IGFBP-1, a liver protein, were a strong independent predictor of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes among healthy men.
In other words, these proteins– which represent measures of insulin sensitivity in the liver and muscle (IGFBP-1) and adipose tissue (adiponectin)– could predict if someone is at an increased risk of getting type 2 diabetes in the next decade.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
