Researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have discovered a molecular link between a high-fat diet and type 2 diabetes. The group of scientists from University of California, San Diego, together with their colleagues at Kirin Brewery Co. Ltd., and the University of Fukui (Japan), have showed that a high-fat diet disrupts genetic mechanisms behind insulin production:
In an article published in the December 29, 2005, issue of the journal Cell, the researchers report that knocking out a single gene encoding the enzyme GnT-4a glycosyltransferase (GnT-4a ) disrupts insulin production. Importantly, the scientists showed that a high-fat diet suppresses the activity of GnT-4a and leads to type 2 diabetes due to failure of the pancreatic beta cells.
The detailed explanation of the process is in the press release…