"So if you ask how much weight you need to lose to make your diabetes go away, the answer is one gram. But that gram needs to be fat from the pancreas. At present the only way we have to achieve this is by calorie restriction by any means - whether by diet or an operation," says Professor Roy Taylor who leads the Newcastle University study on the correlation between diabetes and pancreatic fat.
The study used data from 18 obese patients, half of which have been Type 2 diabetics for a period of seven years or less while the other half are diabetes-free. These participants were administered gastric bypass surgery to help burn off the excess fat.
At the end of eight weeks after the operation all 18 patients were found to display the same level of weight loss, which was roughly 13 percent of their body weight when they first joined the study.
Interestingly, when their current pancreatic fats were compared to the MRI scan measurement of these fats before the surgery the scientists found two things. The non-diabetic patients had the same amount of pancreatic fats before and after their observed weight loss. The Type 2 diabetics, on the other hand, were seen to have high fat levels in their pancreas prior to the operation and displayed a 1.2 percent decrease in these after surgery. Based ont he study, such fat levels in the pancreas that block insulin production seems specific to Type 2 diabetics.
Here the researchers explain the significance of this difference: "When that excess fat is removed, insulin secretion increases to normal levels. In other words, they were diabetes free."
The hope this study gives is significant, as Type 2 diabetes has come to rank among the major global threats to health. But given that a small amount of fat loss in the pancreas is enough to rejuvenate the pancreas toward better insulin production, Type 2 diabetes has become a much easier to manage and understand.
