Oxidative stress turns helpful proteins into killers

Oxygen is one of the most important compounds needed in order to facilitate life. It helps us to burn our fuel and turn it into energy that we use for all our bodily functions. There are also forms of oxygen that are a little less beneficial. Some chemical variants of oxygen are not entirely stable and readily react with anything they encounter. We call this reactive oxygen species (ROS) and this forms the center component to oxidative stress. While ROS are used by the immune system to kill invading microbes, oxidative stress can also damage our body. Researchers have now found a mechanism by which oxidative stress kills cells, providing new insights into novel therapeutic options for a wide range of diseases.

Bacteria help to prevent diabetes

It is true that micro-organisms such as bacteria have a bad image, as they are the cause of various nasty diseases and discomfort. On the other hand, we have discovered that bacteria play an important role in the body: we have more of these microbes than cells in our body, and scientists previously discovered that they help to fight off all kinds of infections, as well as help us with digestion. Now, a study revealed that bacteria that populate our intestine help to prevent diabetes, a rather interesting finding.

Keeping a fat balance may counter obesity

Obesity can be characterized as the accumulation of too much fat, causing health problems. Fat is normally regarded as universally bad, but the body is actually more complex. There is 'good' and 'bad' fat, otherwise known as brown and white fat, respectively. Brown fat is more than just a useless lump of mass in your body: it has all kind of metabolic purposes, and does not make you obese in the way that white fat does. It appears that a mismatch in the balance between brown and white fat may be one of the underlying causes of obesity, a new study suggests. They also found a protein that is associated with keeping this balance, which therefore poses as an interesting target.

Iron plays a role in the cause of diabetes

Our lifestyle is becoming an important cause of a variety of diseases which have been steadily increasing in incidence over the last couple of decades. Examples include obesity, various forms of cancer and diabetes. The latter can be caused by an unhealthy diet, as well as other factors. Because diabetes leads to increased risk of various cardiovascular and renal diseases, much research is devoted to finding out the underlying causes of the disease, especially because of the increase in bad lifestyle choices seen in recent years. While we already know a fair bit about diabetes, scientists from the University of Copenhagen  have shown that transportation of iron in the body may be an underlying cause.

A healthy diet also matters before pregnancy

It is common knowledge that unhealthy behaviour during pregnancy can be harmful to the unborn child. Therefore, many prospective mothers quit smoking and drinking while carrying a child. New research shows that a healthy diet and behavioural pattern is also important before getting pregnant. The study, conducted by scientists from the Nutrition Research Institute at the University of North Carolina indicates that prospective mothers should not wait with adapting their behaviour until they get pregnant.

Enzyme modification helps burn fat three times faster

Obesity is a growing problem in the western world. The percentage of people that are overweight is increasing at an alarming rate, and so are the concurring diseases, such as diabetes or cardiovascular problems. Much research is devoted to combating this problem, and scientists at the University of Copenhagen have found a molecular trick to make you burn fat much faster. In fact, the speed at which body fat is burned can be tripled.

Cheese reduces the chance of developing diabetes

Food is important for our survival, but our dietary pattern also tells us something about chances of developing nasty diseases. Eating a lot of fat, for example, does not bode well for your heart and blood vessels. When it comes to food, recent studies have shown that chocolate has all kinds of beneficial effects. Now, a study conducted by a large European consortium of researchers revealed that eating cheese and other fermented dairy products helps to prevent diabetes.

When it comes to cholesterol, nothing is what it seems

Cholesterol has the image of being bad for your health. If you get too much of it in your arteries, it can cause obstructions that result in stroke or a heart attack. The body possesses a complex system of cholesterol transport, of which HDL and LDL are the most well-known molecules. Functioning as carriers, they move cholesterol around, but they do so in different ways. While HDL transports it from the bloodstream into the liver, to be recycled, LDL actually lets cells take up cholesterol. That is why HDL is known as good, and LDL as bad. Many studies have been performed regarding cholesterol metabolism, and the role of HDL, LDL and other carriers is fiercely debated. Now, a study concerning a large number of people found that HDL may not be worthy of the label 'good'.

High sugar consumption reduces intelligence

Eating and drinking a lot of sugary stuff is known to cause diabetes, as the sudden spike in blood sugar level it induces is not very healthy. It causes increased insulin production needed to rid the body of blood sugar levels that are too high, eventually causing insulin insensitivity due to prolonged exposure. Now, scientists from the University of California in Los Angeles have discovered that sugary foods and drinks also affect your brain. Specifically, consuming a lot of sweet stuff affects your intelligence.

Having diabetes causes your brain to shrink faster

Scientists have found an interesting correlation between diabetes and brain size. According to a recent study, elderly people suffering from a condition known as pre-diabetes or full-blown diabetes type 2 show increased deterioration of the brain. While it is normal for the brain to shrink when you get older, a link with diabetes greatly speeds up the process.

Scientists: diabetes in children is alarming and dangerous

Western societies have seen a dramatic increase in child obesity over the last decade. Our bad diet habits are causing all sorts of problems, such as type 2 diabetes. This form of diabetes has long been regarded as a disease for the elderly, but this is no longer the case. Eating a lot of fatty and sugary foods results in blood sugar levels that our body cannot cope with, despite cranking up the insulin level. When the body can no longer regulate the blood sugar level, medicine steps in. However, while several drugs have proven to be beneficial for adults, they seem to affect children in lesser extent. According to scientists, children that develop diabetes type 2 will suffer from the consequences for the rest of their life.

Link between biological clock and metabolic disorders

Our biological clock sets our daily rhythm, and is located somewhere in the brain, above our eyes. The brain centre that controls your circadian rhythm is called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and scientists have already largely discovered how it works, and how it affects your body. There is an in-built daily rhythm, which can be externally affected by light. New research shows the internal workings of the SCN and the clock mechanisms in our body may actually be rather different than what is currently known. Additionally, it tells us something about how the biological clock affects the body's metabolism and corresponding disorders. It may lead to new treatment for all kinds of diseases.

The gut as an insulin factory to treat diabetes

Scientists attempt to come up with treatments for diabetes by trying many different options. One of those is using stem cells to restore the insulin-producing cells that are being destroyed by the body's own immune system in type 1 (but not type 2) diabetes. This is being done to restore the normal body metabolism, in which insulin regulates the uptake of glucose by cells, and keeps it in balance. An important process, as without proper regulation of our body's glucose, which is used as fuel, increasing concentrations can become harmful and eventually lethal. At the Columbia University Medical Center, an attempt is being made to restore insulin production in patients with type 1 diabetes by trying to get the gut to produce it. Cells from the intestine are supposedly able to take over this function, and it may help therefore help to counter the disease with body-own assets.

Putting the brain in overdrive can help lose weight

It is the dream of many people that are a little too fond of eating unhealthy food: a pill that simply keeps you from getting fat. While such ideas have never been realized, a newly discovered mechanism may actually aid in getting it this work. A certain brain process can be put in overdrive which greatly increases the energy use: we can use that to get rid of all the extra energy people are taking in from eating too much. If we'll really see a diet pill on the market anytime soon remains to be seen, however.

Chocolate restores 'energy factories' in the body

Patients suffering from type II diabetes or advanced heart failure often have trouble finding the energy for exercise. It is a result from their disease, which impairs the function of mitochondria, which are the energy factories inside cells. Especially muscle cells rely greatly on these cellular structures because of their energy requirement. Scientists from the University of California in San Diego have discovered a way to increase functionality of the mitochondria: a compound found in dark chocolate helps revive these energy facilities.

Scientists freeze and resurrect flies

By discovering how some small animals are able to withstand body temperatures below zero centigrade, scientists have found a way to freeze fruit flies and resurrect them afterwards. By feeding them a specific diet, researchers from a Czech research institute made the animals, which normally are quite susceptible to cold environments, overcome temperatures that caused part of their blood to freeze. The experiments could aid us in finding ways of preserving ourselves when exposed to cold temperatures.

Breath analyser can predict disease

Scientists are working on a device that can diagnose a number of diseases merely by analysing the breath of the patient. According to the developers, that work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the device is sensitive enough to diseases while they are in their early stages. If it works the way they claim, diagnosing various diseases such as diabetes and cancer may become a lot easier. In turn, a faster diagnosis benefits treatments and a patient's health.

Plant enzyme gathers energy day and night

Plants are renown for their capability of creating energy out of sunlight; a process called photosynthesis. At night, there is no sun which means the energy creating process lays dormant. However, plants appear to have an enzyme that does not only aid in photosynthesis during the day, but also gathers energy during the night. During its night shift, it aids in taking up nutrients and transporting energy from the roots. It is peculiar how one particular enzyme can have two distinctive functions, which depend on time of day.

Common genetic variance linked to many diseases

When it comes to genetics, it is often said that we are all the same, but every individual is genetically unique. Our DNA is about 99,9 percent identical, and even between humans and monkeys there is barely any difference. Yet, for every one of the 3 billion pieces of our genome, there are variants. It means that every human being has a unique genome: no other individual is genetically identical. When it comes to genes, there are a lot of variants in the human population. While the differences are usually not that big, there can be some functional differences. It also means some varieties are linked to an increased risk of disease: one of the variants may not function as well as others. Scientists from the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland performed a genetic analysis on many commonly found genetic variants, and found that many of them are associated with an increased risk on disease.

Sugar metabolism explains how cells prevent death

Cells need a constant supply of oxygen to survive. Additionally, if they are not fed with sugar in time, it will also result in premature death. In nature, animals can never be sure when their next meal is. That is why cells are able to prepare themselves for harsh times, in which food is scarce. They can be trained to withstand low glucose, which is the form of sugar that is used by cells. Likewise, cells exposed to low oxygen can also be trained to survive in lower concentrations. It was long thought the two training mechanisms were not the same, but scientists from Germany and Canada have actually shown they are connected. We may use this newfound information to prevent cells from dying. Especially the ones that are hard to grow back, such as brain cells.