Smell and taste response could be diabetes risk

Fri, 12 Mar 2010
According to American diabetes research, a mutation in the way the body responds to smell or taste could play a critical role in the way type 2 diabetes develops . Known as the parasympathetic response, the body of those with the mutation begins to secrete insulin when people eat or smell food.

Senior author Vann Bennett, a professor at Duke University Medical Center, was reported as saying: "Our study showed there is a novel genetic mutation through which some type 2 diabetic people could be vulnerable to the gradual onset of this disease. He said this happens: "through what is called the parasympathetic nervous system, not directly through eating food. We think this parasympathetic response is potentially very important in type 2 diabetes ."

Mice that lack a particular molecule have an impaired chain of events leading to insulin secretion. This in turn effects blood sugar levels . The study was published online by the journal Science Signalling.

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