A new study from China has found that blood plasma proteins in people with type 2 diabetes can lessen the beneficial impact of some antioxidants, in a breakthrough that could lead to changes in keywordtreatment of the metabolic condition.
Using fluorescence spectroscopy, the research showed that dietary polyphenols, which are present in consumables such as red wine and chocolate, and which are known to hunt down free radicals that harm cells and also bind to proteins in blood plasma.
Study leader Jianbo Xiao, from Shanghai Normal University, commented “Exposing plasma proteins to glucose influences their structures and functions.” This prompted the team to explore this influence by examining the polyphenol-binding abilities of healthy plasma proteins before comparing them to how type 2 diabetes plasma proteins manage to bind.
It was shown that type 2 diabetes plasma proteins have an affinity of between 1 and 10 times lower for polyphenols than for healthy proteins. In addition, the difference between the affinities was greater when more hydrophobic polyphenols were tested.
The scientists will now assess why hydrophobic polyphenols are able to cause a big difference between the binding affinities of healthy and type 2 diabetes plasma proteins, which could help in changing the way such polyphenols are used in the treatment of diabetes.

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