The good in fat

摘要

The word fat has an almost universally negative connotation in modern society, whether as a pejorative term for describing someone who is overweight or as a foodstuff reviled for its deleterious impact on health. Obesity is associated with elevated levels of multiple kinds of fat, and fat accumulation in tissues is thought to contribute to the development of the unholy trinity of disorders that characterize type 2 diabetes: failure to respond to the glucose-regulating hormone insulin; failure to control glucose production by the liver; and failure of pancreatic β-cells, which store and release insulin. Now, however, Yore et al. report in Cell that certain modified fatty acids are found at low, rather than elevated, levels in obese, insulin-resistant humans and mice. Furthermore, they show that administering these fatty acids to such mice improves glucose uptake from the blood, enhances insulin secretion and relieves obesity-associated inflammation, suggesting that these naturally occurring fats could be used for diabetes therapy.