From the first moment I discovered I had been diagnosed with DIABETES, I joined a HUGE “club” that has been rapidly expanding since it stopped being a death sentence in the early 20th Century. Currently, there are about HALF A BILLION PEOPLE who have Type 2 Diabetes. For the past 3500 years – dating back to Ancient Egypt – people have suffered from diabetes. Well, I’m one of them now… Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…
Every month, I’ll be highlighting Diabetes research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: White Fat, Brown Fat, and Beige Fat…how increasing BEIGE fat might fight Type 2 Diabetes.
This was a fascinating read for me, and while I did NOT read the MOST technical article, I did read much of the middle on and all of the Science Daily article.
I’m going to start with four definitions and then how they relate to Type 2 diabetes (T2d from now on!)
Fat (from Wikipedia): “Fat is one of the three main types of macronutrients (giant nutrients) – carbs, proteins, and fats. Fats are found in many foods and are made of giant molecules called lipids. SOME of these are important because the body can’t make them.
White Fat: Used to store energy that runs EVERYTHING in your body: muscles, blood, bones – everything that makes you alive. When your body releases insulin from the pancreas, white fat cells' insulin receptors cause the fat molecules to break into smaller parts called “fatty acids” The fatty acids are taken up by muscle and cardiac tissue as a fuel source, and glycerol is taken up by the liver for gluconeogenesis (…the formation of glycogen, the primary carbohydrate stored in the liver and muscle cells of animals, from glucose.”) White fat also insulates your body, helping to maintain body temperature.
Brown Fat: Originating with muscle cells, it’s found in large deposits throughout the body. It’s especially abundant in newborns and in hibernating mammals present and active in adult humans. Its main job is to regulate the body’s heat by shivering muscle. It also makes heat by non-shivering by breaking down the fat directly so it generates heat. The amount found in the body decreases as humans age. In contrast to white fat cells, which contain a single lipid droplet, brown fat cells contain numerous smaller droplets and a much higher number mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell). Brown fat also contains more capillaries than white fat. These supply the tissue with oxygen and nutrients and distribute the produced heat throughout the body.
Beige Fat: “Cold temperatures induce the generation of beige fat cells. There appears to be a “cooperation network” between the beige fat cells and an immune cell activation. Future investigation into how these cellular communication networks change with age could be exploited to inform new strategies against “age-associated fat mass expansion” (old people getting FAT) and “metabolic decline” (old people don’t burn fat off as fast as kids do!)”
The studies want to find out how white, brown, and beige fat interact with T2d.
According to classical view, the main function of white fat is to store excess energy in the form of triglycerides. Brown fat is a thermogenic tissue that’s important in maintaining the core body temperature. White fat cells can TURN INTO these beige fat cells, becoming more like the ‘better for you’ brown. In other words, the beige fat cells adipocytes ACT like brown fat under the stimulations of exercise, cold exposure and other factors. This phenomenon is also called the ‘browning of white fat’.
So – why should us T2ds CARE???
This “browning” of white fat into beige fat speeds up the intake of glucose AND MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL: reduces the insulin secretion requirement needed to convert glucose to stored sugar and then the conversion back again. This MAY be the foundation of a new strategy to improve glucose metabolism and lower insulin resistance.
Link: This is from the magazine ADIPOCYTE in the November 2021 issue
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7801117/; and an article between THESE two: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124720305477?via%3Dihub
For the first time since I started this blog eleven years ago, it’s going to be about me. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes two weeks ago. While people are happy to talk about their experiences with diabetes, I WASN’T comfortable with talking about diabetes. My wife is Type 2, as are several friends of ours. The “other Type” of diabetes was what caused the death of my Best Man a year after my wife and I got married. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was a kid. It was called Juvenile Diabetes then. Today it’s Type 1. Since then, I haven’t WANTED to talk about diabetes at all. But…for my own education and maybe helping someone else, and not one to shut up for any known reason, I’m reopening my blog rather than starting a new one. I MAY take a pause and write about Breast Cancer or Alzheimer’s as medical headlines dictate; but this time I’m going to drag anyone along who wants to join my HIGHLY RELUCTANT journey toward better understanding of my life with Type 2 Diabetes. You’re Welcome to join me!
Yeah – and there you go! “Physician, heal thyself! (I’m NOT a doctor, but you get the idea!) Guy, what have YOU DONE to get healthier, maybe survive your diabetes to an old age???? I mean besides taking your meds – ANYONE can do that! What’s so special about YOU, ya doofus!”
So, here I am to say, “There’s NOTHING special about me and what I do to try and control my diabetes.”
You give me a weird look and say, “So, why are you even WRITING this blog? You’re no better than ME!”
I’d have to say, “You’re right. I’m no better than you.”
Even so, here’s what I HAVE CHANGED:
1) I RECORD on a paper chart blood pressure, glucose, weight, and how many steps I take a day, then I convert it to miles – 1865 steps = 1 mile on MY devices. WHY: Lately my glucose has been low high (my target is 170; lately in the 180s to 200. I want to know what behaviors and foods have the greatest glycemic impact for me. Also, what kind of impact does exercise have? I have a four day cycle: bike (I normally bike on our nearby trail system: short ride (4 miles); long ride (5.5-8 miles); day off; short ride (4 miles).
2) I’ve have been STRUGGLING to not eat anything at all after 7 pm each evening. Success is highly variable. I HAVE discovered what NOT to eat after 7 and that my blood sugars are MUCH happier when I don’t eat anything at all after 7.
3) I’ve learned to relax when I take my BP – the difference between a “slap the sleeve on, take the BP, and record it” gives me higher (sometimes substantially higher!) numbers than if I take time to meditate/recite a Bible verse in my head a few times and ponder it.
4) I’m HORRIBLE at remembering to take my evening pills (2 metformin, 1 cholesterol). My family never even took vitamins, so this pill thing for anything but antibiotics and pain relievers is an entirely new idea for me…my sixty-some years habit of NOT taking pills has proven hard to break.
5) I’m forcing myself to be mindful of what I eat. Example: this afternoon, I had 2 whole wheat tortillas, cubed chicken breast, liberal kimchi (kimchi is considered a probiotic. I’ve also been experimenting with kombucha) (see https://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2023/08/guys-gotta-talk-aboutdiabetes-13.html) But watching what I eat isn’t easy.
6) I’ve been blogging my life changes. That’s been important for me – not so much for your entertainment, but to gather my own thoughts together and begin to see trends and habits of thinking – all the better for me to remain reasonably healthy.
7) Blogging also allows me to keep up with the current research on Type 2 diabetes; and that’s a good thing intellectually. Oftentimes I don’t only read the “popular” articles on the BBC News or in magazines, but I go online and delve into the original papers in as many medical journals that I can access for free. That takes time and thought to figure out what they’re trying to say – which is where my articles on Breast Cancer, Alzheimer’s and Type 2 Diabetes have come from: reading beyond the popular expression of some “miracle breakthrough!”
8) THE NASTIEST ONE FOR ME??? Drinking plain water…I NEED to drink up to two liters a day – when I forget both my blood pressure and my blood sugars go up. It also makes it harder for me to donate blood plasma…
9) Which is the 9th thing I’ve changed. Plasma, while you DO get paid for this liquid that your red blood cells are suspended in, the product is also LIFE SAVING in at least two important ways. First is the plasma is broken up into products that, when used with an individual – like my wife’s brother – who was born lacking blood clotting factors…it’s called hemophilia. As well, plasma is used for ambulance accident victims. Having the red blood cells removed means that the liquid has no “type”. Plasma is used with victims who have lost blood and NEED to have their blood fluids increased so that their body can maintain a blood pressure high enough to keep them alive.
So, there you go! While I am neither a physician nor am I healing myself, I AM making changes in my lifestyle to keep me living long enough to see all three of my grandchildren get married (or whatever a commitment ceremony will look like in the future)!
Image: https://www.hcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/living-well-with-diabetes.jpg
