(NaturalNews) Think of a treatment for diabetes, and you probably think of a drug or natural therapy that targets the pancreas to help normalize blood sugar levels. Resveratrol, a phytochemical found in red grapes, has been shown to have a host of health benefits -- including improving diabetes in animal studies. But, it turns out, that's not necessarily because it benefits the pancreas. Instead, scientists have made an unexpected discovery:
resveratrol's anti-diabetic properties appear to be mediated through the brain.That's the conclusion of a new study conducted by
scientists at the University of
Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, that was just published in
Endocrinology, a journal of The Endocrine Society. The researchers focused on
sirtuins, a class of proteins activated by
resveratrol that are thought to underlie many of the potential beneficial effects of calorie restriction, including promoting
longevity and slowing down the aging process.
Early
studies in mice have produced important evidence showing that when resveratrol activates
sirtuins,
diabetes is improved. While
sirtuins are expressed virtually all over the
body, until now researchers have remained in the dark about what tissues could be mediating resveratrol's beneficial effects on the
disease.
"We know that
sirtuins are expressed in parts of the
brain known to govern glucose
metabolism, so we hypothesized that the brain could be mediating resveratrol's anti-diabetic actions," said Roberto Coppari, PhD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and co-author of the study, in a statement to the media. "To test the hypothesis, we assessed the metabolic consequences of delivering resveratrol directly into the brain of
diabetic mice. We found that resveratrol did activate
sirtuins in the brain of these mice which resulted in improving their high levels of
blood sugar and insulin. These findings may lead to new strategies in the fight against type 2 diabetes."
Dr. Coppari and his
research team found that long-term infusion of resveratrol into the brains of diet-induced obese and diabetic mice normalized the animals' hyperglycemia (high
blood sugar) and greatly improved the rodents' hyperinsulinemia (excess levels of circulating
insulin in the blood). The scientists noted in their research paper that these beneficial effects were independent of changes in the lab animals' body
weight, food intake, and circulating levels of leptin (a hormone that helps regulate appetite and metabolism).
As
NaturalNews reporters have covered extensively, resveratrol -- which is found in red wine,
red grapes and grape juice -- has been found to promote
health in a remarkable number of ways. In addition to preventing heart disease, it can help maintain a healthy weight, keep cholesterol in balance and even support increased longevity (
http://www.naturalnews.com/026830_resveratrol_cancer_wine.html). It may also prevent and reverse fatty liver disease (
http://www.naturalnews.com/026274_resveratrol_chocolate_fatty_liver.html).
Editor's note: NaturalNews is opposed to the use of
animals in medical experiments that expose them to harm. We present the
Endocrinology study findings in protest of the way in which they were acquired.
For more information:http://endo.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/en.2009-0528v1http://www.naturalnews.com/resveratrol.html
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