Diabetes Is Rising in Africa. Could It Lead to New Breakthroughs?

Chikoor says that there are many possible explanations for it, still from the exposed genetic forms to the physiological structure of the pancreas. Is raised from next theory Was studied in East AfricaWhich has been found that some men develop type 2 diabetes despite the healthy weight. An Study Uganda’s Medical Research Council, led by UK researchers, is measuring the size of the pancreas among these national men and evaluating its effectiveness.

“These cases do not seem to be related to fat, so we want to understand and understand what is going on,” said Chikoor. “Is it a genetics? Or how the pancreas developed? Some scientists think that it is related to malnutrition in early life, affecting the development of beta cells so they don’t produce so much insulin.”

In addition to publishing new treatment paths, understanding these cases can lead to advanced tools of screening. Currently, the gold-standard methods of diagnosis and evaluation of type 2 diabetes are measured in blood sugar after fasting and HBA 1C blood tests, which detects a chemical compound called HBA 1C, which indicate blood sugar levels over time. However, these national tests are being shown in some population as void.

Last year A large study It has been highlighted that a significant number of African descent were diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes much later than them, as they carried the deficit to an enzyme called G6 PD. This is genetic variation Comparable Sub-Saharan is in some parts of Africa because it provides protection against deadly malaria, but it also reduces HBA 1C levels, it looks like a person’s blood sugar levels are healthier than them. Studies have shown that many of these patients face preventable complications like diabetic retinopathy that can cause blindness.

Meanwhile, researchers such as Julia Goedek, a professor of the South Africa Medical Research Council and chief experts, have discovered that the use of fasting plasma glucose as a way to diagnose type 2 diabetes in African women may be invented, because it has assumed that the patient is carrying a significant amount of liver fat. “Rosa glucose is often used as a risk marker of diabetes, but this is because the liver fat is a large driver at the fast fast glucose level,” Goaudek says. “This is actually a poor marker among Africans, because most women present with diabetes have low liver fat, so if you simply take the glucose value of a fasting glucose value, you often miss diabetes.”

Instead of lever fat, Goedch’s research It has indicated that many cases are being driven by a disabled capacity to clear insulin from blood flow, resulting in the higher the level of abnormal insulin.

Goedek and others are now conducting a research that includes South Africa’s Township of Sweeto, various communities across Ghana and Ghanian immigrants in Germany and the Netherlands. They will regularly evaluate various biological properties for several years. “We hope this information will give better ideas about the processes associated with our disease and the ideas for intervention,” he said.

Although the study of diabetes on diabetes across Africa has to have a direct impact for patients in this region, Chiko believes that it can benefit everyone infected with the disease. For example, the sub-Saharan can lead to the development of drugs that can improve metabolic health of other ethnic groups why sub-Saharan women seem to be more elastic in achieving liver fat. “With diversity you have both ends of the spectrum: sensitive and protected people,” he says. “And these people in Africa are more likely to find anywhere else.”

As an example of what can be possible, Chikoor mentions how the genetic studies of the African population led the development of a new class of cholesterol-drug drugs, a company even explore gene editing for the treatment of patients. “Imagine that we can do the same for diabetes one day,” he said. “A genetically informed drug that can cause people to have diabetes. I think this is the world looking for.”