Overweight or Not, New Study Suggests High Mannose Levels Could Indicate Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes

28 Jun 2016 --- A study conducted by the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm suggests that high mannose levels could put consumers at risk of developing type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance, even if they’re not overweight.

The latest diabetes study opposes the belief that type 2 diabetes (T2D) and insulin resistance (IR) is nearly always linked with obesity, suggesting that an increase in the blood sugar mannose could put anyone at risk of developing the disease, regardless of his or her weight.

Mannose, now identified it as a biomarker for diabetes by researchers, is a simple sugar that occurs as a component of many natural polysaccharides.

"We can measure mannose in the blood of lean or obese people and identify if they have increased risk for type 2 diabetes based on their mannose levels," Mardinoglu says.

The researchers used a systems biology-based approach and generated cell-specific integrated networks for liver, fat and muscle tissues. They used these biological networks for analysis of clinical data to explain biological changes in response to obesity and IR, which provided comprehensive molecular clues.

These new findings may force the scientific community to reconsider assumptions about the relationship between obesity and diabetes.

Lead author Sunjae Lee says, "Although the prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes continues to dramatically increase worldwide, a clear understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms involved in the progression of associated disorders has still been lacking. It’s important to identify stable biomarkers that can be used for the early discovery of IR and future risk of T2D."

Although the findings seem promising, there is still further research to be conducted before the results are validated.

"Based on our integrative analysis, we think that this knowledge can be useful in the clinic for detecting subjects at high risk for T2D," Lee says. "However, larger studies are required for further clinical validation of our results."