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NEWS

Tooth decay & diabetes

Study may explain why people with diabetes may develop tooth decay.

People with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are prone to tooth decay, and

a new study from Rutgers suggests that the cause may be reduced strength

and durability of enamel and dentin, the hard substance under enamel that

gives structure to teeth. Researchers induced Type 1 diabetes in 35 mice and

compared their teeth with those of 35 healthy mice over 28 weeks. The study

found that enamel grew significantly softer in the diabetic mice after 12 weeks,

and the gap continued to widen throughout the study. Significant differences

in dentin microhardness arose by week 28.

Compound

for cataracts

An international team of scientists

led by Anglia Ruskin University

(ARU) has announced "extremely

positive results" from laboratory

trials of a compound that could

one day offer a non-operative

option for cataract treatment,

which is currently curable only by

surgical replacement of the lens.

The team tested the effect on

the optics of the lens of treatment

with an oxysterol compound called

VP1-001, which was applied to one

eye in 26 mice. Results showed

that treatment with VP1-001

produced an improvement in the

refractive index profiles in 61% of

the treated lenses, showing that

the protein organisation of the lens

was being restored, resulting in

the lens being better able to focus.

They also showed a reduction in

lens opacity in 46% of cases after

oxysterol treatment.

Team leader Prof Barbara

Pierscionek, Deputy Dean for

research and innovation in the

Faculty of Health, Education,

Medicine and Social Care at ARU,

said: "This study has shown the

positive effects of a compound

that had been proposed as an

anti-cataract drug but never

before tested on the optics of

the lens." However, she noted:

"Improvements occurred in some

types of cataract, but not in all,

indicating that this may be a

treatment for specific cataracts.

This suggests distinctions may

need to be made between cataract

types when developing anticataract

medications."

Early obesity leads to diabetes

Excessively high body mass index

(BMI) in late adolescence has been

linked to development of Type 1

diabetes, not just Type 2 diabetes,

according to research presented at

the American Diabetes Association

82nd Scientific Sessions in New

Orleans, published in Diabetologia

and reported in Clinical; Advisor.

To study whether excessively high

BMI in adolescence is associated with

Type 1 diabetes, researchers at the

Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes,

and Metabolism at Sheba Medical

Center in Israel, studied the 1.46m

adolescents Israeli teenagers aged

16 to 19 years who were undergoing

medical examination ahead of

mandatory military service between

January 1996 and December 2016.

Data collected included height,

weight, BMI, and blood work and

were linked with information about

adult-onset Type 1 diabetes in the

Israeli National Diabetes Registry.

Overall, the researchers identified

777 incident cases of Type 1 diabetes

during 11 years of follow-up (mean

age at diagnosis, 25 years). Compared

with adolescents classified as

having optimal BMI, adolescents

with obesity had double the risk of

developing Type 1 diabetes, while

those with overweight (85th-95th

percentile) had a 54% increased risk.

A mildly increased risk (41%) was

evident among adolescents with BMIs

in the higher end of normal range

(75th-84th percentile). For the entire

BMI range, the authors reported

that for "every 5 kg/m2 increase in

weight, the adjusted risk to develop

type 1 diabetes increases by 35%."

"Additional factors associated

with obesity may contribute to

the development of autoimmunity,

including vitamin D deficiency,

consumption of a high-fat diet, and

modulation of the gut microbiota,"

the authors wrote. "Given that, in

our cohort, there was an association

between adolescent obesity and

Type 1 diabetes, even when excluding

those with pre-existing autoimmune

conditions, additional factors may

link obesity specifically to Type 1

diabetes." In addition, the researchers

noted increasing evidence of a shared

genetic basis for diabetes and obesity.

"Our findings have public health

implications" wrote the authors. "The

prevalence of adolescent obesity

is rising worldwide at an alarming

rate, with dire projections for the

near future. Currently it is estimated

that nearly 60% of today's US youth

[ages 2-19 years] will develop obesity

by age 35 years, most of them by

adolescence, with half progressing

to severe obesity. The current study

projects that around 1 in 8 (12.8%)

of the newly diagnosed cases of

Type 1 diabetes in the study can be

attributed to abnormally excessive

weight at adolescence."

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