Saturated fatty acids lead to mitochondrial dysfunction and insulin resistance
Friday, January 20, 2012 - 08:31
in Health & Medicine
Excessive levels of certain saturated fatty acids cause mitochondria to fragment, leading to insulin resistance in skeletal muscle, a precursor of type 2 diabetes, according to a paper in the January issue of the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology. This is the first time mitochondrial fragmentation has been implicated in insulin resistance, says corresponding author Yau-Sheng Tsai, of the College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, Republic of China.