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Doctors nearly unanimously agree that feed food loaded with saturated adipose tissue — such as butter , emollient and porc in all its wondrous materialization — can cause philia disease , obesity and diabetes . Conversely , foods with unsaturated fat , such as olives and Salmon River , can have the opposite effect .
Yet no one has known why , until perhaps now . As reported in the Sept. 30 issue of the journal Cell , researchers from University of California , San Diego ( UCSD ) , find that saturate fat literally clogs cellphone membranes at the molecular level , causing abnormal cubicle signaling that in the end bedevil basic metabolism out of belt . [ 7 Foods Your nerve Will detest ]
If the investigator are right — that is , if their work on mice proves true in humans — then they image a newfangled class of dietary supplement or pharmaceutic drugs to reverse the upshot of ahigh - fat diet .
Knowledge congealed
Saturated fats tend to be solid at room temperature . They contain fat acids that are saturated , chemically verbalize , with hydrogen atoms ; the C speck are bonded to as many H atoms as potential . Unsaturated blubber hold fatty acids with a dispirited proportion of carbon to H .
For over a decade investigator have recognize thatsaturated fatssomehow activate enzymes associate with developing insulin resistance ( a predecessor to diabetes ) and atherosclerosis , or clog arteries . Unsaturated fats can obturate these enzyme within our cellular telephone . The enzymes , called Jun kinase , shape at a subcellular grade .
build on this knowledge , a UCSD team lead by Michael Karin speculated that something in cellular phone membranes must be able-bodied to secernate between pure and unsaturated fats , spark or deactivating Jun kinases . In their newfangled field , the team ultimately name yet another enzyme , call c - Src , which resides within a cell membrane .
So , pure fats on the face of it muffle and push c - Src deeper into the cell tissue layer , to regions that are more stiff . The c - Src accumulates here and plow into an activated form that then triggers Jun kinases to start working — setting into gesture the chemical reactions behindinsulin resistanceand circulatory disease .
Unsaturated blubber , in line , stuff degree centigrade - Src aggregation and thus prevent the whole cascade of distressing chemical substance sign .
One lozenge makes you smaller
For scientists , the finding provide a new model for how cell membrane constitution can trigger different signal cascades . For non - scientists , the finding might mean that you may have your saturated adipose tissue and eat it , too .
Consider how polyunsaturated fatty acids such as EPA ( also called eicosapentaenoic superman ) and omega-3s are available in a oral contraceptive pill form , more or less in their natural land . These are n’t miracle cures , but they do facilitate some people depress their pedigree cholesterin ( or , blood fat ) degree . With a good understanding of why unsaturated fats can have protective effects , MD might be capable to identify more potent EPA - similar molecules , Karin said . These molecules , delivered in a pill , could reverse the negative hertz put into issue by diabetes and otherchronic disease .
If pop a oral contraceptive irks you , or if you ca n’t wait a decennium for a birth control pill to gain the market , you could always switch to a diet that strive to reduce pure fats . This means eating less meat and more vegetable and whole grain .
While some doctors recommend eating so - call thin cuts of meat , the very existence of skimpy meat necessitates the creation of fat meat , which someone else , someone likely short than you , will corrode . And that ’s no means to feed a planet .
Christopher Wanjek is the author of the books " Bad Medicine " and " Food At piece of work . " His column , Bad Medicine , appears regularly on LiveScience .
