Lead investigator Gary Nelsestuen, a professor in the College of Biological
Sciences’ department of biochemistry, said the abnormal protein may
promote metabolic efficiency and storage of body fat when food is abundant.
This could have provided a survival advantage to American Indians in the
past when food was scarce. The discovery can be used to identify those who
are at risk for diabetes and to guide diet and lifestyle choices to prevent
diabetes.
Apolipoprotein C1 is a component of high density lipoprotein (HDL) and low
density lipoprotein (LDL). HDL cholesterol is often referred to as good cholesterol,
while LDL is called bad cholesterol. The common form of C1 tends to be found
in the high-density protein complexes (HDL) that ferry cholesterol to storage
depots in the body and are linked to lower cardiovascular disease risk. But
the variant form of C1 tends to become part of low density protein complexes
(LDL), which transport cholesterol to arterial walls and are associated with
higher cardiovascular disease risk. Thus, having the variant could tip the
balance of cholesterol carriers and lead toward depletion of HDL-also a risk
factor for heart disease.
Among 1500 subjects from widely divergent genetic backgrounds, the
variant was found in 35 of 228 persons with American Indian ancestry and in
10 of 84 persons with Mexican ancestry. The average body mass index (BMI) of
persons with the variant protein was 9 percent higher and the diabetes rate
50 percent higher among study subjects and their parents. Parents were included
because type 2 diabetes often doesn't appear until later in life.
The finding were published in the Feb. 20 online issue of the International
Journal of Obesity.
===============================
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DID YOU KNOW:
Stroke Prevalence in Middle-Aged Women Higher Than Men: A
new study shows that stroke is more than twice as prevalent in middle-aged
women as in men of the same age.
Presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference
2007, investigators at University of California, Los Angeles Stroke Center
found that women between the ages of 45 and 54 had 2.5 times the risk of having
experienced a stroke compared with their male counterparts. "This was a surprising finding.
The conventional wisdom is that middle-aged women have the same risk or a lower
risk for stroke than men, but this turned out not to be the case," the
study's principal investigator, Dr. Amytis Towfighi, told Diabetes in Control. International
Stroke Conference 2007: Abstract 124.
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