When losing weight isn’t enough to prevent diabetes

Losing weight isn’t always a guarantee that you’ll prevent type 2 diabetes, the precursor of heart disease.

Some people remain at risk of developing diabetes even when they do all the right things, such as losing weight, exercising and changing their diet.

People who are insulin resistant—insulin is vital for breaking down sugars from carbohydrates—and have severe fatty liver disease remain at risk, researchers from the German Centre for Diabetes Research (DZD) have discovered.

They’ve classified people with insulin resistance and fatty liver disease as ‘cluster 5’.  After tracking the group for nine years, the researchers were surprised that although they had lost on average around 8 percent of their body weight, their blood glucose levels remained high, and insulin secretion had dropped.

That’s because fatty liver disease interferes with insulin production; fat accumulation in the liver may impair the ability of pancreatic beta cells to release insulin, contributing to higher blood sugar levels, the researchers said.

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