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Free fatty acid surge with sleep loss could explain increased diabetes risk
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Lack of sleep could lead to elevated levels of circulating free fatty acids through the night and into early morning, according to research published in Diabetologia.
The increases in non-esterified fatty acid concentrations may play a role in the insulin resistance and the heightened diabetes risk linked with sleep loss.
“Curtailed sleep produced marked changes in the secretion of growth hormone and levels of noradrenaline, which can increase circulating fatty acids,” Josiane L. Broussard, PhD, a post-doctoral research scientist, Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, said in a news release.
Josiane L. Broussard
“The result was a significant loss of the benefits of insulin,” she said. “This crucial hormone was less able to do its job. Insulin action in these healthy young men resembled what we typically see in early stages of diabetes.”
Under controlled laboratory conditions, Broussard and colleagues studied 19 healthy young men aged 18 to 30 years who spent 8.5 hours in bed (normal sleep) and 4.5 hours in bed (sleep restriction) in randomized order over 4 consecutive nights at least 4 weeks apart.
The investigators simultaneously assessed 24-hour blood profiles of non-esterified fatty acid, growth hormone, noradrenaline, cortisol, glucose and insulin. A frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test was used to estimate insulin sensitivity.
Compared with normal sleep, restriction resulted in higher levels of non-esterified fatty acid during nighttime and early morning hours; this elevation correlated with prolonged growth hormone secretion at night and higher noradrenaline levels in the early morning.
The men demonstrated a drop in insulin sensitivity after sleep restriction, with the decreases related to the increases in non-esterified fatty acid levels at night.
“These findings provide evidence for potential mechanisms by which sleep restriction may be associated with insulin resistance and increased type 2 diabetes risk,” the researchers wrote. “Our findings support the importance of sleep in the regulation of metabolism and provide further evidence that insufficient sleep, a highly prevalent condition in our modern society, may adversely affect fatty acid metabolism.”
The researchers underscore that further investigation is needed to determine whether adequate sleep improves metabolic outcomes and could serve as a strategy to counteract the diabetes and obesity epidemics. – by Allegra Tiver
Disclosure: The researchers reports no relevant financial disclosures.
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