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PYY may help reduce burden of type 2 diabetes
A hormone identified as an appetite suppressant also appears to affect islet function and thus could offer effective treatment for type 2 diabetes, according to study findings.
“Many people who are morbidly obese also have type 2 diabetes,” Magnus Kringstad Olsen, a PhD candidate at the department of cancer research and molecular medicine at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said in a press release.
Improvements in diabetes are often found after patients with obesity undergo bariatric surgery and could be due to the increased production of glucagon-like peptide-1, an appetite-reducing hormone. However, another hormone, PYY, can render many of the same effects as GLP-1.
According to the researchers, there is a possibility that drugs could be used to stimulate the production of the hormone in order to treat type 2 diabetes.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.