Dolphin blood sugar switch in fasting may help adult sufferers of diabetes

A trick dolphins use to keep their big brains fed with energy could potentially lead to a cure for adult diabetes, say scientists.

Experts have discovered that bottlenose dolphins can turn a diabetic-like state on and off as needed to maintain their blood sugar levels.

They believe a now-dormant genetic mechanism of the same type may have once evolved in people – and for similar reasons.

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In both dolphins and ancient humans it would ensure that during lean times enough energy-giving sugar was always on hand to meet the demands of a large power-hungry brain.

Understanding how the switch works and learning how to control it could be the solution to Type-2 diabetes, a disease that accounts for 5 per cent of all human deaths worldwide, US researchers claim.

Dr Stephanie Venn-Watson, director of clinical research at the National Marine Mammal Association in San Diego, California, said: "If dolphins have a genetic fasting switch that can turn diabetes on and off, identifying and controlling such a switch in humans could lead to a cure for Type-2 diabetes. Maybe there is something dormant in us that can be awakened and used to provide therapy or a cure."

"Our ancestors' primary diets were high in protein and low in carbohydrates," Dr Venn-Watson told the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego.

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"It has been hypothesised that insulin resistance was selected for because it was beneficial during the ice age." But the trait may have turned into a potentially dangerous condition when energy-rich foods became plentiful.

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