[fgummett]

An aspirin a day could keep diabetes at bay: study

Taking aspirin and aspirin-like compounds called salicylates can help obese people produce insulin and potentially stave off diabetes, finds a new study.

Previous studies have shown that aspirin can decrease blood sugar in diabetics. New research conducted by Spanish researchers finds that healthy obese people who take aspirin actually increase their levels of insulin, reducing the chance of developing insulin resistance. During insulin resistance, the body produces too little of the hormone and fails to effectively regulate the metabolism of fats, proteins and sugars.

Insulin resistance can lead to diabetes.

Researchers studied the effects of triflusal, a salicylate, on 28 participants with an average age of 48. The men and women were all obese, with an average body mass index of 33.9.

They administered a 600 milligram dose of triflusal, a 900 milligram dose or a placebo to groups of the participants. They found that the higher the dose of salicylate, the lower the level of blood sugar and the higher the level of insulin in the participants' bloodstreams.

Insulin sensitivity did not change.

"Aspirin therapy has been recognized to improve glucose tolerance and to reduce insulin requirements in diabetic subjects," said Jose-Manuel Fernandez-Real, lead author of the study, in a release. "To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that salicylates lowered serum glucose in non-diabetic obese subjects."

He says the study results could lead to new treatment options for diabetics. “These findings highlight the importance of further research on the possible therapeutic benefit of aspirin in the fight against Type 2 diabetes.”

The study will be published in the July issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Not sure that the statements, "...healthy obese people who take aspirin actually increase their levels of insulin, reducing the chance of developing insulin resistance. During insulin resistance, the body produces too little of the hormone and fails to effectively regulate the metabolism of fats, proteins and sugars" ...make sense to me

[Evermont]

Originally Posted by fgummett

...Not sure that the statements, "...healthy obese people who take aspirin actually increase their levels of insulin, reducing the chance of developing insulin resistance. During insulin resistance, the body produces too little of the hormone and fails to effectively regulate the metabolism of fats, proteins and sugars" ...make sense to me

Yeah, that sounds funky. But if the basics are right that's pretty interesting. I could add aspirin to the long list of things that do, or may get some credit for my improvement so far. Doc said the ASA was just heart protective and since my heart has been tested in the lab and in the field I've been slacking off on the daily ASA thinking it wasn't so important. Back on the wagon!

[caswellhb]

Well great! I'm allergic to Aspirin.

Heather.

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by fgummett

... Not sure that the statements, "...healthy obese people who take aspirin actually increase their levels of insulin, reducing the chance of developing insulin resistance. During insulin resistance, the body produces too little of the hormone and fails to effectively regulate the metabolism of fats, proteins and sugars" ...make sense to me

No, it doesn't make sense. Increasing insulin levels indicate that insulin resistance is getting worse, not better. I get the sense when reading stuff like this, that researchers have discovered something, and it is manipulated by the media to stimulate public interest.

[REDLAN]

Not much of a fan of these kind of press releases - The study isn't being published until July, and they don't reveal anywhere near enough information to make any kind of judgement. There is no mention of the magnitude of the effect only that it lowered blood sugar.

<puts cynical hat on> if the effect was large then I get the feeling they would mentioned it.

This is marketing hype really rather than news.

You may want to know what the fuss is all about though. I checked through Pubmed, and from a very brief search, I didn't find any previous research looking at diabetes in humans, aspirin and BG, but I did find one on rodents

In rodents aspirin suppresses the production of IkappaB kinase beta by the liver. This enzyme increases hepatic insulin resistance in response to inflammation. Aspirin reduces inflammation, and also reduces the production of this kinase and so reverses insulin resistance in the liver.

Reversal of obesity- and diet-induced insulin resi...[Science. 2001] - PubMed Result

which explains why they bang on so much about insulin resistance in the article. And get it hopelessly wrong.

New research conducted by Spanish researchers finds that healthy obese people who take aspirin actually increase their levels of insulin

they found higher levels of insulin in their test subjects - this means that the main effect of aspirin can't be on suppressing IkappaB kinase beta.

actually increase their levels of insulin, reducing the chance of developing insulin resistance. During insulin resistance, the body produces too little of the hormone and fails to effectively regulate the metabolism of fats, proteins and sugars.

This second statement is NONSENSE.

first off insulin resistance is not determined by the amount of circulating insulin. In muscle, insulin resistance is determined by the amount of glucose transporters in the cell wall - produce fewer glucose transporters, less glucose gets into the cell each time insulin stimulates the cell, therefore you need more insulin to produce the same lowering of blood glucose. Insulin resistance causes insulin levels to rise, and can cause blood glucose levels to rise if the pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin.

later on in the article they give it away by stating...

Insulin sensitivity did not change.

so the study made no difference to insulin resistance then? What, were they hoping that no one would notice that insulin senstivity and insulin resistance are the same?