Study suggests increased level of certain protein may lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes

CHICAGO Having high levels of a certain protein could indicate a lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, according to a study.

The study, published in the July 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that people with high levels of adiponectin, a protein produced in the fat cells that has anti-inflammatory and insulin-sensitizing properties, are at lower risk of developing the disease.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health used data from 13 studies with 14,598 participants and 2,623 new cases of Type 2 diabetes for their analysis, finding that higher levels of adiponectin were consistently associated with lower risk of the disease among men and women across racial and ethnic groups. Still, the researchers wrote, the exact relationship between the protein and disease risk remains unclear, and the studies could not show a direct, causal relationship.

“Although these epidemiologic studies cannot establish causality, the consistency of the association across diverse populations, the dose-response relationship and the supportive findings in mechanistic studies indicate that adiponectin is a promising target for the reduction of risk of Type 2 diabetes,” the researchers wrote.