increased ketone bodies production causes diabetes ?

[makgoz]

I have taken an oral exam in TURKEY to qualify as an Assoc. Prof. The following question was asked and I did not know the answer, I failed the exam. They will ask it again.

 

Pregnant women carries table sugar (sucrose) and when she gets hungry, she takes sugar, thus ketone bodies production decreases. If she is hungry for a long time, ketone body production will increase and that will cause Diabetes.

 

In other words, Ketone bodies production causes Diabetes, what is the mechanism behind this phenomenon?

 

As I know, Diabetes patients have higher ketone bodies production, since they can not use Glucose, body breaks down fats and free acids to Acetyl CoA which forms ketone bodies in the liver.

 

I appreciate all your comments.

 

Thanks a lot

[Revenged]

I have taken an oral exam in TURKEY to qualify as an Assoc. Prof. The following question was asked and I did not know the answer, I failed the exam. They will ask it again.

 

Pregnant women carries table sugar (sucrose) and when she gets hungry, she takes sugar, thus ketone bodies production decreases. If she is hungry for a long time, ketone body production will increase and that will cause Diabetes.

 

In other words, Ketone bodies production causes Diabetes, what is the mechanism behind this phenomenon?

 

As I know, Diabetes patients have higher ketone bodies production, since they can not use Glucose, body breaks down fats and free acids to Acetyl CoA which forms ketone bodies in the liver.

 

I appreciate all your comments.

 

Thanks a lot

 

Diabetes is caused by lack of insulin or insulin resistance... ketones do not cause diabetes...

 

in this question the woman is pregnant... this must be 'gestational diabetes'... it is similar to type II diabetes... i.e. problem with insulin resistance and not insulin production...

 

Ketone production is simply an effect of diabetes... As you said - fat is used as an energy source and non-esterified fatty acids are produced... but it is because there is excess fatty acids in the liver and inadequate fatty acids supplied to muscle that the liver produces ketones...

 

 

So back to your question... this women is 'tired', I think the assumption is she is in the 'starving state'... i.e. utilising mainly fat as an energy source thus ketone production is high...

 

Take in sucrose... Sucrose is broken down into fructose and glucose... In the short term, glucose is used as an energy source and replaces fat... since in gestational diabetes, there is still insulin production and so this is possible... this leads to decreased ketone production...

 

The long term, i'm not sure... I would guess that there is not enough energy produced from the glucose and so the body has to go back to using fatty acids as an energy source and ketones increase...

[iNow]

Additionally, if the body fails to break down glucose for too long, and ketones remain actively breaking down fats for energy for too long (how long is too long, I do not exactly know, but...), the body will develop ketoacidosis, where ketones build up in the blood stream and pH of the blood decreases. Acid blood is not good.

 

Per the point above, I've never heard of ketones causing diabetes. I've heard of diabetes causing increase in ketones. The only exception that I can think of is if this acid blood is somehow linked to increased chances of diabetes, but I really am not sure.

[makgoz]

Thanks Revenged and Inow

 

As you said we might concentrate on gestational diabetes, Insulin resistance, not the level of insulin and came up wtih some possible answers,

 

Increased ketone bodies (and ketoacidosis) (or increased Glokagon due to hunger) may

 

i- change the levels of some hormones which may cause Insulin resistance

 

ii- somehow directly affect Insulin receptors

 

iii- somehow interfere with the Glucose transporters

 

Which one, I don’t know

 

If the case might be related with gestational diabetes only, then we might have to look at other hormones ????

 

 

I have read 10 biochemistry books and searched pubmed and internet , but there is no clue

[iNow]

I found this little site on quick search:

 

Insulin Resistance in Women

Because insulin is one of the “major” hormones, it’s also impossible for your body to balance its “minor” hormones (estrogen, progesterone and testosterone among them) until your insulin metabolism is balanced first. To put it simply, if you have hot flashes and you are insulin resistant, it’s going to be nearly impossible to cure the hot flashes without first healing the insulin resistance. (Cortisol is also a “major” hormone; to understand its role in hormonal balance, read our related article on adrenal fatigue.)

 

 

I also keep seeing information about "Syndrome X." You may wish to look that up during your exploration.

 

 

http://www.diabetesnet.com/diabetes_types/syndrome_x.php

Syndrome X, which is also known as the "metabolic syndrome" or "Insulin Resistance Syndrome", is a condition that is linked to an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease. It was first recognized in the 1960's and information about it was first published in 1990.

 

It is marked by abdominal obesity, elevated levels of triglycerides, low levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar levels. Recent research shows that 22% of adults between the ages of 20 and 79 have at least three of these symptoms. Other symptoms include smoking, high fat and calorie diet, prediabetes or Type 2 diabetes, polycstic ovary syndrome or gout.

 

The research was conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and was published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (volume 287; pages 356-359; January 16, 2002). About 9,000 men and women participated in the study, which occurred between 1988 and 1994. Metabolic syndrome was more common in older people than in younger people. There were differences along lines of ethnicity and gender, as well. Mexican Americans were more likely to develop the syndrome than people of other ethnic backgrounds. Also, women were more likely to have the syndrome than were men.

[eva357]

Has anyone been suffering from diabetes? Which type and how difficult is it to manager your sugar level and how does diabetes affect your daily life? Has diabetes affected your relationships at all for the good or bad? Is it difficult to talk about it when you meet new people? Do you let the person know about your illness or hide it? I need your comments.

[iNow]

Has anyone been suffering from diabetes? Which type and how difficult is it to manager your sugar level and how does diabetes affect your daily life? Has diabetes affected your relationships at all for the good or bad? Is it difficult to talk about it when you meet new people? Do you let the person know about your illness or hide it? I need your comments.

 

Hi Eva - I don't "suffer" from diabetes, but I am diabetic, have been since I was young. Managing my blood sugar levels has become easier since I started on insulin pump therapy, plus, I check my blood sugar levels very often. The more times I check it, the better job I can do keeping them in normal ranges.

 

It has never really effected my relationships, although there have been times when my blood sugar level was really low (and sometimes high) and my attitude became very beligerent and I was really difficult to be around (almost like someone getting sloppy drunk).

 

Now that I'm older, and I've been diabetic for 20 years, I really have no problem telling new people that I'm diabetic. It's part of my life, and it's who I am, so it's really not much different from telling someone what color my hair is. It was somewhat different when I was younger, because back then it was much harder to "be different," and I didn't want to stick out socially. In retrospect, though, that was childish. If those people would have ostracized me for being a diabetic then they weren't worthy of being my friend anyway.

 

While I'm very comfortable and confident with who I am, and I don't have any problems talking about my diabetes to people (like I'm doing here with you), I don't necessarily just tell random people unless there is a valid reason to. For example, I don't walk up to the guy in the dairy section at the grocery store and say, "Hey, where's the milk, and by the way, I'm diabetic." That would be rather awkward, you know? However, if he saw my insulin pump, and asked, "what's that?" I'd have no problem telling him, nor explaining how it works or what it does.

 

No matter what, there is really no reason to hide it. It's part of who I am, and hiding it won't make it go away or change anything. I hope that helps. Do you know someone who is diabetic? Is someone in your family diabetic? Maybe you were recently diagnosed?

 

Regardless, good luck, and welcome to SFN.