Are macrophages causing insulin resistance?
Macrophages in body fat may be causing insulin resistance
A new article reveals some clues showing that the immune system may be at least to some degree responsible for insulin resistance. Macrophages are a product of the immune system which can attack threats within the blood or to put it differently they attack what the immune system perceives as a threat even if it's not. When there is a wound one of the first processes that happen is inflammation which is where the redness and or soreness of a wound orginates from. This inflammation signals to the body the location where the macrophages should go and these macrophages can clear out the wound and assist in the healing process. The problem is these macrophages can in some cases accumulate in fat in such a way that it may trigger insulin resistance which over a period of time can exhaust the beta cells causing diabetes.
Dr. Ferrante has shown that macrophages accumulate in fat tissue in proportion to the amount of obesity. He estimates that fat tissue in lean humans consists of less than 10% macrophages, but that there are nearly 40% macrophages in the fat tissue in very obese humans.
First what is a lean human? What body fat percentage is ideal for a male or female to consider themselves to be lean? It's been shown that some people are insulin resistant with extremely low body fat levels and there is even a body builder who is diabetic. So it's not entirely clear but we do have some indication that having more fat around the belly or more fat of the wrong kind can contribute to becoming insulin resistant and the macrophage hypothesis may explain the process.
Endothelial cells lining the walls of blood vessels mediate insulin action by transporting insulin to muscle, heart, fat, and brain. When the endothelial cells become insulin resistant, insulin transport is reduced and blood-vessel dilation is impeded (endothelial dysfunction).
Free radicals due to obesity cause endothelial cell dysfunction leading to insulin resistance.20 Endothelial-cell insulin resistance is associated with fat tissue surrounding blood vessels becoming inflamed, thereby increasing blood-vessel stiffness.21 Sustained high blood-glucose is also associated with increased arterial stiffness.22
Blood vessel stiffness increases systolic blood pressure and decreases diastolic blood pressure, resulting in failure of the heart to function properly.23 Endothelial-cell insulin resistance leads to high blood pressure and atherosclerosis.
And bizarrely bacteria in the form of prebiotics may also decrease insulin resistance. Experiments in mice at least show that certain bacteria can decrease insulin resistance but I remain skeptical as to whether or not this will work so well in humans. It's possible insulin resistance is triggered by bad gut bacteria which triggers inflammation which could trigger insulin resistance but this hasn't been investigated enough in my opinion and is a complicated approach.
And what causes macrophages to cause insulin resistance?
Carbohydrates / sugars.
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Interesting study showing link between macrophages and insulin resistance... still alot of unanswered question especially role of fat in either attracting macrophages or compounding the problem, i wasn't to clear with regard to that point...diet and genetics especially in african american play a leading role in diabetic rates it would be interesting to see the role macrophages play in this group
Gut bacteria is directly related to overall health and digestion capabilities - including the use of insulin. In a society where “food-like substances” are foisted upon us full of chemicals and anti-bacterial preservatives, no wonder our diabetes rates are skyrocketing.
Eat real food! If it doesn’t need refrigeration or doesn’t resemble something found outside, it’s not real food!
Even vegans don't necessarily have good gut bacteria. A lot of vegan food unfortunately is very tasty yet also synthetic.
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