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Thank you SIRT1: How the body adapts to a high-fat diet to prevent metabolic syndrome


January 8, 2014

New research led by Dr. Michael McBurney is providing important insight into metabolic syndrome, a condition that affects up to a third of all adults, and predisposes them to heart disease and diabetes. When Dr. McBurney and his team fed a high-fat diet to mice with a mutated SIRT1 gene, they found that these mice developed insulin resistance and a fat-laden liver much more readily than normal mice. These mice also experienced changes in gut bacteria that have been associated with metabolic syndrome. Future research could lead to new approaches for treating metabolic syndrome and preventing heart disease and diabetes. See The FASEB Journal for details.

Funder: Canadian Institutes for Health Research

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The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) is the research arm of The Ottawa Hospital and is an affiliated institute of the University of Ottawa, closely associated with the university’s Faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences. OHRI includes more than 1,700 scientists, clinical investigators, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and staff conducting research to improve the understanding, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human disease.

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Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
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