By Staff Reports
(Hawaii)– From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
Researchers have linked a protein called SHBG to the risk of developing diabetes. They say the protein is part of a biological chain that seems to be affected by things like exercise and weight.
Brown University researcher Simin Liu says the protein, produced in the liver, may be a bellwether of the body’s metabolism:
“People who exercise more tend to have higher SHBG level; those people who are lean also have higher SHBG level.”
Being active and controlling weight are crucial in controlling diabetes risk.
Liu says the protein may give doctors a heads-up on diabetes risk years earlier than current blood tests.
The study in the journal Clinical Chemistry was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Learn more at healthfinder.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.