The cure for diabetes could lay in sled dogs
Some of the most energy efficient animals on earth are Siberian Huskies They have the facility to run hundreds of miles and not show the normal signs of fatigue
Could their ability for burning fat be the key to treating obesity in type 2 diabetes?
On the road to discover this is Michael Davis who as a professor, has studied exercise physiology in Siberian Huskies. Davis recently finished the initial research phase of examining how sled dogs training for the exhausting Iditarod, become “insulin-sensitive” and effortlessly transform fat into energy.
“If we can figure out what exercise is doing to start the process, then we may be able to find how it can be applied to everyone, whether or not they are physically able to exercise,” he says.
Nearly twenty million Americans have diabetes. It is widely believed that by exercising and eating a healthy diet, a person can help prevent the beginning of type 2 diabetes.
The Diabetes Action Research and Education Foundation has contributed one-third of the $30,000 research grant. Oklahoma State University is bankrolling the remainder.
Insulin, a hormone created in the pancreas, typically helps the cells in the body extract glucose from the blood stream and turns it into energy. People with type 2 diabetes often have problems absorbing glucose.
In January, Davis picked sixteen dogs in Iditarod that were in prime shape from the kennel of one of the present racers and had the huskies run for twenty-two miles at a rapid speed of eight mph. Half the dogs were anesthetized for five minutes while researchers took small muscle biopsies from their legs; the other half were measured for insulin sensitivity using catheters.
Davis hopes to be able to understand how cells are reacting under various physical conditions by calculating the same dog’s metabolic stress on their muscles again after the summer, when they are no longer in shape.
Research done by Davis, has drawn the attention of at least one animal rights group who does not approve of experimentation.
In response to their comments, Davis mentions that compares to smaller animals such as mice and rats, dogs share more DNA with humans. “There is a greater likelihood that something you discover in dogs will be directly relevant to humans,” he says.
