Metabolic Disease News and Research

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Study identifies role for peroxisomes in protecting insulin and maintaining beta cell health

Researchers at LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Center have identified a previously underappreciated role for tiny structures inside cells called peroxisomes in protecting insulin and maintaining the health and maturity of insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells.

28 Aug 2026

UofL receives new federal funding to advance metabolic health research

Chronic health conditions such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and metabolic liver disease have sharply increased in recent decades and are among the most urgent health challenges facing our society.

27 Aug 2026

Semaglutide’s heart benefits may partly involve reduced inflammation

A prespecified analysis of 17,604 SELECT participants found that higher baseline hsCRP was associated with greater risks of major cardiovascular events and death in people with overweight or obesity and established cardiovascular disease. Semaglutide produced rapid and sustained reductions in hsCRP, with changes emerging before substantial weight loss, although the study could not establish whether reduced inflammation directly mediated its cardiovascular benefits.

24 Aug 2026

UC Berkeley researchers find new potential treatment for obesity and diabetes

Over the past five years, medications called GLP-1s have revolutionized the treatment of metabolic disorders like obesity, diabetes and fatty liver diseases.

21 Aug 2026

Review outlines how SIRT3 protein regulates global metabolic disorders

A comprehensive review published in Engineering systematically outlines the regulatory capacity of silent information regulator 3 (SIRT3), a mitochondrial deacetylase termed the "head goose molecule", and its negentropic mechanism for intervening global metabolic disorders including type 2 diabetes, obesity, and steatotic liver disease.

21 Aug 2026

Women with type 2 diabetes saw striking changes after 24 weeks of this eating pattern

A 24-week randomized trial found that a lacto-vegetarian diet combined with 14-hour time-restricted eating improved glycemic control, insulin resistance, body weight, and lipid measures in Indian women with type 2 diabetes. The combined, nutritionist-supported intervention was generally well tolerated, but its individual dietary and fasting effects cannot be separated and longer-term studies are needed.

18 Aug 2026

London's Ultra Low Emission Zone delivers measurable lung health benefits for children

A landmark study of more than 3,400 children, led by Queen Mary University of London, has found that air quality improvements following the introduction of London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) are strongly associated with accelerated lung growth in children.

18 Aug 2026

Three minutes of sprinting dramatically reshape molecular contents of the bloodstream

Three minutes of sprinting can do something that 90 minutes of moderate exercise apparently cannot: dramatically reshape the molecular contents of the bloodstream.

14 Aug 2026

Liver’s internal clock coordinates daily metabolic communication, study finds

What if one of the keys to a healthier metabolism is understanding how and when the liver communicates with the rest of the body?

12 Aug 2026

Ultra-processed foods linked to higher prostate cancer risk in men

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) account for nearly 60% of adults' and 70% of children's energy intake in the United States.

12 Aug 2026

NIH funds smartphone platform to improve driving safety for teens

Dr. Jeffrey Keller, Hibernia National Bank/Edward G. Schleider Endowed Chair at LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Center, and Sara Seifert, president of Minnesota HealthSolutions, have received a new National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award to develop an innovative digital health platform that will help parents support teenagers with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as they learn to drive.

4 Aug 2026

Food may taste different on GLP-1 drugs, but taste may not be the reason

The review suggests that patient-reported “taste changes” during GLP-1RA treatment may reflect reduced food enjoyment and motivation rather than consistent impairment of basic taste. The authors propose a sensory-liking-wanting framework while emphasizing that current human evidence remains heterogeneous and largely indirect.

4 Aug 2026

Researchers propose new framework to define clinical obesity

A new approach to defining obesity could help physicians better determine which patients need more intensive treatment by focusing on the effects of excess adiposity on organs and tissues rather than relying primarily on whether a person meets a set of metabolic risk thresholds.

31 Jul 2026

THC and CBD combination rapidly reduces advanced dementia agitation

A combination of CBD and THC rapidly and significantly reduces agitation in hospice-eligible people with dementia, suggest topline results from the Phase 2 LiBBY (Life's End Benefits of cannaBidiol and tetrahYdrocannabinol) clinical trial.

28 Jul 2026

Early vitamin B3 treatment may benefit children with rare genetic condition

Children with a rare and often fatal genetic condition may benefit from early treatment with vitamin B3, halting their significant deterioration, according to a new study.

28 Jul 2026

Taste preference genes drive overeating and metabolic disease risk

Ever wonder why some people crave sweets while others can take them or leave them? Preliminary findings from a new study suggest that people who carry certain genetic variants associated with a preference for sweet or fatty tastes not only tend to eat more of these foods but also have a higher risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes as a result.

27 Jul 2026

Endotrophin may reveal metabolic risks linked to changing body fat

Researchers have identified a biological marker that rises and falls as body fat changes, offering new insight into how weight gain and weight loss may influence metabolic health.

23 Jul 2026

Study finds greater social jetlag linked to a later eating pattern

In a 14-day study of 101 healthy UK adults, greater social jetlag was associated with a later distribution of energy intake, particularly greater late-evening intake among women. The effects were modest, varied by sex and day type, and did not establish whether total daily energy intake differed between groups.

23 Jul 2026

Study tests chronotype’s liver link and finds no significant association

Researchers found no significant association between chronotype and FibroScan-derived liver fat or stiffness in 119 medication-naïve adults with overweight or obesity. The exploratory findings cannot exclude smaller effects, particularly for fibrosis, and require confirmation in larger longitudinal studies.

21 Jul 2026

New model improves short- and long-term disease risk prediction

Researchers developed ALADYNOULLI, a Bayesian generative model that combines longitudinal health records, age, and polygenic risk to identify reproducible disease signatures across more than 683,000 participants. In UK Biobank testing, the framework achieved stronger short- and long-term risk discrimination than established clinical scores while revealing disease subgroups and genetic associations.

16 Jul 2026