Can stress provide protection to pancreatic beta-cells and prevent diabetes?

A wide variety of stresses are prevalent in the environment that could change the course and phenotypic expression of metabolic diseases. Amongst the various stresses the oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in the disease progression through free radical generation and may lead to various metabolic disorders such as non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension obesity, stroke, etc. Psychological stress has been implicated as a root cause of several psychosomatic disorders. Thus there cannot be a life without stress. Under such a scenario of stressful conditions further fueled by life style changes we propose to counteract any kind of stress by another milder form of stress that is likely to protect the cells from drastic effects of severe stress. Here we hypothesize that the beta-cells of islets of Langerhans can be protected from the diabetogenic insults and oxidative stress by inducing a protective stress response such as heat shock through dietary interventions.

Body fat and cardiovascular risk factors in Indian men in three geographical locations.

We studied cardiovascular risk factors in 149 rural, 142 slum dwellers, and 150 urban middle class Indian men (30 to 50 years, mean 40 years) in relation to their body fat. Mean body mass index (BMI) was 21.0, 22.3, and 24.3 kg/m2 and mean body fat percent (bioimpedance) was 20.4, 22.5, and 30.4, respectively. A 75 g oral glucose tolerance test showed no diabetes in rural subjects; 4% of urban slum dwellers and 10% of urban middle class men were diabetic. Hypertension (blood pressure > or = 140/90 mm Hg) was present in 2% of the rural, 4% of the urban slum, and 10% of the urban middle class men. All cardiovascular risk factors were strongly related the percentage of body fat and waist to hip ratio. Two hour plasma glucose concentration and blood pressure were, in addition, independently related to geographical location (urban middle class were higher than slums who were higher than rural men). Our results suggest that urbanization increases the risk of hyperglycemia and hypertension independent of the percentage of body fat or its central distribution.