Hyperglycemia is the medical term for an excessive amount of sugar in the blood. The condition occurs most often in diabetics who either lack enough insulin to remove glucose from the bloodstream, or have developed insulin resistance. In the short term, hyperglycemia can cause frequent urination and intense thirst. In the long term, it can lead to diabetic coma. A high-fat diet can lead to increased risk of hyperglycemia through several different mechanisms.
Adiponectrin
Adiponectrin is a protein created by the adipose, or body fat, tissues. Adiponectrin is a hormone that plays a key role in metabolizing both fats and sugars. Eating a high-fat diet increases the amount of serum glucose, or blood sugar, and also reduces the presence of adiponectrin in the bloodstream, according to a January 2011 report published by researchers from Sao Paulo, Brazil in the journal "Lipids in Health and Disease." Consuming high levels of fat led to an increase in activity of the adiponectrin receptors in the muscles and liver, which in turn removed adiponectrin from the bloodstream, the Brazilian reporters observed. Without adiponectrin to assist in metabolizing the blood sugar, both glucose and insulin levels rise in the bloodstream.
Glucose Production
Visceral fat is fat around the abdomen and within the torso. An excess of visceral fat creates the apple body shape, rather than the pear shape that results from excess fat on the thighs and buttocks. Visceral fat may secrete fatty acids into the bloodstream, which flow through the portal vein into the liver, according to researchers at the Kleck School of Medicine at the University of South Carolina. The excess of fatty acids entering the liver in turn encourage the liver to release too much glucose into the bloodstream, creating a state of hyperglycemia. As the body produces ever-increasing insulin amounts to address the excess glucose, insulin resistance and diabetes may result.
Slow Digestion
The body takes longer to digest fats than it does to digest many other types of foods, and this slowdown in digestion may make it harder for insulin to work to remove glucose from the bloodstream, according to the Harvard Medical School's Joslin Diabetes Center. The effect of fat consumption on glucose metabolism may vary depending on the type of dietary fat, however. In a 1996 report published in the journal "Metabolism," Japanese researchers determined that laboratory mice fed a high-fat diet had the lowest body weight gain and the lowest serum glucose effects when fed fish oil as opposed to other dietary oils like soybean oil or lard.
Insulin Resistance
Eating fat together with a carbohydrate can slow down the rise in glucose levels from the carbohydrate in the short term. However, the insulin levels produced in response to the ingested carbohydrate do not also decrease, according to a 1983 study published the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition." This disproportionate presence of insulin in the bloodstream leads to insulin resistance in individuals who regularly consume a high-fat diet. This insulin resistance in turn leads to diabetes and an increased risk of incidences of hyperglycemia.
References
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne McKinley Health Center; Hyperglycemia; 2008
- "Metabolism"; High-fat diet-induced hyperglycemia and obesity in mice: differential effect of dietary oils; S. Ikemoto et al.; December 1996
- "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; The effect of co-ingestion of fat on the glucose, insulin and gastric inhibitory polypeptide responses to carbohydrate and protein; Greg Collier et al.; June 1983
- "Lipids in Health and Disease"; High-fat diet and glucocorticoid treatment cause hyperglycemia associate with adiponectin receptor alterations; C. de Oliveiera et al.; January 2011
- Joslin Diabetes Center; 5 Common Food Myths for People With Diabetes Debunked; 2011
- "USC Health Magazine"; The Skinny on Fat; Alicia di Rado
