The hormone FGF21, which is secreted from the liver, is a hormone that increases insulin sensitivity, and it has been reported that blood FGF21 levels increase in obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Prof. Katsunori Nonogaki and his colleagues have shown that when mice are fed a high-fat diet, blood FGF21 levels increase from an early stage, before obesity and diabetes develop.
From this finding, FGF21 is expected to play a role as a biomarker reflecting dietary habits that promote the onset of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
In addition, hepatic FGF21 expression and blood FGF21 levels were found to be decreased in mice genetically engineered to suppress peripheral-derived serotonin secretion.
Furthermore, administration of whey protein to mice along with a high-fat diet suppressed the increase in peripheral-derived serotonin and liver-derived FGF21 secretion induced by the high-fat diet, and improved insulin resistance and hyperglycemia.
These findings suggest that whey protein improves insulin resistance and suppresses hyperglycemia by inhibiting serotonin secretion from peripheral sources and FGF21 secretion from the liver.
Through these mechanisms, whey protein intake is expected to prevent the onset of dietary diabetes.
The results were published in Scientific Reports on September 25, 2020.
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