Bacteria-How They Cause Diabetes

Inflammation, the body's response to injury, seems to be the key connection between fat, bacteria and diabetes. However, inflammation is beneficial in small, controlled doses but can be very harmful when it persists and becomes chronic. Senior author Patrick Schlievert, Ph.D., UI professor and head of microbiology, said that the idea is that when fat cells (adipocytes) interact with environmental agents-in this case, bacterial toxins-they then trigger ...