NORFOLK -- Doctors in Norfolk are trying to determine whether certain types of fat contribute to health problems like Type 2 Diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The research is being done by Eastern Virginia Medical School's Strelitz Diabetes Center and Sentara Norfolk General Hospital's Metabolic and Weight Loss Surgery Center.
Doctors are studying weight-loss surgery patients to identify important new factors in visceral fat (belly fat) that might explain the link between obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
Mary Writesel had that surgery last year. About a year ago, she was 70 pounds heavier, had Type 2 Diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. She was taking six to eight pills a day to control it all.
After her gastric bypass surgery, she didn't need those medications.
Dr. Anca Dobrian, an assistant professor of physiological Sciences at EVMS and lead author of the study, says no one knows exactly why that surgery relieves many health complications.
Researchers are trying to identify the different hormones and inflammatory proteins (lipoxygenases) found in obese individuals, with and without diabetes, before and after their surgical procedures.
During bypass surgery, doctors set aside a piece of deep belly fat and a piece of fat from directly under the skin, like cellulite, for comparison.
Dr. Jerry Nadler, the chair of Internal Medicine and Director of the Strelitz Diabetes Center at Eastern Virginia Medical School, says what they found so far is exciting.
"One of the gene pathways we've identified - lipoxgenase, it's got a long name - but basically it's a protein that can lead to inflammation. We might be able to develop new drugs that block the activity of this protein," he said.
More research is planned.
