NATURAL COMPOUND REVERSING DIABETES IN MICE MAY BE MADE INTO NEUTRACEUTICAL FOR HUMANS SOON

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Jeffrey Newman

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have restored normal blood sugar metabolism in diabetic mice using a compound made naturally in the human body. The compound is called nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) which plays a critical role in how cell use energy. The research appears online Oct 4 in Cell Matabolism. All cells in the body make NMN . Shinichiro Imai MD, PhD associate professor of developmental biology says the discovery holds promise for people because the mechanism that NMN influences are largely the same in mice and humans. According to his study, aging and eating high fat diets reduce the production of NMN leading to abnormal metabolic conditions such as diabetes. Imai’s group is now testing administration of the compound by dissolving it the drinking water of mice, which Imai calls the first step towards a possible nutriceutical that people could take like a vitamin to prevent type 2 diabetes.