Zurich research team maps cells of overweight people
Keystone-SDA
Researchers in Zurich have mapped cellular changes in overweight individuals, which could shed light on the link between obesity and certain metabolic diseases.
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A research team in Zurich has developed a detailed map of cellular changes in overweight individuals. The federal technology institute ETH Zurich says this tool could help explain why some overweight people develop illnesses while others remain healthy.
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People who are significantly overweight face a higher risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. However, not all overweight individuals develop these metabolic diseases, according to a press release from ETH Zurich on Wednesday. About a quarter of severely overweight people remain healthy.
To identify biological markers that raise the risk of metabolic diseases, ETH Zurich researchers, in collaboration with scientists from the University of Leipzig, Germany, collected cells from overweight individuals.
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They also discovered differences between the cells of men and women. A specific type of progenitor cell is found only in the visceral fat of women. According to the researchers, this could explain why men and women develop metabolic diseases differently.
Translated from German with DeepL/sp
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