insulin production

Biologists have found that eliminating germline stem cells, the cells that make eggs and sperm, lengthens the life of fruit flies and alters insulin production.

These findings suggest a provocative general principle at work: Molecular signals from the reproductive system affect aging and metabolism in animals -- and possibly in humans.

The work also proposes a new mechanism of how this control may occur.

Rats eating trans-fatty acid while pregnant or breastfeeding have fatter babies. The unhealthy diet has deleterious consequences even after the fats were removed from the diet and has links to insulin production.

Continually revved up insulin production, the kind that results from overeating and obesity, slowly dulls the body's response to insulin.

As a result, blood sugar levels start to creep up, setting the stage for diabetes-associated complications such as blindness, stroke and renal failure.

To make matters even worse, chronically elevated blood sugar concentrations exacerbate insulin resistance.