The prevalence of obesity among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders is statistically high and continues to rise, putting members of these communities at greater and greater risk for developing diabetes and cardiometabolic diseases.
With two generous grants from the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, Jinzeng Yang and Mi-Jeong Lee of the Dept. of Human Nutrition, Food, and Animal Sciences are pursuing twin studies that could one day lead to better treatment and management for diabetes patients, here in the islands and perhaps the world over.
Muscles take up glucose from blood to use for fuel, so building muscle can help lower blood sugar and improve the health of diabetes patients, Jinzeng explains. As such, his team’s focus will be on developing a biologic drug to help patients build muscle – without exercising – by blocking the effects of myostatin, a natural protein that limits muscle growth. Their strategy includes administering part of the myostatin protein using mRNA technology, similar to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Meanwhile, Mi-Jeong will study the biology of adipose tissue, widely known as body fat. Adipose plays important roles in the causes of metabolic diseases, and maintaining healthy adipose tissues can protect against disease, she explains. As such, her team will investigate whether an anti-oxidant nutrient can improve adipose tissue health. They will focus on the effects of astaxanthin, an antioxidant carotenoid present in seafoods like shrimp and salmon.
“Our experiments will be designed to test a novel hypothesis that astaxanthin intake helps to maintain healthy adipose tissue and provide beneficial effects on cardiometabolic diseases,” says Mi-Jeong. “This project has the potential to impact dietary approaches or guidelines for cardiometabolic diseases.”
Jinzeng adds, “We are excited the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, through its Medical Research Program, supports this kind of biomedical research through CTAHR. Hopefully, our findings will help pave the way for new diabetes drugs, as well as deepen our understanding of why myostatin blocking and muscle growth are beneficial to diabetes, potentially improving diabetes management globally.”