Scientists have long known that people living at high altitudes, where oxygen levels are low, have lower rates of diabetes than people living closer to sea level. But the mechanism of this protection has remained a mystery. Now, researchers at Gladstone Institutes have explained the roots of the phenomenon, discovering that red blood cells act as glucose sponges in low-oxygen conditions like those found on the world's highest mountaintops.

In a study in the journal Cell Metabolism, the team has shown how red blood cells can shift their metabolism to soak up sugar from the bloodstream. At high altitude, this adaptation fuels the cells' ability to more efficiently deliver oxygen to tissues throughout the body, but it also has the beneficial side effect of lowering blood sugar levels.

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https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(26)00018-5

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[–] gibmiser@lemmy.world 32 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

What happens if you fill up on sweets for a month at high altitude, soak up as much as you can, then go to low altitude as quickly as... safe-ish-ly... possible?

Will your blood turn to fudge?

Come on , baby , let me write the grant proposal

[–] prettybunnys@piefed.social 21 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Hi.

Do you need test subjects?

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

i also do not have the beetus and eat a shitton of sugar. i have all the other diseases. I'm not sure whether i should be used as a control or outlier, but i would like to volunteer to have the study pay for my travel at least (i can supply my own sugar)

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

I eat super healthy so I can sugar binge at night. I'm sure it's an eating disorder of some sort but I needs me sugar, for anatomical reasons (I might be a bee or ant. Please do not ask me about the cult I grew up in it will open a whole can of worms you do not want opened here)

[–] Squirrelsdrivemenuts@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

Sorry to disappoint, but it is stated the effects of hypoxia persists for up to a month. So you would just slowly get back to normal state.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago

let me write the grant proposal

to who, Trump shut down all research.

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

then go to low altitude as quickly as... safe-ish-ly... possible?

so that's a no go on the palpatine expressway?