HOUSTON: Making muscles burn more fat and less glucose may increase exercise endurance but simultaneously cause diabetes, a new study has warned.
Mouse muscles use glucose (carbohydrate) as fuel when the animals are awake and active and switch to fat (lipid) when they are asleep.
Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in the US discovered that disrupting this natural cycle may lead to diabetes but, surprisingly, also can enhance exercise endurance.
The switch is controlled by a molecule called histone deacetylase 3 or HDAC3. This finding opens the possibility of selecting the right time to exercise for losing body fat but also raises the concern of using HDAC inhibitors as doping drugs for endurance exercise.
“How the muscle uses glucose is regulated by its internal circadian clock that anticipates the level of its activity during the day and at night,” said Zheng Sun from Baylor.