Blame it on your bones

If you describe yourself as big-boned, everyone knows that what you really mean is that you’re a bit on the squishy side. But blaming your weight on dem bones might actually be more accurate than you think. As well as providing you with long legs, a solid skull, and lofty cheekbones, your bones also play a part in regulating your blood sugar.

Your bones are in a constant state of flux, with cells being built and broken down all the time. Cells called osteoblasts build bone where it is needed, and cells called osteoclasts destroy it where it is deemed no longer necessary. The osteoblasts produce a protein called osteocalcin, which not only turns out to regulate the cells that produce insulin in the pancreas, but also sends signals to fat cells, causing them to release a hormone called adiponectin that makes the body more sensitive to this insulin. Osteocalcin is produced in the bones, but acts on other cells far away in the body, so the researchers who discovered all this have concluded that bones are part of the endocrine system. Feeding fat mice traces of osteocalcin caused their blood sugar to drop and their insulin production to speed up, so this could have implications for treating both obesity and diabetes. It’ll work, I can feel it in my bones.

Via The Economist.

PHOTO: KALILO