Adults with an elevated level of pancreatic fat have higher risk for developing incident diabetes, but weight loss may be able to lower diabetes risk by reducing fat levels and increasing pancreatic volume, according to a presenter.
“Fatty pancreas is associated with insulin resistance and increased insulin secretion cross-sectionally in nondiabetic individuals and is more prevalent in type 2 diabetes,” Richard E. Pratley, MD, the Samuel E. Crockett Chair in Diabetes Research, medical director of AdventHealth Diabetes Institute and a Healio | Endocrine Today Co-editor, said during a presentation at the World Congress on Insulin Resistance, Diabetes & Cardiovascular Disease. “I think this might be a compensatory response initially. Longitudinally, fatty pancreas is associated with a loss of insulin secretory function and diabetes, but this seems to be reversible [with weight loss].”
Prevalent diabetes is common in people with chronic and acute pancreatitis. According to multiple published studies, about one-third of adults with chronic pancreatitis have prevalent diabetes, and the lifetime risk for developing diabetes with chronic pancreatitis is as high as 75%.