Where Do Obese Pigs Fit In?
Michael E. Spurlock, Department of Human Nutrition and Animal Science, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa The natural pathogenesis of type II diabetes typically involves a genetic predisposition to obesity, chronic inflammation, and a gradually increasing impairment of insulin action in a “prediabetes” condition, which has also been termed the metabolic syndrome or cardiometabolic risk. In later stages there is an increase in fasting blood glucose that best defines diabetes. The prevalence of obesity and the metabolic syndrome in the U.S. population is increasing at an alarming rate. Furthermore, the economic burden of diabetes, a common outcome of the metabolic syndrome, is estimated at some $100 billion annually, with the majority of this relating to Type II diabetes. Thus, obesity and the metabolic syndrome are of unequivocal importance to society, as are the losses in quality of life and shorter life expectancies which accompany these diseases. Despite aggressive research to define
