Simple sugar reveals risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease

A current study uncovers that measuring blood level of mannose, a simple sugar molecule that is part of many naturally occurring polysaccharides, can be used to forecast a person’s probability of developing type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and progression of diabetic kidney disease. 

The paper, authored by Adil Mardinoglu (KTH/SciLifeLab) shows that high basal levels of mannose predicts future risk of developing type 2 diabetes, regardless of BMI levels and other well established risk factors. Mannose levels from blood samples were detected with specific liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and compared to future development (after up to eight years after sampling) of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease an diabetic kidney disease in over 8000 individuals, who at the time had not developed disease. For their analyses, the researchers exctracted data from the large clinical databases within EMIF, Electronic Medical Information Framework – a large European database built to enable analysis of disease development and prediction factors. The paper was published in Cell Metabolism.

Press release from University of Gothenburg