Diabetes cure could be found in sled dogs

Siberian Huskies, which claims the Iditarod are some of the most efficient animal on the planet. Even after driving hundreds of miles from day to day basis, the building show signs of fatigue 

Could their ability to burn fat be the key to treating obesity in type 2 diabetes?

Michael Davis, a professor who has studied exercise physiology sled dogs, is about to find out. Davis recently completed the initial phase of research to examine how training sled dogs for the Iditarod taxation becomes "insulin-sensitive" and easily convert fat into energy. 

"If we can find out what exercise does to start the process so that we may be able to find how it can be applied to all, regardless of whether they are physically unable to perform," he says. 

Around twenty million Americans have diabetes. It is widely believed that by exercising and eating a healthy diet, can a person prevent early type 2 diabetes. 

The Diabetes Action Research and Education Foundation has contributed one third of the $ 30,000 research grant. Oklahoma State University are bank rolling the rest. 

Insulin, a hormone created in the pancreas, typically helps the cells in the body extract glucose from the bloodstream and turns it into energy. People with type 2 diabetes often have trouble taking glucose. 

In January, appointed Davis out sixteen sled dogs in the Iditarod, which was in the best form of kennel one of the last racers and had Siberian run twenty two miles at a fixed speed of eight km / h. Half of the dogs were anesthetized in five minutes while the researchers took small muscle biopsies from their legs, the other half were measured for insulin sensitivity using catheters. 

Davis hopes to understand how cells respond to different physical conditions in the calculation of the same dog's metabolic stress in their muscles again after the summer when they are no longer in shape. 

His research has drawn at least one animal rights group that does not approve experiments.