KATHMANDU, Nepal–A research study carried out on Mt Everest climbers has offered new hints to type 2 diabetes, British scientists claimed.
At a time large numbers of mountaineers are succumbed to altitude sickness, the research conducted by the University of Southampton and UCL Centre for Altitude published in PLOS ONE said scientists examined the mechanisms by which hypoxia are associated with the development of insulin resistance.
“Increases in several indicators of insulin resistance occurred when the climbers were exposed to hypoxia at high altitudes for six to eight weeks,” scientists said in the research conducted on 24 climbers who trekked to Mt Everest in 2007, adding these changes were linked with increased blood levels of markers of inflammation and oxidative stress.