Category: 8. Health

Patient’s demographic and clinical characteristics

A total of 442 CHC patients (mean age = 48.26 ± 14.67 years, 272 males and 170 female) were included in this study, including 242 CHC patients (the CHC group) and 200 CHC patients combined with T2DM (the CHC + T2DM group). As shown in Table 1, several baseline characteristics were significantly different from between the two groups. Compared to the CHC group, the CHC + T2DM group had significantly higher age (P < 0.001), BMI (P = 0.001), fasting blood glucose (P < 0.001), fasting insulin (P = 0.015), HOMA-IR (Homeostasis Model Assessment-Insulin Resistance) index (P < 0.001), transaminases alanine transaminase (ALT) (P < 0.001) and aspartate transaminase (AST) (P < 0.001), total bilirubin (P < 0.001), γ-Glutamyl Transferase (GGT) (P < 0.001), and cirrhosis prevalence (P < 0.001). In addition, the types of hepatitis diagnoses were also significantly different between groups (P < 0.001). The CHC + T2DM group had more moderate, severe hepatitis, cirrhosis, and even hepatic carcinoma as compared with the CHC group.

Independent variables associated with T2DM

To investigate independent variables associated with T2DM in CHC patients, the univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed using the CHC group as a reference outcome (Table 2). The associated factors significant in both univariate and multivariate models included age (univariate models OR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.07–1.53, P < 0.001, multivariate models OR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.05–1.13, P < 0.001), fasting blood glucose (univariate models OR: 6.64, 95% CI: 4.46–9.88, P < 0.001, multivariate models OR: 16.20, 95% CI: 6.67–39.38, P < 0.001), fasting insulin (univariate models OR: 1.04, 95% CI: 1.01–1.06, P = 0.002, multivariate models OR: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.03–1.46, P = 0.021), HOMA-IR (univariate models OR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.37–1.70, P < 0.001, multivariate models OR: 0.48, 95% CI: 0.25–0.92, P = 0.027), and GGT (univariate models OR: 1.01 95% CI: 1.01–1.02, P < 0.001, multivariate models OR: 1.01, 95% CI: 1.00-1.02, P = 0.011). It seemed that higher age, fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, and GGT were risk factors of T2DM in CHC patients. In addition, cirrhosis (univariate models OR: 9.24, 95% CI: 4.25–20.07, P < 0.001, multivariate models OR: 15.32, 95% CI: 4.82–48.73, P < 0.001) and hypertension (univariate models OR: 19.50, 95% CI: 7.64–49.76, P < 0.001, multivariate models OR: 31.00, 95% CI: 7.34-130.96, P < 0.001) also increase the risk of T2DM in CHC patients.

Diagnostic efficacy of continuous associated factors

To further evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of the independent variables associated with T2DM, ROC analysis was conducted. In Table 3, significant AUCs were found in all factors, including age (0.783), fasting blood glucose (0.904), fasting insulin (0.569), HOMA-IR (0.749), and GGT (0.715) (all P < 0.05). As shown in Fig. 1, a higher associated factor predicted a higher risk of T2DM. Fasting blood glucose had the best AUC (0.904), with a sensitivity of 0.81 and specificity of 0.94. The cut-off was 5.94 mmol/l was suggested by comparatively maximum Youden’s index (0.74). These results indicate that fasting blood glucose was a good factor in discriminating against the CHC group and CHC + T2DM group.

The clinical characteristics of CHC patients combined with T2DM by genotypes

HCV Genotyping was performed in 286 CHC outpatients, including 242 cases in the CHC group and 44 in the CHC + T2DM groups (Table 4). The distribution of HCV genotypes was significantly different between the two groups (P = 0.008). Specifically, the CHC group had a higher proportion of genotype 1b (140/242, 57.85%) and other genotypes (14/242, 5.79%), while the CHC + T2DM group had a higher proportion of genotypes 2a (7/44, 15.91%), 3a (5/44, 11.36%), and 6a (12/44, 27.27%). Notably, genotype 3a was significantly more prevalent in the CHC + T2DM group compared to the CHC group (5/242, 2.07% vs. 5/44, 11.36%, P = 0.032).

Subgroup analysis stratified by HCV genotypes was performed in the 44 CHC + T2DM outpatients. As shown in Table 5, BMI was the only significant variable among the four genotypes subgroups (P = 0.011).

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‘Sugarbag’ honey, long used by the Australian First Nations peoples, may be commercially scalable

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Resistance to synthetic antibiotics continues to pose a serious global health challenge. While European honeybee products and various other natural substances have been explored as alternative therapeutics, little has previously been known about the medicinal potential of honey from Australian native bee populations.

Research led by Dr Kenya Fernandes from the University of Sydney has revealed the notable antimicrobial properties of honey produced by three Australian stingless bee species: Tetragonula carbonaria, Tetragonula hockingsi, and Austroplebeia australis.

Known collectively as ‘sugarbag bees’, these native species have historically provided both nourishment and traditional remedies for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The honey has been used to treat conditions such as sores and itchy skin.

The study found that the honey maintains its antimicrobial potency even after heat treatment and prolonged storage. This differentiates it from conventional honeybee honey and underscores its potential as a stable, sustainable treatment option against drug-resistant infections.

“Given the growing medical challenge of antimicrobial resistance, our findings suggest stingless bee honey could complement, or provide a valuable alternative to, synthetic antibiotics,” said Dr Fernandes.

Unlike the more common honey from the European honeybee – Apis mellifera – which depends heavily on hydrogen peroxide for its antimicrobial effect, honey from stingless Australian bees displays high levels of both peroxide and non-peroxide activity. In fact, when hydrogen peroxide was removed in tests, the honey continued to demonstrate antimicrobial activity.

“Manuka honey from honeybees displays strong non-peroxide antimicrobial activity, which is one reason why its production has been a commercial success,” continued Dr Fernandes.

“However, that is largely reliant on the source of its nectar from specific myrtle plant. In contrast, the persistent antimicrobial activity of heat-treated, non-peroxide honey from stingless Australian bees across diverse locations and nectar sources suggests there is something special about these bees, rather than just nectar, that plays a critical role here,” she concluded.

Co-author of the paper, Professor Dee Carter, noted: “We discovered the antimicrobial activity is consistent across all sugarbag samples tested, unlike honeybee honey, which can vary significantly based on seasonal changes and floral sources.”

This reliability may prove beneficial in developing commercially viable medical products. However, the research also highlights challenges. Each stingless beehive produces only about half a litre of honey per year, raising concerns about large-scale supply.

“While the yield is small, these hives require less maintenance than traditional beehives, allowing beekeepers to manage larger numbers,” said co-author Dr Ros Gloag.

“With proper incentives, such as commercial value for the honey, it is feasible to cultivate more hives, providing a pathway for commercial scalability.”

Researchers emphasise that the honey’s broad antimicrobial profile, combined with evidence that microbes rarely develop resistance to honey, makes it an appealing candidate for therapeutic use.

“While we have yet to test the honeys against drug-resistant bacteria specifically, the presence of multiple antimicrobial factors significantly reduces the likelihood of resistance developing,” said Dr Fernandes.

And, notably, Food Standards Australia New Zealand last year approved native stingless bee honey for human consumption, opening up opportunities for domestic and international trade.

Dr Fernandes is an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Sydney. She is also a member of the Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute and the Centre for Drug Discovery Innovation.

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For further reading please visit: 10.1128/aem.02523-24 

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After almost 40 years, the ban on donor transplants from HIV-positive people in Spain has been lifted. The new regulation will allow donations from living or deceased patients to other people infected with the virus. The official state gazette (BOE) has published the law change, which establishes that this practice can be safely applied to fight the effects of the infection. With this, the Ministry of Health abolishes the 1987 ban.

In addition to increasing the availability of organs, health minister Mónica García said that this initiative is “aimed at eliminating the social stigma attached to people with HIV”.

According to the Ministry of Health, if the veto on organ donation from HIV-positive patients had not existed in the last decade, up to 165 transplants could have been carried out with organs and tissues donated by the 65 people with HIV who died without being given the chance to support this act of altruism. Every year, some 50 HIV-positive patients are on the waiting list for organ transplants in Spain. Until now, they could only receive organs and tissues from non-infected people.

Transplants for HIV-positive patients have been performed in Spain since the first decade of this century, thanks to new treatments that have made it possible to control and manage the disease. Today, transplants of all types of organs are performed on HIV-infected patients. By December 2024, 311 kidney transplants, 510 liver transplants, 11 lung transplants, 10 heart transplants and one pancreas-kidney transplant had been recorded in Spain, demonstrating good results in the long term.

Over the years, HIV patients who have received a transplant have experienced favourable recovery thanks to new antiretroviral treatments, which do not interact with the immunosuppressive therapy needed to prevent organ rejection, and to the change in the natural history of hepatitis C virus co-infection brought about by the use of direct-acting antivirals.

A safe practice

Organ transplantation among people with HIV is now also a safe practice. Evidence from studies in recent years shows that HIV-infected transplant patients experience similar results with organs from HIV-positive or negative donors, leading to the authorisation of these interventions in the US in 2024.

With the repeal of the 1987 law, it will now be possible to carry out this type of intervention in Spain, “responding to a historical demand of the HIV-infected community and the professionals who provide them with healthcare so that these people can become organ donors, if they wish”.

 

Study participant at the University of Portsmouth’s Extreme Environment Labs. Credit: University of Portsmouth

Peer-reviewed, experimental study / data analysis, humans

What happens inside your body when you’re tired, out of breath, or oxygen-deprived? A new study by researchers at the University of Portsmouth and University College London (UCL) has mapped how different parts of the body communicate during stress, potentially paving the way for earlier illness diagnosis.

The study, conducted on healthy volunteers, used a new approach which studies how different organs and body systems communicate with each other. When a person faces physiological stress, different parts of the body have to work together to adapt and keep us functioning. 

This study used a brand new way to map how systems talk to each other, moment by moment, in real-time. Instead of just checking whether the heart rate or breathing rate goes up or down (which is what doctors typically do), this team mapped out how one body signal influences another – like which signal is giving the most instructions and which is doing the most listening.

By analysing recorded signals from the body (such as heart rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen saturation, and the concentration of exhaled oxygen and carbon dioxide), the team tracked the transfer of information between these systems under conditions of low oxygen (hypoxia), sleep deprivation, and physical moderate intensity exercise (cycling).

The team used wearable sensors to monitor key physiological signals in 22 healthy volunteers during different stress scenarios at the University of Portsmouth’s Extreme Environment Labs. A face mask measured breathing gases, while a pulse oximeter tracked blood oxygen levels.

Researchers monitor physiological signals while participant cycles in hypoxic state at the University of Portsmouth’s Extreme Environment Labs. Credit: University of Portsmouth

The study, published in the Journal of Physiology, is a continuation of earlier research that showed just 20 minutes of moderate exercise can improve brain performance after a bad night’s sleep.

“This time, we wanted to understand how physiological stressors affect the body together, not just on their own,” said Dr Joe Costello, from the University’s School of Psychology, Sport and Health Sciences.

“This approach lets us see how the body’s internal systems communicate with each other when they’re pushed to respond and adapt. And that kind of insight could be a game-changer for spotting when something starts to go wrong.”

The unique method of monitoring these body signals is called ‘transfer entropy’. The result was a complex network of maps that show which body parts act as ‘information hubs’ under different stress conditions.

Dr Costello explained: “What makes our approach so unique is that it doesn’t pigeonhole our data into one system or variable – it looks at how everything is connected in real time. Rather than just measuring a heart rate or a breathing rate on its own, it helps us understand the dynamic relationships between them. It’s a whole-body approach to human physiology, and that’s crucial if we want to see the bigger picture.”

The team discovered that different stresses cause different parts of the body to take the lead in managing the situation:

• During exercise, your heart becomes the main responder. It receives the most input from other systems because it’s working hard to pump blood to your muscles.

• During low oxygen, it’s your blood oxygen levels that become the central player, working closely with breathing to adjust to the lack of air.

• When sleep deprivation is added, the changes are more subtle – but if low oxygen is also involved, your breathing rate suddenly steps up and takes the lead.

These information maps show early, hidden signs of stress that wouldn’t be obvious just by looking at heart rate or oxygen levels alone. That means this could one day help spot health problems before symptoms appear.

Network mapping based on flow of information transfer between seven physiological variables

Associate Professor Alireza Mani, head of the Network Physiology Lab at UCL, said: “These maps show that our body isn’t just reacting to one thing at a time. It’s responding in an integrated, intelligent way. And by mapping this, we’re learning what normal patterns look like, so we can start spotting when things go wrong.

“This matters in healthcare because early signs of deterioration, especially in intensive care units or during the onset of complex conditions like sepsis or COVID-19, often show up not in the average numbers, but in the way those numbers relate to each other.”

Dr Thomas Williams from the University of Portsmouth’’s School of Psychology, Sport and Health Sciences, added: “Extreme environments give us a safe and controlled way to replicate the kinds of physiological stress seen in illness or injury. By studying how the body responds and adapts under these conditions, we can begin to develop tools to detect early warning signs – often before symptoms appear – in clinical, athletic, and occupational settings.”

With further investigation, the researchers hope the method could one day help doctors identify early warning signs of illness or poor recovery, especially in settings like intensive care, where vital signs are already being monitored. It could also be useful for athletes, military personnel, and people working in extreme environments.

The paper encourages more scientists to take a “whole-body” view of physiology rather than focusing on isolated measurements. 

It also recognises only healthy, young people were included in this study, and several individuals were withdrawn due to adverse events. The paper recommends further investigation into the relationship between physiological stressors and the body, with a broader mix of participants.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

The study, Non-invasive assessment of integrated cardiorespiratory network dynamics after physiological stress in humans, is available here: https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/JP288939

DOI: 10.1101/2025.03.17.643643

Filming opportunities at the University of Portsmouth’s Extreme Environment Labs are available. The research team will be able to replicate some of the study conditions, such as someone cycling on a bike in a hypoxic environment. 

Available interviews:

• Dr Joe Costello, from the University’s School of Psychology, Sport and Health Sciences

• Associate Professor Alireza Mani, head of the Network Physiology Lab at UCL

For more information contact:

Robyn Austin-Montague, PR and Media Manager, University of Portsmouth, Tel: 0798 0419979, Email: [email protected]

About the University of Portsmouth

• The University of Portsmouth is a progressive and dynamic university with an outstanding reputation for innovative teaching, outstanding learning outcomes and globally significant research and innovation.

• We were awarded the highest overall rating of Gold in the most recent Teaching Excellence Framework, one of only 27 Gold rated universities in England and one of five Gold rated universities in the South East. We’re proud to be one of the UK’s top 50 universities (with a 5-star rating) in the QS World University Rankings and one of the top 10 Young Universities in the UK based on Times Higher Education Young University rankings.

• Our world-class research is validated by our impressive Research Excellence Framework (REF) outcomes where Portsmouth was ranked third of all modern UK universities for research power in the Times Higher Education REF rankings.

port.ac.uk | Follow the University of Portsmouth on LinkedIn | Read news at port.ac.uk/news-events-and-blogs/news | Listen to the UoP Life Solved podcast on Acast | Find out what’s on at port.ac.uk/news-events-and-blogs/events

Scientists at the University of Tokyo, Japan, developed an AI neural network to find relationships in a dataset on gut bacteria that current analytical tools could not reliably identify. The team says its VBayesMM method facilitates the analysis of complex biomedical multiomics data and can improve the understanding and treatment of human diseases.

Gut bacteria influence many health-related issues, from digestion to immunity and mental well-being. However, the vast variations and species make research challenging. Moreover, bacteria produce and modify numerous metabolites — chemicals that act like molecular messengers throughout the body, affecting processes from the immune system and metabolism to brain function and mood. 

“The problem is that we’re only beginning to understand which bacteria produce which human metabolites and how these relationships change in different diseases,” says project researcher Tung Dang from the Tsunoda lab in the university’s Department of Biological Sciences. 

“By accurately mapping these bacteria-chemical relationships, we could potentially develop personalized treatments. Imagine being able to grow a specific bacterium to produce beneficial human metabolites or designing targeted therapies that modify these metabolites to treat diseases.”

VBayesMM combines deep learning with Bayesian inference, a method that helps update predictions based on new data and measures confidence in those predictions. The study authors say the tool “substantially outperforms existing methods,” with an improved run-time and enhanced biological interpretability. 

It can handle and communicate issues of uncertainty, which gives researchers more confidence than a tool that does not. 

Prioritizing key players

The researchers note that while the human body comprises 30–40 trillion cells, the intestines contain around 100 trillion microbial cells. Gathering and analyzing data to find interesting patterns among the data is a “monumental undertaking.”

The authors say human microbiome studies continually reveal new associations between microbiome compositions and diseases, allowing for potential applications to develop diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. 

“Our system, VBayesMM, automatically distinguishes the key players that significantly influence metabolites from the vast background of less relevant microbes, while also acknowledging uncertainty about the predicted relationships, rather than providing overconfident but potentially wrong answers,” elaborates Dang. 

Human microbiome studies continually reveal new associations between microbiome compositions and diseases.“When tested on real data from sleep disorder, obesity, and cancer studies, our approach consistently outperformed existing methods and identified specific bacterial families that align with known biological processes, giving confidence that it discovers real biological relationships rather than meaningless statistical patterns.”

For their study in Briefings in Bioinformatics, the researchers tested their model’s performance on four public microbiome datasets with host metabolome data. These datasets vary in complexity and size, from hundreds to tens of thousands of taxonomic units.  

Future research

VBayesMM is optimized to deal with heavy analytical workloads, but the researchers caution that mining huge datasets has a high computational cost and long run-time. However, they predict that this will become less of a barrier in the future. 

Supercomputers may also power the mapping of the gut microbiome. Earlier this year, Nutrition Insight spoke to US-based researchers using these to create tools that investigate gut bacteria’s effects and the diet’s role. 

The team also highlights other current limitations. For example, the system benefits from having more data about the gut bacteria than the metabolites they produce, but with insufficient bacteria data, accuracy drops. Moreover, the tool assumes microbes act independently, while in reality, gut bacteria interact in a complex system. 

The authors point to several upcoming enhancements of the AI tool. 

Dang details: “We plan to work with more comprehensive chemical datasets that capture the complete range of bacterial products, though this creates new challenges in determining whether chemicals come from bacteria, the human body, or external sources like diet.” 

“We also aim to make VBayesMM more robust when analyzing diverse patient populations, incorporating bacterial ‘family tree’ relationships to make better predictions, and further reducing the computational time needed for analysis.” 

He notes that, ultimately, the goal for clinical applications is to identify specific bacterial targets for treatments or dietary interventions that could help patients — moving from basic research toward practical medical applications.

“A first step to protect us, our children and our children’s futures, is to regulate chemical use in plastics in the Global Plastics Treaty.”

As highlighted in Four Corners, a concerning pattern is emerging – cancer rates in young adults are on the rise.

Bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates harm babies before they are born. In children, they are associated with obesity, a risk factor making us more susceptible to some cancers.

Plastic has become inseparable from modern life – but we don’t have to accept the harm it brings to us or our children.

“When we learnt of the impact mercury was having on us and the environment, comprehensive global regulation was agreed and enacted to protect our children and their future from this toxic heavy metal. It is time for us to comprehensively regulate chemicals in plastics under a Global Plastic Treaty to protect our future.”

We’re investing in a global transition to safe, sustainable materials that replace and improve “petro-plastics”.

The science is clear: the chemicals in plastics are harmful to our health. But with coordinated action, safer materials, and global regulation, we can change course.

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More women are being diagnosed with lung cancer, while the number of diagnoses in men is falling, according to figures from the Belgian Cancer Registry (BCR) published in Het Laatste Nieuws on Tuesday.

Lung cancer is one of the cancers with the lowest survival rates, and the risk of developing it has increased in women over the last few decades. While this cancer remains a disease that mainly affects men, the gap between the two groups is narrowing.

Doctors are calling for a clear plan to enable earlier detection of lung cancer

Professor and lung surgeon Paul De Leyn from UZ Leuven says that the idea that lung cancer is caused exclusively by smoking is now outdated. “We are seeing more and more people who have never smoked developing lung cancer. This now accounts for almost one in five patients, and increasingly these are women,” he told Het Laatste Nieuws.

Other factors, such as air pollution and hormones, may also play a role, although more concrete evidence is needed. Doctors are calling for a clear plan to enable earlier detection of lung cancer, as is the case for colon cancer. The survival rate for lung cancer in Belgium has increased by 13.5 per cent over the past 20 years.

 

^{© PHOTO PASCAL POCHARD-CASABIANCA / AFP}

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Consuming fewer calories is largely accepted as a way to improve health and lose weight, but a recently published study in Nature Metabolism points to a specific sulfur-containing amino acid cysteine as a key component in weight loss. In the study “Cysteine depletion triggers adipose tissue thermogenesis and weight loss,” researchers discovered that when study participants restricted their calorie intake, it resulted in reduced levels of cysteine in white fat.

 Pennington Biomedical researchers Dr. Eric Ravussin and Dr. Krisztian Stadler contributed to the study in which they and colleagues examined cysteine and discovered that it triggered the transition of white fat cells to brown fat cells, which are a more active form of fat cells that burn energy to produce heat and maintain body temperature. When researchers restricted cysteine in animal models entirely, it drove high levels of weight loss and increased fat burning and browning of fat cells, further demonstrating cysteine’s importance in metabolism. 

“In addition to the dramatic weight loss and increase in fat burning resulting from the removal of cysteine, the amino acid is also central to redox balance and redox pathways in biology,” said Dr. Stadler, who directs the Oxidative Stress and Disease laboratory at Pennington Biomedical. “These results suggest future weight management strategies that might not rely exclusively on reducing caloric intake.”

The article is based on results from trials involving both human participants and animal models. For the human trials, researchers examined fat tissue samples taken from trial participants who had actively restricted calorie intake over a year. When examining the fat tissue samples, they looked for changes in the thousands of metabolites, which are compounds formed when the body breaks down food and stores energy. The exploration of these metabolites indicated a reduced level of cysteine. 

“Reverse translation of a human caloric restriction trial identified a new player in energy metabolism,” said Dr. Ravussin, who holds the Douglas L. Gordon Chair in Diabetes and Metabolism at Pennington Biomedical and oversees its Human Translation Physiology Lab. “Systemic cysteine depletion in mice causes weight loss with increased fat utilization and browning of adipocytes.”

The tissue samples came from participants in the CALERIE clinical trial, which recruited healthy young and middle-aged men and women who were instructed to reduce their calorie intake by an average of 14% over two years. With the reduction of cysteine, the participants also experienced subsequent weight loss, improved muscle health, and reduced inflammation. 

In the animal models, researchers provided meals with reduced calories. This resulted in a 40% drop in body temperature, but regardless of the cellular stress, the animal models did not exhibit tissue damage, suggesting that protective systems may kick in when cysteine is low.

“Dr. Ravussin, Dr. Stadler, and their colleagues have made a remarkable discovery showing that cysteine regulates the transition from white to brown fat cells, opening new therapeutic avenues for treating obesity,” said Dr. John Kirwan, Executive Director of Pennington Biomedical Research Center. “I would like to congratulate this research team on uncovering this important metabolic mechanism that could eventually transform how we approach weight management interventions.” 

Reference: Lee AH, Orliaguet L, Youm YH, et al. Cysteine depletion triggers adipose tissue thermogenesis and weight loss. Nat Metab. 2025;7(6):1204-1222. doi: 10.1038/s42255-025-01297-8

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The skeletal muscles of men and women process glucose and fats in different ways. A study conducted by the University Hospital of Tübingen, the Institute for Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases of Helmholtz Munich and the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) e.V. provides the first comprehensive molecular analysis of these differences. The results possibly give an explanation why metabolic diseases such as diabetes manifest differently in women and men – and why they respond differently to physical activity.

Skeletal muscles are far more than just “movement driving motors.” They play a central role in glucose metabolism and therefore also in the development of type 2 diabetes. This is due to the fact that around 85 percent of insulin-dependent glucose uptake takes place in the muscles. This means that if muscle cells react less sensitively to insulin, for example in the case of insulin resistance, glucose is less easily absorbed from the blood. This process is specifically counteracted by physical activity. 

Women’s and Men’s Muscles Work Differently

The degree to which muscles work differently in women and men has long been underestimated. It is precisely this issue which has now been investigated by researchers led by Simon Dreher and Cora Weigert. They examined muscle biopsies from 25 healthy but overweight adults (16 women, 9 men) aged around 30 years. The test subjects had not taken part in regular sporting activities beforehand. Over a period of eight weeks, they completed one hour of endurance training three times a week, consisting of 30 minutes of cycling and 30 minutes of walking on the treadmill.

Muscle samples were taken before they started, after they had the first training session and at the end of the program. Using state-of-the-art molecular biological methods, including epigenome, transcriptome and proteome analyses, the team investigated sex-specific differences at various levels. 

Men React with more Stress to Exercise 

The result: The first training session triggered a stronger stress response at the molecular level in men, which became manifest in the increased activation of stress genes and the increase in the muscle protein myoglobin in the blood. In addition, male muscles showed a distinct pattern of what are called fast-twitch fibers, which are designed for short-term, intensive exercise and preferably use glucose as an energy source.

Women had significantly higher amounts of proteins that are responsible for the absorption and storage of fatty acids: an indication of more efficient fat utilization. After eight weeks of regular endurance training, the muscles of both sexes matched and the muscle fiber-specific differences decreased. At the same time, women and men produced more proteins that promote the utilization of glucose and fat in the mitochondria, the “power plants of the cells.”

“These adjustments indicate an overall improvement in metabolic performance, which can help to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes,” says Weigert. “In future, our new findings might help to better predict individual diabetes risks and tailor recommendations for exercise therapies more specifically to women and men.”

What happens next? The scientists now want to investigate the role sex hormones such as estrogen and testosterone play in these differences – and how hormonal changes in old age influence the risk of metabolic diseases. 

Reference: Dreher SI, Goj T, von Toerne C, et al. Sex differences in resting skeletal muscle and the acute and long-term response to endurance exercise in individuals with overweight and obesity. Molecular Metabolism. 2025;98:102185. doi:10.1016/j.molmet.2025.102185

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