Exploring sweet signalling to the brain to transform management of diabetes

Researchers from the University Nottingham, in partnership with colleagues from the University of Adelaide, have secured one of the most significant grants awarded by Diabetes UK.

More than £1m in funding, including £500,000 from Diabetes UK, will support pioneering neuroimaging techniques to identify how the tongue and digestive tract sense sweet stimuli and integrate this signalling in the brain of people with type 2 diabetes.

These findings will inform the development of new personalised dietary and drug treatments for people living with a range of diabetic disease.

The Adelaide-Nottingham team will use a sophisticated brain imaging technique, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), to identify how sweet sensing is communicated from the tongue and gut to the brain in individuals with and without type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.

Habitual high consumption of added sugars increases the risk of developing, or worsening, type 2 diabetes. People with type 2 diabetes find it difficult to sense excess sugar, adding to the stress of trying to monitor their diet and following therapeutic demands to achieve an optimal glucose targets.

Understanding brain mechanisms and pathways of sweet sensing will enable personalised treatments to be developed that preserve sweet taste reward, but control blood sugar in prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. The Adelaide-Nottingham study will also empower individuals with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes to adhere to dietary plans, reducing the incidence and burden of type 2 diabetes.

World-leading MRI facilities

The brain imaging research will take place at the world-leading MRI facilities of the Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, which will house one of the most powerful MRI scanners in the world, a new national facility for ultra high-resolution imaging at the University of Nottingham.

Intelligent Health UK lead Dr Sally Eldeghaidy and the research theme’s Adelaide lead, Professor Amanda Page, will work with colleagues including Dr Qian Yang, Assistant Professor in Sensory and Consumer Sciences in Nottingham’s School of Biosciences, who has expertise detecting sweet sensitivity, and the School of Medicine’s Professor of Diabetes and Metabolic Medicine, Iskandar Idris, a clinician at Nottingham and Derby hospital trusts, allowing the project to be translated into human and clinical research.

Expertise at University of Adelaide, including research by Associate Professor Richard Youngs on intestinal sweet sensing in type 2 diabetes and innovations of Professor Amanda Page on animal models of gut-brain axis to nutrition, was also instrumental in securing the Diabetes UK grant.

Dr Eldeghaidy said: “The potential benefits of this research are profound. By understanding the neuronal pathways of sweet sensing and metabolism and how this is affected in people with diabetes, we can contribute to more tailored dietary advice that could dramatically improve the quality of life and health outcomes in people with diabetes. Additionally, our findings may influence future guidelines on food manufacturing and public health policies related to dietary sugars, potentially impacting a wide spectrum of the population, from prevention strategies in at-risk groups to management approaches in diagnosed individuals.

The Diabetes UK award and the Adelaide-Nottingham partnership has allowed us to build an innovative programme of multidisciplinary expertise, involving neuroimaging experts, clinicians, digestive and nutritional physiologists, and sensory experts providing critical knowledge needed for this research to be successful.

Working together to improve the lives of millions

“The Diabetes UK award and the Adelaide-Nottingham partnership has allowed us to build an innovative programme of multidisciplinary expertise, involving neuroimaging experts, clinicians, digestive and nutritional physiologists, and sensory experts providing critical knowledge needed for this research to be successful. This research is just the beginning of more collaboration in the field on diabetes and obesity to come.”

Dr Lucy Chambers, Head of Research Communications at Diabetes UK said: “We are delighted to support this exciting research and to work in partnership with the University of Nottingham and the University of Adelaide to address a growing global health challenge. By working together, we hope to improve the lives of millions of people in the UK, Australia and across the world.”

Professor Page said: "The University of Adelaide is thrilled to be in such an exciting partnership with the University of Nottingham. This research is just the beginning of further collaborations in the field of diabetes and obesity.”

This research is just the beginning of further collaborations in the field of diabetes and obesity.