Overeating can shut down a natural brain function that is key to preventing common cardiovascular and diabetic diseases..

Researchers found that chronic overeating can overwhelm the neural pathway that regulates the amount of fats flowing into the bloodstream from the liver. The liver is partly responsible for regulating fats entering the blood stream. It produces triglyceride fats the body can turn into LDL (bad) cholesterol, which can cause arteriosclerosis and blood vessel blockage. Glucose can enter the brain when levels are elevated in the bloodstream. When glucose enters the brain, it is broken down into an acidic substance known as lactate. Lactate signals the liver to stop making fat. It appears that chronic overeating can overwhelm the brain's ability to metabolize glucose into lactate. When lactate is no longer produced -- the signal to stop the liver from releasing fat into the blood stops, too. As small arteries get clogged, they create the circulatory problems common in type 2 diabetes, linked to overeating, obesity, and limb amputations.

Smaller portions, less glucose in the brain, better traffic flow. After all - nobody likes getting mixed signals. Let's do all we can to keep the lines of communimcation (and our arteries) open.

Eli Lilly partnered with OSI Pharmaceuticals by funding an experimental diabetes medication, PSN010. The partnership will cost Eli Lilly $25 million upfront and possibly $385 million, in total.

Eli Lilly said that it will pay OSI Pharmaceuticals for its pipeline drug, PSN010. This drug represents a new class of diabetes medications aimed at controlling blood sugar in patients with type-2 diabetes by stimulating glucokinase. Glucokinase is a protein that spurs the pancreas to produce more insulin and helps the liver to control glucose.

So this is a good thing. It looks like Eli Lilly is writing checks again - but this time it's for a good cause. This is a genuine attempt to restore street cred with those who butter their bread: the diabetes community!

More good news from Australian researchers. In forwarding the advancements in scientific discovery or innovative solutions to life-long problems for diabetics worldwide, these researchers seem to be gaining impressive ground lately. At the beginning of the month, we posted about a new device that might go a long way in eliminating the ouch factor when testing blood sugar levels.

Now, it is being reported that Australian scientists have discovered a gene responsible for Type 2 diabetes. While Type 2 diabetes is most related to older persons from a lifetime of not getting enough exercise and following a nutritious diet and managing a healthy weight, the PSARL gene appears to play a role in who develops Type 2 diabetes and who doesn't develop the same disease -- given the same life-long lifestyle practices. According to Geelong-based ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals researchers, they got to the finish line first -- ahead of the other scientists -- in making this discovery. I'd say this discovery is sufficient enough reason to strut their scientific feathers.

As a mother who has sat at the breakfast table with her sons and silently prayed on more than one occasion that her sons did not inherit Grandpa's genetic makeup that led to his being diagnosed with diabetes while still a child, I will personally throw a parade for the scientists who not only discover the exact genes that lead to Type 1 diabetes but how to block the genetic progression that leads to Type 1 diabetes. That would be the ultimate scientific peacock moment.