Have you ever thought of dolphins helping us with diabetes research? Yes, it is going to happen. . By taking regular blood samples of the dolphins, Dr Venn-Watson discovered that they could induce type 2 diabetes at times of fasting and then almost immediately turn it off again when food became available. It could be a unique ability in the animal kingdom and results from the mammal’s need to maintain high blood sugar levels to feed its big brain. She revealed her findings at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

     She believes that the ability dates back to when dolphins reverted from land animals to sea animals 55 million years ago and had to adapt to a protein-only fish diet. She said there was evidence that humans may have done the same during the last ice age when they too had to rely on a protein rich diet because all carbohydrate rich foods had been frozen. This ability is now “dormant” she said but there is evidence that a fasting gene does still exist in humans. “Maybe this is a smoking gun for a key point to control diabetes in humans,”.