Can a flavoured milk drink help predict your risk of type 2 diabetes or heart disease?

Identifying when someone is insulin resistant is important because the condition is a known precursor to type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Insulin resistance happens when the body’s cells become less responsive to the effects of insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas that regulates blood sugar (glucose) levels. People can have insulin resistance for years and be unaware that they are at risk of heart disease and stroke.

Eligibility

You may be suitable for this study if you are:

  • aged between 35—75 years old
  • not diagnosed with diabetes (glucose levels confirmed during screening ≤ 6.0 mM) or heart disease (e.g. heart attack or stroke)

And have at least one of the following:

  • overweight/obese (BMI ≥ 25kg/m2)
  • elevated blood pressure (defined as seated blood pressure >130/85 mmHg, or on medication to control blood pressure)
  • abnormal blood lipids (fasting triglycerides >1.7mM, total cholesterol >5.5 mM or low HDL <1.0 mM for males or <1.3 mM for females, or on medication to treat their lipids)
  • have a parent with T2D or a parent with premature onset CVD (males ≤55 years, females ≤65 years)
  • prior history of gestational diabetes (for females)

What will be involved

  1. Visit 1: Screening and familiarisation and information session (around 1 hour).
  2. Visits 2, 3 and 4: Three testing visits in random order:
    • Mixed meal challenge (3-4 hours)
    • Oral glucose tolerance test (3-4 hours)
    • Insulin clamp (3-4 hours)
  3. Whole body X-ray (20 minutes)
  4. Optional cardiometabolic testing (vascular stiffness and central blood pressure, small and large blood vessel health in muscle and fat, heart scan, exercise test on a treadmill)

The overall time commitment will be approximately 12 hours spread out over the four visits at Victoria University (Institute for Health and Sport, Footscray Park Campus). Participants who complete the trial will receive a gift card.

Contact us

For further information about this research, please contact

Register your interest

Please register your details below to express your interest. Our research team will get back to you with more information.

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