Indulging in a diet rich in fatty, sugary junk foods can cause as much damage to the kidney as diabetes, experts have warned.

Type 2 diabetes is often associated with obesity and the number of cases across the world are rising at an alarming rate.

In type 2 diabetes, the body fails to produce enough insulin, or does not react to the hormone produced.

This causes an accumulation of sugar - or glucose - in the blood, which can have severe long-term consequences for organs including the kidneys, where it can lead to diabetic kidney disease.

A new study has revealed how a diet high in junk food - high fat and high sugar - can cause as much damage to the kidneys as type 2 diabetes, where the body fails to produce, or fails to react to the hormone insulin, resulting in a build-up of sugar

In their new study, researchers from Anglia Ruskin University used animal models of diabetes and models of diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance to examine how insulin resistance and too much sugar or fat affected glucose receptors in the kidney.

A group of rats were fed junk food, including cheese, chocolate bars, biscuits and marshmallows for eight weeks.

Meanwhile, another group were fed rodent chow high in fat - around 60 per cent fat - for five weeks.

The researchers then tested the effect of these diets on blood sugar levels and the different glucose transporters in the kidneys.

Type 2 diabetes can result in a condition known as diabetic kidney disease, where the organs are unable to clean the blood adequately

The effect of the diets on these transporters was compared with the changes also seen in rat models of type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

The researchers found that certain types of glucose transporters - known as GLUT and SGLT - as well as their regulatory proteins were present in a higher number in type 2 diabetic rats.

But, a high fat diet and junk food diet caused a similar increase in those receptors.

Dr Havovi Chichger, senior lecturer and lead author of the study, said: 'The Western diet contains more and more processed junk food and fat, and there is a well-established link between excessive consumption of this type of food and recent increases in the prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

'In our study, type 1 and type 2 diabetes both induce changes in glucose transport in the kidney.

'But, junk food or a diet high in fat causes changes that are very similar to those found in type 2 diabetes.'

She added: 'A new treatment for diabetic patients constitutes blocking the glucose transporter on the kidney to reduce blood glucose levels.

'Understanding how diet can affect sugar handling in the kidneys and whether the inhibitors can reverse these changes could help to protect the kidneys from further damage.'  

The findings, published in the journal Experimental Physiology.

Culled from Mail Online