Obesity health risk cause 'found'

The cause of the risk is that they are fat, stupid.

"Scientists believe they may have uncovered a key reason why obese people have a raised risk of health complications such as type 2 diabetes.

They blame a specific protein - pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) - which is secreted by fat cells...

Because PEDF is produced by fat cells people who are overweight have higher levels of the protein in the bloodstream.

The latest research shows that the protein sends a signal to other tissues in the body, triggering development of insulin resistance - a condition that often leads to type 2 diabetes - in the muscle and liver.

Raised PEDF levels were also linked to a release of fats into the bloodstream, raising the risk of complications such as heart disease...

Professor Ian MacDonald, an expert in the chemistry of nutrition at the University of Nottingham, said PEDF was one of many chemicals produced by fat cells and it was unclear how they all interacted with each other."

Fat-bottom line is it ain't figgerd-out.

With one exception:

"They also showed that PEDF levels fell in obese mice when they lost weight..."

Lose weight - naturally.