Chinese scientists find that light impacts glucose metabolism

HEFEI, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists have found that light can acutely decrease glucose tolerance in mice by activating intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells, suggesting a potential prevention and treatment strategy for the management of glucose metabolic disorders.

The discovery was made by a team led by Xue Tian from the University of Science and Technology of China. It was published online on Friday (Beijing Time) in the academic journal Cell.

This mechanism has been verified in mice, and the same phenomenon has been observed in humans, showing that light modulating glucose metabolism may exist widely in mammals.

According to Xue, the findings in mice and humans provide one possible explanation for the epidemiologic observations, and may reveal a potential prevention and treatment strategy for metabolic disorders.