Research

Hormonal

Fasting plasma concentrations of alpha-hydroxybutyrate (a-HB) and linoleoyl-glycerophosphocholine (L-GPC) serve as independent, early metabolic markers for predicting the development of dysglycemia and type 2 diabetes, with high a-HB and low L-GPC levels indicating increased risk.

If you are at risk for type 2 diabetes, standard fasting glucose tests might miss early metabolic changes. Emerging research suggests that specific metabolites (alpha-hydroxybutyrate and linoleoyl-glycerophosphocholine) can predict the development of diabetes earlier than standard tests. While not yet routine, these markers reflect underlying insulin resistance and beta-cell stress, suggesting that early metabolic profiling could allow for earlier lifestyle or medical interventions before glucose levels become abnormal.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
In both cohorts, a-HB was a positive predictor... and L-GPC was a negative predictor... of dysglycemia (RISC) or type 2 diabetes (Botnia), independent of familial diabetes, sex, age, BMI, and fasting glucose.
Ele Ferrannini et al. · Diabetes · 2012

Why this rating

Large observational cohorts (RISC and Botnia) with long follow-up (3 and 9.5 years) and in vitro validation.

Source

Early Metabolic Markers of the Development of Dysglycemia and Type 2 Diabetes and Their Physiological Significance

Ele Ferrannini et al. · Diabetes · 2012

DOI 10.2337/db12-0707

cohort · n=3841Cited 357×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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