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by Spektrum der Wissenschaft
Why birds don't get diabetes
7.3.2026
Translation: machine translated
The diet of some bird species consists almost exclusively of sugar water. Thanks to evolution, they still don't get sick.
There are many bird species from different families around the world whose diet is high in sugar: some parrots, hummingbirds, nectar birds and honeyeaters consume energy-rich flower nectar or fruit and still don't get sick from it. Unlike us humans, they are immune to insulin resistance and diabetes despite the high sugar content. But why? A single gene actually makes the decisive difference, as a team led by Ekaterina Osipova from the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt discovered. Across all continents and in very different bird families.
The scientists compared the genomes of five bird species that feed heavily or exclusively on sugar with four related species that prefer other foods such as seeds or insects. In fact, they only discovered a single gene that was altered in all of the sugar-eating species from the four families studied: MLXIPL, a master regulator of sugar and fat metabolism. Subsequent laboratory tests confirmed that this gene is far more active in hummingbirds than the corresponding gene in swifts. The latter are phylogenetically closely related to hummingbirds, but feed exclusively on insects. Osipova and her team suspect that changes in this gene help sugar-eating birds to efficiently convert excess glucose into fat and store it. They can then utilise these reserves when food is scarce. This enables a specialised metabolic strategy that supports a sugar-based diet without making them ill.
The experts also identified other genetic changes that occurred in only one, two or three groups and also favoured a high-sugar diet. These included genes that control blood pressure via the water balance in the body. Other genes in turn regulate the heart rhythm and ion transport in the kidneys. Nectar consumers consume high amounts of sugar as well as a lot of fluids, which they also have to manage without harming their organism. In addition, the researchers repeatedly found altered genes associated with the insulin signalling pathway in all sugar-eating groups: Birds also differ from mammals in how they regulate their blood sugar: They can maintain and tolerate high glucose levels and rely less on insulin to obtain energy from food.
According to the study, the birds developed these adaptations independently of each other in different regions in terms of location and time - a process known as convergent evolution. MLXIPL also plays a role in human metabolism. It could therefore provide an approach to better understand diseases such as diabetes. In the course of our evolution, our diet was rather low in sugar, but today many people consume significantly more sugar than the body can cope with and process. Diabetes and other metabolic diseases are the result.
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