Overview
- Peer-reviewed work in Cell Metabolism shows that hypoxia drives red blood cells to take up far more glucose and increases their abundance, explaining lower diabetes risk observed at altitude.
- Labeled-glucose tracing revealed rapid conversion of sugar into 2,3-DPG, with a molecular switch in which deoxygenated hemoglobin competes for Band 3 binding and frees glycolytic enzymes to accelerate metabolism.
- Manipulating red blood cell levels in mice established causality: maintaining normal counts during hypoxia prevented hypoglycemia, while transfusing cells at normal oxygen lowered blood glucose.
- HypoxyStat, a lab-developed pill that raises hemoglobin’s oxygen affinity, completely reversed hyperglycemia in diabetic mice and outperformed existing drugs in those experiments.
- Benefits of chronic hypoxia persisted for weeks to months after return to normal oxygen, though researchers stress the findings are preclinical and will require safety assessment and human studies.