Comment on: Saisho et al. β-Cell Mass and Turnover in Humans: Effects of Obesity and Aging. Diabetes Care 2013;36:111–117

In the article by Saisho et al. (1), the effect of obesity on β-cell mass and turnover was addressed by indirectly estimating β-cell mass from human pancreatic specimens after death related to disease or trauma. Although these results are consistent with the direct measurement of islet volume after isolation from abruptly deceased healthy organ donors, the correlation between β-cell mass and BMI remains weak ( r ≤ 0.5) (2,3). The authors admit that cross-sectional studies provide limited information on the mechanisms that potentially link obesity with this increased (50%) β-cell mass. Rather unexpectedly, for example, no measurable difference in β-cell …