Findings could improve treatment and prevention of the condition which affects over 200,000 people in Scotland — a figure which may double in the next decade.

Dr Nigel Hoggard from the University of Aberdeen Centre for Energy Regulation and Obesity (right) who is leading the study said: “We know that obesity is strongly associated with the development of Type 2 diabetes but we do not yet understand why some people who are overweight have the condition and others do not.

Twenty overweight men with Type 2 diabetes and twenty overweight men without Type 2 diabetes are being sought for the study. Volunteers will receive feedback on their own health — specifically regarding the amount of lean and fat tissue in their body and where it is located.

Dr Hoggard continues: “Diabetes presents a serious health challenge for Scotland with the number of people with the condition increasing every year  The study provides a unique opportunity for volunteers to take part in research which will enhance understanding of Type 2 diabetes and potentially pave the way for better treatment of the condition.”

"We know that blaeberries – which come from the same family as blueberries – are naturally very high in a chemical substance called ‘polyphenols’. We believe this substance could reduce the inflammation which occurs when fat increases."

Volunteers will be asked to take a concentrated form of the berry as a capsule three times daily – equating to approximately 1½ cups of blaeberries – to test whether this helps reduce inflammation associated with the increased fat tissue, and, therefore, improve their diabetic symptoms.

"Sixty overweight male volunteers with Type 2 diabetes between the ages of 40 to 70 who live in Aberdeen city, shire or the surrounding area, are being sought for this three-week study."

Focus on obesity epidemic
Professor Julian Mercer, head of obesity research at the University of Aberdeen Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, said:  “The obesity epidemic is driven by our over consumption of food.  NeuroFAST is an extremely prestigious project which aims to provide answers to what actually causes people to eat too much. A  number of issues that need to be looked at, including work culture and its effect on food consumption as well as the different attributes of food that make it hard to restrict your intake.

“Ideally if we had the information it could allow producers to design food that is still palatable but doesn’t have the properties that could make you over consume.”

Researchers plan to recruit 450 people from Aberdeenshire onto the workplace stress and eating study — a third will be shift workers who may have unusual eating patterns.

Dr Alexandra Johnstone, (right) a nutrition scientist at the University of Aberdeen Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, will lead this part of the project.“We hope to recruit volunteers from three large workplaces onto our study which will examine the effect of workplace stress on eating behaviour.

“We will be looking out for people who reach for a snack when they feel stressed and workers who don’t bother with food when they feel under pressure. We will also explore any differences between men and women.

“Some of our volunteers will be shift workers and we will be examining whether it is tiredness rather than hunger that causes some of them to crave more food in the middle of the night. Or maybe it is a lack of facilities that sees them head for the vending machine.

“One of the workplaces that we select will have achieved a Healthy Working Lives Award, which promotes good health in the work place, and we will be checking out whether this makes a difference.

“We will also launch a separate workplace study to see if a web based tool which involves people inputting data about their diet, sleeping patterns and how they feel, can make a difference to health, eating behaviour and tackling obesity.”