IN THE NEWS- Bilirubin might be protective

A recent article in Kidney International shows that in rats who had hereditary hyperbilirubnemia had lower incidence of diabetic nephropathy.
This might be news to some but mild indirect hyperbilirubenemia has been associated with decreased cardio vascular disease, decreased kidney disease and cancer risk as well.
Why is that? It is because bilirubin is an antioxidant. 30% of the world's population has an entity we call Gibert's Syndrome( mild indirect hyperbilirubenemia, its a defect in an enzyme that helps conjugate bilirubin, UGT1A1). Hence, those people should be protected. Few studies have shown this with diabetes.

I think its about time we started studying the benefits of having Gilbert's syndrome in terms of protection against kidney disease. perhaps it was a genetic selection! or the next wave!

Take a look at these interesting references

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17895455
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20686447
http://www.fedprac.com/asp/archive/article.asp?ArticleID=2209&DeptID=