Melbourne, Sept 24 : Australian scientists have discovered what they believe is a gene that switches on when people consume high amounts of high-fat food.

Blocking this gene could reduce diabetes' damaging effects on the body, their report said.

In people who follow a healthy diet and get plenty of exercise, the gene usually lays dormant allowing the pancreas to function normally and produce enough insulin.

However, when people eat high-fat diets the gene "switches on" and disrupts beta cells inside the pancreas and their role in insulin production.

Scientists at the Garvan Institute based their findings about the workings of the gene, known as ld1, on studies in mice and cell cultures in the laboratory, reports ABC Science.

Study co-author Dr Ross Laybutt noticed that when laboratory mice were fed high-fat diets the ld1 gene "switched on" and caused the mice to develop diabetes.

However, when the mice were on high-fat diets but ld1 was blocked at the same time, they were protected from the disease.

Further tests also confirmed that pancreatic tissue from diabetes patients contains high levels of ld1, which is already known to promote the growth of cancer cells.

Dr Laybutt said several genes were linked to diabetes but ld1 appeared to play a major role in the development of the disease.

While these experiments show the gene links a high-fat diet to diabetes, further experiments are needed to see whether this gene also links a high-sugar diet to the disease, researchers said.

The study has been published in the journal Diabetes. (ANI)