WEDNESDAY, June 4 (HealthDay News) -- A new molecular signaling pathway in fat cells that suppresses harmful inflammation has been identified by Harvard School of Public Health researchers. The pathway prevents the fat cells -- called adipocytes -- from over-reacting to inflammation-causing stimulants such as fatty acids in the diet.

However, the researchers also found that obesity-related cellular stress can override the protective function and turn the pathway into a trigger of chronic inflammation, leading to increased risk of insulin resistance, diabetes and other metabolic disorders.

TUESDAY, June 3 (HealthDay News) -- A person's risk of cancer increases if he or she suffers from DNA-damaging chronic inflammation of the intestine or stomach, such as ulcerative colitis, according to scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Their findings, confirmed in two studies the researchers did on mice, were published in the June 2 online issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.