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RESEARCH
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Diamaxol $75 per month. Combines bitter melon, cinnamon, Gymnema Sylvestre, Huckleberry, chromium, zinc, and biotin
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EXERCISE
Stronger Seniors Anne Pringle site sells videos
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Recent Articles
Diabetes and Avandia
Diabetes and Coconut Oil
Diabetes and Devil's Club
Diabetes and Fibromyalgia
Diabetes and Gastroparesis
Diabetes and Prostate
Diabetes and Reflux
Diabetes and Statins/Cholesterol
Galvus (352) Galvus (vildagliptin) as effective as Avandia without causing weight gain (Diabetes Care, February 2007)
Link between fructose syrup and obesity (356)
Diabetes Risk in Women (356)
Insurance companies denying insulin patients test strips
Insulin Glargine (354) "In patients aged 65 and more with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes, adding a single daily injection of insulin glargine to oral antidiabetic agents is a convenient and effective approach to treatment" ("Adding a single daily dose of glarine to oral antidiabetic agents is an effective treatment in controlling blood sugars." J Am Geriatr Soc 2007;55:182-188).
Pain relievers cause increased blood pressure (354)
Caffeine Halves Pain After Exercise (349) "...about two cups of coffee, an hour before exercise may reduce muscle pain afterwards by 48 per cent, says researchers. More effective then aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen" (The Journal of Pain: Published on-line ahead of print; doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2006.08.006)
Some common blood pressure drugs can substantially increase the risk of diabetes (348) "According to the report, angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) and angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are the blood pressure drugs least associated with diabetes. These are followed by calcium-channel blockers. Beta blockers and diuretics are the drugs most associated with the condition...The traditional medicines used to treat high blood pressure in the United States are diuretics and beta blockers, Elliott said. "It so happens that they are the two drug classes that are most likely to precipitate diabetes. It turns out the two of the new classes of drugs -- ACE inhibitors and ARBs -- are the two that have the least amount of diabetes associated with them. In the middle, we have calcium-channel blockers," he said." (http://www.cemedicus.com/diabetes, 3/22/07)
Cannabinoid Spray (Sativex) Improves Neuropathic Pain (348) "The results of the study in patients with painful diabetic neuropathy show that patients taking Sativex obtained substantial improvements in their pain, indeed among the highest level of response seen in the published literature"
You can lose weight by outsmarting the system that regulates appetite (347) "Don’t beat yourself up over your lack of willpower or exercise. There are ways to outsmart your body: Eat slower. Use smaller plates. Consume foods low in calories but high in fiber. Avoid the clean-plate mentality... A drug that blocks cannabinoid receptors, rimonabant (Acomplia), is being considered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat people with type 2 diabetes. Four similar drugs are also in the pipeline"
Chromium picolinate and biotin improved glucose tolerance by 15 per cent (347)
Capsaicin Cure for Diabetes (346) "Scientists have discovered that after injecting capsaicin, a chili extract, insulin levels increased and restored blood glucose levels to normal virtually overnight...will transform the quality of life of tens of million of people... diabetes is controlled by abnormalities in the sensory nociceptor (pain-related) nerve endings in the pancreatic islet cells that produce insulin. This discovery, a breakthrough that has long been the elusive goal of diabetes research, has led to new treatment strategies for diabetes, achieving reversal of the disease without severe, toxic immunosuppression" (reported in the December 15 issue of the journal Cell)
Help for Macular Edema (346) "A new study suggests that eye injections of the drug Lucentis (also known as ranibizumab) appear to be useful in the treatment of a potentially blinding eye condition called macular edema that can afflict people with diabetes... Previous reports have shown ranibizumab to be effective in cases of age-related macular degeneration" (American Journal of Ophthalmology December 2006)
Drug Treatment Slow Macular Vision Loss (344) "Encouraged by the effect of ranibuzumab in people with macular degeneration, the Hopkins researchers injected the drug into the eyes of 10 people losing their sight from macular edema, one of many complications of diabetes and a first stage of diabetic retinopathy... The Hopkins group believes that ranibuzumab interferes with a protein that spurs the growth of unwanted blood vessels in the back of the eye" (The American Journal of Ophthalmology, Dec. 2006)
Resistance Training (344) "New study suggests that just twice a week resistance training is helpful for maintaining control of blood sugar levels in adults with type 2 diabetes" (Diabetes Care, December 2006)
ACE Inhibition Reduces Risk of Kidney Failure in Type 2's (344) "Perindopril causes a reduction in expression of transforming growth factor-beta-1 (TGF-beta-1) in kidneys of patients with type 2 diabetes and nephropathy. The ACE inhibitor may thereby protect the diabetic kidney against damage caused by TGF-beta" (Diabetes Care 2006;29:2670-2675)
Alcohol, Not Flavonoids, Drops Diabetes Risk (343) "...red wine intake was inversely associated with diabetes incidence... women who reported drinking red wine more than once per week showing a 16-percent reduced risk of diabetes... Parallel findings were reported for white wine, beer and liquor, suggesting the protective effect may not come from the flavonoids, but from some nonflavonoid constituents common to all alcohol drinks" (Journal of Nutrition (136:3039-45, 2006))
Eating Slowly Reduces Caloric Intake by 70% (343) "When we consume food more slowly, it gives our appetite control systems time to recognize and adjust to the amount of food we've consumed"
Diabetes Cure From Stem Cell Research in Four Years(342)
Levemir (insulin Detemir) Reduces Weight and Improves Blood Glucose Levels (342) “Our findings showed that not only did Levemir® once daily improve glycemic control, but unlike many other forms of insulin, it actually led to weight loss and this benefit was even greater for the heaviest patients.”
Once Weekly Fish Consumption Linked to Reduced Cognitive Decline (341)
Use Folic Acid to Cut Heart Disease (340) "The scientific evidence is strong enough to justify using folic acid as a cheap and simple way of reducing heart disease and strokes, say researchers"
Alpha-Lipoic Acid Improves Diabetic Neuropathy (338) "A recent meta-analysis showed that daily intravenous treatment with ALA could reduce pain, paresthesia, and numbness in diabetic patients, the authors explain, but little work has been done to investigate the use of oral ALA"
Herbal Medicine Silymarin May Help Sugar-Control in People with Type 2 Diabetes (338) "Giving antioxidants is recognised as one way of helping people with diabetes to control their blood sugar levels... The herbal medicine extracted from seeds of the Milk Thistle, Silybum marianum (silymarin) is known to have antioxidant properties and research published this week in Phytotherapy Research shows that this extract can help people significantly lower the amount of sugar bound to haemoglobin in blood, as well as reducing fasting blood sugar levels"
Mars Chocolate Lowers Cholesterol, Study (338) "Mars' CocoaVia nutritional chocolate bar range has had its healthy image boosted by a new study indicating that the product actively reduces cholesterol levels"
ACE Inhibitors A Must for Type 2's with Elevated BP (337) "Since 85% of people with type 2 diabetes also may have elevated blood pressure, they should be given an ACE inhibitor to protect from kidney failure... Taking an ACE inhibitor, alone or as part of the combination treatment, provided further protection against diabetic kidney disease. This was also the case for patients whose blood pressure remained high—as long as they were taking an ACE inhibitor, their microalbuminuria risk was similar to that of patients whose blood pressure was well-controlled"
Milk Thistle Extract Helps with Diabetes Control (337) "A daily supplement of extracts from Milk Thistle significantly lowered fasting glucose levels by 15 per cent... daily milk thistle supplement (200 milligrams three times per day)"
Switch To Insulin Pen Improves Clinical Outcomes And Reduces Medical Costs (336) "Total all-cause annual treatment costs reduced by $1590 per patient... switching to an insulin pen led to improved medication adherence, fewer claims for hypoglycemic events, reduced emergency department and physician visits, and, ultimately, lower treatment costs"
Beta-Blocker Drugs Found To Promote Diabetes (334) "New UK research indicates that taking beta-blocker drugs to treat high blood pressure can increase the risk of developing diabetes by 50 percent, compared to newer drugs"
No Clear Evidence for Ultra-Low Cholesterol Targets (333) "There is no scientifically valid evidence to support the ultra-low LDL target of 70 milligrams/deciliter for very high-risk patients. Further, they suggest that the evidence previously cited to support an LDL goal of less than 100mg/dL for high risk patients also has major flaws" (October 2006 Annals of Internal Medicine online)
Eight dieting strategies which work
1.eat breakfast, 2. Be more active, 3. fill up on low density foods (see Volumetrics diet), 4. Check the scale often, 5. Bore yourself thin, 6. Avoid diet pills, 7. Avoid angel food, 8. Avoid glycemic index (mixed results)
High Carbohydrate Diets Are Linked to Higher Blood Pressure "random-effects model revealed that carbohydrate-rich diets led to significantly higher systolic blood pressure (difference: 2.6 mm Hg, p = 0.002) and diastolic blood pressure (difference: 1.8 mm Hg, p = 0.05) compared to diets rich in cis-monounsaturated fat" (Am J Clin Nutr 2007;85:1251-1256)
Sleep Apnea Linked to Gestational Diabetes and Hypertension "Study found that when the women's weight was taken into account, sleep apnea was associated with a doubling of the incidence of gestational diabetes and a fourfold increase in the risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension" ("Sleep Apnea is Associated with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension"(Session D108; Abstract # 4836; Poster Board # 511) May 22, 2007)
Just Ten Minutes of Physical Activity A Day Has a Major Impact ""Perhaps the most striking finding of our study is that even activity at the 4-kcal/kg per week level (approximately 72 min/wk) was associated with a significant improvement in fitness compared with women in the nonexercise control group," the authors write." (JAMA. 2007;297:2053, 2081-2091)
How Tummy Surgery Cures Diabetes "nearly 80% of patients who undergo gastric bypass surgery to reduce the size of their stomachs and small intestines find that their diabetes disappears within two to three days - before any weight loss has occurred... the average diabetic needs about 30 units of insulin a day to control blood sugar levels...For obese patients, this can rise to 200 units a day...Not only will this research improve our understanding of why overweight people develop Type 2 diabetes, it may also lead to an effective, non-surgical treatment for those with the condition" (no source given, study done at Swansea University School of Medicine, accessed 6-6-07)
Markers of "Prediabetes" Independently Raises Mortality Risk 60% "
Stone-Age Low-Carb Diet Is Best to Lower Blood Sugars "The 2 million-year-old hunter-gatherer diet is three times more effective at lowering glucose levels than the Mediterranean diet, according to a new study from Lund University, in Sweden... Patients who ate lean meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, yogurt and pasta for three months saw their blood sugar levels fall 7 percent, the study found. Those who adopted that regimen and excluded dairy and grains, what the researchers called the Stone Age diet, fared even better. They had a sugar drop of 26 percent.... our ancestors were consuming fruit, vegetables, nuts, lean meat and fish. They did not have access to processed foods high in carbohydrates. In contrast, cereals, dairy products, refined fat and sugar, which now provide most of the calories for modern humans, have been staple foods for a relatively short time" (The study will be published later this year in the European Association for the Study of Diabetes's journal Diabetologia and is available now on the Web)
Early Tight Control and Aggressive Treatment Pays Off "There seems to be a point of no return in the onset of diabetes and scientists have speculated exposure to high glucose levels quickly creates a metabolic memory due to glycation, in which diabetes persists long after the glucose levels are corrected...
Walk two miles and call me in the morning "Physicians have a moral responsibility to inform patients of the danger of inactivity and the health benefits of being more active... More than half of Americans fail to get the 30 minutes of physical activity recommended daily to provide health benefits... So many Americans are inactive that some experts have coined a new term for it: sedentary death syndrome. The condition helps cut short an estimated 250,000 lives annually... Research suggests that people who are sedentary spend about $1,500 more annually on medical bills than do their more active counterparts... Research shows that regular physical activity improves health by cutting the risk of heart disease, stroke, colon cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure. Even brief bouts of activity several times a day can help control weight and relieve arthritis, anxiety and depression. “Exercise is medicine,” Sallis says. “We know that it works very well. We just don’t have the proper way to administer it.”"
Diabetic Exercise "It’s important to know that you’re more likely to experience angina (chest pain) due to reduced blood flow to your heart muscle (ischemia) during an aerobic activity like treadmill walking than during weight training. Studies have shown that lifting a heavy weight 10 to 12 times may increase your blood pressure more than aerobic work, but it doesn’t raise your heart rate as much. Ironically, the higher blood pressures reached during resistance training ensure that your heart muscle gets more blood than it would during aerobic activities. If you know that you have some coronary artery blockage from plaque buildup, moderate weight training may actually be a safer activity for you than most high-intensity aerobic ones... In addition to improving diabetes-related health, regular aerobic exercise lessens the potential impact of most of the other cardiovascular risk factors, including elevated blood lipids (cholesterol and other blood fats), insulin resistance, obesity, and hypertension."
Vitamin D, Calcium May Prevent, Improve Diabetes "Combined supplementation with vitamin D and calcium may improve blood sugar and insulin levels and prevent diabetes by 64%...(Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism- June 2007, Volume 92, Number 6, Pages 2017-2029. doi:10.1210/jc.2007-0298 "The Role of Vitamin D and Calcium in type 2 diabetes. A systematic Review and Meta-Analysis" Authors: A.G. Pittas, J. Lau, F. Hu, B. Dawson-Hughes
Indian Herb Again Shows Promise for Diabetics "The traditional Indian herbal Salacia oblonga, can be effective for diabetics to lower blood sugars by 23% and insulin responses by 29%, says a new study from the US that helps build the science behind the herb... The extract of Salacia oblonga lowers acute glycemia and insulinemia in persons with type 2 diabetes after a high-carbohydrate meal," wrote the researchers in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It works similar to alpha-glucosidase inhibators...effect of two doses (240 or 480 mg) of Salacia oblonga ...postprandial glucose response by 14 and 22 per cent for the 240 mg and 480 mg extract, respectively, compared to the control meal.... Moreover, both doses significantly reduced the postprandial insulin response by 14and 19 per cent for the 240 and 480 mg extract, respectively... acts in a similar way to diabetes medications by binding to intestinal enzymes called alpha-glucosidases, which are responsible for breaking down carbohydrates into glucose. When the enzyme binds to the herbal extract rather than a carbohydrate, less glucose gets into the blood stream, resulting in lowered blood glucose and insulin levels. Salacia Oblonga inhibits the breakdown of oligosaccharides (disaccharides and trisaccharides) such as sucrose, maltose, etc. into monosaccharides and inhibits the absorption of monosaccharides such as glucose, mannose, etc. in the body, preventing blood sugar levels from rising. (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition; July 2007, Volume 86, Number 1, Pages 124-130 "Extract of Salacia oblonga lowers acute glycemia in patients with type 2 diabetes" Authors: J.A. Williams, Y.S. Choe, M.J. Noss, C.J. Baumgartner and V.A. Mustad )
Bone Implicated As Therapeutic Target For Type 2 Diabetes "researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have now identified a surprising and critically important novel function of the skeleton. They've shown for the first time that the skeleton is an endocrine organ that helps control our sugar metabolism and weight and, as such, is a major determinant of the development of type 2 diabetes... The research, published in Cell, demonstrates that bone cells release a hormone called osteocalcin, which controls the regulation of blood sugar (glucose) and fat deposition... Osteocalcin, however, increases both the secretion and sensitivity of insulin, in addition to boosting the number of insulin-producing cells and reducing stores of fat... This discovery potentially opens the door for novel therapeutic avenues for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes... People with type 2 diabetes have been shown to have low osteocalcin levels, suggesting that altering the activity of this molecule could be an effective therapy. That hypothesis is supported by the Columbia research, which showed that mice with high levels of osteocalcin activity were prevented from gaining weight or becoming diabetic even when they ate a high fat diet"
Abnormal Fat Metabolism Underlies Heart Problems In Diabetic Patients "Heart disease hits people with diabetes twice as often as people without diabetes... Diabetic hearts run mostly on fats for fuel because glucose isn't readily available to them... Unfortunately, this change in metabolism distorts the lipid composition of cell membranes causing abnormal physical properties and cellular dysfunction... The important lipid that the researchers found to be decreased in diabetes is cardiolipin. "Cardiolipin" literally means heart fat, and the term was coined because cardiolipin was first discovered in beef hearts and is one of the most abundant lipids in heart tissue. This lipid has unusual physical properties that are essential for the operation of the energy-producing cell structures called mitochondria... When mitochondria lose a lot of their cardiolipin, they malfunction"
Even Low Levels of Exercise Have Major Health Benefits "In the study, a brisk 30-minute walk three days a week was enough to drive down blood pressure and improve overall fitness in a group of healthy sedentary adults... For optimum health, adults are recommended to engage in 30 minutes of moderately strenuous exercise on at least five days of the week. But few people achieve this level of weekly activity"
Soda Warning? New Study Supports Link Between Diabetes, High-Fructose Corn Syrup "People consume too much high-fructose corn syrup in this country," says Ho. "It's in way too many food and drink products and there's growing evidence that it's bad for you."
Alcohol Consumption "In middle-aged and older people who have reached the ages when heart attacks are more common, “light to moderate drinking appears to reduce that risk,”said Klatsky, who studies alcohol use and is familiar with the study findings" (huge Japanese study; September issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research)
Statins for all diabetics urged "Statins cut the risk of heart attack, stroke and death in diabetic people even in those with low cholesterol levels, analysis of 14 trials shows... A team of researchers at Oxford University reviewed studies of more than 90,000 people - 19,000 with diabetes - and found that many more would benefit from statins than previously realised"
Obesity Operation May Cure Diabetes In Many "A new study gives the strongest evidence yet that obesity surgery can cure diabetes.,,Patients who had surgery to reduce the size of their stomachs were five times more likely to see their diabetes disappear over the next two years than were patients who had standard diabetes care, according to Australian researchers... Most of the surgery patients were able to stop taking diabetes drugs and achieve normal blood tests... “It’s the best therapy for diabetes that we have today, and it’s very low risk,” ... The patients had stomach band surgery, a procedure more common in Australia than in the United States... Gastric bypass is even more effective against diabetes, achieving remission in a matter of days or a month... The study involved 55 patients... “Few studies really qualify as being a landmark study. This one is,” ... “This opens an entirely new way of thinking about diabetes.”... What’s known is that excess fat can cause the body’s normal response to insulin to go haywire.. In the Australian study, all the patients were obese and had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes during the past two years. Their average age was 47. Half the patients underwent a type of surgery called laparoscopic gastric banding, where an adjustable silicone cuff is installed around the upper stomach, limiting how much a person can eat... The death rate for stomach band surgery, which can cost $17,000 to $20,000, is about 1 in 1,000. There were only minor complications in the study. Stomach stapling has a 2 percent death rate and costs $20,000 to $30,000... In the United States, surgeons perform more than 100,000 obesity surgeries each year"
Gastric Banding Achieves Diabetes Remission "Preliminary research indicates that obese patients with type 2 diabetes who had gastric banding surgery lost more weight and had a higher likelihood of diabetes remission compared to patients who used conventional methods for weight loss and diabetes control, according to a new study..."
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