Archive for December, 2010

Blood Glucose and the Glycemic Index

December 16, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes and Diet 
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Photo credit: Suat Eman

Proper diet is crucial for diabetics, as food can have both short and long term effects on blood glucose control. For reasons researchers have yet to uncover, blood sugar levels soar after eating, and many diabetics need to time their insulin injections around meal times to aid in controlling blood sugar. One thing researchers do know – the higher the glycemic index of a food, the more impact it has on blood glucose.

The glycemic index (GI) is a measure of the influence that a particular food has on blood sugar levels.  It takes into account the fact that different types of carbohydrates perform differently in our bodies. The GI ranks carbohydrates on a scale of 1 to 100 based on how quickly they raise blood sugar.
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Islet Transplantation Eliminates the Need for Insulin Injections

December 15, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes Research and News, Insulin Delivery 
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Photo credit: eidesign

Islet cells are sugar-sensing cells in the pancreas that release insulin in order to maintain normal blood sugar levels in the body. In type 1 diabetes, the cells can no longer make insulin because the body’s immune system has destroyed them. Type 1 diabetics must take daily insulin injections, usually a complex combination of short and long acting insulin.

Islet cell transplantation involves removing insulin-producing cells from a donor pancreas and transferring them into a person with diabetes.  It’s a non-surgical procedure in which the donated cells are inserted through a needle directly into the liver. Scientists developed the procedure in the 1960s, but the first islet transplantation attempts didn’t take place until the 1990′s. To everyone’s disappointment, only 8% of the first transplants were successful. The problem was the same faced in other organ or tissue transplants – the recipient’s immune system recognized the islets as foreign invaders, and attacked them. Adding to the problem, the anti-rejection drugs in use at the time interfered with insulin’s effectiveness.
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Researchers Bioengineer Cells from Testicles to Produce Insulin

December 15, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes Research and News 
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Photo credit: Daino_16

Researchers have briefly “cured” Type 1 diabetes in lab mice using cells extracted from the testicles of deceased human donors. The spermatogonial cells used in the experiment normally produce sperm in men. Scientists extracted them from the donors, bioengineered them to act like the beta cells in the pancreas that produce human insulin, and transplanted them into mice. The transplanted cells successfully secreted insulin, reducing blood sugar levels in the mice for about a week.

While exciting, the breakthrough doesn’t yet amount to a cure for insulin dependent diabetes in humans. “These cells don’t secrete enough insulin to cure diabetes in humans yet,” cautions the study’s senior researcher G. Ian Gallicano, an associate professor at Georgetown University Medical Center. However, Gallicano is hopeful that transplanting the spermatogonial cells into different parts of the body may lead to longer blood sugar control. “We know spermatogonial stem cells have the potential to do what we want them to do,” says Gallicano, and we know how to improve their yield.”
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Warning Signs for Insulin Dependent Diabetics

December 10, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: It's Complicated 
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Photo: Salvatore Vuono

Most type 1 diabetics get very good at managing their disease. They can identify when their blood glucose is too high or too low, and skillfully balance a mixture of short, intermediate and long-lasting insulin. They stay up to date on the latest innovations in diabetes control – from the insulin pen through the insulin pump to the implantable glucose monitor. They know the importance of the glycemic index and staying physically active. They deftly adjust their diabetes medication to counteract changes in diet, activity level, stress, illness, and even their menstrual cycle.

Another often overlooked aspect of successful diabetes control is educating family, friends and co-workers about diabetes danger signs that may require medical attention. An unexpected insulin spike or rise or drop in blood sugar can cause a medical emergency for an insulin dependent diabetic, and those close to them should know what to watch for and how to respond. According to WebMD, the following are diabetes symptoms that should never be ignored:
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The Five Insulin Types

December 5, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes Medication, Insulin Injections 
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Photo: jscreationzs

Insulin is divided into 5 types: rapid-acting, short-acting (or fast acting), intermediate-acting, long-acting and pre-mixed insulin. The different types of insulin vary in the amount of time until they begin to work (onset), how long they take to achieve the greatest blood concentration and effectiveness (peak) and how long they continue to control blood sugar (duration). The effects of insulin, including onset, peak and duration times, vary from individual to individual and from day to day.

Depending on the brand, rapid-acting insulin has an average onset of from 5 to 15 minutes, peak of 30 minutes to 3 hours, and duration of 3 to 5 hours. It’s normally injected with meals, and used in combination with a longer acting insulin.
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