Archive for January, 2012

Statins May Raise Your Risk of Diabetes

January 31, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes - Did You Know?, Diabetes Control, Diabetes Research and News 

from leafy

Although they are one of the most widely-prescribed medications in the United States, statins have recently been linked to a higher risk of diabetes. Statins are cholesterol-lowering drugs such as Lipitor and Crestor.

The study, which was published in Annals of Internal Medicine, reported that women who were using statins at the start of the seven year study were nearly 50 percent more likely to develop diabetes than their non-statin-using counterparts. However, researchers stated that the benefits of statins are often more important than the risk of diabetes.

Although the reasons why statins may be causing diabetes are unclear, researchers hypothesize that the effects statins are having on the body may cause it to make slightly more sugar than usual. Statins may also cause the patient to exercise slightly less than usual, both of which are potential first steps to diabetes.

But for those patients at risk of heart disease, the lead researcher on the study was adamant that statins’ benefits will greatly outweigh the risk of diabetes. In order to counteract any negative risks of statins, researchers say to increase your exercise, and be sure to frequently monitor your blood sugar.

“The conclusion still stands that overall, those people who’ve got existing heart disease or have had previous strokes, they still would get vast benefit from statins,” says Naveed Sattar, a University of Glasgow diabetes and metabolism researcher.

Novo to Open Type 1 Diabetes R&D Center in Seattle

January 26, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes Research and News 

Novo Nordisk has announced to open a Type 1 Diabetes Research Center in Seattle, Washington.

The firm says the “unique concept” behind the new center is to “pursue a translational research approach characterized by combining basic research and early proof-of-concept trials under one umbrella”. Novo claims that it will provide “the necessary scientific foundation to move early-stage discovery projects rapidly from animal models into small clinical exploratory trials in type 1 diabetes”.

The center is expected to open this summer and will be staffed by 20 researchers. It will be located on the same premises as Novo’s inflammation research center in Seattle “in order to foster natural research synergies between the two sites”.

Click here for the full article from PRNewsWire. Buy Novolog online, get a FREE Novolog coupon.

Drinking Water Can Lower Diabetes Risk

January 17, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes Control, Diabetes Research and News 

Life saving - drinking water

Proper hydration is one of the keys to healthy exercise, beautiful skin and general wellness. But did you know that it may also prevent diabetes?

French scientists tracked over 3000 men and women for almost a decade. After 9 years, 800 of those studied had developed type 2 diabetes or had high blood sugar. Those studied who drank the least water had a roughly 30% higher risk of developing high blood sugar than those who had consumed 17-34 ounces per day.

A hormone called vasopressin helps the body regulate water retention. While doing this, vasopressin also prompts the liver to produce blood sugar, which over time may strain the body’s ability to produce or respond to insulin.

To read the full New York Times article, click here.

New Stem Cell Treatment that May Reverse Type 1 Diabetes

January 13, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes Research and News 

recent‑blood‑cell‑news.jpg

A new study conducted by Dr. Yong Zhao, who is an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Illinois depicts some very astonishing and exciting results relating to potentially reversing Type 1 diabetes in people suffering from the disease; the study used human cord blood stem cells to treat or “re-educate” the T-Cells in Type 1 diabetics.

Zhao found that using the cord blood stem cells helps to restart the pancreatic function and insulin production. The study which is published in BMC Medicine used 15 subjects all of whom suffers from Type 1 diabetes. Twelve participants had the treatment while three others made up a control group.

The 12 participants had their T-cells separated from their blood and pumped into a device that Zhao calls the “stem cell educator”. There, the T-cells were exposed to cord blood stem cells for 3 hours. The stem cells in a way seemed to re-educate the T-cells, “They wake them up and correct their function. The stem cells are like a teacher. The T-cells are like a bad student,” Zhao said about his study.

The T-cells were then pumped back into the participant’s blood, and the patients were then checked out four times after the treatment at 4 weeks, then 12, 24 and 40 weeks later. The results were astounding; Zhao elaborates, “The patients couldn’t make any insulin before the treatment. But after the treatment they began to make their own insulin… Their Autoimmune response was reversed.”

One year later, the patients who received the treatment continue to manufacture some of their own insulin and eight have reduced their insulin shots by 38%. Zhao is confident that if the patients had more than treatment the results would be even more dramatic, and he plans to do another study with patients having multiple treatments to see if it is possible to totally reverse the loss of insulin production function.

Zhao is currently conducting a trial on 25 patients, and he stated the results are exciting but the study is not yet concluded.

A Diabetes Vaccine is One Step Closer

January 9, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes Research and News 

Scientists in Sweden have recruited the patients for their diabetes vaccine. Fifty children with a high risk of developing type 1 diabetes have volunteered for the vaccine trial. All fifty children are healthy, but have been found to have an ongoing autoimmune process wherein their own immune system is killing their pancreas’ beta cells (there are used for the regulation of blood sugar).

With this vaccine, called DiAPREV-IT, researchers vaccinate the children early as a preventive measure, when the children still have many beta cells left to save. It is the loss of these beta cells that can eventually lead to type 1 diabetes. As of now, there is no known cure or vaccine for type 1 diabetes.

For more information, see the original release here.

Gestational Diabetes Linked to Childhood ADHD

January 4, 2012 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Diabetes - Did You Know?, Diabetes in Children, Diabetes in Pregnancy 

ADHD child

A new study suggests that children born to lower-middle-class mothers who developed diabetes during pregnancy are more likely to experience attention and hyperactivity problems.

Children born into lower income households may aggravate any underlying nervous system deficits. These deficits can stem from a number of factors, one being gestational diabetes. When the mother has gestational diabetes, her blood sugar levels are abnormally high, giving too much to the developing fetus. The fetus may then have to provide energy normally used for nervous system development to absorb the excess glucose.

Gestational diabetes can be treated during pregnancy, but lower-income mothers may not control their diabetes during pregnancy as well as more prosperous mamas, raising risks to the fetus.

Also, “when babies are born into higher socioeconomic status households, they have better access to medical care [and] remedial activities, intellectual stimulus is higher, they have better foods,” says Yoko Nomura, lead author of the study.

Therefore, a child exposed to a combination of a lower income and gestational diabetes is fourteen times more likely to develop ADHD before the age of six than a baby born to prosperous household without the exposure to gestational diabetes.

For more information please click here.