Archive for the ‘Diabetes and Weight Management’ Category

Surgery May Reverse Effects of Diabetes

March 30, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Buy Lantus, Diabetes and Weight Management, Diabetes Control, Diabetes Research and News, Diabetic Treatment 
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Two new studies have been published stating that gastric bypass surgery may be a useful new tool in diabetes treatment. The results of the two studies show that the surgery drastically reduces the symptoms of diabetes, or in some patients, it disappears altogether. Doctors are unsure why exactly this surgery works so well for Type 2 diabetes sufferers, but some believe it is due to hormone changes. This surgery is only available for diabetic patients with a body mass index of 35 or higher.

A typical woman has a body mass index between 19 and 25. According to researchers on the study, one diabetic woman who underwent the surgery now only uses 10 milligrams of insulin per day; she was taking nine times that pre-surgery. Unfortunately gastric bypass surgery doesn’t have the same effect on Type 1 diabetics. This is due to their fundamental differences. Type 1 diabetes is caused by an autoimmune disorder, whereas type 2 is generally a complication of obesity. While the pounds melt off, so do the symptoms of diabetes.

Gastric bypass surgery uses a band to segregate the stomach into two pouches. The doctors then reattach the small intestine to the upper half of the stomach, which is now significantly smaller. Bariatric surgeons typically only perform this type of surgery on someone who is morbidly obese, which is a body mass index or 40 or more. They will also perform gastric bypass on a patient with a body mass index of 35, if they also have a ‘co-morbid condition’ such as diabetes.

If you are not currently accepted for this type of surgery, you will have to control your diabetes using long acting insulins such as Lantus or Levemir. We recommend that you buy anti-diabetes medications online, at a Canadian pharmacy. This will significantly reduce the financial burden caused by a long term disease such as diabetes.

To see the original release, click here.

Lower Your Risk of Diabetes; Drink Water

February 6, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes - Did You Know?, Diabetes and Weight Management 

Drinks'

Everyone knows that drinking a good amount of water each day is not just essential to human life, but that it also provides us with a multitude of benefits for our health. Now researchers find another reason to keep guzzling the clear stuff; Drinking water can help lower the risk of diabetes.

Diabetes has become one of the most prevalent diseases in the United States, effecting people of all ages, races and sexes; developing diabetes will drastically alter ones way of life. So if there is anything that we can ever do to enhance our chances of never getting the disease, we need to take heed and follow suite.

As if there are not enough reasons that we should all stay well hydrated, now new research shows that drinking water can help to lower the risk of diabetes. Scientists have discovered that the hormone in our bodies, Vasopressin, which helps to regulate water retention, plays a role in how our bodies regulate blood sugar.

When the body is dehydrated, vasopressin levels rise, prompting the kidneys to hold onto water. At the same time, the hormone pushes the liver to produce blood sugar. So if a person is constantly dehydrated, this may strain the ability to produce or respond to insulin.

French scientists tested this hypothesis and tracked more than 3000 healthy men and women ages 30-65 for almost 10 years. At the beginning of the research all of the participants had normal blood sugar levels.

After nine years, 800 of the subjects had developed Type 2 diabetes or high blood sugar. For those subjects that consumed 17-34 ounces of water a day had a risk around 30 percent lower of developing diabetes than those people who drank less. The researchers did control the amount of other liquids that the subjects could consume (mainly just sugary beverages and alcohol), as well as the amount of exercise one could do. The researchers did not take into consideration eating habits, something that future studies may take into account.

The findings of this research were published last year in Diabetes Care, a publication of the American Diabetes Association.

Water is essentially the key to our preservation; all of us should make it a priority to ensure that our bodies do not become dehydrated. Though there is some evidence to show that proper hydration can help protect against high blood sugar, preventing dehydration will deter a whole slew of other health problems.

TCM Approaches Diabetes Treatment

December 5, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes - Did You Know?, Diabetes and Weight Management, Diabetes Research and News 

Chinese herbs

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is an ancient medical system that has been used in diagnosing and curing illness. It has been developed in China based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years. Now, TCM has been systematized in practice and has developed from the east to the western countries. It can effectively treat a variety of chronic illness, the body, mind, and spirit as a single entity.

Diabetes is a chronic disease with the high blood sugar in the body. The exact causes of diabetes are still not known. However, fatigue, lack of exercise, stress may play a role to develop diabetes. Diabetes cannot be cured, but appropriate treatment will help the blood sugar levels as normal as possible to prevent other health problems.

In the terminology of TCM, diabetes is also referred to “Wasting and Thirsting Disease”. It is believed to be caused by a collapse of the Yin of the Kidney, the Spleen, or the Lungs. Many researches have shown that TCM can be helpful for treating diabetes mellitus with scientific evidence. For the best practices, it is important to identify which organ is involved by Chinese medical diagnosis.

The Chinese practitioner may choose to use one or combined techniques for the diabetic care. It may depend on the history, causes, symptom, and types of diabetes. The TCM treatment will focus on regulating the Qi and blood and balancing the organ systems in order to improve the function of pancreas and blood sugar levels.

TCM has too much to offer to diabetic patients. A variety of TCM therapies for diabetes and diabetes symptoms include:

  • Acupuncture
  • Dietary therapy
  • Herbal medicine
  • Massage
  • Qigong or Taiji Chuan exercise

For information on conventional treatment for diabetes, visit the American Diabetes Association, or National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease (NIDDK) . This is not an endorsement of this organization, just a resource guide.

Eating Too Quickly Doubles the Risk of Insulin Resistance

November 8, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes and Diet, Diabetes and Weight Management, Diabetes Control 
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Yet another reason to listen to your mother and slow down and chew your food properly – eating too quickly has been associated with a doubled risk of developing impaired glucose tolerance, or pre-diabetes. As the name suggests, pre-diabetes is the forerunner to developing type 2 diabetes. Most diabetics have type 2 diabetes – a form of diabetes where your body no longer responds properly to insulin (called insulin resistance). Type 2 diabetes used to be described as non insulin dependent diabetes.

Insulin is the hormone that moves sugar (glucose) from the blood to the body’s cells to provide them with energy. If your cells do not use insulin properly, the pancreas produces more insulin that normal to cope with the body’s demands. Eventually, the pancreas cannot keep up, and excess glucose builds up in the bloodstream. Type 2 diabetes is characterized by high levels of glucose in the blood.

A recent Japanese study followed over 170 healthy individuals for three years, monitoring their eating habits. Snacking, eating late at night, skipping meals and eating out were not associated with developing pre-diabetes. The one and only eating habit associated with the development of insulin resistance was eating too quickly. Read the full article

Updated Glycemic Index for Diabetic Diet

October 24, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes and Diet, Diabetes and Weight Management, Uncategorized 
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insulin spike chartGlycemicEdge.com, a leading nutrition and health wellness community site, has updated and expanded its popular glycemic index food list and now features food scores from 12 categories of foods and nearly 200 individual foods.

The glycemic index is a scoring system which rates foods on a 0-100 basis according to their impact on digestion and insulin levels, based on the type of carbohydrates used. The glycemic index diet plan has become increasingly popular for wellness, weight loss, and has been particularly well received by pre-diabetics, diabetics, and those following a heart healthy cardiovascular health plan.

According to Wayne Mitchell of GlycemicEdge.com, the best part about the glycemic index diet is it’s realistic approach to choosing foods while not banishing carbs. “Low carb and no carb diets are really challenging to follow. They also don’t have the health benefits that “low GI” or good carb foods provide. With low glycemic foods, you get the benefit of feeling “fuller” with foods that put much less strain on your digestive system and pancreas, controlling the release of insulin.”

Another popular benefit for low glycemic foods is weight loss, as your metabolism adjusts and switches from primarily burning carbs as a fuel source to burning fat. Whole grains and complex carbohydrates are emphasized while simple carbohydrates and foods which result in a sudden, rapid insulin spike during digestion rank high on the GI scale and should be avoided.

“Our users love the ability to compare foods, find some surprising foods that are good low GI choices, and print and take lists with them when they do their shopping and planning for their families. About 70% of our users are moms planning for their families, and the charts and food lists are a great resource to make this easier for them.”

Users can print the lists for free and are invited to share questions and submit food scores of their own to help grow community awareness. Also featured are south beach diet food list and printable shopping guides.

Eating Red and Processed Meats Increases Risk of Diabetes

August 15, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes and Diet, Diabetes and Weight Management, Diabetes Research and News 
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A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that the more red meat people eat, especially processed meat, the higher their risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Processed meats include the American staples bacon, sausage, hot dogs and most packaged sandwich meats. The study did not establish why red and processed meats increased the risk of developing diabetes. One theory is that the high amount of nitrates used as preservatives in processed meats may increase insulin resistance.

Others theorize that the large amount of iron in red meat leads to high iron stores in the body, which have been associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. A third theory is that high meat consumption may contribute to obesity – a major risk factor for diabetes. The answer may lie in a combination of these factors.

To read more about the issue on WebMD, >CLICK HERE.<

New Protein May Help Treat Diabetes and Obesity

August 10, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes and Weight Management, Diabetes Control, Diabetes Research and News 
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G-Protein

ScienceDaily (2011-08-09) — A newly-identified protein may hold the key to keeping appetite and blood sugar in check, according to a new study. Researchers found that rats administered with nesfatin-1 ate less, used more stored fat and became more active. In addition, the protein stimulated insulin secretion from the pancreatic beta cells of both rats and mice.

“[The rats] actually ate more frequently but in lesser amounts,” says Unniappan, a member of York’s neuroscience graduate diploma program, and a recipient of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) New Investigator Award. “In addition, they were more active and we found that their fatty acid oxidization was increased. In other words, the energy reserve being preferably used during nesfatin-1 treatment was fat. This suggests more fat loss, which could eventually result in body weight loss,” he says. read full article…

Insulin has Direct Effects On the Brain

June 9, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes and Weight Management, Diabetes Medication, Diabetes Research and News 
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Credit: Gutenberg Encyclopedia

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research (MPINR) claim to have proven that insulin has direct effects on the reward centers of the brain.  In a recent article in Cell Metabolism outlining their work the MPINR team explained that they set out to better understand the “reward” aspects of food and how insulin influences brain function.

Unlike earlier studies that had focused on insulin’s effect on the feeding behavior related hypothalamus, the team focused on neurons in the brain that release dopamine, a brain chemical that plays a role in reward and motivation. They found that insulin causes the dopamine-releasing neurons to fire more frequently.

Mice whose insulin receptors were inactivated to no longer respond to insulin overate and became obese. They also showed an altered response to sugar and cocaine when their food supply was limited, further suggesting that the brain’s reward centers require insulin to function normally.

The findings suggest that insulin resistance may help to explain why many obese individuals find it so difficult to resist food and lose weight. “Insulin resistance may drive a vicious cycle,” explains MPINR’s Jens Bruning, “There is no evidence that this is the beginning of the road to obesity, but it may be an important contributor to obesity and to the difficulty we have in dealing with it.

The next step is to conduct functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in human subjects who have had insulin artificially delivered to the brain to observe its effects on their reward centers.

To read the article in Cell Metabolism, >CLICK HERE.<

Nutrition and Diabetes Control

May 25, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes and Diet, Diabetes and Weight Management, Diabetes Control, Diabetic Recipes 
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Photo: Ambro/FreeDigitalPhotos

Nutrition is vitally important in diabetes management and blood sugar control. About.com’s Nutrition and Diabetes page editors have compiled a wealth of information on healthy eating for diabetics including facts on carbs, calories, fiber and the all-important glycemic index; advice on surviving restaurant meals and holiday dinners, and even diabetes-friendly recipes and meal plans.

For those with an interest in alternative approaches, the Nutrition and Diabetes page also provides information on less conventional diets such as vegetarian, raw food and vegan. Other articles give you the lowdown on foods believed to have a positive affect on blood sugar and insulin resistance, such as fenugreek, prickly pear cactus and omega 3 fatty acids.

There are articles on sugar substitutes and hidden sugars, and nutrition facts and carb and calorie counts for individual foods like avocados, pomegranates, eggplant and watermelon (warning – very high carb!). The page also links to articles with recommendations for losing weight, specific diet tips for those with kidney disease, and even advice on healthy eating on a budget.

When making any major changes to your diet and/or activity levels, bear in mind they may impact your blood sugar levels and need for diabetes medication. Consult your healthcare provider about possible changes to your insulin dosage or other diabetes medicine.

To view About.com’s Nutrition and Diabetes page, >CLICK HERE.<

Scientists Discover Why Oral Diabetes Medication Causes Weight Gain

May 3, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes and Weight Management, Diabetes Medication, Oral Diabetes Medication 
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Thiazolidinediones, also known as glitazones, are a widely prescribed class of oral diabetes medications. The most commonly used thiazolidinedione is prescription Actos, also known as generic pioglitazone. Thiazolidinediones act by binding to a group of receptor molecules called PPAR-y which regulate the production of fat cells, improving their receptivity to insulin and therefore reducing insulin resistance.

Although effective, pioglitazone has a down side – one of Actos side effects is considerable weight gain. This is of particular concern to diabetics, many of whom have been instructed to lose weight to help control their condition. Read the full article

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