Diabetes

Pitfalls of Diabetes Treatment Pathways

Last year, a national guideline-setting group abruptly withdrew a controversial diabetes standard it adopted in 2006 that called for aggressive control of blood sugar, or glucose. The change came after a large federal study indicated that lowering glucose too quickly or too much in some patients could harm or even kill them. 

In medical journal articles and elsewhere over the last year, some diabetes experts have lashed out at the group’s initial decision to approve the guideline, saying they warned back in 2006 that it was medically ill-advised for some patients. Click for the full story from The New York Times Aug., 18, 2009

Study: Some Water Bottles Linked to Diabetes

Sept. 16, 2008— An ubiquitous ingredient in plastics has been linked to diabetes and heart disease in adults, according to a study being released today, heightening concerns about the widespread use of the chemical BPA. Otherwise known as bisphenol A, BPA is the chemical once studied as a synthetic form of estrogen, but more recently known to leach out of some plastic water bottles and baby bottles, and that is found in all kinds of plastic products.

"We're talking about pacifiers, sippy cups, spoons, the bath toys, the chew toys ... everything," said Sommer Poquette, mother of two toddlers and author of the blog Green and Clean Mom. "It's hard to get a BPA-free product," said Poquette. The concerns of people like Poquette will likely be heightened by a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association in which researchers found a connection between BPA and diabetes and heart disease in adults. Scientists reviewed the health of 1,455 American adults and found that people with higher concentrations of BPA in their urine were slightly more likely to have heart disease and diabetes.

The researchers also estimate that most Americans are exposed to a higher level of BPA each day than the current Environmental Protection Agency recommendation. See full story by ABC News' Lauren Cox.

Link of Diabetes and Depression

TUESDAY, June 17 (HealthDay News from the WashIngton Post) -- The relationship between diabetes and depression apparently cuts both ways: Not only are people with treated type 2 diabetes at a heightened risk for developing depression, individuals with depression are also at risk for developing diabetes.

The research revelation suggests that both doctors and patients need to be more aware of the dual risks. "Doctors should have their sensitivity increased toward picking up on the potential for more of their diabetes patients and more of their depression patients having susceptibility to the other disorder," said Dr. Stuart Weiss, assistant clinical professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine.

Other Diabetes Blogs

Wall Street Journal Blog

Diabetes Self Management

Diabetes Mine

Diabetes Monitor

Diabetes Advocacy Blog

Battle Diabetes Blog

Study: Sugar Levels, BP and Cholesterol

The New England Journal of Medicine published a study in Feb 2008 showing that a three-pronged approach of managing sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol — combined with low doses of aspirin — prolonged the lives of people with diabetes. The patients who did best in that study did not reach the very low sugar levels that were the aim of the Accord study. Instead, their levels were just slightly higher than normal. Click here for the full report from The New York Times.

Causes of Diabetes

You have just been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, and the key question is what to do, when to do it and who to listen to. The disease if left untreated can undermine many of your bodily functions, and destroy your quality of life......and the life of your family. There are many avenues to take, and no perfect expert.

Other than the genes you inherited, there are several primary causes of diabetes:
1) Long-term diet that has been high in carbohydrates
2) Nutritional deficiencies.
3) Stress

Your body breaks down carbohydrates into sugar (glucose) which then enters your blood stream. The more carbohydrates you eat, the higher your blood sugar goes. In response, your body produces insulin. Insulin's job is to push the blood sugar into the cells. On the surface of the cells in your body are insulin receptors, which act like little doors that open and close to regulate the inflow of blood sugar.

After many years of consuming a high-carbohydrate diet (including potato chips), your cells have been bombarded with so much insulin that these doors begin to malfunction and shut down. With less doors open, your body needs to produce even more insulin to push the glucose into the cells. More insulin causes even more doors to close and as this vicious cycle continues, a condition called "insulin resistance" sets in. The insulin resistance can get so bad that your body can no longer produce enough insulin to push the blood sugar into the cells. The blood sugar then rises out of control resulting in type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is simply an extreme case of insulin resistance. The key point for you to understand is that your energy, wellness and longevity are primarily dependent on improving the sensitivity of your cells to insulin.

Stress? Researchers are slowly zeroing in on the long-suspected link between stress and type-2 diabetes, which accounts for 90 percent of all diabetes cases. Anxiety is now believed to exacerbate diabetes by raising levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which regulates insulin and blood-sugar levels. Obesity and a sedentary lifestyle remain the most treatable factors associated with type-2 diabetes, but stress management can also be very effective. Subjects who completed stress-management training, in which they were instructed in deep breathing and muscle relaxation, had significantly lower levels of hemoglobin. Click here for more information on stress.