Not too long ago, many of us didn’t know anyone who had diabetes. Now, it’s almost impossible not to know someone who has it. Diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes, has exploded and continues to do so in the western world. A disease once rarely seen in children, type 2 diabetes is now affecting them in large numbers, grossly affecting their health as adults.
According to the American Diabetes Association:

24 million children and adults in the United States live with diabetes
57 million Americans are at risk for type 2 diabetes
1 out of every 3 children born today will face a future with …read more

People are often being told to exercise, particularly if they have a chronic disease, such as type 2 diabetes. But exercise isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Some people may enjoy walking, others don’t. Some may like going to a gym or taking an exercise class, and again, others don’t. But how about an activity like tai chi? It’s a gentle moving exercise that doesn’t stress the body and may be more enjoyable to you.
Researchers looked at the effect of tai chi (also spelled t’ai chi) on 62 senior Koreans. Their research was published earlier this year in The Journal of …read more

Diabetes is a disease that can’t be cured yet; it can only be controlled. Part of the control is with your diet, and carbohydrate and caloric intake, so you need to be able to figure this out. If your diabetes is being controlled by insulin, it’s essential that you understand the numbers behind your blood glucose (sugar) levels and the amount of insulin you must take every day.
Unfortunately, not everyone does well in arithmetic or math in school, or may  be educated. This can prove to be a significant stumbling block for proper control of diabetes. Interestingly, much has been …read more

Have you been diagnosed with diabetes? Whether you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, or you’re considered to be prediabetes, you likely have many questions. While your best bet to answer questions about your health care is your own doctor, nurse, or dietitian, sometimes they’re not available or can’t give you the one-on-one time that you feel you need. To deal with this, online coaching services have begun to spring up for particular illnesses, such as diabetes.
I received an email from one such service, Fit4D, a personalized diabetes coaching service. In it, they announce a free 2-day On-Line Open …read more

Type 2 diabetes is on the rise. It’s one of the diseases afflicting humans that is often preventable. Preventable because lifestyle plays a large role in the development of type 2 diabetes.
Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is different from type 2 – it’s caused by the pancreas’ inability to produce insulin. On the other hand, in type 2 diabetes, the pancreas does produce insulin but either not enough or the body can’t properly use the insulin that’s being produced.
It used to be that type 1 diabetes was called juvenile diabetes and then the name changed to insulin-dependent diabetes. Originally, it …read more

Avandia (rosiglitazone), a medication for people with type 2 diabetes, has been the subject of studies evaluating its safety and the results aren’t what Glaxo (the manufacturer) had hoped for. According to researchers in Toronto, Canada, elderly people who take Avandia may have an increased risk of heart failure and death.
The researchers didn’t, however, find the same results that American researchers found two years earlier, which suggested that Avandia also increased the risk of heart attacks. The Canadian researchers found no difference between patients who took Avandia and another type of medication, Actos (pioglitazone), and the rate of heart attacks …read more

The FDA in the United States has approved a new medication for the management of type 2 diabetes. Onglyza (saxagliptin) is taken once a day to help normalize blood sugar levels.
Currently, management of type 2 diabetes includes a lifestyle component (healthy diet and exercise) as the first part. If lifestyle changes don’t help regulate blood sugar issues or the diabetes is too severe, doctors have a few options for medications.
Usually, type 2 diabetes is managed first with oral antihyperglycemics, pills that help the pancreas and insulin work more effectively. The main difference between type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes …read more

I just found a call for a study I’d volunteer for but – alas – I don’t fit the criteria, nor do I don’t live in Norwich, Norfolk in the United Kingdom.
Researchers there are looking in to the health effects of dark chocolate and they’re recruiting 40 non-smoking women, 75 years or younger, who are postmenopausal (no menstrual period for at least a year), who have type 2 diabetes, and who have been taking cholesterol-lowering medications. The goal is to find if specially made chocolate, with flavonoid compounds, helps decrease the chances of the women developing heart disease.
The trade-off for …read more

We know that obesity puts you at a higher risk for developing Type 2 Diabetes, but a recent study has found a link between “insecticides present in that fat.” Obese individuals with lower levels of organochlorine insecticides in their blood didn’t have diabetes (or insulin resistance) that other obese individuals did.

This could be one reason why certain people do not get Type 2 Diabetes, despite being overweight and out of shape.
One insecticide in particular, chlordane, was used to fight termite infestations in “approximately 30 million homes from the 1950s until it was banned in 1988.” The vapors of …read more

Diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) go hand-in-hand. People with diabetes are two to four times more likely to develop CVD with CVD being the leading cause of death in diabetic individuals.
Cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity, physical inactivity, abnormal blood lipid pattern, hypertension and smoking predispose a person to atherosclerosis. Evidence also suggests that insulin resistance itself, independent of other risk factors, could be a major determinant of atherosclerosis.
For the latest news and info on diabetes, check out our sister b5media blog: Diabetes Notes.