Blind Cave Fish Beat Back Diabetes Symptoms That Would Kill People

[Editor's note: This story was updated on Sept. 22, 2017, to state that geneticist Cliff Tabin's remarks were made as part of his scientific talk.]
For months fish that live in dark caves in Mexico go without food. They have gone far longer—millennia—without light, evolving to lose their eyes and skin pigments.
Now researchers have discovered these strange creatures have another oddity. To survive their food-scarce environment, the fish have evolved extreme ways of turning nutrients into energy. These features create symptoms like large blood sugar swings that, in humans, are precursors of type 2 diabetes. But in the fish these changes are adaptations, not a disease. These cave fish lead long and healthy lives.
Understanding how the fish remain healthy in spite of these ominous symptoms may lead to new therapeutic approaches for treating diabetes in people, notes Cliff Tabin, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School. Tabin identified these features and described them last month at a meeting of the Pan-American Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology in Calgary. And he and his colleagues are beginning to get clues about how cave fish pull off this feat.
In humans and other mammals one of the first signs of type 2 diabetes risk is poor control of blood sugar (glucose). This happens because cells resist insulin, the hormone that signals cells to take in glucose from the bloodstream. If the problems continue, they progress into full-blown diabetes characterized by blood glucose levels of 140 milligrams per deciliter or higher, organ failure, leaky blood vessels, damage Continue reading

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Diabetes has 'quadrupled' around world in about 30 years, says WHO

The number of people with diabetes has quadrupled around the world over the last 35 years, according to a new report.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that diabetes is now a "serious threat to population health" as obesity fuels a rise in the disease.
And, while it was once more confined to richer countries, the 2016 WHO report warns that diabetes is now rising fastest in middle and lower-income countries.
Margaret Chan, director-general at the WHO, said those with diabetes in poorer countries were in particularly difficult situations.
"No longer a disease of predominantly rich nations, the prevalence of diabetes is steadily increasing everywhere, most markedly in the world's middle-income countries," said Dr Chan.
"People with diabetes who depend on life-saving insulin pay the ultimate price when access to affordable insulin is lacking."
Diabetes is a chronic disease which occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin - the hormone which regulates blood sugar.
Sufferers can have high levels of blood sugar as a result, which over time can lead to serious damage to many of the body's nerves and blood vessels,aeffecting the heart, eyes and kidneys.
While Type 1 diabetes is brought on in childhood for unknown reasons, Type 2 diabetes – the more common type – is largely the result of being overweight and not exercising.
Whereas about 108 million people suffered from the disease in 1989, that number has nearly quadrupled to 422 million by 2014, the report found.
And diabetes among adults has increased from 4.7 per cent of the global population 36 yea Continue reading

Diabetes Can Take a Toll on Your Emotions

And this psychological component may make it harder to control the blood-sugar disorder, experts say
Please note: This article was published more than one year ago. The facts and conclusions presented may have since changed and may no longer be accurate. And "More information" links may no longer work. Questions about personal health should always be referred to a physician or other health care professional.
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, May 17, 2012 (HealthDay News) -- Many people know diabetes -- both type 1 and type 2 -- can take a serious toll on physical health. But these blood-sugar disorders also can affect your emotions and, in turn, your emotions can wreak havoc on your diabetes control.
Extremes in blood-sugar levels can cause significant mood changes, and new research suggests that frequent changes in blood-sugar levels (called glycemic variability) also can affect mood and quality of life for those with diabetes.
Depression has long been linked to diabetes, especially type 2. It's still not clear, however, whether depression somehow triggers diabetes or if having diabetes leads to being depressed.
More recent research in people with type 1 diabetes has found that long periods of high blood-sugar levels can trigger the production of a hormone linked to the development of depression.
People with type 1 diabetes no longer can make their own insulin; people with type 2 diabetes need insulin treatment because their bodies can no longer produce it in sufficient quantities.
"Diabetes gives you so much to worry about that it's exhausting. It can make you feel powerless," Continue reading

Climate change may be upping your risk of diabetes

Global warming, already linked to countless human health problems, may be increasing the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes, including 100,000 or more new annual cases in the United States alone, according to a new study published in the journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care.
The worrisome finding comes at a time when the world is living through the hottest years on record, and the incidence of diabetes has reached epidemic levels. Worldwide, the number of people with diabetes has roughly quadrupled since 1980.
More than 29 million Americans have diabetes, and another 86 million have pre-diabetes, putting them at risk for developing the disease. People with diabetes either don’t make enough insulin (Type 1) or can’t use insulin properly (Type 2), resulting in a buildup of blood sugar. High blood sugar can lead to heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, and amputation of toes, feet, or legs.
To be sure, heat exacerbates many chronic health conditions, including diabetes. “Hot weather can be more difficult for people with diabetes,” says Mona Sarfaty, director of the Consortium on Climate Change and Health, who was not involved in the study.
“The heat keeps people from being active, which means they expend less calories, which can lead to more weight gain,” a major risk factor for developing Type 2 diabetes, she said. “Also, people with diabetes often have kidney problems. Dehydration — which comes with heat — can worsen kidney problems when people are dehydrated.”
The development of Type 2 diabetes has long been linked to the growing problem of o Continue reading

On a Sugar High? Diabetes Rates Are on the Rise for African Americans

So often I hear from patients that they are tired of getting the same prescriptions to ward off any number of chronic conditions affecting Americans today. While it may sound like a broken record, don’t tune it out. Yes, a good diet, ample exercise and shedding those extra pounds will reduce your risk for developing heart disease and high blood pressure, but did you know these healthy living strategies can all but prevent diabetes?
Most people don’t, and that helps to explain why the prevalence of diabetes is on the rise. Nearly 30 million people are living with diabetes today, and African Americans are nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed than whites. Alarmingly, the problem is even bigger than that statistic would have you think. Once diagnosed, African Americans are far more likely to suffer the most severe complications from diabetes, making the disease that much more devastating.
Untreated, diabetes patients are twice as likely to have heart disease or a stroke, and they have a higher risk for developing kidney disease, high blood pressure, eye trouble and nerve damage. Still, African Americans with diabetes fare much worse than the rest of the population. We are far more likely to suffer blindness and amputations, for example, and more than two and a half times more likely to be diagnosed with end-stage renal disease.
Why the discrepancy? As it turns out, there are many factors. Here’s a look at what’s happening behind the scenes, and what you can do to avert this largely preventable disease.
Awareness gaps. This is true for all racial groups, but African Am Continue reading