Could Diabetes Spread Like Mad Cow Disease?

Could diabetes spread like mad cow disease?

Prions are insidious proteins that spread like infectious agents and trigger fatal conditions such as mad cow disease. A protein implicated in diabetes, a new study suggests, shares some similarities with these villains. Researchers transmitted diabetes from one mouse to another just by injecting the animals with this protein. The results don’t indicate that diabetes is contagious like a cold, but blood transfusions, or even food, may spread the disease.
The work is “very exciting” and “well-documented” for showing that the protein has some prionlike behavior, says prion biologist Witold Surewicz of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, who wasn’t connected to the research. However, he cautions against jumping to the conclusion that diabetes spreads from person to person. The study raises that possibility, he says, but “it remains to be determined.”
Prions are misfolded proteins that can cause normally folded versions of the same protein to misfold themselves. When this conversion occurs in the brain, the distorted proteins bunch up inside cells and kill them. Although prion diseases are rare in people, they share some similarities with more common illnesses. In Alzheimer’s disease, for instance, globs of a misshapen protein known as β amyloid build up in the brain. Parkinson’s disease and Huntington disease, two other brain maladies, also feature aggregates, or lumps of misfolded proteins.
Get more great content like this delivered right to you!
By signing up, you agree to share your email address with the publication. Information provide Continue reading

Rate this article

Total 1 ratings

Diabetic Diet: Foods That Raise Your Blood Sugar Levels

There is no single diabetes diet, meal plan, or diet that is diabetes-friendly that can serve as a correct meal plan for all patients with diabetes (type 2, gestational, or type 1 diabetes).
Glycemic index, carbohydrate counting, the MyPlate method, and the TLC diet plan are all methods for determining healthy eating habits for diabetes management.
The exact type and times of meals on a diabetic meal plan depend upon a person's age and gender, how much exercise you get and your activity level, and the need to gain, lose, or maintain optimal weight.
Most diabetic meal plans allow the person with diabetes to eat the same foods as the rest of the family, with attention to portion size and timing of meals and snacks.
Eating a high-fiber diet can help improve blood cholesterol and blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Glycemic index is a way to classify carbohydrates in terms of the amount that they raise blood sugar. High glycemic index foods raise blood sugar more than lower index foods.
Some patients with type 2 use supplements as complementary medicine to treat their disease. However, there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of supplements in treating the disease.
A diabetes meal plan (diabetes diet) is a nutritional guide for people with diabetes that helps them decide when to consume meals and snacks as well as what type of foods to eat. There is no one predetermined diabetes diet that works for all people with diabetes. The goal of any diabetic meal plan is to achieve and maintain good control over the disease, including control of blood glucose and b Continue reading

How to prevent type 2 diabetes: Six useful steps

Type 2 diabetes is a serious but common disease that can harm many organs of the body.
Currently, 40 percent of people in the United States are expected to develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime.
There are ways to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. This article will look at six of them.
Overview of diabetes
Diabetes mellitus, or diabetes, refers to a group of metabolic diseases where the body does not adequately produce insulin or use insulin properly. Insulin plays a crucial role in delivering glucose, or sugar, into the cells where it is then used for energy.
People with untreated or poorly managed diabetes have abnormally high levels of glucose in their blood. This can lead to organ damage and other complications.
Too much glucose in the blood is called hyperglycemia. Symptoms include fatigue, blurry vision, hunger, increased thirst, and frequent urination.
Type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, accounting for about 90-95 percent of all diagnosed cases. In type 2 diabetes, the body develops a resistance to insulin.
This means the body can't use insulin to absorb blood sugar into the cells to be used for energy. Some people with type 2 diabetes may stop producing enough insulin to keep blood sugar levels within normal ranges.
Type 2 diabetes usually affects people who are older. It emerges more slowly than type 1 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes may not have noticeable symptoms. A person may have type 2 diabetes without knowing it.
Treatment of type 2 diabetes involves diet, exercise, and sometimes medications. Lifestyle changes can a Continue reading

Does Sugar Cause Diabetes?

The recent film What the Health raised the question as to whether sugar or other carbohydrates cause diabetes. Because blood sugar levels are high in diabetes, a common notion has held that eating sugar somehow triggers the disease process. The American Diabetes Association and Diabetes UK have labeled this notion a “myth,” as has the Joslin Diabetes Center, which wrote, “Diabetes is not caused by eating too much sugar.” These and other organizations have worked to educate people about the causes of diabetes and the role that foods play in the disease process.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. Type 2 diabetes—the most common form of the disease—is caused by insulin resistance and pancreatic failure. Sugar can play an aiding and abetting role in diabetes, but the idea that “eating sugar causes diabetes” is simplistic and interferes with efforts to help the public understand the actual causes of the disease and how to protect themselves and their families. Here is what you need to know:
The human body runs on glucose, a simple sugar. Just as gasoline powers your car, glucose powers your muscles, your brain, and the rest of your body. Glucose comes from fruit and from starchy foods, such as grains, beans, and potatoes, and your body can also produce it when needed. Without it, you would die.
Diabetes means having higher-than-normal blood glucose values. It comes in three common forms:
Type 1 diabetes is caused by the destruction of the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas, usually through an autoimmune process. The triggers for this process are under Continue reading

Apple has a secret team working on the holy grail for treating diabetes

Apple has hired a small team of biomedical engineers to work at a nondescript office in Palo Alto, California, miles from corporate headquarters.
They are part of a super secret initiative, initially envisioned by the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, to develop sensors that can noninvasively and continuously monitor blood sugar levels to better treat diabetes, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Such a breakthrough would be a "holy grail" for life sciences. Many life sciences companies have tried and failed, as it's highly challenging to track glucose levels accurately without piercing the skin.
The initiative is far enough along that Apple has been conducting feasibility trials at clinical sites across the Bay Area and has hired consultants to help it figure out the regulatory pathways, the people said.
The efforts have been going on for at least five years, the people said. Jobs envisioned wearable devices, like smartwatches, being used to monitor important vitals, such as oxygen levels, heart rate and blood glucose. In 2010, Apple quietly acquired a company called Cor, after then-CEO Bob Messerschmidt reportedly sent Jobs a cold email on the topic of sensor technologies for health and wellness. Messerschmidt later joined the Apple Watch team.
The glucose team is said to report to Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies. According to one of the sources, it was previously led by Michael D. Hillman, who left Apple in late 2015 and later joined Facebook's Oculus as head of hardware. Hillman's LinkedIn page lists him as having had Continue reading