Diabetes Cured In Mice. Are We Next?

Diabetes cured in mice. Are we next?

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According to the Center for Disease Control, 1.25 million people suffer from type 1 diabetes in the US alone. So far, it can only be managed with diet and regular doses of insulin, but scientists at UT Health San Antonio have invented a way of curing the disease in mice that may one day do the same for humans even with type 2 diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is a particularly unpleasant condition. It occurs when the pancreas ceases to produce the insulin needed by the body to metabolize sugar and, until the invention of artificial insulin injections, it was as deadly as cancer. Type 2 is the less severe form of the disease, where the body produces insufficient insulin; it can often be managed through diet alone.
Add some color to your diet with this recipe for rainbow sheet pan veggies, using Eggland’s Bes...
Surprisingly, diabetes is an autoimmune disease. Insulin is made by specialized cells in the pancreas, called beta cells, and sometimes the body's immune system turns against itself and attacks these beta cells, destroying them. Diabetes results when this destruction is over 80 percent.
Invented by Bruno Doiron and Ralph DeFronzo, the UT Health technique uses gene transfer to alter cells in the pancreases of mice to make them think they're beta cells and start making insulin. This involves taking selected genes from external beta cells and using viruses as carriers to move them into the new host cells, in the diabetic pancreas.
According to DeFronzo, the altered cells then produce insulin, but only in the presence of sugar, which is how a functioning beta cell is Continue reading

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The Diabetes Diet

What's the best diet for diabetes?
Whether you’re trying to prevent or control diabetes, your nutritional needs are virtually the same as everyone else, so no special foods are necessary. But you do need to pay attention to some of your food choices—most notably the carbohydrates you eat. While following a Mediterranean or other heart-healthy diet can help with this, the most important thing you can do is to lose a little weight.
Losing just 5% to 10% of your total weight can help you lower your blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. Losing weight and eating healthier can also have a profound effect on your mood, energy, and sense of wellbeing. Even if you’ve already developed diabetes, it’s not too late to make a positive change. By eating healthier, being more physically active, and losing weight, you can reduce your symptoms or even reverse diabetes. The bottom line is that you have more control over your health than you may think.
The biggest risk for diabetes: belly fat
Being overweight or obese is the biggest risk factor for type 2 diabetes. However, your risk is higher if you tend to carry your weight around your abdomen as opposed to your hips and thighs. A lot of belly fat surrounds the abdominal organs and liver and is closely linked to insulin resistance. You are at an increased risk of developing diabetes if you are:
A woman with a waist circumference of 35 inches or more
A man with a waist circumference of 40 inches or more
Calories obtained from fructose (found in sugary beverages such as soda, energy and sports drinks, coffee drinks, and Continue reading

Can You Have Hypoglycemia Without Having Diabetes?

Hypoglycemia is a condition that occurs when the sugar levels in your blood are too low. Many people think of hypoglycemia as something that only occurs in people with diabetes. However, it can also occur in people who don’t have diabetes.
Hypoglycemia is different from hyperglycemia, which occurs when you have too much sugar in your bloodstream. Hypoglycemia can happen in people with diabetes if the body produces too much insulin. Insulin is a hormone that breaks down sugar so that you can use it for energy. You can also get hypoglycemia if you have diabetes and you take too much insulin.
If you don’t have diabetes, hypoglycemia can happen if your body can’t stabilize your blood sugar levels. It can also happen after meals if your body produces too much insulin. Hypoglycemia in people who don’t have diabetes is less common than hypoglycemia that occurs in people who have diabetes or related conditions.
Here's what you need to know about hypoglycemia that occurs without diabetes.
Everyone reacts differently to fluctuations in their blood glucose levels. Some symptoms of hypoglycemia may include:
You may have hypoglycemia without having any symptoms. This is known as hypoglycemia unawareness.
Hypoglycemia is either reactive or non-reactive. Each type has different causes:
Reactive hypoglycemia
Reactive hypoglycemia occurs within a few hours after a meal. An overproduction of insulin causes reactive hypoglycemia. Having reactive hypoglycemia may mean that you’re at risk for developing diabetes.
Non-reactive hypoglycemia
Non-reactive hypoglycemia isn't necessarily re Continue reading

10 foods that can help prevent diabetes

Diabetes is an epidemic in the United States, with about 29 million people who have it, another 8 million who are undiagnosed and 86 million who are considered pre-diabetic, according to the American Diabetes Association.
Type 2 diabetes, the most common form, is a disease in which the body’s cells don’t use insulin properly. At first, the pancreas makes more insulin to get glucose into the cells, but over time, the pancreas can’t make enough to keep blood glucose levels normal and the result is type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes increases a person’s risk for several health conditions including high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke. It’s also responsible for as many as 12 percent of deaths in the U.S., three times higher than previous estimates, a January 2017 study in the journal PLOS ONE found.
Although genetics can increase your chances of developing type 2 diabetes, both diet and exercise also play a big role.
In fact, people with pre-diabetes who lost just 5 to 7 percent of their body weight reduced their risk by 54 percent, a study out of John Hopkins in July 2013 found.
Here, experts weigh in with 10 foods that balance your blood sugar and can prevent diabetes:
1. Apples
You might think fruit is off the menu because of its sugar content, but fruit is filled with vitamins and nutrients that can help ward off diabetes.
Apples are one of the best fruits you can eat because they’re rich in quercetin, a plant pigment. Quercetin helps the body secrete insulin more efficiently and wards off insulin resistance, which occurs when the body has to make more an Continue reading

Diet and Diabetes: Why Saturated Fats Are the Real Enemy

This is the seventh article in our “Controversies” series and the third piece focusing on the subject of fats.
Today, we are going to explore the very important relationship between saturated fat intake and the onset of diabetes.
As we mentioned in The Ultimate Guide to Saturated Fats, “Once we control for weight, alcohol, smoking, exercise and family history, the incidence of diabetes is significantly associated with the proportion of saturated fat in our blood.”
Today we will take a deep dive to fully understand why there is such a strong link between diabetes and saturated fat consumption. We will also discuss how a plant-based diet may protect you from (or even reverse!) the disease.
What Is Insulin Resistance?
Insulin resistance is a hallmark of both prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.
So what is insulin resistance exactly (and why is it important)?
Let me explain.
Insulin is what permits glucose (sugar) in the blood to enter our (muscle) cells.
In essence, insulin ‘unlocks’ the door, allowing the glucose to come in. If there is no insulin at all (the case of type 1 diabetes), the blood sugar ‘hangs out’ in the bloodstream because it cannot get inside. That causes the blood sugar levels to rise.
But what happens if the insulin is there but is simply not working properly? In that case, the lock to the cell door is ‘blocked.’ This is what is called insulin resistance.
So what causes insulin resistance in the first place?
Insulin resistance is caused by fat.
Fat build-up inside (muscle) cells creates toxic fatty breakdown products and free radicals that � Continue reading