Diabetes Drug Counters Weight Gain Associated With Autism Medicines

Diabetes drug counters weight gain associated with autism medicines

Study offers hope for children and teens who struggle with common a side effect of medications for reducing autism-associated agitation
In a small new study, a commonly used diabetes drug curbed the troublesome weight gain that is a common side effect of the only two medicines approved for reducing agitation in children and teens with autism.
The promising results of the study – which took place at four centers in the Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network (ATN) – appear in the latest issue of JAMA Psychiatry. The research was made possible by the ATN’s federally funded role as the nation’s Autism Intervention Research Network for Physical Health.
Risperidone (brand name Risperdal) and aripiprazole (Abilify) are the only medicines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for reducing agitation and irritability in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These medicines become important when serious agitation – including aggression – does not respond to non-drug, behavioral therapy. However, both risperidone and aripiprazole commonly produce significant weight gain – a worrisome side effect given obesity’s many associated health risks.
Controlling a serious side effect of autism medications
"It's critically important that we investigate new ways to support healthy outcomes as early as possible for those who are on these medications," says pediatric neurologist Evdokia Anagnostou, the study’s principal investigator and co-director of the Autism Speaks ATN at Toronto’s Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. "Use of antipsychotics to h Continue reading

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Honey Monster has diabetes

Once the smiling face of Sugar Puffs, Honey Monster can now be seen injecting himself with insulin on the cereal’s redesigned box.
Honey Monster’s girlfriend Mary Fisher said: “He’s a 57-year-old marketing conceit and his hedonistic, sugar-heavy lifestyle is inevitably starting to catch up with him.
“While we all admire his commitment to the product, his hankering for the sugary cereal has become an addiction.
“We never talk any more, he only ever seems to talk to express a desire for more Sugar Puffs. Ten bowls are not enough for him.
“Last month he sold our bed on Gumtree just to get cereal.”
Fisher’s worst fear is that Honey Monster could end up like Cookie Monster, who was found dead in a seedy motel with a half a cookie clutched in his lifeless blue paw.
“It’s actually very irresponsible to brand a creature as being a ‘monster’ for a certain product, because then they try to live up to their own mythology – with tragic results.” Continue reading

Diabetes and Pizza: Can Diabetics Eat Pizza?

When a person suffers from diabetes, he or she is always worried of everything that he or she eats. The disease is complicated and even a slight mistake as far as diet is concerned could be disastrous and damaging on the health. One such concern is about the inclusion of pizza in the diabetes meal plan. In this article, we shall deep dive and see if a person suffering from diabetes can have pizza it will be good or bad.
So, join in for the article “Diabetes and Pizza: Can Diabetics Eat Pizza?”
Risks Associated with Eating Pizza for Diabetics
Let us look into the risks which eating of pizza can have in a person who suffers from diabetes:
The crust of the pizza we love is made up of white flour. This white flour is rich in refined carbohydrates, something which is not considered healthy for diabetes patients.
The crust of the pizza can give rise to the blood sugar levels of the body.
Besides, the pizza we get in restaurants and fast food joints usually contain a lot of cheese. Cheese, can come in the way of healthy weight management and hence, pizza should be avoided. Besides, cheese is also known to contain too much of sugar, again not a healthy option for the diabetics.
Pizza also tends to have very unhealthy toppings comprising meat, sausages, pepperoni, too much of salt, etc. which is really something that people suffering from diabetes should ideally avoid.
Thus, pizza is not a very healthy option for the diabetics. However, it also depends on what type of pizza you are eating. If you can manage a pizza with a thin dough, light cheese, and healthy toppings, the fast Continue reading

Food lobby rigs EU sugar laws while obesity and diabetes spiral out of control

The food and drink lobby is winning the fight over EU sugar regulation. As Corporate Europe Observatory’s new report “A spoonful of sugar” illustrates, existing laws are being undermined and much-needed measures fought off that are vital for tackling Europe’s looming health crisis.
An increasing number of people in Europe are struggling with obesity, heart disease and diabetes linked to excessive sugar consumption. This public health crisis has not stopped trade associations that represent the biggest players in the food and drink industry from resisting regulation at all cost: snacks, drinks, and processed foods that are high in sugar have the highest profit margins.
In total, the key trade associations, companies and lobby groups behind sugary food and drinks spend an estimated €21.3 million annually to lobby the European Union.
“A spoonful of sugar” highlights how, despite rhetoric about addressing the health crisis, industry lobbyists are derailing effective sugar regulation in the European Union.
Their strategies include:
Pushing free trade agreements and deregulation drives that undermine existing laws;
Exercising undue influence over EU regulatory bodies;
Capturing scientific expertise;
Championing weak voluntary schemes;
Outmaneuvering consumer groups by spending billions on aggressive lobbying.
Health policies like upper limits for sugars in processed foods, sugar taxes, and labels that clearly show added sugars are long overdue. We need lobby transparency and a clear division between the regulators and the regulated. Rules and guidelines that help pe Continue reading

#LCHF The genius of Dr. Joseph R. Kraft - Exposing the true Extent of #Diabetes

Recently acquired Dr. Kraft's excellent book: 'Diabetes Epidemic & You' - (Kindle version)thanks to George Henderson and Grant Schofield for switching me on to this. What a guy - see his pedigree here. Essentially he has decoded the hyperinsulinemia mess in society, unveiling the true extent. As we know, Fasting Glucose, Fasting Insulin and general measures of hyperinsulinemia track with atherosclerotic vascular disease (and other types of heart disease to be honest) - but not as much as one would expect - they are noisy variables. Proinsulin (good predictor of Hyperinsulinemic physiology) and direct measures of hyperinsulinemia/diabetes like Kraft's, are the real trackers. This book indicates why that is. Measuring the WRONG metrics has its consequences. It has led to an almost-criminal underestimation of Insulin issues as the primary driver for Vascular Disease, bar none.
Dr. Kraft properly measured people for Insulin/Diabetic issues - 14,384 of them, ages 3 to 90, over 20 years of proper/accurate '5 hour glucose with hourly insulin assays'. He accurately quantified essential Type 2 Diabetes (or not) in each person, and the prevalence was far higher than generally perceived from standard tests (the orthodox increase in T2D can be observed here). For these 16k people, he accurately measured their Insulin response to carbohydrate/glucose load, learning that there were 5 patterns of response. The first response 'Pattern I' is healthy or 'Euinsulin' as he called it - not many of the poor people achieved this however. Hidden diabetic phenomena far exceeded the levels that woul Continue reading