Diabetes & Obesity: Does Being Fat Cause Diabetes? Know The Facts

Diabetes, a group of metabolic disease has plagued many thus far in the life. Synonymous as the condition where the blood glucose levels rise high up and cause disruption in the functionality of the body, diabetes is apparently one of the dangerous kinds around.
We here have been offering insights related to diabetes as part of our informative series for long. We’d further continue the segment with another one depicting the relation between obesity and diabetes. Read along as we impart our research-backed briefing on the subject.
The thing about Weight and Obesity
Human body rightly constitutes of the muscular weight supporting the skeletal frame of the body. However, there’s an optimum mark about it. The right weight of the body is what we call dream of. And therein lies the reality. The world is ridden with overweight and obesity.
Obesity has been one of the most persuasive and chronic illness engulfing many around the globe. The dispose of excess tissue around the body, obesity causes increased a number of fatty acids. Those fatty acids inflame the body and can cause multiple issues on the health.
One such peculiar thing about obesity is the lead up to diabetes, a metabolic disease affecting the blood sugar and glucose levels. And that’s what we’d be looking into this one.
A look into the risk factors offers quite an insight on diabetes. We’ll pursue the relation between weight and diabetes down below. Let’s head down.
The risk factors for diabetes
Diabetes as known by occurs when the insulin production in the body decreases which affects the balancing of blo Continue reading

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Diabetes and Dementia

With the number of over-65 Americans growing each day, it’s becoming ever more critical to spread awareness of the health changes that go along with aging, including the increased risks seniors face when they already suffer from a chronic disease.
When that disease is diabetes — the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, according to the CDC — caregivers need to be particularly vigilant of their aging loved one’s health in order to minimize associated risks like cardiovascular disease and stroke. Now, unfortunately, we can add dementia to that list of risks.
The Connection Between Diabetes and Dementia
In two studies published in Diabetes Care and the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found a potentially dangerous connection between diabetes and dementia. The link between the two is hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar.
“Hypoglycemia commonly occurs in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and may negatively influence cognitive performance,” says the JAMA study. “Cognitive impairment in turn can compromise DM management and lead to hypoglycemia.”
Because the brain uses glucose for energy, cognitive function can be impaired when blood glucose drops too low; severe hypoglycemia can cause neuronal damage, say the study’s authors — possibly leading to neurological issues like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Diabetes affects the production and regulation of insulin, a hormone that helps with glucose absorption by the blood, and that puts diabetics at risk for hypoglycemia. The Continue reading

Gestational Diabetes May Increase Risk Of Heart Disease

I was at the end of my second trimester, and the nurse filled a disposable cup with 50 grams of glucose powder – a tad less than the amount of sugar in a 16-ounce bottle of Coke – and sent me to the water fountain to dilute it.
I dutifully drank the sugary concoction that constituted the first part of the glucose screening test, a routine procedure used to help determine whether pregnant women have gestational diabetes mellitus, glucose intolerance that first becomes apparent during pregnancy. As I waited the required one hour until the nurse could draw my blood, I wasn’t particularly concerned. After all, I figured, even if I did have gestational diabetes, all it meant was a few months of careful eating and then the condition would disappear by the time I got to meet my baby.
I ended up being lucky enough to pass the glucose test in all my pregnancies, but as for the assumptions I made – well, they may have been commonplace, but it turns out they weren’t completely accurate. That’s because while gestational diabetes, which affects an estimated 5 percent to 9 percent of pregnancies, does disappear with delivery, it also leaves something behind: an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease for the mother.
“A woman with a history of gestational diabetes has a very high risk of developing diabetes later in life, even if their sugar goes back to normal after pregnancy, and that puts them at increased cardiovascular disease risk,” said Dr. Erin Michos, the associate director of preventive cardiology at the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Preventio Continue reading

Type 2 diabetes shares risk genes with heart disease

Using genome data from more than 250,000 people, scientists have identified gene variants that appear to alter the risk of both type 2 diabetes and heart disease - two leading causes of death and disease. They also suggest that the discovery could lead to treatments that use one drug to protect against both illnesses.
The international team, which was led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, accounts for the findings in a paper published in the journal Nature Genetics.
Around 95 percent of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes, which is a disease that develops when the body makes enough insulin but its cells lose the ability to use it to absorb blood sugar and convert it into energy.
The other 5 percent of diabetes cases are type 1 diabetes, which is a disease that develops when the body does not make enough insulin.
If not controlled, diabetes results in high blood sugar, or hyperglycemia. This can lead to serious health problems such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and vision impairment.
In the United States, where it is the seventh leading cause of death, there are around 30.3 million adults with diabetes, including 25 percent of people who do not know that they have it.
Diabetes and heart disease
The number of adult diabetes cases has more than tripled in the U.S. in the past 20 years, primarily as a result of an aging population and rising levels of obesity.
Worldwide, the prevalence of diabetes among adults has gone up from 4.7 percent in 1980 to 8.5 percent in 2014.
Diabetes is a known ri Continue reading

Are Artificial Sweeteners Safe for People With Diabetes?

As diabetes educators, we are frequently asked if sugar substitutes are safe and which ones are best. Over time there have been many sugar substitutes, and we always tell people that the one you use is a personal choice. They are safe for people with diabetes, and they can be used to reduce both your calorie and carbohydrate intake. Sugar substitutes also can help curb those cravings you have for something sweet.
You’ll find artificial sweeteners in diet drinks, baked goods, frozen desserts, candy, light yogurt and chewing gum. You can also find them as stand-alone sweeteners to add to coffee, tea, cereal and fruit. Some are also available for cooking and baking.
It’s important to remember that only a small amount is needed since the sweetening power of these substitutes is (at least) 100 times stronger than regular sugar.
There are currently six artificial sweeteners that have been tested and approved by the FDA—or placed on the agency’s Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) list. Numerous scientific studies have been performed on each of them to confirm they are safe for consumption.
The FDA has established an “acceptable daily intake” (ADI) for each of the products. This represents the amount of a food ingredient that can be used safely on a daily basis over a lifetime without risk. Here is a current list of sweeteners that have been approved by the FDA.
1. Acesulfame-potassium, also known as Ace-K
This is generally blended with another low-calorie sweetener.
Brand names include Sunett® and Sweet One®
It is stable under heat, even under moderately acidic or b Continue reading