Diet Soda And Diabetes: Things To Consider

Diet Soda and Diabetes: Things to Consider

Diabetes is a condition characterized by high amounts of sugar in the blood. These high blood sugar levels are a result of the body's inability to either produce or use a hormone called insulin.
Insulin's role is to move sugar from the blood and into the cells of the body where it is used to make energy.
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Sugary sodas and diabetes
Diabetes is marked by high blood sugar, known medically as hyperglycemia. As such, drinks which have a lot of sugar in them should be avoided as they cause spikes in blood sugar.
There are three major types of diabetes:
Type 1 diabetes
In type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin. The immune system attacks the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. There is no direct cause of type 1 diabetes.
Factors that can increase the risk of type 1 diabetes include:
Drinking cow's milk at an early age may also play a role in type 1 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. The body is unable to use insulin fully or make enough of it to keep up with sugar intake.
Type 2 diabetes shows links to:
Inactivity
Genes
Age
Family history of type 2 diabetes
Gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes affects women during pregnancy. If the body cannot make enough insulin to carry the sugar to cells to be used or if there is insulin resistance present, the woman may be diagnosed with gestational diabetes.
One recent study posted in the BMJ found a link between drinking sugary drinks and the risk of type two diabetes.
Another study posted in Diabetes Care found that people who drink 1-2 sugar-sweete Continue reading

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Type 2 diabetes can be reversed in just four months, trial shows

Type 2 diabetes can be reversed in just four months by cutting calories, exercising and keeping glucose under control, a trial has shown.
Although the condition is considered to be chronic, requiring a lifetime of medication, Canadian researchers proved it was possible to restore insulin production for 40 per cent of patients.
The treatment plan involved creating a personalised exercise regime for each trial participant and reducing their calories by between 500 and 750 a day. The participants also met regularly with a nurse and dietician to track progress and continued to take medication and insulin to manage their blood sugar levels.
After just four months, 40 per cent of patients were able to stop taking their medication because their bodies had begun to produce adequate amounts of insulin again.
The researchers at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, said the programme worked because it gave the insulin-producing pancreas ‘a rest.’
"The research might shift the paradigm of treating diabetes from simply controlling glucose to an approach where we induce remission and then monitor patients for any signs of relapse," said the study's first author, Dr Natalia McInnes, of McMaster.
"The idea of reversing the disease is very appealing to individuals with diabetes. It motivates them to make significant lifestyle changes.
“This likely gives the pancreas a rest and decreases fat stores in the body, which in turn improves insulin production and effectiveness."
About | Diabetes
The number of people in the UK with type 2 diabetes has trebled over the last two decades, risi Continue reading

5 Stem Cell Innovations From The Past Year, From Cancer Treatment To Diabetes Therapy

Ten years ago, the topic of stem cells was shrouded in mystery, but now they're at the forefront of some of the latest innovations in biology and medicine. Stem cells have yet to change into a specific type of cell, such as a brain or skin cell. As a result, doctors can manipulate them into, well, any type of cell they want. However, the way that stem cells are being manipulated is anything but simple. Here is a run-down of five of the most fascinating stem cell innovations from the past year.
Stem Cells From Baby Teeth
Teeth are necessary for helping us chew our food, but once they fall out. they're useless; or not? The practice of tooth saving, or cryopreserving, has gained popularity, and for good reason. New research suggests the stem cells found in the pulp of teeth could be used to help people regrow their adult teeth (rather than needing a crown or dentures), and may even have other potentially life-saving regenerative medical benefits, CNN reported.
While still in its early stages, the idea behind tooth preservation is that no other stem cells work better than your own. By saving your baby teeth, or adult teeth that need to be removed through surgery, you may later harvest stem cells that may be used to fight certain cancers or even as therapy for brain injuries.
Read: Stem Cell Research: What Are Stem Cells And Why Is There So Much Controversy
Babies Cured of Leukemia
Leukemia is a type of cancer of the blood, and it starts in the bone marrow, which is where our stem cells originate. Traditional leukemia treatment involves a combination of chemotherapy and radiothe Continue reading

Caffeine and Diabetes: How Much Is Safe to Consume?

Navigating what you can and cannot eat and drink when you have type 2 diabetes can be tricky. Of course, there’s the obvious stuff you know is good to cut out or limit in your diet, like processed sweets and other refined carbohydrates, which can cause blood sugar levels to soar when eaten in excess. But what about those murkier diet staples, which seem to straddle the line between healthy and indulgent, but are ingrained in so many of our everyday rituals?
For millions of people in various cultures around the world, caffeinated drinks are likely the sort of thing that comes to mind when we talk about food or drinks in a healthy diabetes diet that aren’t so cut-and-dried. If you’ve recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or have been living with the disease for a while and are seeking better blood sugar control, the subject of caffeine in a diabetes diet is a fair concern.
Caffeinated Drinks for Diabetes: Are They Safe?
“For people already diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, studies have shown caffeine consumption decreases insulin sensitivity and raises blood sugar levels,” says Toby Smithson, RDN, CDE, who is based in Hilton Head, South Carolina. According to a review published in April 2017 in Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews, five out of seven trials studied found that caffeine increases blood glucose and keeps levels higher longer.
That doesn’t sound good, but if you’re accustomed to having your morning java, don’t skip out on the drink just yet. Some studies suggest that other components of caffeinated coffee may offer some b Continue reading

Diabetes-related kidney disease drops among Native Americans

Native American populations, heavily afflicted by diabetes during the last several decades, have seen a dramatic decrease in kidney failures often related to the disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention disclosed earlier this month.
The CDC announced that between 1996 and 2013 there was a 54 percent reduction in the number of diabetes-related kidney failures, called end-stage renal disease.
The data in the CDC report stated that Type-2 Diabetes still causes two out of three kidney failures in Native Americans.
Native American communities have the highest proportion of diabetes among all U.S. populations. About 16 percent of adult Native American people have diabetes, compared with the national average for all adults of 9.3 percent, or 29 million people, according to 2014 statistics from the CDC.
According to the Indian Health Service, a federal agency charged with improving the health of an estimated 2.2 million Native Americans (AI) and Alaska Natives (AN), an aggressive campaign to educate and treat diabetes, bolstered by the support of $150 million in annual federal funding through the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI), played a large part in the reductions. “We’re very rural … Our patients don’t have access like the rest of the country. It’s getting out to those people, identifying them and getting the resources.” — Jared Eagle, director of the Ft. Berthold Diabetes Program
“This decline is especially remarkable given the well-documented health and socioeconomic disparities in the AI/AN population, including poverty, limited heal Continue reading