Drug That Lowers Blood Sugar To Combat Type 2 Diabetes ‘also Helps Fight Obesity And Heart Disease’

Drug that lowers blood sugar to combat type 2 diabetes ‘also helps fight obesity and heart disease’

A DRUG used to treat diabetes has been hailed a game changer after experts found it not only slashes blood sugar levels but can also protect against heart and kidney disease.
The drug, taken once a day, lowers blood pressure and combats obesity, one of the main causes of type 2 diabetes, a new study shows.
Canagliflozin, sold under trade name Invokana, reduces the overall risk of heart disease by 14 per cent and slashed the risk of hospitalisation for heart failure by 33 per cent.
And researchers from The George Institute for Global Health, found it also had a "significant impact" on the progression of kidney disease.
Professor Bruce Neal described the findings as "exciting", adding they offer real hope to people with type 2 diabetes.
He said: "Coronary heart disease is the biggest killer by far for people with type 2 diabetes.
"Our findings suggest that not only does canagliflozin significantly reduce the risk of heart disease, it also has many other benefits too.
"We found it also reduced blood pressure and led to weight loss.
"Type 2 diabetes is growing rapidly all over the world and we need drugs that not only deal with glucose levels, but that also protect the many millions of people from the very real risks of stroke and heart attack."
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Invokana is known as a SGLT2 inhibitor and is a relatively new drug, that works to block the body's reabsorption of sugar or glucose.
It is already available to patients in the UK, prescribed by doctors to help manage type 2 diabetes.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) stated in 2014 canagliflozin Continue reading

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Poor Diet Linked to Heart Disease and Type 2 Diabetes Mortality Rates

"You are what you eat" is a phrase that we have heard for years and years. Although this message may be stale at this point, it does make sense logically. Without nourishment, we could not survive. The types of food we eat and don't eat can play a role in our energy, mood, sleep, and overall well-being. Food is such an essential part of living that, over time, our daily choices can influence health.
In fact, poor diet has already been linked to obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, to name a few. But, could how you eat be more directly linked to your mortality? A recent study suggests that there may be a connection.
The study, titled "Association Between Dietary Factors and Mortality From Heart Disease, Stroke, and Type 2 Diabetes in the United States" and published in the American Journal of Medicine, concluded that in 2012, there were 702,308 cardiometabolic deaths in the United States, including those from heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. Of those people, almost half of them (45.4 percent) had a suboptimal intake of certain nutrients. Diet seemed to be linked most strongly to mortality in men (48.6 percent), people between the ages of 25-34 (64.2 percent), African Americans (53.1 percent), and Hispanic people (50.0 percent).
Each of the dietary factors were assessed based on two 24-hour food recalls, and all dietary intake was adjusted for total calorie consumption to reduce measurement error.
Self-reported demographics including, age, gender, race, ethnicity, and education were taken into consideration.
What the Study Tells Us
The Continue reading

More Evidence of Link Between Statins and Diabetes

7 Silent Symptoms of Diabetes That You Need to Know

Diabetes a metabolic disease that inhibits the body to produce or respond to insulin the way it is meant to. This results in abnormal metabolism of carbohydrates and raised blood sugar levels. Blood sugar levels stay high because the body does not release the much-needed hormone, insulin. Depending on what factors are causing the raised blood sugar level, diabetes can be diagnosed as either type 1 or type 2.
American Diabetes Association statistics show that a stunning 25% of people with type 2 diabetes don’t even know they have it.
Normally during digestion, the body is able to turn foods into glucose. The blood then distributes the glucose to the body’s cells. This is when insulin typically steps in to convert glucose into energy for the cells to either use or store. The process of converting food into energy is vital, as the body depends on proper fuel for every process and action it goes through each day. When insulin is ineffective, the bloodstream’s glucose cannot be converted into energy in the cells. As a result, glucose builds up in the blood, which leads to the high glucose levels that define diabetes.
Criteria for Diabetes
If the blood glucose level is over 200 mg/dl, diabetes is diagnosed.
If the blood glucose level is over 140 mg/dl two hours following a meal, pre-diabetes is concluded.
If the blood glucose level after sleeping or fasting for eight hours is over 126 mg/dl, diabetes is diagnosed.
If the blood glucose level after sleeping or fasting for eight hours is over 108 mg/dl, pre-diabetes is concluded.
Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is the less com Continue reading

Preventing Diabetes: Small Changes Have Big Payoff

If it's hard to imagine how small differences in lifestyle can make a big difference in your health, consider this story of identical twins Tim and Paul Daly. They shared almost everything in childhood, including the same eating habits, the same love of basketball and the same genes — some of which predispose them to diabetes.
Back in 1996, one of the twins was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
"When you first get diagnosed, it's like a punch in the stomach," says Paul Daly, who is now 60.
Or it's a wake-up call — if you're the identical twin. Since the disease runs in families, it seemed almost a certainty that Tim would develop it, too.
"Because we know that Type 2 is genetic disease, and since he has an identical twin, he has a risk that's about 95 percent," says diabetes expert Dr. David Nathan of Massachusetts General Hospital.
But 14 years later, Tim still does not have diabetes. And he doesn't take any medicine to keep his blood sugar down. Instead, he has been able to make small changes to his eating habits and exercise to keep diabetes at bay. He isn't alone — a large national study conducted at 27 sites around the country, including Massachusetts General Hospital, found that small lifestyle changes are far more successful at warding off diabetes than a drug.
Overweight And At Risk
Both Daly brothers had gained weight in middle age. It's just that one gained more than the other. In 1996, when he was diagnosed with diabetes, Paul weighed 220 pounds — too much for his 5-foot-10-inch frame. Looking back, Paul says he hadn't stuck with much regular exercise.
By c Continue reading