Google's Research In Artificial Intelligence Helps In Preventing Blindness Caused By Diabetes

Google's Research In Artificial Intelligence Helps In Preventing Blindness Caused by Diabetes

One of the principal causes of blindness is Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), a medical condition in which damage occurs to the retina due to diabetes. According to the United States National Library of Diabetes, more than 40 percent of Americans diagnosed with diabetes have some stage of Diabetic Retinopathy. The International Diabetes Federation estimates that are 415 million diabetic patients worldwide have the risk of DR.
Ophthalmologists diagnose the diabetic eye disease by examining the pictures of the back of the eye for lesions. The severity is identified by the presence of lesions that indicate bleeding and fluid leakage in the eye. Only experienced doctors and specialists can scan and interpret these pictures. There is an acute shortage of qualified ophthalmologists that can diagnose diabetic eye, which puts many patients at the risk of losing their eyesight.
Google Brain, the research team within Google that focuses on the application of AI, has collaborated with doctors in India and US to help them diagnose DR. The team has collected over 128,000 images that were each evaluated by 3-7 ophthalmologists from a panel of 54 ophthalmologists. These images were fed to a deep learning algorithm for creating a model to detect Diabetic Retinopathy. The performance of the algorithm was tested on two different datasets totaling to 12,000 images.
The predictions from Google Brain’s neural network algorithm were so close that it is considered to be on par with the diagnosis of experienced ophthalmologists. The application of Machine Learning (ML) in Diabetic Retinopathy is a brea Continue reading

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Understanding Diabetes

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A condition that affects how your body uses energy in the form of glucose from food, diabetes can be successfully managed through proper self-monitoring, medication and lifestyle changes. People with diabetes have a high level of glucose in their blood, which can be caused by either too little insulin being produced by the pancreas or the body not accepting or using the insulin it produces, or a combination of both.
People with diabetes need to keep their blood sugar levels within a healthy range. Blood sugar levels are controlled through diet, physical activity and, for some people, a combination of medication and insulin injections.
Understanding Insulin
Insulin is a hormone your cells need to store and use energy from food, and it is responsible for getting glucose into your cells. If you have diabetes, insulin is not able to do its job. Meaning, glucose is unable to get into cells, which causes it to build up in your blood. High levels of glucose then circulate through the body, damaging cells along the way.
Types of Diabetes
Type 1 Diabetes: An autoimmune disease in which the pancreas cannot make insulin or makes very little. Type 1 diabetes often begins in childhood (it was previously known as "juvenile diabetes"), and the onset is sudden. People with Type 1 diabetes need daily insulin injections or an insulin pump. Just 5% of people with diabetes have Type 1 diabetes, which cannot be prevented through diet or lifestyle.
Type 2 Diabetes: A chronic disease in which the pancreas makes insulin, but it does not make enough or the body doesn't use the Continue reading

10 Indian Foods for Type 2 Diabetes Prevention and Control

Type 2 Diabetes or Diabetes mellitus is one such lifestyle condition which can be easily managed with a good diabetic diet and weight loss. In this blog, we present to you the top 10 best foods for diabetics that one must include in the diet.
Now avail a Diabetes Weight Management Consultation with Superfoods from an expert Truweight Nutritionist, for FREE! Click and get started.
A Diabetes Diet plays a crucial role in dealing with the disease. Hence it is very important to know which foods can help. A typical diet plan for type 2 diabetes should contain healthy fruits and veggies. However, there are certain superfoods like Quinoa, Oats, Bitter Gourd, legumes which are not that popular but can greatly help managing diabetes.
10 Superfoods for Type 2 Diabetes patients
Fenugreek Seeds
Psyllium Seeds
Millets
Bitter gourd
Oats
Seeds
Brown rice
Quinoa
Cinnamon
Legumes
We have compiled the list of 10 superfoods for Type 2 Diabetes management in the video below.
1. Fenugreek Seeds
Fenugreek seeds or methi seeds are one of the top superfoods for diabetes mellitus prevention and control. Studies have found that fenugreek helps lower the blood sugar by affecting the rate of digestion of starch and other carbs. In addition, several clinical trials seem to have shown methi seeds to reduce the metabolic conditions seen commonly in diabetes mellitus. A study even found that 100 grams of fenugreek seeds seemed to lower the fasting blood sugar levels.
2. Psyllium Seeds
Psyllium husk is one the major foods for diabetes that you can incorporate in the diet. In the digestive system, viscous f Continue reading

What to Eat When You Have Both IBS and Diabetes

Some people have the misfortune of having to deal with IBS and diabetes at the same time. Little information is available as to how many people struggle with the two health problems together. What seems to be the case, however, is that IBS and diabetes are two distinct disorders, with no physiological overlap. Therefore, it appears to be just plain bad luck to be stuck with the two.
IBS and diabetes do share one thing in common—a complicated relationship with food.
This can make the job of figuring out what to eat quite challenging. If you have both IBS and diabetes, it might be a good idea to work with a nutritionist who is knowledgeable about both disorders in order to come up with a balanced food plan that is optimal for stabilizing blood sugar, while avoiding foods that may trigger IBS symptoms. The following discussion covers some of the factors that you may want to consider as you seek a dietary plan that works for you.
What to Eat for Diabetes
If you have been diagnosed with either type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes, you have hopefully discussed diet with your doctor and perhaps have worked with a nutritionist. Type 1 diabetes requires that you take special care with meal planning, while type 2 diabetes requires more of a focus on weight loss and control. Information on optimal diets for type 1 and 2 diets can be found here:
What to Eat for IBS
Unlike diabetes, the relationship between food and IBS symptoms is a somewhat controversial subject.
For years, the medical establishment downplayed the role of food as a trigger or explanation for IBS distress. This approac Continue reading

Legumes may lower risk of type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is a serious health concern in the United States and across the globe. New research shows that a high consumption of legumes significantly reduces the risk of developing the disease.
The legume family consists of plants such as alfalfa, clover, peas, peanuts, soybeans, chickpeas, lentils, and various types of beans.
As a food group, they are believed to be particularly nutritious and healthful. One of the reasons for this is that they contain a high level of B vitamins, which help the body to make energy and regulate its metabolism.
Additionally, legumes are high in fiber and contain minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium. They also comprise a variety of so-called phytochemicals - bioactive compounds that further improve the body's metabolism and have been suggested to protect against heart disease and diabetes.
Finally, legumes are also considered to be a "low glycemic index food," which means that blood sugar levels increase very slowly after they are consumed.
To make people aware of the many health benefits of legumes, the year 2016 has been declared the International Year of Pulses by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Pulses are a subgroup of legumes.
Because of their various health benefits, it has been suggested that legumes protect against the onset of type 2 diabetes - a serious illness that affects around 29 million people in the U.S. and more than 400 million adults worldwide. However, little research has been carried out to test this hypothesis.
Therefore, researchers from the Unit of Human Nutrition at the Continue reading