Nine Signs You're On A Fast Track To Diabetes – And What You Can Do About It

Nine signs you're on a fast track to diabetes – and what you can do about it

Anyone in need of a cautionary tale to emphasise the importance of Diabetes Awareness Week should look no further than Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks.
Last year, the star of Forest Gump and The Da Vinci Code admitted that he felt a "total idiot" after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2013. Hanks believes that he developed the condition as a result of his past poor diet.
"I was heavy," he said in an interview with the Radio Times. "You've seen me in movies, you know what I looked like. I was a total idiot.
"'I'm part of the lazy American generation that has blindly kept dancing through the party and now finds ourselves with a malady," Hanks added.
But could Hanks, who said that he was "feeling just fine" when he received the news three years ago, have predicted that he was heading for a diabetes diagnosis?
"Type 2 diabetes is the commoner form," says Roy Taylor, Professor of Medicine and Metabolism at the University of Newcastle, "accounting for around 90 per cent of all diabetes diagnoses.
"And whilst Type 1 can come on relatively rapidly, and be recognised through unexplained weight loss, Type 2 diabetes – which alone accounts for the current, weight-related epidemic of diabetes – typically comes on more insidiously."
According to the NHS website, "Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body doesn't produce enough insulin to function properly, or the body’s cells don't react to insulin. This means that glucose stays in the blood and isn't used as fuel for energy."
So, with more than one in 16 people in the UK living with diabetes, and a new diagnosis being made every Continue reading

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Excessive Daytime Sleepiness And Long Naps May Be A Sign Of Type 2 Diabetes

We all get tired throughout the day; 2 p.m. hits and suddenly you’re searching for the coffee pot with your eyes half closed. But could being tired throughout your day indicate something more? Researchers from the University of Tokyo found evidence that this might be so. Presenting their findings at the annual meeting of the European Association for the study of Diabetes (EASD), they have reason to believe sleepiness throughout the day, along with taking longer daytime naps may be linked to type 2 diabetes.
Sleep is not only a blissful experience, it is also essential to your health. Though we need a good night’s sleep to recuperate from our day, and consolidate memories from our waking hours, sleep in excess can be detrimental to our health. According to the study, led by Dr. Tomohide Yamada of the University of Tokyo, daytime sleepiness, along with napping, is rampant around the world. While most people know to keep their naps brief, others will nap for hours on end, and this can be potentially dangerous. In addition to this, researchers have found that naps can become habitual, as people will carve out a few minutes to a few hours each day just for sleeping.
To find the possible repercussions of excessive sleepiness and napping, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of a range of international studies regarding sleep and type 2 diabetes. Looking through various sources, including Medline, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science, researchers selected 10 studies consisting of 261,365 people. The studies came from a multitude of different countries, with research selected Continue reading

One third of Americans are headed for diabetes, and they don't even know it

One third of Americans may be on their way to developing full-blown type 2 diabetes, and most of them don't even know it.
A recent report from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that more than 84 million Americans, or roughly one-third of the population, have prediabetes, a condition marked by higher-than-normal blood sugar. Of that group, 90 percent aren't aware they have the condition.
The primary risk factors for type 2 diabetes are genetics and lifestyle — excess weight, obesity and lack of exercise contribute to this alarming medical trend. "People with prediabetes who don't change their lifestyle are at a much higher risk of developing heart disease and stroke and can develop type 2 diabetes within five years if left untreated," said William T. Cefalu, MD, chief scientific, medical & mission officer of the American Diabetes Association.
The health risks go beyond heart disease and stroke. As diabetes worsens over time, blindness, kidney disease and lower-limb amputation are also major health risks. Diabetes was the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States in 2015, according to the CDC. This population of diabetes "ticking time bombs" is particularly alarming, because in many cases type 2 diabetes can be avoided, simply by leading a healthy lifestyle. Type 2 diabetes is often progressive, and within 10 years of diagnosis, 50 percent of individuals need to use insulin to control their blood glucose levels, according to the ADA.
More than 30 million Americans — 9.4 percent of the U.S. population — are already battling diabetes, ac Continue reading

Two diet drinks a day could double the risk of diabetes, study finds

Two fizzy drinks a day could double the risk of diabetes - even if they are diet versions - a Swedish study has found.
Research by the Karolinska Institute on 2,800 adults found that those who consumed at least two 200ml servings of soft drinks daily were 2.4 times as likely to suffer from a form of type 2 diabetes.
Many fizzy drinks are sold in 330ml cans, meaning that one and a half cans would be enough to double the risk.
Those who drank a litre of such drinks saw a 10-fold rise in their chance of suffering from the condition.
The increased risks were the same regardless of whether the drinks were sugary or artificially sweetened, the research published in the European Journal of Endocrinology found.
Researchers said the sugary drinks may have induced insulin resistance, triggering the cases of diabetes.
The artificial sweeteners in the diet drinks may stimulate and distort appetite, they said, increasing food intake, and encouraging a sweet tooth. Such sweeteners might also affect microbes in the gut leading to glucose intolerance.
The research was a retrospective study, which relied on participants to recall their diet habits.
Josefin Edwall Löfvenborg, lead author, said soft drinks might influence glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity, leading to the increased risk of latent auto-immune diabetes, a form of type 2 diabetes.
“In this study we were surprised by the increased risk in developing autoimmune diabetes by drinking soft drinks,” he said. We next plan on investigating what could counter this risk.”
More research was needed into the impact of diet dri Continue reading

Half Of Adults In The U.S. Have Diabetes Or Pre-Diabetes, Study Finds

A national wake up call to intensify efforts to control the obesity crisis with added focus on diet, exercise and monitoring blood sugar
According to a study published online in JAMA today, nearly 50% of adults living in the U.S. have diabetes or pre-diabetes, a condition where a person already has elevated blood sugar and is at risk to develop diabetes.
Diabetes, a condition where blood sugar is elevated, may reflect lack of production of insulin to lower blood sugar (Type 1) or insulin resistance (Type 2), generally the result of obesity, poor diet or lack of exercise leading to the metabolic syndrome.
Diabetes is a costly disease in the U.S, racking up an estimated 245 billion in 2012, related to consumption and utilization of health care resources as well as lost productivity, according to the researchers in the study. Diabetes can damage blood vessels, the eyes and kidneys, also resulting in poor wound healing and devastating soft tissue infections. And nearly 71,000 persons die annually due to complications associated with diabetes, based on recent statistics from the American Diabetes Association.
Investigators in the study defined undiagnosed diabetes as those persons having a fasting blood sugar greater than 126 mg/dl or a hemoglobin A1C > 6.5 %, a measure of long term glucose control. Pre-diabetes was defined as having a fasting blood sugar 100-125 mg/dl, or a hemoglobin A1C of 5.7-6.4%.
Researchers evaluated 5,000 patients who were part of a national survey designed to assess the prevalence of diabetes and explore trends in different subgroups and ethnicities.
Re Continue reading