Obesity Exacerbates Type 2 Diabetes-related Brain Abnormalities

Obesity exacerbates type 2 diabetes-related brain abnormalities

People with type 2 diabetes who are overweight or obese are more likely to have exacerbated and progressive abnormalities in the structure of their brains and cognition, find researchers.
The new research was the result of a collaboration between Dr. Sunjung Yoon and Dr. In Kyoon Lyoo, both of the Ewha Brain Institute at the Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea, and Hanbyul Cho, of The Brain Institute at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Their findings were published in Diabetologia.
Evidence suggests that type 2 diabetes and obesity independently have adverse effects on many organs, including the brain.
For example, type 2 diabetes is known to be associated with the progression of cognitive dysfunction and may amplify the risk of developing dementia. Scientists suggest that metabolic dysfunctions such as insulin resistance, inflammation, and poor sugar level control may all play a role in the brain alterations linked with type 2 diabetes, although exactly how this happens is not yet fully understood.
Obesity can potentially pave the way for the development of further conditions, and it is connected with a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Moreover, obesity has a relationship with metabolic dysfunction and may worsen the metabolic abnormalities that are associated with type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, the metabolic dysfunction that is linked to obesity may be responsible for brain alterations and cognitive impairment, regardless of the presence of type 2 diabetes.
Previous studies have found independent links between obesity and type 2 diabetes and ch Continue reading

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Top 3 Diabetes Myths, Busted: Fruit, Starchy Vegetables, and Blood Glucose

Almost 10 percent of Americans have diabetes and that number is growing. Unfortunately, the myths surrounding diabetes are as widespread as the disorder itself. Here we debunk the most common diabetes myths.
For the past 50 years, people diagnosed with all forms of diabetes have been advised to eat low-carb diets high in fat and protein, and to avoid eating high-carbohydrate foods like fruits, potatoes, squash, corn, beans, lentils, and whole grains.
Despite this popular opinion, more than 85 years of scientific research clearly demonstrates that a low-fat, plant-based whole foods diet is the single most effective dietary approach for managing type 1 and type 2 diabetes. This means that a low-fat diet—not a low-carb diet—has been shown across the board to minimize oral medication and insulin use, stabilize blood glucose, and dramatically reduce long-term disease risk in people with diabetes.
Myth #1: You Develop Type 2 Diabetes From Eating Too Much Sugar
Eating sweets is not a direct cause of type 2 diabetes. People develop type 2 diabetes over time by slowly developing a resistance to insulin, the hormone that escorts glucose out of your blood and into tissues like your muscle and liver. I like to think of type 2 diabetes as a very advanced form of insulin resistance in which glucose remains trapped in your blood because your body cannot use insulin properly. In this way, elevated blood glucose is a symptom of diabetes, and NOT the root cause.
The real cause of insulin resistance is dietary fat. We discussed it at length in this article. People with both type 1 and typ Continue reading

Can Diabetes Type 2 Be Reversed? Experts Answer

It is the burning question most, if not all, people with diabetes type 2 have: can my diabetes be reversed?
There is so much information, thousands of articles, home remedies that promise readers the ultimate chance to reverse their diabetes. It sounds too good to be true.
However, as with all things on the net and with our health, we must be wary of what we read and what is fed to us as information. Most articles recommend healthy eating and exercising as a way of reversing your diabetes.
These are two lifestyle changes that are easy to do if you put your mind into it. Does it work though? If it does, how can you go about doing this or where should you start? We reached out to 28 experts in the field who spilled the beans to us about the reversal of diabetes type 2 and whether it is a myth or a reality. To find out more, please keep reading.
1. Cheryl Orlansky RDN LD CDE
Diabetes is a progressive disease however it CAN be reversed. Bariatric surgery results have proven that losing weight in morbidly obese patients with Type 2 Diabetes reverses the disease state. Bariatric surgery outcomes have been studied over 10 years with lower rates of mortality and morbidity. Bypass surgery patients normalize blood sugars within days of the procedure.
Other factors may play a role in this disease reversal such as; less food intake, hormonal system changes such as the incretin system, possible malabsorption of nutrients and others are being researched besides weight loss. Diabetes Care; May 2017, 40(5)
Many patients with Type 2 diabetes can manage their disease with lifestyle factors v Continue reading

Can Type 1 Diabetics Eat Sugar Free Candy?

There are always questions asked as to what a diabetic patient should or should not include in his or her daily diet. Diabetes is complicated and as such, it is very natural to be skeptical about adding a particular food product in your meal plan. Today’s discussion revolves around the inclusion of the so-called sugar-free candies in the meal plan of a type 1 diabetic patient. So, join in for the article “Can Type 1 Diabetics Eat Sugar-free candy?”
Meaning of Sugar-Free
To start with, it is imperative we know the very meaning of the term sugar-free. According to the Food and Drug Administration, sugar-free means something that has less than 0.5 grams of sugar in one serving. In sugar-free foods, the sugar is substituted with either the artificial sweeteners or the sugar alcohols.
Typically, most of the artificial sweeteners are sweeter than even sugar but they do not break down in the body and hence, have no effect on the levels of blood glucose in most of the cases. Sugar alcohols, on the other hand, are less sweet than sugar and have an effect on our blood sugar levels as they are partially absorbed in our body. Let us learn more about sugar-free candies and their effect on the patients suffering from type 1 diabetes.
Can Sugar-Free Candy Raise Your Blood Glucose?
The question “Can Sugar-Free Candy raise Your Blood Glucose?” has become very common and the answer to the same is a Yes, it can. Let us understand how the same can happen:
When you say, sugar-free, it does not necessarily mean that the candy has no form of sugar or calories. There are a lot of things Continue reading

Sweet Potatoes and Diabetes: Are Sweet Potatoes Good for Diabetics?

Diabetes is a complicated disease to handle, you always need to be careful of what you are eating and in how much quantity. As such, there are a lot of questions as to whether including a particular vegetable in the daily diet of a diabetic is safe or not. In this article, we shall explore more about the relationship between sweet potatoes and diabetes.
Let us analyze and see whether including the sweet potatoes in the daily diet of a diabetic patient is healthy or not.
Carbohydrates and Sweet Potatoes
Let us first understand how carbohydrates are related to sweet potatoes or how much carbohydrate does this humble vegetable contain.
It is known that a medium sized sweet potato contains somewhere around 25 to 26 grams of carbohydrates. Included in this is around 3.8 to 4 grams of fiber.
If you take a cup and mash the sweet potatoes in the same, you will get around 58 grams of carbohydrates and around 8 grams of fiber.
Read Also: Best Low Carb Snacks for Diabetics
What makes the sweet potatoes healthy for a diabetes patient is the amount of dietary fiber found within the carbohydrate. This helps in stabilizing and maintaining a healthy level of blood glucose or blood sugar in a diabetic patient.
Reasons Why Sweet Potatoes are Good for Diabetes Patients
Following are a few reasons why sweet potato is a good vegetable option for all the diabetes patients:
The natural sugar present in sweet potatoes is considered healthy as it helps in controlling the blood sugar levels in the patient’s body. This also enables the vegetable in increasing the body’s sensitivity towards the ho Continue reading