Recommended Blood Glucose Numbers

Depending on where you look, recommended blood glucose levels can vary. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) numbers differ from the American College of Endocrinology (ACE) guidelines. The ACE recommendations happen to be a bit more strict than the ADA's. If you are someone with diabetes, how do you know which to follow?
Be sure to ask your healthcare provider which goals are right for you. Blood sugar targets should be individualized based on a variety of factors, including things like, age, life expectancy, blood sugar control, medicine, other health issues, etc.
The table below compares the general recommendations of the two sets of guidelines for both blood glucose pre and post meals as well as hemoglobin A1C (three month average of blood sugar).
How Many Times a Day Should You Check Your Blood Glucose Levels?
Checking your blood glucose levels throughout the day will help you to figure out how to keep your blood sugar in good control. Your numbers can help you pattern manage and learn how to identify how food, exercise, stress, and illness, to name a few, affects your blood sugar control. First thing in the morning (when you are fasting for at least 8 hours) before breakfast, two hours after a meal and before bed are good times to test. Other recommended times include before, during, and after an exercise session, especially if it is strenuous or if you are feeling like your blood sugar may be low or high. Your certified diabetes educator or health care provider will help you develop a routine that makes sense for you.
Typically, people who take insulin or are on ot Continue reading

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Preventing and Treating Canine Diabetes

The growing diabetes epidemic is not limited to people—diabetes mellitus is increasing among dogs as well. Researchers estimate that one in 200 dogs will develop the disease. Fortunately, treatment has made huge strides in recent years, and as a result, dogs with diabetes are living longer, healthier lives.
The mechanism of diabetes is relatively simple to describe. Just as cars use gas for fuel, body cells run on a sugar called glucose. The body obtains glucose by breaking down carbohydrates in the diet. Cells then extract glucose from the blood with the help of insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas in specialized cells called beta cells. (The pancreas, an organ situated behind the stomach, produces several hormones.) In diabetes mellitus, cells don’t take in enough glucose, which then builds up in the blood. As a result, cells starve and organs bathed in sugary blood are damaged. Diabetes is not curable, but it is treatable; a dog with diabetes may live many happy years after diagnosis.
Kinds of Diabetes
Humans are subject to essentially three kinds of diabetes. By far the most common is Type 2, followed by Type 1 and gestational diabetes. Type 2 diabetes has typically been a disease of middle and old age (though it is being seen increasingly in young people), and has two causes: The beta cells don’t make enough insulin, or muscle cells resist insulin’s help and don’t take in enough glucose (or both). As a result, blood glucose levels climb. Type 1 diabetes usually occurs when the immune system attacks and destroys the beta cells, cutting off insulin productio Continue reading

What Are Diabetic Socks?

Most diabetic socks on the market are socks that are made to keep the feet dry, decrease the risk of foot injury, and avoid preventing or slowing blood circulation. They usually are made of materials that have superior abilities to wick away moisture, are fitted, padded, and nonbinding, and do not have seams.
Why People With Diabetes Need Special Socks
People with diabetes are at higher risk of foot injuries and infection due to damage to their circulatory and nervous systems caused by high blood sugar levels.
Nerve damage, or neuropathy, decreases sensation and increases risk of injury, especially on the bottom of the feet. It can also cause a patient to be unaware of an injury and delay treatment. Circulatory problems make it harder for wounds to heal because it is difficult for them to benefit from the healing properties of the bloodstream. High blood sugar levels also can create a sluggish immune system. These problems can create a situation that could lead to amputation or even death.
Clearly, foot care is an extremely important consideration for someone with diabetes.
What If I Don't Have Any Foot Issues?
People with diabetes who have "normal" feet can wear whatever comfortable socks they like. They should not be tight, constricting, lumpy, or have seams that are uncomfortable. Do not use socks that can lead to injuries, such as friction blisters. Fitted socks are a better choice than tube socks.
What If I Have Decreased Sensation?
In people with diabetes who are at higher risk for developing ulcers because they cannot sense pressure, a good choice may be a densely pa Continue reading

Okra Cures Diabetes?

Claim: Drinking water in which okra has been soaked overnight will make “diabetes go away.”
TRUE: Okra may have some beneficial effect in helping to regulate blood sugar levels.
FALSE: Okra can “cure diabetes” or eliminate the need for diabetics to take insulin.
Examples: [Collected via Facebook, January 2014]
Someone posted that soaking okra ends in water over night and drinking the water next day helps cure blood sugar levels in diabetics, is this true.
Origins: An item widely circulated via social media in January 2014 (shown above) advocated cutting the ends off a few okra slices, soaking the slices in water overnight, then drinking the water the following morning as a way of making “diabetes go away” and eliminating the need for
diabetics to take insulin shots.
There is a bit of truth to this claim in the sense that okra (also known as lady’s finger, bendi, and gombo) does possess some anti-diabetic properties, namely that the viscosity of okra’s carbohydrates helps to slow the uptake of sugar into the blood by reducing the rate at which sugar is absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, thereby reducing the glycemic load of glucose in the blood that can disrupt the body’s ability to properly process the sugars (and that in some cases can lead to the onset of diabetes):
Soluble fiber, found in porridge oats, okra, strawberries and aubergines among other foods, forms a kind of gel inside the bowels. This slows down the absorption of food from the gut, evening out the peaks in blood glucose that occur after meals. Soluble fiber also draws in bile acids Continue reading

Global Diabetes Rates Are Rising as Obesity Spreads

WASHINGTON — The global diabetes rate has risen by nearly half over the past two decades, according to a new study, as obesity and the health problems it spawns have taken hold across the developing world.
The prevalence of diabetes has been rising in rich countries for several decades, largely driven by increases in the rate of obesity. More recently, poorer countries have begun to follow the trend, with major increases in countries like China, Mexico and India.
The study, published Monday in the British medical journal The Lancet, reported a 45 percent rise in the prevalence of diabetes worldwide from 1990 to 2013. Nearly all the rise was in Type 2, which is usually related to obesity and is the most common form of the disease.
A major shift is underway in the developing world, in which deaths from communicable diseases like malaria and tuberculosis have declined sharply, and chronic diseases like cancer and diabetes are on the rise. The pattern is linked to economic improvement and more people living longer, but it has left governments in developing countries scrambling to deal with new and often more expensive ways to treat illnesses.
The study, led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a research group, was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It is the largest analysis of global disability data to date, drawing on more than 35,000 data sources in 188 countries.
The study measured the burden of disability by calculating the proportion of a population living with any given disorder in a year. It found that the numbers of people living with di Continue reading