Red Wine 'benefits People With Type 2 Diabetes'

Red wine 'benefits people with type 2 diabetes'

A glass of red wine a day can improve cardiac health and help manage cholesterol for patients with type 2 diabetes, according to findings in a 2-year study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
Moderate alcohol consumption has been linked to improved cardiovascular and total mortality rates, and a glass of red wine a day as part of a healthy diet has been considered beneficial for some time.
There is evidence that type 2 diabetes is less prevalent among moderate drinkers, yet the risk-benefit balance is controversial for such patients, due to a lack of long-term randomized studies.
Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev-Soroka Medical Center and Nuclear Research Center Negev, Israel, wondered if both red and white wine might improve glucose control, depending on alcohol metabolism and genetic profiling.
Previous research has suggested that ethanol (alcohol) is the key, meaning that alcoholic drinks other than red wine could be equally beneficial; others claim that red wine has particularly advantageous properties.
Potential benefits for people with type 2 diabetes
People with diabetes have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease, as well as lower levels of "good" HDL cholesterol. High levels of HDL cholesterol can reduce the risk for heart disease and stroke, as it absorbs cholesterol and carries it back to the liver, where it is flushed from the body.
29.1 million people in the US probably have diabetes, or 9.3% of the population
21 million have been diagnosed
An estimated further 8.1 million have not been diagnosed.
Should patients Continue reading

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How to

Reverse Diabetes
1 in 3 Americans could have it by 2050 if current trends continue. Follow this plan to stay out of danger and avoid becoming a statistic
By Lou Schuler | Photography by Stephen Voss | Illustrations by Remie Geoffroi
Kevin Mamon has no excuse. He was warned. He knows it, and his medical records prove it. Four years ago, a test showed that he had prediabetes, which, as the name suggests, is the intermediate step between normal, healthy blood sugar levels and full-blown type 2 diabetes. "I fooled myself for a long time, thinking I was healthy, but just a big dude," he says.
The 6'1" Mamon isn't kidding about his size, which had peaked north of 400 pounds. By the time he went to see Spencer Nadolsky, D.O., he was no longer so sure about the "healthy" part. It was March 15, 2016, one of many details he remembers with the clarity of a man who's had a conversion experience. He was a few weeks shy of his 42nd birthday and his weight had recently dropped to 373 pounds without any real effort on his part.
Unintentional weight loss, Mamon now knows, is one of the clearest warning signs of diabetes, along with constant thirst, urinary volume that would worry Seabiscuit, and nap inducing fatigue after every meal. He was about to become a statistic, one of 1.4 million Americans diagnosed with diabetes each year. (The American Diabetes Association estimates that of the 29 million who have the disease, a quarter don't know it yet.
You could be one of them. And your odds of having prediabetes is even higher—the latest research shows that a third of American adults are pre Continue reading

CONVERSATIONS

A growing body of research is finding that diabetes can take as devastating a toll on the brain as it takes on the body.
A new study published this week in the journal Neurology shows that people with Type 2 diabetes demonstrate a decline in cognitive skills and ability to perform daily activities over the course of only two years.
These changes are linked with an impaired ability to regulate blood flow in the brain, due in part to inflammation, which is a common component of Type 2 diabetes.
Normally, the brain distributes blood as needed to areas of increased neural activity. In diabetic individuals, however, this process becomes impaired.
“We have shown that people with diabetes have abnormal blood flow regulation in the brain, namely impaired ability to increase blood flow and deliver sugar and oxygen to the brain during episodes of increased mental activity,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Vera Novak of the Harvard Medical School, told The Huffington Post in an email. “Inflammation further alters blood flow regulation in diabetic people and contributes to mental and functional decline.”
For the study, the researchers recruited 65 men and women with an average age of 66, half of whom had Type 2 diabetes and half of whom did not. The participants were given a series of memory and cognition tests at the outset of the study and again two years later. They also received brain scans to measure brain volume and blood flow and blood tests to measure inflammation and blood sugar control.
Here are some of the key findings:
After two years, the people with diabetes showed Continue reading

Digital Contact Lenses Can Transform Diabetes Care

Google submitted a patent to the US Patent & Trademark Office in 2014 that described a digital, multi-sensor contact lens that can also detect blinking, with benefits like turning the page of an e-book with a “blink of an eye”. Later, more details about the idea emerged, revealing a much more transformative use for the contact lens – measuring blood glucose from tears.
How will the digital contact lens help diabetes patients?
Sensors are embedded between two soft layers of lens material and a pinhole in the lens allows tear fluid to seep into the sensor and be used to measure blood sugar levels. A wireless antenna, thinner than a human hair, will act as a controller to communicate information to the wireless device. Data will then be sent to an external device. Google engineers even considered adding LED lights that could warn the wearer by lighting up when the glucose levels have crossed above or below certain thresholds, but abandoned the idea as the arsenic content of LED could prove dangerous.
The contact lens analyzes blood glucose level every second and transmits the data to an associated app. Detailed readings are available at a tap on your phone. When blood sugar crosses certain thresholds, the app notifies you instantly to act, or to contact a physician if the situation is serious.
Keeping blood sugar levels optimal all day, avoiding spikes or lulls during sleep – these everyday problems wouldn’t depend on pure luck anymore. You could also forget about pricking your finger several times each day. As one of the most powerful ways technology will change dia Continue reading

11 Everyday Habits That Are Absolutely Ruining Your Diabetes Control

Portion sizes
Surprise: We eat more than we should—even when we're focusing on healthy foods. (Yeah, you already knew that one.) For people controlling diabetes, portion sizes of carbohydrate foods determine how much medication they need or how their blood glucose responds. Try this rule of thumb for the carb portion of your plate—it should take up about a quarter of the typical, nine-inch dinner plate. Optimal servings of peas, potatoes, or whole wheat pasta is one cup per meal. Compare that to a usual Mexican restaurant plate, where high-carb foods cover the entire plate: rice, beans, tortillas, chips. Too much carbohydrate sabotages glucose control for diabetics. For more portion control tips, check out these tips.
Beverages
Why drink your calories? Drinks high in sugar and calories add up quicker than anything else. That giant fountain soda easily boasts over 500 calories, all from sugar, skyrocketing your glucose out of control. Sports drinks, fruit juices, smoothies, energy-boost drinks, sweet teas, and fancy coffee drinks contain significant amounts of simple carbohydrate (re: sugar). Even the healthy seeming stuff: Consider that 12 ounces of orange juice has 45 grams of carbohydrate—about the same as 12-ounce can of soda. Sure, the juice includes healthy vitamins, but the glucose load is the same as a cola. For those controlling diabetes, skip these sugary beverages and opt for water to rehydrate. Your blood glucose will thank you!
Skipping meals
Timing your meals throughout the day is key for controlling diabetes. Skipping a meal puts you at risk for hypoglyc Continue reading