St. Luke’s Spotlights Critical Link Between Type 2 Diabetes And Heart Disease In Partnership With Boehringer Ingelheim And Eli Lilly And Company

St. Luke’s Spotlights Critical Link Between Type 2 Diabetes and Heart Disease in Partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly and Company

“St. Luke’s University Health Network is proud to continue our mission of improving patient education and care by collaborating with Boehringer Ingelheim and Lilly on this important initiative to encourage people with type 2 diabetes to learn more about their heart disease risk,” said Dr. Bankim Bhatt, St. Luke’s Chief of Endocrinology. “By providing relevant, educational resources about the connection between type 2 diabetes and heart disease to our community, we hope to empower people with type 2 diabetes and their loved ones to speak with their healthcare providers and to take action.”
For Your SweetHeart launched in November 2016 following a survey that found more than half (52 percent) of adults with type 2 diabetes do not understand they are at an increased risk for heart disease and related life-threatening events, like heart attack, stroke or even death. Due to the complications associated with diabetes, such as high blood sugar, high blood pressure and obesity, cardiovascular disease, which includes heart disease, is a major complication and the leading cause of death associated with diabetes. Ten leading patient and professional advocacy organizations and a steering committee of eight leading medical experts (cardiologists, endocrinologists and primary care physicians) have also joined the For Your SweetHeart movement to further educate their communities about the link between type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
St. Luke’s University Health Network – a non-profit, regional, fully integrated, nationally recognized network providing services at seven Continue reading

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Incidence and Risk Factors of Type 1 Diabetes: Implications for the Emergency Department

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is one of the most common endocrine diseases in children. A chronic autoimmune disease, about 65,000 children worldwide develop T1D each year. (1) It accounts for about 5% of all diabetes cases. There is no known way to prevent it, and the only effective treatment requires frequent blood glucose monitoring and the use of insulin to stay alive. (2)
The incidence of T1D in the United States, Europe, and Australia has been increasing for the last four decades. According to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the incidence among European children aged one to five years old is increasing at 5.4% annually—much higher than other age groups. Similar trends are reported in the United States. At the current rate, the number of T1D cases will double during this decade. (3) (Interestingly, allergic reactions, food allergies, and other autoimmune diseases are also on the rise.)
There are two striking trends connected to the T1D epidemic:
1. The disease is occurring much earlier in life.
2. The disease is striking in people previously considered to be at low or moderate genetic risk.
TID is caused by a combination of genetic and unknown environmental factors. Identifying the specific triggers is part of current research—what is causing these immunoregulation defects? The answer isn’t yet known, but the drastic increase worldwide rules out genetics alone as the cause.
Research has focused on several hypotheses regarding T1D epidemiology. Investigators have considered infection, early childhood diet, vitamin D, environmental pollutants, increased height v Continue reading

The Connection Between Insulin Resistance and the High-Carb, Low-Fat Diet

Dr. Tim Noakes, a well-respected scientist, researcher, physician and professor at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, is one of the world’s foremost experts on low-carb diets
Legal action was taken to strip him of his medical license for promoting the low-carb diet. It’s the first time in history that a diet has been put before a legal jury to decide whether or not it’s correct
A low-carb, high-fat diet is crucial for preventing or reversing insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes; treating type 2 diabetes with insulin is one of the worst mistakes you can make
By Dr. Mercola
Dr. Tim Noakes, a well-respected scientist, researcher, physician and professor at the Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, is one of the world's foremost experts on low-carb diets. In fact, he was instrumental in getting the low-carb diet revolution off the ground.
He's also an accomplished athlete. As a long-distance endurance runner with 70 marathons under his belt, he had long promoted high-carb diets, himself consuming 400 grams of carbs a day or more when preparing for a race. Eventually, he discovered this wasn't the best way to improve athletic endurance and health, and ended up writing a number of popular books on low-carb diets.
From High to Low Carb
Noakes graduated from medical school in 1974. At the time, he was also running, and this was when the high carbohydrate diet really started to become popularized. Following the advice of one of his professors at the cardiology unit where he worked, he changed to a high-carb die Continue reading

Supporting Student-Athletes with Type 1 Diabetes

Anyone working with collegiate athletes knows how much work it takes to be both a dedicated student and a competitive athlete. It’s challenging to balance practice and games with classes and exams, not to mention trying to have a social life and maybe sleep somewhere in between. Then add trying to balance your blood sugar for optimal performance and it can seem like an astronomical task.
The science behind our understanding of diabetes and the treatment of diabetes has come a very long way. From faster acting insulin to insulin pump therapy, advances in technology have helped tremendously with diabetes management. However, this still doesn’t remove all of the challenges that come with diabetes. Dr. Matt Corcoran knows all about these challenges. Dr. Corcoran is an endocrinologist and founder of Diabetes Training Camp, a multisport and exercise camp that specializes in comprehensive educational camps and programs to help people living with diabetes achieve their health and fitness goals. Dr. Corcoran says:
"There are several great challenges facing the competitive athlete with type 1 diabetes, few of them greater than the requirement of regulating their own fuel metabolism through manipulation of their insulin and fuel supplies. In normal physiology, the body regulates insulin and glucose production in the moment to accommodate for the needs of the working muscle, accounting for the level of stress that body finds itself in. In type 1 diabetes, by definition the body does not produce insulin, and as a result has lost the capacity to self-regulate fuel metabolism at rest Continue reading

Diabetes patients test insulin-releasing implants

A pilot study underway at the University of Alberta is using small implants filled with stem cells to regulate insulin in a handful of diabetic patients -- a technology that, if proven effective, could replace injections.
Five Edmonton patients are among 17 others involved in the trial, which is the world’s first experiment of the innovative new treatment.
And while the research is in its initial stages, one doctor involved in the research calls the early indicators “terribly exciting.”
“So far it’s been very safe and it looks like it’s working the way we hoped it would,” Dr. James Shapiro told CTV News.
Type 1 diabetes results when a person’s immune system destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Patients with diabetes must regularly test their blood sugar levels and manually inject insulin to balance out their systems.
The testing and injection routine -- alongside dietary restrictions -- can be complicated and worrisome, which is why many patients are excited about the prospect of a self-releasing insulin implant.
The innovative new treatment involves implanting small plastic pouches filled with millions of insulin-producing cells under a patient’s skin. Blood vessels then grow around the implants, allowing the stem cells inside the pouch to release the necessary dose of insulin based on the patient’s blood sugar levels.
The technology has already proved effective on lab mice. Doctors are now testing whether the method is safe for humans.
For one Edmonton man involved in the study, the method offers hope. Chris Townsend, 38, says he watc Continue reading