The How, What, And Why Of Exercise And Type-2 Diabetes

The how, what, and why of exercise and type-2 diabetes

Diabetes is a common problem among the American population and worldwide. Aside from the impacted life span and quality of life, diabetes is associated with an increased burden on society in relation to medical costs which has a great economic impact. The most influential factors that have been found to be related to diabetes include genetic factors and environmental influences. While you may not be able to change your genetics you can make a change on environmental risk factors.
Risk factors
Obesity and inactivity are two of the main risk factors of acquiring diabetes. Environmental factors may be mostly modifiable which means that many people that acquire diabetes may have been able to avoid this condition and may also be able to reverse this condition with lifestyle changes. Diet is a crucial aspect of the overall management of diabetes as well as exercise and physical activity.
Type 1 versus Type 2
Type 2-diabetes can be difficult to treat and can be expensive to manage and that is why avoiding this diagnosis is imperative. Diabetes occurs because the body does not produce or does not properly use insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is produced by the pancreases that allows glucose or sugar to enter the cells. If the pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin or when muscle, fat, and liver cells do not properly respond to the insulin that is there then glucose builds up in the blood which can become toxic. Hyperglycemia is a condition that occurs when there is too much glucose in the blood. Type 1-diabetes is not related to diet and inactivity but is the type of diabet Continue reading

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Why global warming could lead to a rise of 100,000 diabetes cases a year in the U.S.

If the average temperature rises by 1 degree Celsius, sea levels will rise, crop yields will fall and vulnerable species will see their habitat shrink or disappear.
Experts have previously predicted that climate change could fuel the spread of conditions such as malaria and dengue fever, because rising temperatures will broaden the range of disease-spreading mosquitoes. Likewise, as extreme weather becomes more of the norm, so will cholera and other water-borne illnesses.
But diabetes is different. It doesn't spread like an infectious disease. People develop type 2 diabetes when their extra pounds and sedentary lifestyle make their bodies less sensitive to insulin. That, in turn, causes their blood sugar to rise and can eventually lead to heart disease, nerve damage, kidney problems and other serious health issues.
A 2015 study of eight adults with Type 2 diabetes found that after spending 10 days in moderately cold weather, their metabolisms improved and they became more sensitive to insulin, reversing a key symptom of the disease.
Comparing the two, they found that the higher the average temperature in a particular time and place, the higher the age-adjusted incidence of diabetes. Overall, as the average annual temperature rose by 1 degree Celsius (or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit), the number of diabetes cases rose by 3.1 per 10,000 people.
Obesity is a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes, and the researchers also found that each 1-degree Celsius temperature increase was associated with a 0.173% increase in the prevalence of obesity.
Even when the researchers adjusted for the preva Continue reading

Can diabetic neuropathy be reversed?

Diabetic neuropathy refers to nerve damage caused by diabetes.
Neuropathy is a common condition impacting 60 to 70 percent of adults with diabetes. However, it mainly concerns those with uncontrolled blood sugar levels or those who have had diabetes for more than 25 years.
The nerve damage caused by diabetic neuropathy is irreversible but there are ways to lessen symptoms and prevent further harm.
Contents of this article:
What is diabetic neuropathy?
Diabetic neuropathy is a family of progressive nerve disorders related to type 1 and 2 diabetes.
Although research is still taking place on this type of nerve damage, doctors think that blood sugars may damage nerve cells by impairing nerve fibers and reducing or confusing signaling.
However, nerve damage is likely to be caused by a combination of factors, such as how the immune system functions, genetics, smoking, or alcohol use.
Neuropathy can cause a range of symptoms, including pain, loss of sensation, numbness, tingling, and muscle weakness.
Although neuropathy can occur wherever there are nerves, it tends to affect the legs and feet.
Those with diabetic neuropathy tend to:
have poor blood sugar control
be over the age of 40
be overweight or obese
have had diabetes for at least 10 to 25 years, depending on the severity
Types
Diabetic neuropathy is typically divided into four categories depending on which nerves are affected.
Peripheral neuropathy
Nerve damage that impacts the ability of the peripheral nerves to sense things, such as temperature and touch.
Peripheral neuropathy most commonly affects the arms, hands, legs, Continue reading

Do Statins Cause Diabetes?

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Millions of Americans suffer from high cholesterol and/or diabetes. High cholesterol and lipids lead to arteriosclerosis, which could cause heart attacks and stroke. High blood sugars in those suffering from diabetes increase arteriosclerosis as well, catapulting the risk of heart disease if one suffers from both conditions.
Statins, [such as simvastatin (Zocor), atorvastatin (Lipitor)] have been found to significantly lower LDL, or “bad cholesterol”. They gained huge popularity in the 90’s and 00’s and at one time were suggested to be used in diabetics without high cholesterol due to their cardio-protective nature.
Unfortunately studies began to suggest that statin medications may increase one’s risk of diabetes.
This week a study from Australia found an increase risk in diabetes in older women who took statins.
Now, many individuals with high cholesterol eventually develop diabetes, either through their eating habits, or the body’s inability to control rising blood levels of each. Sometimes high cholesterol precedes diabetes by a decade or more.
This study, however, looked at 8300 women born between 1921-1926 enrolled in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. They were free of diabetes in 2003 (averaging approximately 80 years old) and were followed for 10 years. Half of these women filled prescriptions for statins and of these 5% started filling medications for new onset diabetes. According to Medical News Today: Statistical analysis revealed that statin exposure was linked to a 33 percent higher risk of developing dia Continue reading

Diabetes and Heart Disease in Women

Dr. Rodriguez-Oquendo’s area of expertise is endocrinology.
Cardiovascular risk can occur earlier in women with diabetes
Among both men and women, diabetes is one of the strongest cardiovascular risk factors. Epidemiological studies have shown that people with diabetes have more than two times the chance of getting cardiovascular disease than people without diabetes. This includes premenopausal women, a group normally at lower risk for cardiovascular disease.
“Men generally have heart disease in their 40’s and 50’s, about a decade before women. But this is generally not true for diabetic women,” says Dr. Annabelle Rodriguez-Oquendo, Associate Professor of Medicine and Diabetes Management Service Director at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. “For diabetic women, the cardiovascular risk occurs earlier. Diabetes takes away much of the protection premenopausal women would normally get from estrogen.”
How diabetes raises risk for heart disease
The concentration of blood glucose or blood sugar, and how much it sticks to red blood cells and impedes the flow of oxygen in the blood, plays a large role in cardiovascular risk. An important measurement of sugar in the blood over a three-month period is the hemoglobin A1C test.
Hemoglobin is just one of the proteins that transport oxygen in the blood. Diabetes is a disease that impacts large blood vessels (such as the coronary arteries) and small vessels (such as arteries that carry blood to nerve endings and kidneys). Diabetes can affect the cardiovascular system by:
Attaching glucose to (glycosylating) blood proteins Continue reading