Type 1 Diabetes: A Primer

City of Hope’s Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute is committed to developing a cure for type 1 diabetes within six years, fueled by a $50 million funding program led by the Wanek family. Here, we take a closer look at the disease.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas.
“Type 1 diabetes is very complicated,” said Defu Zeng, a professor in the Department of Diabetes Immunology at City of Hope who has been working on a cure for type 1 diabetes for the past 10 years. “It is caused by multiple genetic as well as environmental factors.”
It is a relatively rare disorder, affecting only about 1 million people in the United States. People with type 1 diabetes make up just 5 percent of the total diabetic population (which includes those with type 2 diabetes), according to the American Diabetes Association. It is usually diagnosed in children and young adults and was previously known as juvenile diabetes.
In type 1 diabetes, because of the destruction of the beta cells, the body does not produce sufficient insulin. Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas that breaks down sugars and starches into a simple sugar called glucose, which cells use to perform essential functions. Insulin allows glucose to get from the bloodstream into the cells of the body. This process is essential for life.
While type 1 diabetes appears to have a strong genetic component, environmental factors such as viruses may trigger the disease.
Diabetes throughout History
Although type 1 Continue reading

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Diabetes and Chronic Fatigue: What You Need to Know

Studies show that people with diabetes are more likely to suffer from chronic fatigue than the rest of the population. Some research even suggests that nearly 85% of people with diabetes report fatigue. And while you might be thinking, most people would probably say they don’t get enough sleep if asked, chronic fatigue is more than a fleeting feeling of tiredness. The Mayo Clinic describes fatigue as an “unrelenting exhaustion… a nearly constant state of weariness that develops over time and reduces your energy, motivation and concentration.” They further note the affect chronic fatigue has on your emotional and psychological well-being.
With so many people being confronted with this often debilitating condition, you’d think there would be more awareness of it, maybe even a cure for it. Yet, while there is a notable connection between diabetes and chronic fatigue, scientists remain unsure of its underlying cause.
However, there are a lot of things you can do to help improve your energy levels, and establish whether or not you are suffering from chronic fatigue. We’re here to help you understand potential risk factors for developing this condition, things you can do to have more energy, and when it might be time to talk to your doctor.
How can diabetes cause fatigue?
Stress, anxiety, and depression: Between constant management, fear, and pain, stress often plays a large role in the life of an individual with diabetes. That stress is often accompanied by high blood pressure and heart rate, both of which deplete energy. Further, it’s not uncommon for all this str Continue reading

Surprising Foods That Help Lower Blood Sugar If You Have Diabetes

For the 26 million people in the U.S. with diabetes and the estimated 79 million American adults with pre-diabetes, there has never been a better time to start managing and improving your diabetes. Researchers know more today than they did just five years ago about diet, insulin, medications and complications.
Each person with type 2 diabetes needs to work out his/her particular eating, exercise or medical plan so it translates into normal blood sugars in his/her particular body. In general food and meal choices that work best for these people are lower sugar, lower sodium, higher fiber, lean meats and plant protein, fruits and vegetables and sources of monounsaturated and omega-3 fatty acids. Beyond that there are some specific and even surprising foods that may help lower blood sugars in people with diabetes. Information and recipes for the following can be found in the new edition of my best-selling book, Tell Me What to Eat If I Have Diabetes.
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Foods with little to no carbohydrate
The following foods, when eaten alone, even in large amounts, are not likely to cause a significant rise in blood sugar because they contain few carbohydrates:
Meat
Poultry
Fish
Avocados
Dark green veggies and salad vegetables
Eggs
Cheese
Mushrooms
Some Nuts (a 2-ounce serving of these nuts contain 5 grams or less net carbs: almonds, brazil nuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, peanuts, pecans, walnuts).
Foods with synergy
In my book, FOOD SYNERGY, I looked at research that suggested synergy within and between certain foods or food components—where components seemed to work together for maximum Continue reading

How Many Grams of Sugar Can a Diabetic Have?

The common myth amongst most of the population is that the more sugar you intake, the greater are your chances of contracting diabetes. However, this may not be true 100 percent. Having said that, taking too much sugar is not healthy for any individual, let alone a diabetes patient and you need to limit the intake of the total grams of sugar that you take in. In this article, we shall see what is the recommended grams of sugar that a patient of diabetes should have. So, come and join in for the article “How many Grams of Sugar Can a Diabetic Have?”
Diabetes and Sugar
While it is a myth that if you eat too much sugar, you will have diabetes. When you have too much of sugar in various food items, you tend to gain weight. This gaining of weight, as we know, is mainly responsible for causing diabetes, particularly type 2 in various individuals. In order to better manage diabetes, it is advisable that you regulate your intake of sugar while maintaining a well-balanced diet as may have been prescribed by your doctor.
Hence, when you have diabetes, it does not mean that you cannot have sugar at all. You can eat sugar to the extent that you do not exceed the daily requirement of the recommended quantity of carbohydrates and make sugary foods a part of your overall diabetic meal plan. So, let us see what should be the total intake of sugar for a healthy person and for someone who is a diabetic.
How Much Sugar Should You Have?
For a healthy diet, the recommended grams of sugar that you should have is somewhere around 20 to 35 grams per day. This is true for every individual wheth Continue reading

Drugs Approved for Type 2 Diabetes Treatment

The treatment of type 2 diabetes has been transformed in the past decade with the introduction of new medications, drug classes, and treatment approaches. These advances offer diabetics a wider range of combination therapies able to provide tighter glycemic control over the long term.
The approved medications are broken down by drug class, each of which offers different mechanisms of action.
DPP-4 Inhibitors
Dipeptidyl peptidase-4
(DPP-4) inhibitors work by blocking the DPP-4 enzyme which destroys the hormone incretin.
Incretins help the body produce more insulin when needed and reduce the amount of glucose being produced by the liver when it is not needed. There are currently five DPP-4 inhibitors approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA):
Galvus (vildagliptin)
Onglyza (saxagliptin)
Tradjenta (linagliptin)
Nesina (alogliptin)
Incretin Mimetics
As per their name, incretin mimetics
work by mimicking the action of incretins to stimulate the production of insulin. They also slow the rate of digestion so that glucose enters the blood more slowly.
There are five incretin mimetics currently approved by the FDA which are delivered by injection and used in people who have not been able to control their blood sugar with oral medications:
Byetta (exenatide)
Victoza (liraglutide)
Trulicity (dulaglutide)
Tanzeum (albiglutide)
Lyxumia (lixisenatide)
Also known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, the drugs are used in combination with oral medications and come in prefilled injector pens.
They are not insulin or to be used in place of insulin.
Selective Sodium-Glucose Transporter-2 Continue reading