Type 1 Diabetes Patients Retain Some Ability To Produce Insulin

Type 1 diabetes patients retain some ability to produce insulin

GAINESVILLE - As an autoimmune disease, Type 1 diabetes has long been thought to result from a complete immune system killing of the insulin-producing beta cells within the pancreas. Now, University of Florida Health researchers have made a striking discovery: some of the pancreas’ ability to produce insulin may remain for decades in people with Type 1 diabetes.
After studying the pancreata of those with Type 1 diabetes, researchers found insulin levels were low to undetectable among most — an expected finding given the absolute need for insulin therapy for all such patients. However, researchers found the amount of proinsulin, a protein precursor to insulin, were at near-normal levels and comparable to people without diabetes. The researchers also noted a small number of insulin-positive cells remain in pancreata of long-term Type 1 diabetes patients. That observation raised the question of how these cells avoided destruction by the immune system.
These findings, published Sept. 5 in the journal Cell Metabolism, have important implications for questions ranging from why Type 1 diabetes develops to how the disease might be reversed or cured, said Mark Atkinson, Ph.D., director of the UF Diabetes Institute and a professor in the UF College of Medicine’s departments of pathology and pediatrics.
In Type 1 diabetes, the body’s immune system attacks insulin-producing islet cells in the pancreas. The pancreas produces insulin to control the level of sugar in the blood. Elevated and uncontrolled blood sugar levels can lead to a variety of complications and, if left untreat Continue reading

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The High-Tech Business of Diabetes

Diabetes is big business. If you don't believe me, just Google the term "diabetes is big business" to see the headlines that agree. As of 2012, $245 billion was spent in the United States alone per year, and that has some people believing there will never be a cure—there is too much money in it. Maybe that's true, maybe not. But there are plenty of companies out there making products intended to help those afflicted.
What Is Diabetes?
Here's the quick, highly over-simplified primer on the disease if you're not up to speed. Diabetes mellitus, more often called just diabetes, maybe even DM, or "the diabeetus" if you're a fan of Wilford Brimley, comes in a few forms.
The first is called Type 1 (aka T1), a chronic autoimmune disorder where the pancreas can no longer effectively produce the insulin hormone needed to manage the glucose (sugar) a person eats, mainly from carbohydrates. If you can't make insulin, your body gets hyperglycemia—that's too much sugar (high blood glucose). On the converse, diabetics are also easily prone to hypoglycemia—not enough sugar—caused by taking too much insulin (thus the term "insulin shock"), or even missing a meal or getting too much activity. Type 1 used to be called juvenile diabetes because you can get it as a kid and then you have it the rest of your life. T1s are entirely dependent on insulin from an outside source; and taking the right dosage means constantly monitoring blood glucose level. There is no known cause of T1, but it's likely a mix of genetics and environment.
Type 2 (T2) diabetes was once considered "adult-onset diab Continue reading

Effortless Weight Loss With Diabetes Can Be Yours

Dropping 5 to 7% of your body weight can lower your blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol, but who says you have to go on a diet?
Here are eight simple changes to make that will help you drop weight without really trying:
Stop the Pop
Soda consumption can add pounds in a hurry. A majority of sodas and fruit-flavored drinks are sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, which has been shown to cause weight gain and ultimately insulin resistance that can lead to metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.
Soda is also high in calories. Substitute water instead, which is what your body is really craving anyway.
Walk Away From Bad Snacks
Snack foods, such as packaged cookies and cakes, crackers, chips, and doughnuts, are tempting, easy to eat and even easier to eat too much of. There's not a lot of nutrition in these snacks, and they are usually loaded with sugar and fat. If it's in a crinkly cellophane bag or brightly colored box, chances are it's a bad snack.
Eat a Green Thing
Or a red thing ... or an orange thing. Fruits and vegetables are nature's best snacks. They are low in calories, full of fiber, a great source of antioxidants and (with a few exceptions) virtually fat-free. What's not to like?
Don't Eat Anything Creamy
Creamy equals fatty. Cream soups, sauces, salad dressings, gravies, anything that shimmers, undulates or oozes is a waistline buster.
If it tops or coats another food source, it falls into the same category. Just step away.
Say No to Fried Foods
Grilling, baking or roasting food is much lower in calories than frying it in hot grease. Sure, fried food is c Continue reading

Saturated Fats, Diabetes and Carb/Sugar Consumption

I received this detailed response to a recent video on my YouTube Channel about the documentary, What The Health. My response follows as a helpful guide, just in case you face a similar crisis with a friend or loved one down the road too. The YouTube video in question in this case is also at the bottom of the post if you’d like to watch it.
The Argument
TheAltruismActivist: Hello Paul. Addressing your concern about the recommendations and research on diabetes, I believe that you are not looking deep enough into the issue.
Just because eating a sugary meal raises one’s blood sugar does not mean that sugar is the cause and main culprit of diabetes. Looking into it a step deeper, you must consider why the body is insulin-resistant (which causes the high, uncontrolled blood sugar).
There is much proof that dietary saturated fat is a significant inducer of insulin resistance. Pouring sugar into an insulin-resistant person’s body will surely exacerbate the diabetic issues, but the sugar intake is not the cause. Dietary saturated fat is.
That is how Dr. Walter Kempner, many decades ago, cured type 2 diabetics with a diet composed of white rice, white sugar, fruit, and fruit juice. That is not a healthy diet, but it proves that sugar is not the issue while dietary saturated fat is.
Switching anyone from a standard Western diet to a cleaner diet like yours will improve their diabetes, but that doesn’t mean further benefits can’t be obtained from digging deeper into the root cause of insulin resistance. Let me know your thoughts and response!
Study various diets
Hello! Afte Continue reading

The Hidden Culprit behind Diabetes

“Refined sugar” is a phrase that strikes fear in our hearts. As consumers, we’re all too familiar with America’s war on sugar. Deemed a “silent killer,” sugar is identified as a major cause of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. The past decade has seen a cascade of sugar substitutes, including Splenda and a slew of other trendy packets that cheerfully promise “sugar free.” Is this really the entire story, though? For diabetics, and for those of us who want to maintain our health, there is yet another line on the nutrition label that is far too often overlooked.
Most people in America are aware of the dangers of type II diabetes. After all, almost one in every ten people in the country is diabetic. One in every five health care dollars is spent caring for people with diabetes. There’s no question about it — this disease is a national problem.
Type II diabetes is characterized by the body’s impaired ability to respond to insulin and subsequently metabolize sugar, or glucose. Ideally, whenever we eat, our bodies break food down into glucose, which is absorbed into the blood and taken up by muscle cells to be stored or burned for energy. There’s a catch, though. Glucose in the blood needs a key to get into our cells, and that key is insulin. Cells in the pancreas, called beta cells, are responsible for the secretion of insulin that regulates our blood sugar levels.
When blood sugar levels are always elevated from eating refined sugar, over time, the body stops responding to insulin — a condition called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is the s Continue reading