Vitamin D Proves Helpful For Women With Diabetes And Depression

Vitamin D Proves Helpful For Women with Diabetes and Depression

Women with type 2 diabetes tend to have worse outcomes than men with the same diagnosis.
The reason for this may be that more than 25 percent of women with diabetes also have depression, and symptoms of depression interfere with the ability to manage diabetes successfully.
A cost-effective way for women to address this problem might be taking a readily available supplement that has minimal side effects. Recent research indicates that vitamin D supplements not only improve the mood of depressed, diabetic women, but it also lowers their blood pressure significantly.
How Diabetes and Depression are Linked
It is not surprising that many women (and men) have diabetes and depression together since the two illnesses are linked several ways.
The CDC reports that having diabetes doubles an individual’s risk of developing depression.
Both diagnoses have common risk factors including family history, blood pressure problems, obesity and coronary artery disease.
The two diagnoses share symptoms. Anxiety, fatigue, irritability, and restlessness are signs of depression – and of blood sugar that is too high or too low.
Having to manage diabetes can trigger depressive symptoms, and the depressive symptoms make managing diabetes more difficult. Then the diabetes worsens, and the added stress aggravates the depression. A vicious circle.
Having depression with diabetes creates additional health risks as well. People with both illnesses have a 52 percent greater chance of experiencing a heart attack or stroke. Depressed diabetics also tend to have higher blood glucose levels than those who Continue reading

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Scientists Create A Painless Patch That Can Control Diabetes Without Injections

Insulin injections are painful, and millions of Americans who suffer from diabetes can attest to that. But this pain may soon be a thing of the past thanks to a new invention from researchers at the University of North Carolina and NC State.
This incredible team of researchers has now created a “smart insulin patch” which detects increases in blood sugar levels and secretes doses of insulin into the bloodstream as needed. The relatively hands-off method is a major breakthrough, as scientists have been trying for decades to make regular insulin injections for diabetics unnecessary.
Covered in natural beta cells, the simple synthetic patch would eliminate the pain of injections, and even take out the worry work of monitoring as well. Though it hasn’t been tested on humans as of yet, it’s already been shown to safely control the blood sugar levels of mice for at least 10 hours at a time.
Beta cells are typically found in the pancreas, where they produce insulin to help the body process excess sugar in the bloodstream after a meal. People with diabetes, however, have damaged beta cells, or aren’t capable of producing enough insulin to keep their blood sugar levels in check. This is why they require regular insulin injections.
The researchers initially presented the idea last year, but this new and improved version contains real, live beta cells as opposed to synthetic insulin. Kept safely outside of the patient’s body, the beta cells have no chance of being rejected by the immune system.
“We have designed a patch for diabetes that works fast, is easy to use, and i Continue reading

This Ancient Remedy “Treats All Diseases” HIV, Diabetes, Cancer, Stroke, STDs, Arthritis

Black seed oil (also called black cumin seed or Nigella sativa) has been scientifically proved to be an incredible anti- cancer treatment in animal studies, and its effect can be applied in the case of several cancer types.
This beneficial herb grows in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea and India, and Thymoquinone is its most popular active ingredient.
Namely, this oil and its extract thymoquinone are amazing in the treatment of numerous different inflammatory issues, as well as in the case of various types of cancer, including cervical cancer, breast cancer, brain cancer, liver cancer, prostate cancer, bone cancer, lymphoma, stomach cancer, colon cancer, melanoma skin cancer, and pancreatic cancer. Black cumin seed oil prevents cancer cell activity and is able to different cancer cells types.
The positive effects of the black seed oil have been confirmed in numerous studies conducted in the past several decades, and it has been also found that there are only small risks of negative side- effects. Yet, researchers have rarely elevated their work to a higher level, that is, to human clinical testing.
This article will discuss the findings of numerous studies which have pointed out that this oil is extremely beneficial in preventing and treating different cancer types.
However, conventional medicine still hasn’t approved it as a useful treatment. There are a few issues linked to this problem, as some political pressures which postpone clinical research with human cancer patients, and drug companies which would normally not benefit from this oil, and would rather sup Continue reading

Major breakthrough in type 1 diabetes

Last week Harvard researchers announced a major breakthrough regarding type-1 diabetes treatment.
For the first time ever, scientists were able to make insulin-producing beta cells from human embryonic stem cells. Moreover, they were able to make enough in quantity needed for cell transportation and pharmaceutical use.
According to Elaine Fuchs, the Rebecca C. Lancefield Professor at Rockefeller University, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator who was not involved in the work, the findings represent one of the most important advances ever made in stem-cell research.
"For decades, researchers have tried to generate human pancreatic beta cells that could be cultured and passaged long term under conditions where they produce insulin," Fuchs said. "[The researchers] have now overcome this hurdle and opened the door for drug discovery and transplantation therapy in diabetes."
Animal trials in motion
The beta cells are currently being used in animal-model trials, but according to lead study investigator Doug Melton, the hope is that human transplantation trials will begin in a few years.
"We are now just one pre-clinical step away from the finish line," said Melton, who began his work 23 years ago when his then infant son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
"It was gratifying to know that we could do something that we always thought was possible," he said, "but many people felt it wouldn't work. If we had shown this was not possible, then I would have had to give up on this whole approach. Now I'm really energized."
The final step, Melton said, is making sure the im Continue reading

Caffeine can prevent memory loss in diabetes

Scientists have discovered how diabetes causes memory loss and how caffeine can prevent this, according researchers from the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology of the University of Coimbra in Portugal.
The study published in the journal PloS compared four groups of mice: diabetic or normal mice without or with caffeine equivalent to eight cups of coffee a day in their water.
They found that long-term consumption of caffeine prevented the mice's memory loss. It also diminished the weight gain and high blood glucose levels associated with diabetes.
The researchers also analyzed the hippocampus area of the brain in the diabetic mice. The hippocampus is linked to memory and learning and is often atrophied in diabetics.
They discovered that diabetic mice had abnormalities in the hippocampus region, showing both degeneration of synapses and abnormal increase of the cells surrounding neurons called astrogliosis. Both conditions are known to affect memory.
But when the diabetic mice consumed caffeine in the study, it prevented these abnormalities.
The researchers also discovered that the brain molecule A2AR, one of only two known to respond to caffeine, was high in diabetic animals but normal in those treated with caffeine. This led scientists to conclude that A2AR inhibition protected the animals against synaptic degeneration and memory dysfunction.
The study suggests that diabetes affects memory by causing synaptic degeneration, astrogliosis and increased levels of A2AR. It also suggests that chronic consumption of caffeine may prevent the memory loss and brain degeneration Continue reading