World Diabetes Day: Two Types, One Global Problem

World Diabetes Day: Two types, one global problem

Today is World Diabetes Day and, for 2017, the International Diabetes Federation has declared the theme to be: Women and diabetes – our right to a healthy future. Diabetes is a global epidemic that shows no signs of abating and, according to the IDF, more than 199 million women are living with the disease; that figure is expected to climb to 313 million by the year 2040. A decade before that, the World Health Organisation believes that diabetes will be the seventh leading cause of death – yet the vast majority of cases are entirely avoidable.
Intrinsically linked with obesity, type 2 diabetes is by far the most common form, with just as many men affected as women. So what is it and what can be done to prevent it? Diabetes is when the pancreas produces insufficient levels of insulin (the hormone that regulates blood sugar, or glucose), or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it does produce. This, in turn, usually leads to a condition called hyperglycaemia, commonly known as raised blood sugar that, if left untreated, causes serious damage to the central nervous system and blood vessels. As a result, sufferers can go blind, need to have limbs amputated or end up having fatal heart attacks.
WHO records show that 35.4 million people suffer from diabetes in the Middle East and Africa alone, with the majority of sufferers unaware that the condition can gradually rob them of their sight, due to diabetic retinopathy – a condition where high blood sugar levels cause damage to the retina. So along with balancing their insulin levels, diabetics would do well to have Continue reading

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Prevalence of and Risk Factors for Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy in Youth With Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes: SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study

OBJECTIVE We assessed the prevalence of and risk factors for diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) enrolled in the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth (SEARCH) study.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI) was used to assess DPN in 1,734 youth with T1D (mean ± SD age 18 ± 4 years, T1D duration 7.2 ± 1.2 years, and HbA1c 9.1 ± 1.9%) and 258 youth with T2D (age 22 ± 3.5 years, T2D duration 7.9 ± 2 years, and HbA1c 9.4 ± 2.3%) who were enrolled in the SEARCH study and had ≥5 years of diabetes duration. DPN was defined as an MNSI exam score of >2. Glycemic control over time was estimated as area under the curve for HbA1c.
RESULTS The prevalence of DPN was 7% in youth with T1D and 22% in youth with T2D. Risk factors for DPN in youth with T1D were older age, longer diabetes duration, smoking, increased diastolic blood pressure, obesity, increased LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, and lower HDL cholesterol (HDL-c). In youth with T2D, risk factors were older age, male sex, longer diabetes duration, smoking, and lower HDL-c. Glycemic control over time was worse among those with DPN compared with those without for youth with T1D (odds ratio 1.53 [95% CI 1.24; 1.88]) but not for youth with T2D (1.05 [0.7; 1.56]).
CONCLUSIONS The high rates of DPN among youth with diabetes are a cause of concern and suggest a need for early screening and better risk factor management. Interventions in youth that address poor glycemic control and dyslipidemia may prevent or delay debilitating neuropa Continue reading

Metformin Side Effects And How To Deal With Them

Metformin side effects include diabetic neuropathy, brain fog, and digestive issues. You can address them through diet, Vitamin B12, CoQ10, and exercise. Let us understand the drug Metformin in detail and study different forms of metformin, its uses and common metformin side effects along with how to deal with them.
Metformin: What Is It Used For?
Metformin is an old warhorse in the pharma battle against diabetes. It has been the mainstay in the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes for more than fifty years, often matching or outperforming newer drugs.
In fact, many new combination drugs are often created with metformin as one of the main ingredients. Thanks to its long run in the pharmaceutical world, the side effects of Metformin are also well known.
The Metformin-PCOS connection has been studied extensively since a majority of health complications associated with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) are due to hyperinsulinemia (high amounts of insulin in the blood stream). Metformin is known to reduce circulating insulin levels. The use of this drug in women with PCOS has shown highly encouraging results.
RELATED: 10 Easy Breakfast Ideas For Diabetics
Most Prescribed Names in Metformin Category Include:
Fortamet:
It is an extended-release formulation that contains metformin hydrochloride. The tablets are designed for once-a-day administration. They deliver either 500 mg or 1000 mg of metformin. The tablet is made using a patented technology called SCOTTM that delivers the active compound slowly and at a constant rate.
Glucophage:
Glucophage tablets contain metformin hydrochoride. Continue reading

9 Foods You Should Never Eat If You Have Diabetes

For those who don’t have diabetes, nibbling a cookie here or some French fries there isn’t a big deal. Those unhealthy treats may run counter to your diet or weight-loss goals, but eating them isn’t the end of the world. For diabetics, on the other hand, one too many slip-ups could carry potentially life-threatening consequences.
“It’s hard to say exactly what’s okay and what’s not because every patient with diabetes is a little different, and every patient’s tolerance for carbohydrates is different,” says Matthew Freeby, MD, director of the Gonda Diabetes Center at UCLA Health. “But if a patient eats enough carbohydrates that the pancreas is unable to produce insulin to drive blood sugar down, that’s what we worry about.”
(Curb your sugar cravings and lose weight with the 3-week plan in Sugar Detox Made Easy!)
As Freeby’s comment suggests, carbohydrates—a macronutrient group that includes sugar—pose the greatest threat to diabetics. Foods heavy in protein and fat, on the other hand, “tend to be the ones we have patients gravitate toward,” he explains. (Here are 6 signs of prediabetes you should know.)
What exactly is Freeby worried about? Too-high or too-low blood sugar levels—known as hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia, respectively—can lead to symptoms like nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, a rapid heartbeat, dizziness, or confusion. In extreme cases, high or low blood sugar could lead to unconsciousness and death.
If you’re diabetic and you experience any of the above symptoms (or a handful of others), it’s time to get your doctor on Continue reading

Type 2 Diabetes can be Reversed

A new vocabulary for type 2 diabetes care
To many in the public and the medical communities, the concept of reversing the progression of type 2 diabetes is new. Type 2 diabetes has long been considered a chronic disease with an inevitable progression toward worsening health, including heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, hearing and vision loss, nerve damage, and even foot or leg amputation. Words like “cure” and “remission” and “reversal” have not been a part of the diabetes vocabulary. Instead, the paradigm has been “diabetes management” where the typical approach is to combine blood-glucose lowering medications with lifestyle changes to keep blood glucose under reasonable control, and in doing so, slowing diabetes progression and reducing the likelihood and severity of life-altering complications. So let’s look at the concept of reversing type 2 diabetes and its many differences from the traditional approach of managing it.
A disease of carbohydrate intolerance
To understand what it means to reverse diabetes, it’s helpful to start with where blood sugar comes from, how our bodies manage blood sugar levels under healthy conditions, and how that management is disrupted in type 2 diabetes.
Carbohydrates are found in large amounts in starchy and sweet foods, including bread, cereal, pasta, rice, potatoes, fruit, fruit juices, cookies, cake, desserts, and sugary drinks, and they are what cause blood sugar to rise. This is true even in people without type 2 diabetes. Our bodies need to keep blood glucose narrowly controlled – not too high and not too lo Continue reading