'Youngest' Toddler With Type 2 Diabetes Raises Concern

'Youngest' toddler with type 2 diabetes raises concern

The case of a three-year-old girl in the US who developed type 2 diabetes has driven doctors to raise fresh concerns about diet in childhood.
The child had a version of the illness more commonly seen in older people.
She weighed 35 kg (5.5 stone) when she saw specialists. And experts believe an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise played a large role in her condition.
The case is being discussed at this month's annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.
'Incorrect assumptions'
In the UK only 2% of children with diabetes have type 2 and the youngest patients on record are aged between five and nine.
Most children are instead diagnosed with type 1, a condition unrelated to lifestyle - where the immune system mistakenly attacks cells responsible for blood sugar control.
But type 2 diabetes is increasing across the world, fuelled in part by a rising tide of obesity.
Dr Michael Yafi at the University of Texas Health Science Center, one of the first specialists to see the toddler, warns young children with the condition may be being missed because of the incorrect assumption they are too young to develop it.
He added: "I'm very vigilant and screen all obese children I see for signs of the disease but I was surprised to find it in someone so young.
"The case is probably the youngest reported but with no global register it is hard to be sure."
He says an early diagnosis, changes to lifestyle and in some cases medication can give children better odds of remaining healthy and sometimes reverse the condition.
The Hispanic girl was been given treatment and her Continue reading

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Blueberries, not fruit juice, cut type-2 diabetes risk

Eating more fruit, particularly blueberries, apples and grapes, is linked to a reduced risk of developing type-2 diabetes, suggests a study in the British Medical Journal.
Blueberries cut the risk by 26% compared with 2% for three servings of any whole fruit - but fruit juice did not appear to have the same effect.
The research looked at the diets of more than 187,000 people in the US.
But Diabetes UK said the results of the study should be treated with caution.
Researchers from the UK, US and Singapore used data from three large studies of nurses and health professionals in the US to examine the link between fruit consumption and the risk of contracting type-2 diabetes.
In these studies, 6.5% of participants (12,198 out of 187,382) developed type-2 diabetes.
The studies used food frequency questionnaires to follow up the participants every four years, asking how often, on average, they ate a standard portion of each fruit.
The fruits used in the study were grapes or raisins, peaches, plums or apricots, prunes, bananas, cantaloupe, apples or pears, oranges, grapefruit, strawberries and blueberries.
The researchers' analysis of the data showed that three servings per week of blueberries, grapes and raisins, and apples and pears significantly reduced the risk of type-2 diabetes.
While all fruit was shown to reduce the risk, these fruits appeared to be particularly effective.
The researchers said this could be due to the fact these fruits contain high levels of anthocyanins, which have been shown to enhance glucose uptake in mice. The same fruits contain naturally-occurring po Continue reading

Type 1 diabetes vaccine hailed as 'significant step'

It may be possible to reverse type 1 diabetes by training a patient's own immune system to stop attacking their body, an early trial suggests.
Their immune system destroys the cells that make insulin, the hormone needed to control blood sugar levels.
A study in 80 patients, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, showed a vaccine could retrain their immune system.
Experts described the results as a "significant step".
Normally a vaccine teaches the immune system to attack bacteria or viruses that cause disease, such as the polio virus.
We're very excited by these results, which suggest that the immunologist's dream of shutting down just a single subset of dysfunctional immune cells without wrecking the whole immune system may be attainableProf Lawrence Steinman, Stanford University Medical Centre
Researchers at the Stanford University Medical Centre used a vaccine with the opposite effect - to make the immune system cease its assault.
In patients with type 1 diabetes, the immune system destroys beta cells in the pancreas. This means the body is unable to produce enough insulin and regular injections of the hormone are needed throughout life.
It is a different disease to type 2 diabetes, which can be caused by an unhealthy diet.
The vaccine was targeted to the specific white blood cells which attack beta cells. After patients were given weekly injections for three months, the levels of those white blood cells fell.
'New concept'
Blood tests also suggested that beta cell function was better in patients given the vaccine than in those treated only with insulin Continue reading

More weight loss operations for diabetes

An expansion of weight loss surgery in England is being proposed to tackle an epidemic of type 2 diabetes.
New draft guidelines from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) aim to reduce debilitating complications.
Diabetes UK estimates 850,000 people could be eligible for surgery, but NICE expects it to be tens of thousands.
Type 2 diabetes is closely linked to lifestyle and obesity.
Wales and Northern Ireland are not bound by the guidance, but do tend to follow them closely.
The inability to control blood sugar levels can result in blindness, amputations and nerve damage.
A mounting body of evidence suggests a gastric bypass improves symptoms in around 60% of patients.
Around a tenth of NHS budgets is spent on diabetes.
The surgery can cost between £3,000 and £15,000 and the move by NICE has raised concerns that the NHS will not be able to afford the treatment, even if there are savings in the longer term.
Current guidance says surgery is an option for people with a BMI above 35 who have other health conditions.
What is bariatric surgery?
Bariatric surgery, also known as weight loss surgery, is used as a last resort to treat people who are dangerously obese and carrying an excessive amount of body fat.
This type of surgery is only available on the NHS to treat people with potentially life-threatening obesity when other treatments have not worked.
Around 8,000 people a year are currently receiving the treatment.
The two most common types of weight loss surgery are:
Gastric band, where a band is used to reduce the size of the stomach so a smaller amoun Continue reading

Statin scam exposed: Cholesterol drugs cause rapid aging, brain damage and diabetes

(NaturalNews) Statins, the widely prescribed class of drugs said to lower "bad" cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart problems, has recently come under fire after a study revealed that they destroy human health more than they work to improve it.
Sadly, many people take statin drugs, which are commonly known by brand names including Lipitor, Crestor and Zocor. Prescription drug spending in the U.S. shot up to about $374 billion in 2014, representing the highest level of spending since 2001. Statins undoubtedly made up a significant portion of this spending, and now consumers who take such drugs have much more to worry about than the dent it's making in their wallets.
The study, which was published in the American Journal of Physiology, states that statins' "...impact on other biologic properties of stem cells provides a novel explanation for their adverse clinical effects." Specifically, the study states that such adverse effects include advancing the "process of aging" and also notes that "...long-term use of statins has been associated with adverse effects including myopathy, neurological side effects and an increased risk of diabetes." Myopathy refers to skeletal muscle weakness.
Statins make cells unable to repair properly, create nerve problems and destroy memory
Experts involved in the study suggest that the health problems associated with statins have likely been downplayed through the years. In reality, those taking such cholesterol-lowering drugs have been experiencing cataracts, fatigue, liver problems, muscle pain and memory loss. Simply put, the drugs have bee Continue reading