Battle Diabetes

Doctors Important in Battling Diabetes

BattleDiabetes Staff — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 19:29:51 +0000

A diabetes-themed event held by journal Health Affairs talked about how physicians could help in battling the diabetes epidemic

Resistance training, aerobic training improve insulin sensitivity, glucose control

Janet Otsuki Kuo — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 01:00:03 +0000

Resistance training and aerobic training improve insulin sensitivity and glucose control in people with type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in Diabetes Care.

The study also found that both resistance and aerobic training reduce abdominal fat in those patients.

Forty participants with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned to either aerobic training or resistance training for four months.

After sixteen weeks, researchers found that HbA1c was similarly reduced in both groups. Also known as hemoglobin A1c, HbA1c is a test that measures the average amount of sugar in the blood over three months.

They also reduced their total and truncal fat, visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT). Truncal fat deposits settle in the torso and abdomen. Both VAT and SAT correlate with metabolic risk.

Finally, the data showed that participants increased their insulin sensitivity and lean limb mass. Beta cell function showed no significant changes, according to the study.

Improvement in HbA1c after training was independently predicted by baseline HbA1c and by changes in peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) and truncal fat.

“Changes after training in VO2peak and truncal fat may be primary determinants of exercise-induced metabolic improvement,” wrote the authors of the study.

Exercise and diabetes
Getting physical activity and staying active are key to managing type 2 diabetes, according to American Diabetes Association.

Physical activity is anything that keeps you moving and active. This includes walking, dancing and gardening. They key is to find a few activities that you enjoy.

To accommodate for all weather conditions, American Diabetes Association recommends choosing one outdoor activity and one indoor activity. It also suggests selecting one activity that helps burn calories and glucose and another one that helps with building muscles.

Sources: Diabetes Care, American Diabetes Association

Green tea compound may improve blood glucose tolerance

Janet Otsuki Kuo — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:59:01 +0000

A compound found in green tea improves glucose tolerance and increases insulin secretion in laboratory mice with diabetes, according to the journal Nutrition & Metabolism.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden separated the diabetic mice into two groups. They fed the first group a green tea extract that has a high content of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a type of polyphenol. The remaining mice served as the control group.

Throughout the ten-week study, researchers measured fasting blood glucose, body weight and food intake. After ten weeks, they measured glucose and insulin levels during an oral glucose tolerance test.

It also found that EGCG supplemetation reduces the number of pathologically changed islets of Langerhans, specialized cells in the pancreas that make and secrete hormones. Insulin-producing beta cells are just one of five types of cells in an islet.

Changes in the islets of Langerhans are typically associated with the onset of diabetes.

The study showed that EGCG increases the number and size of islets and heightens pancreative endocrine area.

“This study shows that the green tea extract EGCG markedly preserves islet structure and enhances glucose tolerance in genetically diabetic mice,” wrote the researchers in the study.

“Dietary supplementation with EGCG could potentially contribute to nutritional strategies for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes,” they wrote.

EGCG is one of four main polyphenols found in fresh tea leaves. The other three are epogallocatechin, epicatechin gallate, and epicatechin.

Green tea contains 30 to 40 percent water-extractable polyphenols. Black tea, which is green tea oxidized by fermentation, contains 3 to 10 percent. Oolong tea is semi-fermented tea and falls halfway between green and black teas in terms of polyphenol levels.

Green tea has long been a suggested therapy for diabetes, but the mechanisms behind it are not well understood.

Green tea is purported to reduce the risk of Alzheimers disease and certain cancers, according to nutraingredients.com. It’s also said to improve cardivascular and oral health and help with weight management.

Sources: Nutrition & Metabolism, MedicineNet.com, nutraingredients.com

photo by John Nyboer

Foods to Fight Diabetes

BattleDiabetes Staff — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:29:21 +0000

Learn about foods that you can swap out in your daily diet to help prevent diabetes

Seniors and Diabetes

BattleDiabetes Staff — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:29:07 +0000

Type 2 diabetes can affect older people, find out how to best manage it in seniors

Type 2 diabetes may originate in intestines

Janet Otsuki Kuo — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 01:42:51 +0000

Type 2 diabetes and problems controlling blood glucose may originate in the intestines, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Scientists studied mice that cannot produce fatty acid synthase (FAS) in the intestine. FAS is an enzyme necessary for the production of lipids and is regulated by insulin. People with type 2 diabetes have defects in FAS.

The researchers found that mice unable to make the FAS enzyme developed chronic inflammation in the gut, known to be a strong predictor of diabetes.

Upon close inspection, researchers found that the mice with a defect in FAS had lost the protective lining of intestinal mucus, called Muc2, that separates the gut microbes from direct exposure to cells. FAS is required to keep the mucosal layer intact and protects the colon and small intestine.

The loss of the mucosal layer allowed bad bacteria to penetrate otherwise healthy cells in the guts of the mice. This caused weight loss, diarrhea, and other gastrointestinal symptoms.

“Diabetes may indeed start in your gut,” said Clay F. Semenkovich, MD, lead researcher in the study. “When people become resistant to insulin, as happens when they gain weight, FAS doesn't work properly, which causes inflammation that, in turn, can lead to diabetes.”

Inflammation and insulin resistance reinforce each other, according to the study. Inflammatory substances can cause insulin resistance, and insulin resistance is known to promote inflammation.

Scientists have long looked to the pancreas and liver for the underlying causes of diabetes since the pancreas produces insulin and the liver stores sugar. This new research suggests that diabetes originates in the intestines.

The researchers found gastrointestinal effects in the mice resembling some features of inflammatory bowel disease, and many people with diabetes develop gastrointestinal issues.

“Abdominal pain and diarrhea are some of the most common problems we see in people with diabetes,” said Semenkovich. “We could only connect these 'dots' because other experts at the university could help us link what we observed in these mice to what occurs in patients with diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease.”

A paper on the research study appears in the Feb. 16 issue of the journal Cell Host & Microbe.

Source: University of Washington School of Medicine

Potential new therapy may reduce heart failure in people with type 2 diabetes

Janet Otsuki Kuo — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:49:51 +0000

Researchers have identified a potential new therapy that may reduce the incidence of heart failure in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in people with type 2 diabetes. The main feature is diabetic cardiomyopathy, where changes occur in heart structure and function. This ventricular dysfunction develops independent of hypertension or coronary artery disease.

The molecular link between diabetes and cardiomyopathy is not well understood, so scientists from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center set out to evaluate a possible role of FoxO proteins in diabetic cardiomyopathy.

The FoxO (forkhead box proteins, O) family of transcription factors plays a key role in cellular processes including cell growth, metabolism, and survival.

FoxO proteins are downstream targets of insulin signaling. They also mediate feedback control to govern insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism.

Researchers found that FoxO activity was critically linked with development of cardiomyopathy. First, they determined that FoxO proteins were persistently activated in the hearts of mice with diabetes either from genetic mutation or induced by a high-fat diet.

Researchers then discovered that heart failure induced by a high-fat diet requires FoxO activation. In particular, the findings suggest that the activation of FoxO1 specifically, induced by metabolic stress, is central to the development of cardiomyopathy.

However, when scientists deleted FoxO1 in the cardiac cells of mice, it helped preserve cardiac function and insulin responsiveness.

“Together, these data suggest that activation of FoxO1 is an important mediator of diabetic cardiomyopathy and is a promising therapeutic target for the disease,” wrote the authors in the study.

Here in the United States, about 25.8 million people or 8.3 percent of the US population, have type 2 diabetes. The disease affects more than 180 million people around the world. The number of people living with the disease is projected to increase to 300 million by 2025.

Source: The Journal of Clinical Investigation, National Institutes of Health

Stem Cell Research Looks to Cure Diabetes

BattleDiabetes Staff — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:28:49 +0000

Researchers are turning to stem cells are a potential cure for diabetes

Breastfeeding lowers risk of obesity for children of diabetic pregnancies

Janet Otsuki Kuo — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:05:11 +0000

Breastfeeding can reduce the risk of childhood obesity in babies of diabetic pregnancies, according to research from the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado, Denver.

Researchers studied 94 children whose mothers had diabetes during pregnancy and 399 children of non-diabetic pregnancies. They followed the children from birth to age 13 and gathered data on changes in their body mass index (BMI).

Certain BMI changes may indicate a risk of childhood obesity. Also, past research shows that children exposed to diabetes in utero have a higher risk for childhood obesity and metabolic diseases.

“There are critical perinatal periods for defining obesity risk, pregnancy and early infant life,” said Tessa Crume, Ph.D, epidemiologist at the Colorado School of Public Health. “We looked at children exposed to over-nutrition in utero due to a diabetic pregnancy to determine if early life nutrition could alter their risk of childhood obesity.”

Researchers found that children of diabetic pregnancies who were breastfed had a slower BMI growth as they got older than children who breastfed less than six months.

Children of non-diabetic pregnancies had a similar pattern.

The results indicate that encouraging mothers to breastfeed for six months or longer can help normalize BMI growth in these children and reduce the chance of childhood obesity.

“Breastfeeding support represents an important clinical and public health strategy to reduce the risk of childhood obesity,” said Crume. “We can work with pediatricians, obstetricians and the public health community to give these women targeted support immediately following birth.”

A paper on this research study appears in International Journal of Obesity.

Source: University of Colorado, Denver

Type 1 Diabetes and the Body

BattleDiabetes Staff — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:28:32 +0000

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