Dr. John's Health Matters
Welcome to Dr. John's Health Matters blog.
The articles posted here are from various sources who are duly acknowledged. I would appreciate being immediately notified, if any copywritten material needs to be removed. This blog is not intended to replace the qualified advice of a licensed health practitioner. Readers should exercise their own judgment. Enjoy, subscribe, participate and tell others :)
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Posts tagged "diabetes"
Wednesday, Sep 2nd, 2009 ↓Blueberry juice displays weight management benefits: Mouse study →
Sept 2, 2009 (Foodnavigator.com)—Drinking a modified blueberry juice may reduce food intake and body weight, and offer weight management potential, suggest findings from a new study with mice.
Canadian researchers report that mice prone to obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes and hypertension drinking the blueberry juice were protected against the development of glucose intolerance and diabetes mellitus.
The blueberry juice used in the study was not standard juice but had undergone a transformation using the Serratia vaccinii bacterium.
“Results of this study clearly show that biotransformed blueberry juice has strong anti-obesity and anti-diabetic potential,” said lead researcher Pierre Haddad, from the Université de Montréal.
“Biotransformed blueberry juice may represent a novel therapeutic agent, since it decreases hyperglycemia in diabetic mice and can protect young pre-diabetic mice from developing obesity and diabetes.”
Blueberries, nature’s only ‘blue’ food, are a rich source of polyphenols, potent antioxidants that include phenolics acids, tannins, flavonols and anthocyanins.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: blueberry juice antioxidant weightloss weight management obesity carotenoid insulin diabetes hypertension serratia vaccinii bacterium cholesterol cancer alzheimer prevention
How Much Omega-3 Fatty Acid Do We Need To Prevent Cardiovascular Disease? →
Sept 1, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—A team of French scientists have found the dose of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) that is “just right” for preventing cardiovascular disease in healthy men. In a research report appearing in the September 2009 print issue of The FASEB Journal, the scientists show that a 200 mg dose of DHA per day is enough to affect biochemical markers that reliably predict cardiovascular problems, such as those related to aging, atherosclerosis, and diabetes. This study is the first to identify how much DHA is necessary to promote optimal heart health.
“This study shows that regularly consuming small amounts of DHA is likely to improve the health status of people, especially in regards to cardiovascular function,” said Michel Lagarde, co-author of the study.
To determine the optimal dose of DHA, Lagarde and colleagues examined the effects of increasing doses of DHA on 12 healthy male volunteers between ages of 53 and 65. These men consumed doses of DHA at 200, 400, 800, and 1600 mg per day for two weeks for each dose amount, with DHA being the only omega-3 fatty acid in their diet. Blood and urine samples were collected before and after each dose and at eight weeks after DHA supplementation stopped. The researchers then examined these samples for biochemical markers indicating the effects of each dose on the volunteers.
“Now that we have a very good idea about how much DHA is just right, the next step is to try it out in an expanded clinical trial that involves many more people,” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “Until then, I’ll stick with tasty foods that contain DHA, like fish, rather than getting a quick fatty-acid fix at the local vitamin store.”
Journal reference:
- Nicolas Guillot, Emilie Caillet, Martine Laville, Catherine Calzada, Michel Lagarde, and Evelyne Véricel. Increasing intakes of the long-chain -3 docosahexaenoic acid: effects on platelet functions and redox status in healthy men. The FASEB Journal, 2009; 23 (9): 2909 DOI: 10.1096/fj.09-133421
Tags: omega fatty acid DHA heart cardiovascular supplement disease prevention atherosclerosis diabetes
Snooze longer, you may live longer →
Brunch at 10? Make it 11. As if not having circles under your eyes weren’t a compelling enough reason to get enough sleep, here’s another: You’ll be less likely to age from diabetes, the makes-you-sick-and-tired disease that affects more than 2 million Canadians.
When researchers let people sleep just 5 1/2 hours a night for two weeks, they saw that the sleep-deprived folks had started to develop diabetes; they had increased insulin resistance and reduced glucose tolerance.
What does that mean? Basically, your body has mailmen that take energy from food and place it inside the mailbox in your cells. But with diabetes or insulin resistance, those mailmen can’t get the mail inside.
So glucose, like a posse of bored teenagers, hangs out in your bloodstream and causes all kinds of trouble. That’s dangerous to your arteries, your brain, your immune system and your kidneys.
Previous research saw the risk for developing diabetes go up with far less sleep, but these scientists decided to test a more realistic scenario of 5 1/2 hours (sound familiar?).
Too busy to get to bed earlier? No, you’re not, especially since your life depends on it!. Try inching up your bedtime by 10 little minutes a night. By this time next week, you may have dropped your risk of aging from diabetes.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: sleep duration prevention diabetes insulin resistance glucose arteries brain immune system kidney
Toxins in Fish Linked to Diabetes →
Aug 27, 2009 (Mercola.com)—A new study of Great Lakes boat captains over 15 years found a correlation between the chemical DDE and diabetes. Those who ate more fish had more DDE in their blood, and were more likely to develop diabetes.
DDE is produced in the bodies of small bottom-feeding fish from ingesting the prevalent pesticide DDT. The chemical transfers to bigger fish when they eat smaller fish and then accumulates in the fat and liver of people who eat lots of what they catch. Charter boat captains tend to catch and eat more fish than the average recreational fisherman.
Exactly how DDE may lead to diabetes is unknown. Another pesticide, Agent Orange, can cause diabetes, but it’s believed to do so in a different way than DDE.
Sources: 
Chicago Tribune August 23, 2009
Tags: toxin diabetes risk fish ddt pesticide blood fat dde liver fisher agent orange
Wheat Consumption May Contribute to Diabetes →
Aug 26, 2009 (Therapytimes.com)—An abnormal immune response to wheat proteins may contribute to type 1 diabetes, Canadian researchers say.
Their study of 42 people with type 1 diabetes found that nearly half had immune system T-cells that overreacted to wheat. The researchers also identified genes associated with this abnormal immune response.
“The immune system has to find the perfect balance to defend the body against foreign invaders without hurting itself or overreacting to the environment, and this can be particularly challenging in the gut, where there is an abundance of food and bacteria,” study author Dr. Fraser Scott, a senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa, said in a hospital news release.
“Our research suggests that people with certain genes may be more likely to develop an overreaction to wheat and possibly other foods in the gut, and this may tip the balance with the immune system and make the body more likely to develop other immune problems, such as type 1 diabetes,” he explained.
The study appears in the August issue of Diabetes.
“These observations add to the accumulating evidence that the gut is an active player in the diabetes disease process,” Dr. Mikael Knip of Finland wrote in an accompanying editorial.
— Robert Preidt
AHA limits sugar intake to protect heart →
Aug 27, 2009 (Presstv.com)—While Americans eat more than 22 teaspoons of sugar per day, the American Heart Association urges individuals to limit their sugar intake in order to remain healthy.
“For the first time we’ve created specific recommendations about the amount of sugars that can be consumed in a heart-healthy diet,” said Rachel Johnson lead author of a report published in Circulation.
According to the report, too much sugar not only leads to obesity but also places the individual at a greater risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.
The new guidelines revealed that women should eat less than 100 calories (equal to six teaspoons or 25 grams) of added processed sugar per day.
The limit for moderately active women aged 51-55 is as low as 5 teaspoons (80 calories) and for sedentary women aged 71-75 is as low as 3 teaspoons (48 calories).
As for men, the permitted sugar amount is reported to be less than 150 calories, equal to nine teaspoons or 37.5 grams.
The new guidelines recommend active men aged 21-25 to eat less than 18 teaspoons (288 calories) and sedentary men aged 46-50 to eat less than 9 teaspoons (144 calories).
AHA officials say that the guidelines are only for “added sugars” used to make foods and drinks rather than the natural sugar found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, or milk.
They therefore urged food and beverage companies to limit the sugar content of their products.
PKH/HGH
Tags: heart disease cardiovascular disease diabetes high blood pressure hypertension stroke diet nutrition teaspoon calorie processed sugar content limit risk
Acupuncture May Bring Relief For Common Condition In Women, Study Suggests →
Aug 25, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Polycystic ovary syndrome, a common condition among women, can be relieved by the use of acupuncture and exercise. This is the conclusion of a recent study at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Nearly 10% of women of reproductive age have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The syndrome expresses itself as a large number of small immature cysts on the ovaries that cause a disturbance in the production of hormones and an increase in the secretion of the male sex hormone. This means that many women with the condition do not ovulate normally, and the syndrome may lead to infertility. The women run an increased risk of becoming obese, developing type 2 diabetes, or developing cardio-vascular disease.
“We do not know for certain what causes the condition, despite it being so common. We have seen that women with the syndrome often have high activity in that part of the nervous system that we cannot consciously control, known as the ‘sympathetic nervous system’. We believe that this may be an important underlying factor in the syndrome,” says Elisabet Stener‑Victorin, who has led the research at the Sahlgrenska Academy.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: women woman nervous system polycystic ovary syndrome cyst hormone production ovulation infertility obesity risk diabetes cardiovascular disease
More Obesity Blues: Obese People Are At Greater Risk For Developing Alzheimer's, Study Finds →
Aug 25, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Obesity is on a rampage, with the World Health Organization pegging the numbers at more than 300 million worldwide, with a billion more overweight. With obesity comes the increased risk for cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes, and hypertension.
Now comes more discouraging news. In the current online edition of the journal Human Brain Mapping, Paul Thompson, senior author and a UCLA professor of neurology, and lead author Cyrus A. Raji, a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and colleagues compared the brains of people who were obese, overweight, and of normal weight, to see if they had differences in brain structure; that is, did their brains look equally healthy.
They found that obese people had 8 percent less brain tissue than people with normal weight, while overweight people had 4 percent less tissue. According to Thompson, who is also a member of UCLA’s Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, this is the first time anyone has established a link between being overweight and having what he describes as “severe brain degeneration.”
“That’s a big loss of tissue and it depletes your cognitive reserves, putting you at much greater risk of Alzheimer’s and other diseases that attack the brain,” said Thompson. “But you can greatly reduce your risk for Alzheimer’s, if you can eat healthily and keep your weight under control.”
Tags: risk danger diabetes hypertension cardiovascular brain obesity structure tissue overweight degeneration cognitive reserve alzheimer's
Why Low Vitamin D Raises Heart Disease Risks In Diabetics →
Aug 25, 2009 (sciencedaily.com)—Low levels of vitamin D are known to nearly double the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes, and researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis now think they know why.
They have found that diabetics deficient in vitamin D can’t process cholesterol normally, so it builds up in their blood vessels, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke. The new research has identified a mechanism linking low vitamin D levels to heart disease risk and may lead to ways to fix the problem, simply by increasing levels of vitamin D.
“Vitamin D inhibits the uptake of cholesterol by cells called macrophages,” says principal investigator Carlos Bernal-Mizrachi, M.D., a Washington University endocrinologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. “When people are deficient in vitamin D, the macrophage cells eat more cholesterol, and they can’t get rid of it. The macrophages get clogged with cholesterol and become what scientists call foam cells, which are one of the earliest markers of atherosclerosis.”
Macrophages are dispatched by the immune system in response to inflammation and often are activated by diseases such as diabetes. Bernal-Mizrachi and his colleagues believe that in diabetic patients with inadequate vitamin D, macrophages become loaded with cholesterol and eventually stiffen blood vessels and block blood flow.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: vitamin d diet nutrition diabetes deficient blood vessel heart attack stroke danger rosk cholesterol atherosclerosis immunity disease
Diabetes Drug Linked To Increased Risk Of Heart Failure →
Aug 24, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Rosiglitazone, a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes, is associated with an increased risk of heart failure and death among older patients compared to a similar drug (pioglitazone), concludes a study published on bmj.com.
As such, the researchers say it is difficult to advocate continued use of rosiglitazone for most patients.
Rosiglitazone and pioglitazone belong to a class of drugs called thiazolidinediones and are widely used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. They help to control blood sugar levels, but both drugs can also cause side effects including weight gain, fluid retention and heart failure.
It is unclear whether there are clinically important differences in the cardiac safety of these two drugs, so researchers in Canada compared the risk of heart attack, heart failure and death in patients treated with rosiglitazone and pioglitazone.
Using prescription records, they identified nearly 40,000 patients aged 66 years and older who started treatment with either rosiglitazone or pioglitazone between April 2002 and March 2008.
Data on hospital admission for either a heart attack or heart failure during the six-year study period were recorded and deaths were identified from a national database.
Detailed analysis showed that patients treated with pioglitazone had a significantly lower risk of heart failure and death compared to patients treated with rosiglitazone, but there was no significant difference in the risk of heart attack.
The researchers estimate that, for every 93 patients treated with rosiglitazone rather than pioglitazone, one additional cardiovascular event or death would be predicted to occur annually.
“Our findings suggest clinically important differences in the cardiovascular safety profiles of rosiglitazone and pioglitazone in clinical practice,” say the authors. “Given the accumulating evidence of harm with rosiglitazone treatment and the lack of a distinct clinical advantage for the drug over pioglitazone, it is reasonable to question whether ongoing use of rosiglitazone is justified,” they conclude.
For full article see link above.
Tags: diabetes drug cardiovascular stroke heart attack failure rosiglitazone pioglitazone thiazolidinedione blood sugar level control weight gain fluid retension risk danger
Parents Can Help Stop The Obesity Epidemic, Says Psychologist; Healthy Body Image Is First Step →
Aug 15, 2009(Sciencedaily.com)—Childhood obesity has quadrupled in the last 40 years, which may mean today’s children become the first generation to have a shorter lifespan than their parents, a leading obesity expert told the American Psychological Association.
However, parents can help stave off this impending crisis if they help their children to eat better and exercise, according to Edward Abramson, PhD. Abramson, professor emeritus at California State University-Chico, teaches psychology and is author of the books “Body Intelligence” and “Emotional Eating.”
In the last decade, “we’ve seen a [tenfold] increase in Type-2 diabetes and psychological and social consequences, such as prejudice, rejection, discrimination and low self-esteem in children,” Abramson said at APA’s 117th Annual Convention. “More than 60 percent of overweight children have one risk factor for cardiovascular disease and 20 percent have two or more risk factors.”
Bad eating habits can start with “emotional eating,” or eating when one is not hungry, or from following a strict diet, Abramson said. “This can lead to a weight problem or an eating disorder,” he added. “Parents’ attitudes and behaviors also have an influence on children’s eating, and mothers more than fathers affect children’s eating habits and body image.”
Many factors contribute to mothers’ concern about their children’s risk for obesity, Abramson said. “For example, there is evidence that minority parents (e.g., African-American, Hispanic) are less concerned about their children’s weight,” he said. “Often, when a mother is struggling with her own weight, she becomes more involved in regulating her daughter’s eating. In general, mothers are more concerned than fathers about their child’s weight, especially their daughter’s, and are more likely to restrict foods.”
For full article see link above.
Tags: children lifestyle exercise physical activity exercise food eating body image prevention diabetes type 2 diet eating cardiovascular disease habit attitude behaviour
Radiation Therapy May Increase Diabetes Risk In Childhood Cancer Survivors →
Aug 11, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Childhood cancer survivors treated with total body or abdominal radiation may have an increased risk of diabetes, according to a report in the August 10/24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. This correlation does not appear to be related to patients’ body mass index or physical inactivity.
“As a result of their curative therapies, childhood cancer survivors face an increased risk of morbidity and mortality,” with almost 75 percent of survivors developing a chronic health condition and 42.4 percent developing a severe, disabling or life-threatening condition 30 years after diagnosis, according to background information in the article. Cardiovascular disease, in particular, is a significant cause of deaths in this group. “In the general population, diabetes mellitus is strongly associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause death.”
Lillian R. Meacham, M.D., of Emory University and AFLAC Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service, Atlanta, and colleagues compared the prevalence of diabetes in a sample of 8,599 childhood cancer survivors (diagnosed before age 21 between 1970 and 1986) and 2,936 randomly selected siblings of the survivors (average ages 31.5 and 33.4 at follow-up in 2003, respectively). Medication use, treatment exposures (including irradiation, or exposure to radiation treatments) and factors that may have modified the risk of diabetes were noted.
Of the survivors, 218 (2.5 percent) reported having diabetes, while 49 (1.7 percent) of siblings reported having the condition. “After adjustment for body mass index, age, sex, race/ethnicity, household income and insurance, the survivors were 1.8 times more likely than the siblings to report diabetes mellitus, with survivors who received total body irradiation, abdominal irradiation and cranial irradiation at increased risk,” the authors write. “Survivors who were treated with abdominal irradiation were 2.7 times as likely to report diabetes mellitus as those who were not treated with abdominal irradiation or total body irradiation; those treated with total body irradiation were 7.2 times as likely to report diabetes mellitus.”
Survivors diagnosed with cancer before age 5 were 2.4 times more likely to report diabetes than those diagnosed in late adolescence (from ages 15 to 20). “As in the general population, older age, black or Hispanic/Latino background, lower household income, physical inactivity and increased BMI were associated with an increased risk of diabetes mellitus,” they note.
“It is likely that this additional chronic disease in childhood cancer survivors, who frequently also sustain damage to the heart, kidneys and endocrine system, will lead to further morbidity and premature mortality,” the authors conclude. “Therefore, it is imperative that clinicians recognize this risk, screen for diabetes and prediabetes when appropriate and approach survivors with aggressive risk-reducing strategies. Moreover, further research is warranted to understand the pathways by which these two modes of radiation therapy lead to diabetes.”
For full article see link above.
Tags: radiation child children kid cancer childhood risk diabetes lifestyle disease damage heart kidney therapy
Prehypertension, Obesity And Kidney Disease Risks →
Aug 11, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—People with prehypertension are not at increased risk of kidney disease if their body mass index (BMI) is under 30.0 kg/m2, a first-ever examination of the combined effect of blood pressure and body weight on the risk of kidney disease shows.
The study was by a team of medical researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
Prehypertension is a relatively new medical classification introduced in 2003 in the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on High Blood Pressure (JNC-7), and is defined as systolic blood pressure of 120 to 139 mm Hg or diastolic BP of 80 to 89 mm Hg. Studies from the United States and Asia have shown that prehypertension can increase the risk of serious kidney disease, but because more than 30 percent of the US and European populations can be classified as prehypertensive, treating everyone with this condition would be an enormous undertaking, the researchers observed.
At the same time, obesity is also known to lead to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and death from chronic kidney disease (CKD) as a result of diabetes and hypertension. These increased risks have led medical researchers to consider whether people with prehypertension should be considered for treatment if they have other cardiovascular risks, such as obesity.
For full article see link above.
Tags: kidney risk prevention weight obesity overweight bmi hypertension cardiovascular blood pressure heart disease diabetes prehypertension body
Insufficient Sleep May Be Linked To Increased Diabetes Risk →
Aug 10, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Short sleep times, experienced by many individuals in Westernized societies, may contribute to the development of insulin resistance and reduced glucose tolerance, which in turn may increase the long-term risk of diabetes, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).
Sleep curtailment is an increasingly common aspect of the Western lifestyle, which is characterized by physical inactivity and overeating. Today, many Americans sleep fewer than six hours each night and individuals who report such short sleep times have in previous studies demonstrated an increased risk of developing diabetes. This new study examined whether reduced sleep duration itself may increase the risk of developing diabetes when combined with physical inactivity and overeating.
Researchers in this study subjected a group of healthy middle-aged men and women to two controlled 14-day periods of sedentary living with free access to food and 5.5 or 8.5 hour bedtimes. When the subjects had their bedtimes decreased from 8.5 hours to 5.5 hours they showed changes in their response to two common sugar tests, which were similar to those seen in people with an increased risk of developing diabetes.
“Our findings raise the possibility that when the unhealthy aspects of the Westernized lifestyle are combined with reduced sleep duration, this might contribute to the increased risk of many overweight and sedentary individuals developing diabetes,” said Plamen Penev, MD, PhD, of the University of Chicago and a senior author of the study. “If confirmed by future larger studies, these results would indicate that a healthy lifestyle should include not only healthy eating habits and adequate amounts of physical activity, but also obtaining a sufficient amount of sleep.”
For full article see link above.
Tags: sleep risk diabetes insulin glucose physical inactivity overeating food nutrition sugar lifestyle overweight
Preventing Complications From Diabetes →
Aug 8, 2009 (Therapytimes.com)—If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, eating a healthy diet and getting enough exercise could be just what the doctor ordered.
These lifestyle improvements may require some dramatic changes in your routine. But where do you start?
The American Diabetes Association warns against trying to change too much at once. It offers these suggestions:
- Take a number of small steps, over a sufficient amount of time. This should make accomplishing your goals much easier.
- Face your bad habits, and realize that you need to change them. Ask for help from family, friends and medical professionals, if you need it.
- Find a motivating goal — wanting to be around when your grandchildren grow up, for example.
- Prioritize your changes. Complete goals that you’re comfortable with initially, and save others for later.
- Look at how much impact these changes will make, and start with those that pack the biggest punch, such as getting more active.
- Setting goals should include what you’ll do, how quickly you can accomplish it, and how to incorporate the task in your daily life.
— Diana Kohnle
