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Latest Blood Glucose Articles
Blood Glucose Article Archives
March 2013
February 2013
If you are a diabetic, you’ve likely been cautioned by your physician about the consequences of allowing your blood sugar to run high. You may have shrugged off the horror stories about how unchecked high blood sugar can damage your eyes, your heart, and circulation to your extremities. You probably have thought, “I’m young (or relatively so), and it’s not going to be as bad as all that."
0 comments - Posted Feb 28, 2013
I heart carbohydrates, and sometimes, I hate carbohydrates.
0 comments - Posted Feb 18, 2013
Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. has teamed with Dexcom to expand an existing partnership to include development of Dexcom’s latest continuous glucose monitoring system, the G4 Platinum. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the new CGM in October.
0 comments - Posted Feb 17, 2013
Sooner or later most type 2s face the choice of whether they should begin using insulin. As the effectiveness of metformin or sulfonylureas fades, physicians often look to insulin as the safest, most effective means of asserting control over blood sugar levels.
0 comments - Posted Feb 3, 2013
January 2013
I was having my second low of the day at work recently when I got "the headache." If you have type 1 diabetes you probably know the one. It doesn't ever go away quickly and never without having to pop a couple pain relievers. I was popping more than a couple peppermint-flavored chocolates and glucose tabs and waiting for the low to go away before I could even reach for the Advil to help ease the pounding in my head.
0 comments - Posted Jan 30, 2013
Nobody thought for even a second that Crystal Bowersox's second-place finish on "American Idol 2010" meant that the 26-year-old was headed back to her native Elliston, Ohio, to resume a quiet life.
0 comments - Posted Jan 17, 2013
December 2012
The American Diabetes Association’s newly released 2013 edition of its annual “Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes” recommends two notable changes:
0 comments - Posted Dec 30, 2012
Education as part of routine care is the key to successful treatment of type 1 diabetes, according to a new study from researchers in the United Kingdom.
0 comments - Posted Dec 9, 2012
Taking linagliptin seems to help protect the kidneys in people with type 2 diabetes. The drug, usually used along with diet, exercise, and sometimes other medications, lowers blood sugar levels by increasing the amounts of certain natural substances in the blood.
0 comments - Posted Dec 8, 2012
November 2012
Scientists at Tel Aviv University in Israel report that taking whey protein isolates or concentrates may help treat type 2 diabetes and prevent obesity.
0 comments - Posted Nov 25, 2012
I really look forward to Thanksgiving. For me, it’s a great time to spend with family and friends, watch some ballgames on TV and eat. All those wonderful traditional dishes that taste so good are ready for my undivided attention. But for a diabetic, Thanksgiving dinner can be a bit tricky when it comes to controlling your blood glucose levels.
0 comments - Posted Nov 21, 2012
The FDA has approved U.S. sales of Dexcom's G4TM PLATINUM continuous glucose monitor. The San Diego-based manufacturer said it is taking orders and plans to begin shipping the device to patients within the next few weeks.
0 comments - Posted Nov 16, 2012
It started at 7:45 a.m., when I heard my husband's phone alarming. Since it was his scheduled virtual type 1 for a day challenge with JDRF, I grabbed the phone as he kept snoring. Sure enough, it was his first text from JDRF, reminding him to gather his testing supplies before leaving the house. I shook his leg. "Wake up, sleepy, you have a text about your diabetes." He lay there, continuing to snooze. I tried again with "C'mon, you have to get up, your diabetes needs you!" He hollered between snores, "My diabetes is fine!" Oh, how I wish I could silence my diabetes in the morning with those words.
0 comments - Posted Nov 13, 2012
Stan Bush wasn't really surprised to find out he had type 2 diabetes. An unhealthy diet that regularly featured containers of ice cream before bed had left him primed for the disease. But how he handled the news was a surprise, at least to his doctor.
0 comments - Posted Nov 2, 2012
Do people on the high end of the normal range of blood sugar levels develop the same brain shrinkage and tendency toward dementia that has been found in those with type 2 diabetes? According to an Australian study, the answer appears to be yes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2012
October 2012
Recently, a Finnish study evaluated nearly 2,800 nondiabetic individuals, close to 500 of whom were using statins, after they had participated in a year of lifestyle interventions intended to improve their glucose metabolism. (Statins are lipid-lowering drugs that inhibit an enzyme crucial to the production of serum cholesterol; high cholesterol is associated with hardening of the arteries and cardiovascular problems.) The study was conducted by Dr. Nina Rautio and colleagues at Pirkanmaa Hospital in Tampere, Finland.
0 comments - Posted Oct 13, 2012
Like the taste of cinnamon? If you do and you have type 2 diabetes, a daily cinnamon supplement may help control your condition.
0 comments - Posted Oct 12, 2012
Roche Diagnostics says that its ACCU-CHEK Combo insulin pump system is now available in the US market. The system uses Bluetooth wireless technology to allow a glucose meter/insulin pump combination exchange data.
0 comments - Posted Oct 10, 2012
Lantus and Levemir have a lot in common. Both are basal insulin formulas, which means that they last for a long time in the body and act as background insulin, with a slow feed that mimics the constant low output of insulin produced by a healthy pancreas.
0 comments - Posted Oct 7, 2012
Q: How do I lower my blood sugar when it goes over 200 mg/dl? I have Type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Oct 6, 2012
September 2012
Bayer ‘s new blood glucose meter, the Contour® Next Link, which works with Medtronic's diabetes management system, is now available in the United States.
0 comments - Posted Sep 14, 2012
July 2012
I've had type 1 diabetes for 14 long years. During that time, I have had five episodes of ketoacidosis, two of which were brought on by emotional stress. The one that happened eight years ago, shortly after the meltdown of a serious relationship, lives vividly in my memory.
0 comments - Posted Jul 17, 2012
New York researchers have reported that obese patients with type 1 diabetes who do not respond well to insulin may be able to improve their blood sugar control by adding liraglutide to their therapy. Liraglutide (brand name Victoza) is an injectible GLP-1 analog* that was introduced to the US market in 2010 to treat people with type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jul 14, 2012
June 2012
Did you know there are 9 simple steps that you can take to make testing your blood glucose a lot less painful?
0 comments - Posted Jun 20, 2012
Dexcom Proudly Sponsors Historic Diabetes Flight Formation Trip To Raise Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Funds
SAN DIEGO - June 15, 2012 - Dexcom, the leader in continuous glucose monitoring, is proudly sponsoring the efforts of the Diabetes Formation Flight USA(DFFUSA.org) - three pilots with insulin-dependent diabetes using Dexcom's Seven Plus as part of their effort to set new transcontinental world speed records while raising funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).
0 comments - Posted Jun 20, 2012
People who use one of three ACCU-CHEK blood glucose monitoring systems and either the Apple iPhone or iPod touch can now access Glooko Inc.'s Logbook app, thanks to the introduction of the Glooko IR Adapter.
0 comments - Posted Jun 13, 2012
When dealing with a chronic illness, especially one like diabetes that requires 24/7 attention, it's easy to take shortcuts and fall into bad habits. Ask yourself the following questions to find out if you might be drifting into a few diabetes bad habits:
0 comments - Posted Jun 4, 2012
May 2012
During Memorial Day Weekend celebrations, friends often gather where alcohol is served and then take to the road. Drinking and driving is hazardous, as we all know, because alcohol affects many skills needed to drive safely and competently, including reaction time, coordination, information processing, and the ability to track moving objects.
0 comments - Posted May 22, 2012
April 2012
The US Food and Drug Administration has okayed US sales of Bayer HealthCare's CONTOUR® Next EZ blood glucose monitoring system. The new BGM, currently available in other countries as the CONTOUR XT, will be available in the US market this summer.
0 comments - Posted Apr 25, 2012
NeuroMetrix, Inc., a Massachusetts-based medical device company, has filed a 510(k) form with the US Food and Drug Administration for the SENSUSTM, a pain therapy device for people who suffer diabetic neuropathy. A 510(k) is a "premarket notification" of a company's intent to market a medical product. The FDA then tests the product and provides feedback to the manufacturer. Once the FDA clears the product, its maker can introduce it to the US market.
0 comments - Posted Apr 24, 2012
As we approach the summer season, our thoughts turn to barbecues, picnics, amusement parks, and road trips to the beach. It is a season of fun, but it can be hard for people with diabetes to enjoy the festivities and still maintain healthy eating habits.
0 comments - Posted Apr 23, 2012
The challenges of pregnancy are daunting on their own, but when you're diabetic, they can seem insurmountable. That's one of the reasons Cheryl Alkon wrote a book on the subject. Having type 1 diabetes herself, Alkon knew firsthand the challenges of controlling her disease during pregnancy, and of raising the kids who followed.
0 comments - Posted Apr 13, 2012
February 2012
A study of medical claims data from more than 136,000 men shows that men with diabetes are much more likely to require invasive therapies for erectile dysfunction than men without diabetes. The therapies, which are the next steps beyond oral treatments, are second-line suppositories or injections and third-line surgeries to implant prostheses.
0 comments - Posted Feb 23, 2012
December 2011
Vaginal yeast infections are annoying, not dangerous, but they can seriously hamper your sex life, especially if you have diabetes. What's the connection, and what can you do to prevent and treat yeast infections?
0 comments - Posted Dec 29, 2011
November 2011
People with diabetes may want to have their hearing checked, based on a study that found hearing problems twice as common among them as among people without diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 19, 2011
Heather Shields was thrilled when she got the opportunity to dance with the famous Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. At 11 years old, she dreamed of one day becoming a professional ballerina, and this trip would bring her dream a little closer. A long way from home for this California girl, Heather traveled with her family to the "Big Apple" for the month of July. During that month she remembers dancing six to seven hours a day in the heat of the summer. She began losing weight, but shrugged it off, assuming she'd caught her mom's stomach bug.
0 comments - Posted Nov 17, 2011
Final weeks of pregnancy! The third trimester brings about many more ultrasound scans and measurements taken to judge the growth and health of your child. You'll likely be visiting your OB/GYN or maternal fetal medicine office twice per week for non-stress tests to ensure that your baby is healthy and active.
0 comments - Posted Nov 9, 2011
October 2011
News from Danish pharmaceutical manufacturer Novo Nordisk reinforces the growing trend toward using a two-drug combination in the early treatment of type 2 diabetes. (See "A Conversation About Janumet and Earlier Combination Therapy for Type 2 Diabetes" for more discussion about this phenomenon.) In a study it released in Lisbon, Portugal, at the recent meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, Novo said that combining its recently released drug Victoza® (liraglutide) with another drug early in therapy helps recently diagnosed type 2s achieve greater blood glucose control than they can with a single drug.
0 comments - Posted Oct 2, 2011
September 2011
A couple of factors lead to increased risk of insulin shock comas during the first trimester. For many, insulin sensitivity increases and the pancreas isn't yet producing the hormones associated with insulin resistance. In addition, many type 1s will be taken off of their current basal insulin if it is not yet approved for use during pregnancy.
0 comments - Posted Sep 27, 2011
Imagine if you could keep diabetes at bay for another three or four years with lifestyle changes. Would you change what you ate? Would you commit to an exercise program, maintain a food journal, and join a support group? Imagine if you could take these simple steps and save money. How quickly would you say "Sign me up"?
0 comments - Posted Sep 26, 2011
Claire Duncan is one of many people with type 1 diabetes who wears a continuous glucose monitor and an insulin pump, in this case, an Animas® VibeTM. In an age of almost routine medical marvels, Duncan doesn't really seem to be an exception.
0 comments - Posted Sep 17, 2011
An estimated 34 million Americans will be on the road during Labor Day weekend, many of them with type 2 diabetes. Road travel can interfere with blood sugar management and lead to low blood sugar, which can cause serious complications, such as loss of consciousness, if not treated quickly.
0 comments - Posted Sep 6, 2011
Carbohydrates can increase blood sugar levels in people with diabetes, as well as contribute to weight gain. A recent study shows that eating two ounces of raw, dry, or roasted nuts daily as a replacement for two ounces of other carbohydrates may control blood sugar levels and cholesterol in type 2 diabetes without packing on the pounds.
0 comments - Posted Sep 5, 2011
When people are diagnosed with diabetes, things can seem pretty overwhelming. In a short time, they have to absorb a daunting amount of information and start making significant decisions about the way they live their lives.
0 comments - Posted Sep 3, 2011
August 2011
US Action Follows Stop-Ship That Began in June
0 comments - Posted Aug 27, 2011
Many women with diabetes feel overwhelmed by the responsibilities of family, work, and personal health. Balancing the minutiae of everyday life with the nonstop demands of blood glucose monitoring, exercise, and thoughtful meal planning takes time and effort. So it comes as no surprise that many women with diabetes put off talking to their doctors about breast cancer screening.
0 comments - Posted Aug 20, 2011
A study in the British medical journal The Lancet shows that type 2s who received once-daily or thrice-weekly injections of degludec, a very long-acting insulin, maintained blood glucose levels similar to patients receiving daily doses of insulin glargine. The results point the way to a possible reduction in the number of injections that type 2s who take insulin would need over any seven-day period. In both the United States and the United Kingdom currently, about one in every three type 2 patients injects insulin at least once daily.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2011
July 2011
How many times has this happened to you? You're driving somewhere and something feels off. You suspect that your blood sugar level may be dropping, but you plow ahead. Now, imagine your car sounding the alarm: "Attention: This is your car speaking. Your blood sugar is low. Pull over and eat a snack."
0 comments - Posted Jul 30, 2011
Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly have begun sales of Tradjenta, a drug for type 2 diabetes, in U.S. pharmacies. The drug (generic name linagliptin) comes in tablet form and is intended to compete with Amylin Pharmaceuticals' Byetta, which is injected, and Merck's Januvia, which also competes with Byetta. Both are well-established in the U.S. market.
0 comments - Posted Jul 27, 2011
I am excited to have this opportunity to write a diabetes-focused blog for Diabetes Health about living and thriving with type 1 diabetes. First of all, I am extremely passionate about racing road and mountain bicycles, running 5K runs and sprint triathlons, and doing other activities that I find to compete in for Team Type 1. But before I start blogging, I would like to tell a little about myself.
0 comments - Posted Jul 26, 2011
Anne Findlay has been racing road bikes for three years and just joined Team Type 1 this year. She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1988, at age 14. For more information about Anne and Team Type 1, go to www.teamtype1.org.
0 comments - Posted Jul 25, 2011
With severe weather predicted for Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Meredith Cummings thought carefully about where to park her car-eyeing the large trees in her historic neighborhood-when she arrived home on the afternoon of April 27. As she walked to her door, she reassured herself: Those trees had been there for more than 100 years. What were the odds of them coming down today?
0 comments - Posted Jul 22, 2011
Nipro Diagnostics, Inc., and NeuroMetrix, Inc., have announced that they will seek opportunities to sell their soon-to-be-introduced NC-stat® DPNCheckTM neuropathy test in retail medical clinics nationwide. The test, conducted onsite, evaluates neuropathies, including diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN).
0 comments - Posted Jul 16, 2011
If you have diabetes, you're more likely to be depressed than people without the disease.
0 comments - Posted Jul 5, 2011
Roger Hurdsman lives in Roy, Utah, surrounded by women. His wife of four years, Hilary, is there, along with his two young daughters, Bonnie and Tess. He seems to be handling the estrogen well though, perhaps because he devotes his days to designing software for the Department of Defense. He is able to spend time with computers and gadgets before being inundated with tea parties and dress-up when he gets home.
0 comments - Posted Jul 4, 2011
"Good news," my diabetes nurse educator says to me. "Your new insurance covers continuous glucose monitoring supplies!" I give her a half-smile as my brain screams at me, "CGM? Really? Something else to deal with on top of this damn disease, an insulin pump, exercise, and nutrition?" But I comply, and a CGM is added to the rest of my paraphernalia.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2011
June 2011
In the last decade, dramatic changes have occurred in our understanding of the onset and progression of prediabetes. Lightning speed changes have also occurred regarding the therapies available to achieve optimal blood glucose control. Even with all of this change, however, many old dogmas hang on. It's time to be aware of the new realities. In this article, I focus on two common old dogmas and the new realities.
0 comments - Posted Jun 28, 2011
"My pump, my pump, my lovely little pump!" My sister invented her own version of the Black Eyed Peas' song, "My Humps" to poke friendly fun at my insulin pump.
0 comments - Posted Jun 24, 2011
Medtronic and Ford Motor Company have teamed up to develop a prototype device that will allow people with diabetes to monitor their blood glucose levels as they drive. Using Bluetooth technology, the system will connect readings from Medtronic's continuous glucose monitor to Ford's onboard communications system, called "Sync."
0 comments - Posted Jun 22, 2011
Over the last decade, dramatic changes have occurred in our understanding of the onset and progression of prediabetes. Lightning speed changes have also occurred regarding the therapies available to achieve optimal blood glucose control. Even with all of this change, however, many old dogmas hang on. It's time to become aware of the new realities. In this article, I focus on two common old dogmas and the new realities.
0 comments - Posted Jun 16, 2011
A few months ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Australia to present at a conference of athletes with diabetes. During the meeting, prizes were awarded to everyone who scored exactly 5.5 mmol/L (99 mg/dL) on their glucose meter. You should have seen it! Anyone who measured close to 5.5 was testing again and again, hoping for that magic number to pop up. Fingers were suffering, but the test strip manufacturers were making out like bandits.
0 comments - Posted Jun 5, 2011
Amylin Pharmaceuticals has announced that it will collaborate with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to test a combination of Symlin and insulin in injectible form as a type 1 therapy.
0 comments - Posted Jun 3, 2011
May 2011
French drug maker Sanofi-aventis says that results from a Phase III trial of its experimental type 2 diabetes drug lixisenatide show that the drug successfully lowered patients' blood glucose levels and body weight, but did not increase the risk of hypoglycemia.
0 comments - Posted May 23, 2011
Albertson's LLC, a nationwide supermarket chain with more than 200 stores, has announced that it will participate in the Diabetes Control Program (DCP) of the Diabetes Prevention and Control Alliance. The DCP works through trained pharmacists to provide education and support to people with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted May 7, 2011
April 2011
Medtronic, Inc., says that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the marketing of the company's CareLink® Personal 5.4 Therapy Management Software for the Mac OS platform.
0 comments - Posted Apr 21, 2011
A new study has proven that use of a blood glucose meter with advanced features, when paired with diabetes education, more effectively manages blood glucose than using a basic feature meter. This information was presented at the recent 46th European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) Annual Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden.
0 comments - Posted Apr 18, 2011
What if there were a technology that could make people with type 1 diabetes feel absolutely wonderful, completely healthy, better than they ever realized was possible? And what if it were about to disappear? Well, there is such a technology, and it is in serious jeopardy. It's called the implantable insulin pump, currently made by Medtronic. This is the story of four people who have been using this device for 20 years, and their desperate crusade to keep it from disappearing forever.
0 comments - Posted Apr 17, 2011
Three weeks out of every month, my diabetes is well controlled. But the fourth week, the one before my period, is a nightmare. My sugars are astronomically high--I can't even look at a carbohydrate without my sugar spiking. I'm exhausted and cranky, and I can't get comfortable.
0 comments - Posted Apr 15, 2011
Italian and Greek researchers conducting a meta-analysis* of the diets of more than 500,000 people have concluded that the Mediterranean diet reduces the risk of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors that are common precursors to type 2 diabetes. Those factors include overweight or obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, high blood sugar, high triglyceride levels, high blood pressure, and high "bad" cholesterol.
The Mediterranean diet is high in fruit, vegetables, whole grain foods, and low-fat dairy products. Proteins include fish, legumes, poultry, tree nuts, and mono-unsaturated fatty acids from olive oil. Alcohol intake is moderate and almost always in conjunction with meals. Red meat is only an occasional menu item.
The scientists looked at 50 studies that involved more than 500,000 people, then extrapolated the effects of a Mediterranean diet from them. Although the meta-analysis pointed to the usefulness of the Mediterranean diet in fending off metabolic syndrome, its authors said that their conclusion is tentative, given the need for more research on the topic.
The study was published in the March 15 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
* A meta-analysis looks at a number of similar studies and tries to derive new and useful results from them by detecting common patterns among them.
0 comments - Posted Apr 12, 2011
Jeff and Natalie Kolok live in northwestern Vermont with their three children: Naomi, 16, and Johanna and Nicholas, each ten years old. Both Johanna and Nicholas have type 1 diabetes, Johanna since age four and Nick since age six.
0 comments - Posted Apr 7, 2011
Prodigy Diabetes Care is an aptly named company, a very young enterprise with the talents of a much older organization and a future that promises prodigious rewards. It was founded in 2006 by Ramzi Abulhaj and Rick Admani, two brothers from Palestine who are its sole owners. In the five years since then, they have built a company that is successfully competing against the diabetes old guard by focusing on engineering and a unique marketing strategy.
0 comments - Posted Apr 2, 2011
March 2011
This List defines terms that people with prediabetes commonly encounter as they learn more about the condition.
0 comments - Posted Mar 29, 2011
Weight loss can help people with type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar and avoid potential health risks associated with the disease. Did you know that losing even seven percent of your body weight can lower blood sugar, reduce blood pressure, and improve cholesterol levels1?
"Consider diabetes as a disease that has different phases--with the central feature a disorder of insulin production and insulin use," said Roberta Anding, MS, RD/LD,CSSD,CDE. Anding is a clinical dietitian and certified diabetes educator at Baylor College of Medicine, as well as a national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. "To better control and lose weight safely with type 2 diabetes, it is important to consider the type and amount of food on your plate."
0 comments - Posted Mar 12, 2011
My almost 20 years as a diabetes educator have been memorable in many ways, but certain moments stand out more than others. Because blood glucose testing is an important part of diabetes management for everyone I see, I try to assess each person’s skills and habits in this key area. I’ll never forget the time I asked a client how often he changed his lancet. He had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes about four years earlier and was checking regularly, so it seemed like a reasonable question. He proceeded to look at me with a puzzled expression and say, “You mean you’re supposed to change those things?”
0 comments - Posted Mar 7, 2011
Ten years ago, an astute physician diagnosed me with Type 2 diabetes. I exhibited none of the classic symptoms of rapid weight loss, extreme thirst, and frequent urination. I attributed fatigue to my job. For about a year before diagnosis, I experienced what I thought were yeast infections and treated them with over-the-counter medications. I later learned that this condition is a symptom of diabetes. I am non-insulin dependent.
0 comments - Posted Mar 3, 2011
February 2011
A couple of diabetes recalls are in the works, one for a group of insulin cartridges manufactured by Animas and another for the entire line of ACCU-CHEK® FlexLink Plus infusion sets, manufactured by Roche.
0 comments - Posted Feb 28, 2011
In two recent head-to-head year-long trials, one testing gastric bypass surgery versus lap band surgery and another pitting gastric bypass surgery against sleeve gastrectomy, gastric bypass came out ahead with regard to resolving the symptoms of type 2 diabetes. Both studies were published in the February issue of the Archives of Surgery.
0 comments - Posted Feb 25, 2011
Researchers at the Children's Hospital in Boston, led by Umut Ozcan, MD, have found a regulatory protein that lowers blood sugar when it is high due to either lack of insulin or a decreased sensitivity to insulin.
0 comments - Posted Feb 24, 2011
Everywhere you look, there seems to be a great tasting high carb meal, dessert, or snack staring back at you. While away at college last fall, I found a t-shirt picturing a cupcake above a skull and crossbones. For me, that image really sums up how we need to deal with being diabetic while being constantly tempted by sugary treats.
0 comments - Posted Feb 16, 2011
Nearly one in six people in the United States has no health insurance. If you have diabetes, that's a very tough position to be in. There are, however, resources that can cut the costs that you have been paying out of pocket for medicines and supplies.
0 comments - Posted Feb 14, 2011
According to a new study published in Diabetes Care, your finger-prick blood glucose test may be "abnormally and significantly high" if you test after handling fruit without first scrubbing your hands thoroughly and vigorously.
0 comments - Posted Feb 11, 2011
It's hard enough to be pregnant, but pregnancy with diabetes is especially challenging because it's so difficult to keep blood sugar within a normal range at a time when hormones are surging. All women try their best with the tools that they have, but even so, about half of all babies born to mothers with type 1 diabetes are overweight or obese at birth because of too much sugar in their mothers' blood. Mothers with high blood glucose levels also increase their child's risk of congenital malformation, stillbirth, neonatal death, preterm delivery, and neonatal admission.
0 comments - Posted Feb 9, 2011
January 2011
It doesn't matter if you're a computer geek or complete technophobe: If you've ever made the effort to download your blood glucose meter, you probably don't have a clue about what to do with the data once you've gotten it. That needs to change. Those of us who live with diabetes need to become more adept at analyzing our own data, to see what's working and what isn't both for our own sake and that of our time-strapped healthcare providers. .
0 comments - Posted Jan 25, 2011
Self-management is the key to healthy living with diabetes, but there are always challenges to maintaining optimum blood glucose levels. Lagging motivation and focus can be obstacles, and adjusting diet and medications to meet changing conditions is challenging. If you have ever wished for a person to help you improve your skills, someone who could offer informed guidance between appointments with your doctor - you may have been wishing for a diabetes coach. Diabetes coaches are personal trainers for individuals with insulin-dependent diabetes. This unique branch of diabetes education delivers ongoing, one-on-one consulting from a trained certified diabetes educator.
0 comments - Posted Jan 24, 2011
Most type 2 meds work by increasing insulin production in one way or another. The extra insulin lowers blood sugar by ushering it out of your bloodstream and into your cells, where it may, unfortunately, make you fat. Wouldn't it be nice if instead, you could lower your high blood sugar by just flushing it right down the toilet?
0 comments - Posted Jan 17, 2011
Infopia USA's Eocene System is a diabetes management system with a data collection device that gathers data from a meter, blood pressure cuff, and a thermal scale. Readings are stored on Infopia's network and available to you and your health team. See the video on Diabetes Health TV here.
0 comments - Posted Jan 13, 2011
The Diabetes Research Institute Foundation (DRIF) announced a new, first-of-its-kind partnership aimed at helping the more than 200,000* Broward County, Florida, residents affected by diabetes. Diabetes Research Institute Live Well Broward County is a joint effort of the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation, Walgreens in South Florida, LifeScan and a cadre of local physicians that will help residents "Manage Well, Stay Well and Live Well" with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jan 12, 2011
The crowd in the small Boston theater laughed and clapped. The comedy show was a good one, and I was enjoying it from a cramped seat in the balcony. It was October 29, a Friday, and while it was brisk outside, winter hadn't yet clamped down.
0 comments - Posted Jan 11, 2011
A full third of adult Americans are pre-diabetic, and a third of those will develop type 2 diabetes before they're ten years older. Unfortunately, only about seven percent of them have been tested for pre-diabetes and warned of their condition; the rest are ignorant of the road they're on. By losing just 10 to 15 pounds, the whole group could cut their chances of getting type 2 by half. The problem is, how to alert them in time for them to stop their progression to type 2?
0 comments - Posted Jan 10, 2011
Sitagliptin (Januvia) has long been used to reduce blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes, but a new study indicates that it can do the same for those with type 1 diabetes. Sitagliptin is a DPP-4 inhibitor; that is, it inhibits, or temporarily prevents, the enzyme DPP-4 from destroying a helpful hormone called GLP-1. GLP-1, which is released by the gut when food arrives there from the stomach, lowers blood sugar by causing the release of insulin, reducing the secretion of glucagon, and slowing stomach emptying and nutrient absorption.
0 comments - Posted Jan 7, 2011
Talk about a win-win situation! It seems that many aphrodisiacs--herbs that boost sexual energy and function--can also bring down blood sugar, cholesterol, and/or blood pressure. At least four herbs have shown these double benefits in scientific studies.
0 comments - Posted Jan 6, 2011
December 2010
The Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York City has received a $600,000 grant from the American Diabetes Association to study the effects of resveratrol on lowering impaired glucose tolerance in older adults.
0 comments - Posted Dec 30, 2010
Arena Pharmaceuticals and Eisai Inc. recently released results of a phase 3 clinical trial for lorcaserin, a weight-loss drug they are developing in partnership. The trial, called BLOOM-DM (Behavioral modification and Lorcaserin for Overweight and Obesity Management- Diabetes Management), targeted patients with type 2 diabetes who are overweight or obese.
0 comments - Posted Dec 28, 2010
Abbott Diabetes Care today announced that it has initiated a recall of 359 lots (approximately 359 million strips) of Precision Xtra®, Precision Xceed Pro®, MediSense® Optium, Optium, OptiumEZ and ReliOn® Ultima Blood Glucose Test Strips in the United States and Puerto Rico.
0 comments - Posted Dec 22, 2010
Being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes means a lot of change in your daily life. From blood glucose monitoring to watching what you eat to losing weight, it's hard to keep track of the changes you need to make to keep diabetes under control. One aspect of diabetes care that sometimes falls through the cracks is oral health care, which, if ignored, can lead to serious health complications.
0 comments - Posted Dec 22, 2010
Research firm Frost & Sullivan, a leading international healthcare consulting company, released a market study analyzing and estimating the demand for Pepex Biomedical Inc.'s new biosensor technology for blood glucose monitoring for diabetes sufferers worldwide. The researchers interviewed diagnosed diabetics, diabetes educators, endocrinologists, and manufacturers of biosensors, blood glucose meters, or other clinical diagnostic or patient monitoring equipment suppliers for the study. The Frost & Sullivan report concluded that the Pepex Trio technology has the "potential as a new standard for measuring blood glucose levels."
0 comments - Posted Dec 21, 2010
If you have type 1 diabetes, you know that the process of obtaining life insurance or long-term care insurance has been a long, tough road, most often leading to the dead end of declined coverage. In fact, most insurance companies have classified anyone with type 1 as an automatic decline, without any consideration of each case individually.
0 comments - Posted Dec 14, 2010
November 2010
The competition for a continuous glucose monitoring system that can replace the classic finger prick blood tests for diabetes is heating up. Several new products have come to the market this year that use various techniques to test blood glucose levels continuously without the need for a blood test, but several have faltered with complaints of inaccurate readings and skin irritation.
0 comments - Posted Nov 29, 2010
Insulet Corp., the leader in tubing-free insulin pump technology with its OmniPod® Insulin Management System, recognizes the outstanding achievements of Christopher Gorham, age 12, of Waterford, Michigan for bringing home both silver and bronze medals in the Sparring and Forms competitions at the 2010 World Karate/Kickboxing Council World Championships held in Albufeira, Portugal. Chris is a 2nd degree black belt in training for a 3rd degree black belt; he has been in martial arts since he was four years old, competing all over the world.
0 comments - Posted Nov 25, 2010
A new drug for type 2 diabetes started showing up in drugstores this week, according to manufacturer Santarus. The FDA-approved drug, called Cycloset, takes an distinctive -- and not well understood -- approach to reducing blood sugar levels. The pill apparently works by increasing dopamine activity in the hypothalamus, a part of the brain. Dopamine is a brain chemical that plays a big role in people's behavior, mood, and ability to sleep. Scientists theorize that glucose intolerance and insulin resistance may in part result from abnormal activity of this chemical, and that upping dopamine activity may iron out these problems.That's the theory, at least: the drug's exact workings aren't known. But it seems to do the trick.
0 comments - Posted Nov 24, 2010
Get ready for a major change to the way you can use your Flexible Spending Account (FSA). Staring in 2011, you won't be able to use your FSA to purchase over-the-counter (OTC) medications unless you have a prescription from your doctor. By the year 2013, FSAs will also be capped at $2,500, down from the $5,000 currently allowed under the program. These changes, which are the result of the Affordable Care Act, could have a significant impact on both the revenues of the federal government and your wallet.
0 comments - Posted Nov 23, 2010
Imagine a pandemic. A disease comes into a community and then spreads across borders, causing disability and death in its path. Scientists fight to contain its spread, and doctors try to mitigate its effects. Most people associate this kind of scenario with a pathogen: a virus or bacteria, like HIV or avian flu, that has found a way to exploit the human body. In fact, however, the overwhelming majority of pandemics are the result of noncommunicable diseases that are not spread by pathogens: conditions like cancer, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 12, 2010
New technology is popping up all over in the medical community, from new diagnostic machines, to new ways of administering drugs, to an almost endless supply of self-monitoring devices such as blood glucose meters. But a technology often overlooked is one that could have the most impact-electronic medical records.
0 comments - Posted Nov 3, 2010
October 2010
Regular physical activity and exercise are recommended for the general population for overall improved health. However, exercise of moderate intensity increases the risk of hypoglycemia during and following exertion in those with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Accordingly, exercise guidelines for T1DM focus on prevention of exercise-induced hypoglycemia.
0 comments - Posted Oct 31, 2010
As flu season approaches, many people are debating whether they should get a flu shot. As everyone knows, getting the flu is not fun. In fact, it can be downright miserable. But for those with diabetes, the flu can mean more than a cough, running nose, and body aches--it could mean more severe complications, and sometimes even death.
0 comments - Posted Oct 27, 2010
Nearly 1,200 Rite Aid stores nationwide will host Diabetes Solutions Days on Nov. 2, 3 or 4 offering free health screenings and self-management solutions to patients living with diabetes, care-givers and those concerned about diabetes. Visitors also can get vaccinated against flu and/or pneumonia for $24.99 or $50 respectively, although many insurance plans including Medicare cover the cost. Vaccinations are especially important for diabetes patients because flu and pneumonia combine for the deaths of 10,000 to 30,000 diabetes patients annually, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
0 comments - Posted Oct 26, 2010
An intensive lifestyle intervention program designed with weight loss in mind improves diabetes control and cardiovascular disease risk factors in overweight and obese individuals with type 2 diabetes. These are the findings of the four-year Look AHEAD study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) is a multi-center, randomized clinical trial evaluating the effect of reduced caloric intake and increased physical activity on the incidence of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular-related death.
0 comments - Posted Oct 25, 2010
Getting enough magnesium in your diet could help prevent type 2 diabetes. Dr. Ka He of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and colleagues have found that people who consumed the most magnesium from foods and vitamin supplements were about half as likely to develop diabetes over the next 20 years as people who took in the least magnesium.
0 comments - Posted Oct 22, 2010
JACKSONVILLE, FL - October 13, 2010 - The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) today published a consensus statement for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) online, and will be published in the next issue of the association's official medical journal Endocrine Practice.
0 comments - Posted Oct 14, 2010
The holidays are known as a time for family gatherings, catching up with relatives, and sometimes even the occasional family conflict. Like drama at the holiday dinner table, in many ways your health is influenced by your family-for better or for worse. This year, why not start a conversation that benefits everyone? Gather your family health history.
0 comments - Posted Oct 4, 2010
Last week, sanofi-aventis announced the upcoming launch of the blood glucose meters BGStar® and iBGStarTM (developed by sanofi and its partner AgaMatrix), which should be available in early 2011.
0 comments - Posted Oct 4, 2010
September 2010
I’m back. I started working with Diabetes Health 10 years ago. At that time, Diabetes Health was the one publication open enough to talk about a subject that was controversial at that time… Lower Carb Options. That was my column, and I got a lot of slack from it. I didn’t understand why. People with diabetes want and need lower carb options. What was the problem with giving people options? That’s what Diabetes Health is all about – teaching people there are healthy options. Now it’s common to see lower carb options for people who have diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Sep 29, 2010
Sanofi-aventis announced the upcoming launch of the blood glucose monitoring (BGM) devices BGStar® and iBGStarTM, developed by sanofi-aventis and its partner AgaMatrix. Due to their convenience, accuracy and ease-of-use, BGStar® and iBGStarTM will help the decision-making process for people with diabetes and their healthcare professionals, with the aim of improving patient self-management. iBGStarTM connects to the iPhone® or iPod touch®. This is an important step towards sanofi-aventis' vision of becoming the leader in global diabetes care by integrating innovative monitoring technology, therapeutic innovations, personalized services and support solutions. BGStar® and iBGStarTM are planned to be made commercially available in the first markets in early 2011.
0 comments - Posted Sep 27, 2010
Children who have a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes might be identified earlier by way of tell-tale genetic indicators known as biomarkers. Some of those new biomarkers might be pinpointed in research led by Nancy F. Butte and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's National Institutes of Health.
0 comments - Posted Sep 22, 2010
New research findings reveal that one of America's favorite colorful fruits, blueberries, have properties that help to improve factors related to pre-diabetes and decrease inflammation in obese men and women. Chronic low-grade inflammation related to obesity contributes to insulin resistance, a major factor in the development of type 2 diabetes. "This is an excellent example of the importance of clinical trials to building our knowledge-base in helping to improve public health," said Steven Heymsfield, PBRC Executive Director
0 comments - Posted Sep 21, 2010
The JDRF is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. A lot has changed in the past four decades. One change has to do with the organization's name. JDRF stands for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Years ago we called what we now know as type 1 diabetes, Juvenile Onset Diabetes Mellitus (JODM). We called it that because we knew (or thought we knew) it was the kind of diabetes that occurred in children. We now know that type 1 diabetes occurs in people of all age groups. There was a lot we didn't know 40 years ago, one of which was that type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease.
0 comments - Posted Sep 16, 2010
If you are meeting a friend for a drink after work or attending a holiday party where alcohol is being offered, is it a health risk or a benefit? The medical and nutrition literature reports that moderate consumption of alcohol can offer some health benefits, particularly for your heart. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 defines drinking in moderation as no more than one drink per day for women or two drinks per day for men. One drink, by definition, is a 12-ounce beer, eight-ounce glass of malt liquor, five ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of hard liquor. Moderate alcohol consumption may reduce the risk of having a heart attack or stroke, lower the risk of developing gallstones, and prevent the development of type 2 diabetes in people with pre-diabetes. Studies show that those benefiting from moderate consumption are middle-aged and older adults. It is not recommended, however, that anyone begin drinking or drink more frequently on the basis of health considerations.
0 comments - Posted Sep 15, 2010
In type 1 diabetes, the body relentlessly attacks and destroys its own insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells. But a study by Joslin Diabetes Center scientists now has firmly established that some of these cells endure for many decades in a small group of people with the disease-offering clues to potential treatments for preserving and even restoring the crucial cell population.
0 comments - Posted Sep 14, 2010
On July 2, 2010, when Lt. Jose Lopez took the podium at the recent Children With Diabetes Friends for Life Annual International Conference in Orlando to speak to the parents of children with diabetes, his goal was to use his own story to reassure them about their children's future. "What I most wanted to convey to them was that people with diabetes, especially children, can do normal stuff and live their dreams. I am not a super hero - and I did it."
0 comments - Posted Sep 14, 2010
In my office, there is a box. Nothing fancy, just a plain brown box filled with a collection of "old school" diabetes stuff: "boil and re-use" syringes, urine test tape, screw-driven insulin pumps, medieval injection aids and lancing devices, and so on. Of course, no such collection would be complete without an array of classic blood glucose meters. The oldest one I have is a plug-in-the-wall model called a "Dextrometer" that featured test strip rinsing solution and a red LED display that could burn the retina of anyone within six feet.
0 comments - Posted Sep 9, 2010
Type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease are two distressing, but increasingly common, diseases seen in our aging population. At some point in the future, they may well overwhelm the healthcare system.
0 comments - Posted Sep 5, 2010
The routine breakdown of old bone during skeletal growth has an important role to play in regulating blood sugar, according to Columbia University Medical Center researchers. The process, known as resorption, goes on throughout life. It stimulates insulin release and sugar absorption, helping healthy people maintain normal blood glucose levels. The new study, published in Cell, suggests that skeletal changes could causes diabetes for some and that possible treatments for type 2 diabetes could come from the bone-insulin connection.
0 comments - Posted Sep 4, 2010
The Holy Grail pursued by all diabetes researchers is a complete cure for both the type 1 and type 2 forms of the disease. But until then, the "artificial pancreas," a combination of glucose monitoring and insulin dosing technology, may be as close as they get to a final breakthrough in treating diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Sep 3, 2010
Results of brain surgery on a small group of type 2 diabetes patients point the way to a possible new approach for treating the disease.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2010
August 2010
MannKind Corporation announced that the company will supply its novel, ultra rapid acting insulin AFREZZATM (insulin human [rDNA origin]) for use in a study being conducted by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) as part of its Artificial Pancreas Project. The planned two-year study in patients with type 1 diabetes will leverage the unique rapid action of AFREZZA for use in a closed-loop blood sugar monitoring and insulin delivery system, termed the "artificial pancreas" by the JDRF. The study will be managed in conjunction with the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
0 comments - Posted Aug 29, 2010
Working toward the goal of unifying patients' diabetic treatment information in a single place, the PositiveID Corporation hopes to patent a new device that monitors insulin pens. The Insulin Tracker would attach to a user's insulin pen and record the times and amounts of injections. That information would then be sent to a database that allows for comprehensive monitoring. Insulin pens come in disposable and cartridge-replaceable flavors; the tracker can be moved easily from one pen to another.
0 comments - Posted Aug 27, 2010
In the early days after my type 1 diabetes diagnosis, I sentenced a lot of foods to what I came to think of as my personal DO-NOT-EAT list, often with only slight provocation.
0 comments - Posted Aug 25, 2010
Novo Nordisk announced today the availability of NovoDoseTM - the first-ever mobile insulin dosing guide for physicians to look up dosing guidelines and blood glucose goals for their patients with diabetes, a disease that affects nearly 24 million Americans. The guide is available as an application on iTunes and is specific to Novo Nordisk's modern insulin analog portfolio: Levemir® (insulin detemir [rDNA origin] injection), NovoLog® (insulin aspart [rDNA origin] injection), and NovoLog® Mix 70/30 (70% insulin aspart protamine suspension and 30% insulin aspart injection, [rDNA origin]).
0 comments - Posted Aug 24, 2010
Jennifer Dyer, MD, MPH, an endocrinologist at Nationwide Children's Hospital, has developed and completed a pilot study that uses weekly, customized text messages to remind adolescent diabetes patients about their personal treatment activities. At the conclusion of the study, Dr. Dyer found an increase in overall treatment adherence and improved blood glucose levels.
0 comments - Posted Aug 13, 2010
"The objective of this clinical trial (research study) is to determine if the medications can rescue the few beta cells that remain soon after the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes; and whether new beta cells can even be regenerated," commented Alex Rabinovitch, MD, Principal Investigator of the trial and Associate Director of The Sanford Project. "The investigational combinations of these medications could possibly allow patients to decrease or no longer need to inject insulin to keep their blood levels under proper control."
0 comments - Posted Aug 12, 2010
Two recent research studies on humans indicate that resveratrol, a chemical found in red wine and peanuts, increases insulin sensitivity in older and obese people. A third study, done on mice, shows that resveratrol may someday become a powerful tool in therapies directed at macular degeneration and other retinal maladies.
0 comments - Posted Aug 6, 2010
July 2010
We are always investigating new ideas, research findings, treatment options, and educational materials to share with you. This issue is very exciting because we were able to talk with experts and those with diabetes, and write about everything from traveling with type 1 in Italy to investigating why hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia are so dangerous.
0 comments - Posted Jul 31, 2010
Bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego and GlySens Incorporated have developed an implantable glucose sensor and wireless telemetry system that continuously monitors tissue glucose and transmits the information to an external receiver. The paper, published in the July 28, 2010 issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine, describes the use of this glucose-sensing device as an implant in animals for over one year. After human clinical trials and FDA approval, the device may be useful to people with diabetes as an alternative to finger sticking, and to short-term needle-like glucose sensors that have to be replaced every three to seven days.
0 comments - Posted Jul 31, 2010
Unfortunately, dental treatment and vision care are rarely included in basic health insurance plans. I don't know how insurance companies concluded that the eyes and the teeth are not parts of the body, but they managed it somehow. If you have diabetes, however, it's especially important to realize that contrary to the rationalizations of insurance executives, both your eyes and your teeth require attention and care.
0 comments - Posted Jul 30, 2010
Learn Your Risk for Diabetes and Take Steps to Protect Your Health. If you are diagnosed in the early stages of diabetes, you can take better care of yourself and get treatment. If you have pre-diabetes, you can take steps to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jul 23, 2010
Type 1 diabetes often strikes children. Children love to play video games. Putting two and two together, diabetes educators have created a string of diabetes-themed video games over the years. The latest evolution of that simple equation--the Bayer Didget meter-game combination--arrived in U.S. drugstores this year.
0 comments - Posted Jul 22, 2010
From environmentally friendly hybrid cars and heating with solar power to organic or natural foods, our culture is increasingly embracing green strategies. "Using natural dietary supplements to support healthy blood sugar levels and minimize the impact of glycation is a rational continuation of this green philosophy," says Steven Joyal, MD, vice president of Scientific Affairs and Medical Development for the Life Extension Foundation in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (www.lef.org). He is also author of the book What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jul 20, 2010
Looking for novel ways to help improve patient outcomes, the Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Institute is using innovative adult education techniques to train diabetes educators around the world. While the cultural and epidemiological differences in each region can be challenging, David L. Horwitz, M.D., Ph.D., FACP, Chief Medical Officer of the Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Institute, feels confident this program can make a positive impact to help improve patient outcomes.
0 comments - Posted Jul 17, 2010
Overview: 57 million Americans are estimated to have pre-diabetes, a condition in which a person's blood sugar (glucose) level is above normal but below a level that indicates diabetes. Pre-diabetes may have no outward symptoms, and is diagnosed with a blood glucose test.
0 comments - Posted Jul 16, 2010
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Joint Meeting of the Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee and Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee has completed their evaluation of the scientific research available on the safety of rosiglitazone. The deliberations of the panel reflected the complexity of the issues, with several members voting to add additional warnings or to withdraw the drug from the U.S. market. Ultimately, the final recommendation was to allow Avandia to remain on the market. Now that the expert panel has concluded its meeting, the FDA will review their recommendations and make the final decision on whether the drug remains available to patients.
0 comments - Posted Jul 15, 2010
A massive study involving 485 people with type 1 diabetes at 30 locations across North America shows that the combination of an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor helps patients achieve significantly lower A1c levels than multiple daily insulin injections.
0 comments - Posted Jul 13, 2010
AFREZZA TM (insulin human [rDNA origin]) Inhalation Powder, a well-tolerated, investigational ultra rapid acting mealtime insulin, as part of a diabetes treatment regimen, provides long-term glucose control comparable to usual insulin therapy but with a significantly reduced incidence of hypoglycemia and less weight gain in patients with Type 2 diabetes, according to a two-year study presented at the American Diabetes Association's 70th Scientific Sessions.
0 comments - Posted Jul 6, 2010
In people with longstanding type 2 diabetes who are at high risk for heart attack and stroke, lowering blood sugar to near-normal levels did not delay the combined risk of diabetic damage to kidneys, eyes, or nerves, but did delay several other signs of diabetic damage, a study has found. The intensive glucose treatment was compared with standard glucose control.
0 comments - Posted Jul 2, 2010
June 2010
It raises fasting blood sugars. It increases the risk for type 2 diabetes. Millions of people suffer from it. And many don't even know they have it.
0 comments - Posted Jun 30, 2010
One of the factors that increases the risk of acquiring type 2 diabetes is excess body fat. So it makes sense that losing weight has always been one of the first lines of defense against the disease. Yet people who are slender -skinny, even- sometimes develop type 2. Why is that? Does the fact that a slender person can acquire type 2 negate the need for weight control?
0 comments - Posted Jun 18, 2010
A Canadian study that tracked 207 patients suggests that a low-dose combination of metformin and Avandia can reduce the development of type 2 diabetes by 66 percent in people at high risk for the condition.
0 comments - Posted Jun 15, 2010
May 2010
Abbott announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its new FreeStyle Lite blood glucose test strips. The new FreeStyle Lite test strips minimize interference during blood glucose testing and are designed to offer a better testing experience.
0 comments - Posted May 27, 2010
Tattoos aren't just an art form or a way of making a personal statement anymore: They are beginning to save lives.
0 comments - Posted May 20, 2010
A new study released by the Children's Hospital of New Orleans has found that black children with type 1 diabetes scored higher on A1c tests than white children who had similar blood glucose levels. Such ethnic disparity has already been shown in previous studies with adults.
0 comments - Posted May 18, 2010
Rhode Island-based CVS/pharmacy, which operates more than 7,000 pharmacies and drug stores in the United States, has announced three diabetes-related initiatives:
0 comments - Posted May 15, 2010
Over 80 years ago, famed diabetologist Elliot Joslin said about the treatment of patients with type 1 diabetes: "Ketoacidosis may kill a patient, but frequent hypoglycemic reactions will ruin him." Unfortunately, hypoglycemia continues to be the most difficult problem facing most patients, families, and caregivers who deal with the management of type 1 diabetes on a daily basis. Frequent hypoglycemia episodes not only can "ruin," or adversely impact the quality of life for patients, but also, when severe, can cause seizures, coma, and even death.
0 comments - Posted May 13, 2010
Dr. Richard Hays announced today that he is now recruiting children with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes for Protégé Encore, a randomized, placebo-controlled Phase III clinical trial. This is the second of two Phase III studies testing the safety and efficacy of an investigational drug called teplizumab. The first study, known as Protégé, has completed enrollment of more than 530 subjects with type 1 diabetes. There is currently no approved therapy to slow the progression of type 1 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted May 12, 2010
Scientists at the Mayo Clinic have developed a molecule that can block the breakdown of insulin. Their discovery could lead to development of a new class of drugs to help treat diabetes.
0 comments - Posted May 10, 2010
Most women with gestational diabetes know that taking steps to manage the disease during pregnancy is critical for the health of both mother and child. What many women don't realize is that those steps need to continue even after the baby is born.
0 comments - Posted May 7, 2010
My last ten tips were meant to give you an idea of what to think about before you plan your day (Tyler's Top Ten Tips). Now I'm going to give you my top ten tips for how to manage your blood glucose levels while playing sports. These should help you keep everything in control and allow you to relax and have fun while playing.
0 comments - Posted May 5, 2010
April 2010
NEW YORK, April 27, 2010 - The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation announced today that it is partnering with Living Cell Technologies (LCT), a New Zealand-based biotechnology company focused on developing cell based therapeutics, in a Phase II clinical trial to study the safety and effectiveness of transplanting encapsulated insulin-producing cells from pigs as a treatment for type 1 diabetes with significant hypoglycemia unawareness.
0 comments - Posted Apr 28, 2010
Dear Diabetes Health, I am a 60 year old married woman who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes eight years ago. In the last two years, I have lost interest in sex. I just don't feel like it, although I still like hugs.
0 comments - Posted Apr 26, 2010
We continue to monitor the progress of studies to determine the effectiveness of salsalate, a generic aspirin-like drug, to reduce inflammation and lower blood glucose in people with type 2 diabetes. As previously reported here in October 2008 and January 2009, researchers from the Joslin Diabetes Center at Harvard University are conducting clinical trials to determine if this well known and proven drug for joint pain can be added to the list of diabetes drugs. Recently, results from a three-month trial were announced online in the Annals of Internal Medicine, showing that those who took salsalate demonstrated significantly improved blood glucose levels.
0 comments - Posted Apr 10, 2010
March 2010
Dr. Stan De Loach is a bicultural, trilingual, Certified Diabetes Educator (one of the first 13 in Mexico) and clinical psychologist, not to mention a pianist, composer, and writer. Born and educated in the U.S., he has been a resident of Mexico for decades, and his first love is the annual bilingual diabetes camp that he co-founded, the four-day Campamento Diabetes Safari in Mexico..
0 comments - Posted Mar 30, 2010
Over the past few months, there has been a discernible shift of opinion among healthcare providers about which test best reveals a high risk of acquiring diabetes. The old standby, fasting glucose, seems to be giving way to the hemoglobin A1c test as the preferred method.
0 comments - Posted Mar 26, 2010
Experience is a great teacher, but sometimes it's not the best way to learn, especially when it comes to your medical needs. Smart people learn from their mistakes, but wise people learn from other people's mistakes. In my ten years with diabetes, I have found that to eliminate problems, you need to anticipate your needs. A few moments of preparation can ensure a great afternoon of fun with your friends, a better grade on a test, or participation in a sporting competition without any complications.
0 comments - Posted Mar 25, 2010
Suggested revisions in the benchmarks used to assess dangerously high blood sugar levels in pregnant women could lead to a doubling or tripling of the number of women diagnosed with gestational diabetes*. That's the conclusion of an international study led by the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
0 comments - Posted Mar 24, 2010
I grew up around the corner from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In high school, long ago, I thought that NIH scientists were "bad guys" who mistreated animals in the name of medical research. I later moved to the West Coast and became a registered obstetrical nurse. Over the years, along with sharing the joys of new moms and new babies, I cared for patients with devastating conditions like cancer and quadriplegia, people whose lives could potentially be saved or improved by medical research., Yet it wasn't until many years later, after moving back to the DC area, that I really began to see the NIH in a new light.
0 comments - Posted Mar 20, 2010
According to Duke University researchers, a mutation that causes the lack of an insulin-controlling molecule may be a factor in the development of type 2 diabetes. The molecule, ankyrin B, is activated in response to the smell and taste of food and leads to the production of insulin in preparation for food intake.
0 comments - Posted Mar 19, 2010
In a study that tracked 1,402 people with pre-diabetes, researchers found that only about half of them responded to the diagnosis by trying to shed weight or increase their level of exercise.
0 comments - Posted Mar 18, 2010
At a two-day meeting (March 16 and 17, 2010) to review blood glucose meters, Food and Drug Administration officials and staff pointed to a number of issues that can prevent people from getting proper treatment and sought input from medical experts and industry on ways to improve test results with the widely used devices.
0 comments - Posted Mar 18, 2010
An article by Scottish researchers, published in the British medical journal Lancet, says that although people taking statins are nine percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, that risk is outweighed by the drug's ability to lower cholesterol and protect against heart disease.
0 comments - Posted Mar 14, 2010
Allen, Texas - When Pam Henry's daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2003, she never even thought she would be part of something that could revolutionize health care. "When Sarah was diagnosed, my only goal was to do all I could to keep her as healthy as possible. What I created was something just to help keep her that way."
0 comments - Posted Mar 13, 2010
A controversial New York doctor is poised to begin surgical trials on non-obese diabetes patients in an attempt to reverse their disease with gastric bypass surgery. Dr. Francesco Rubino, the chief of gastrointestinal surgery at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, believes that because gastric surgery has been shown to be highly effective in remitting diabetes symptoms, the procedure should now be allowed among non-overweight type 2s.
0 comments - Posted Mar 11, 2010
February 2010
Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk has received Food and Drug Administration permission to begin marketing its type 2 drug Victoza® in the United States.
Victoza, the brand name for liraglutide, is a GLP-1* analog that is taken one a day by injection to help control blood sugar-and in some cases, help with weight loss-in patients with type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Feb 27, 2010
Bayer's A1CNow SELFCHECK, cleared by the Food and Drug Administration last year, is the first and only system of its kind with at-home results in five minutes. It enables patients to more closely watch their A1C level in between doctor visits so they may have a more informed discussion with their healthcare provider to ensure their diabetes plan is working.
0 comments - Posted Feb 18, 2010
Feb. 11, 2010 - At the 3rd International Conference on Advanced Technologies and Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD) in Basel, Switzerland, Roche Diabetes Care, the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), and Sansum Diabetes Research Institute announced their expanded collaboration in the Artificial Pancreas Project sponsored by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).
0 comments - Posted Feb 18, 2010
Sacramento- February 10, 2010 -- Assistant Speaker pro Tempore Isadore Hall, III (D- Compton) today introduced AB 1802, which would clarify existing law by allowing, but not requiring, a parent/guardian-designated teacher, administrator or school employee to administer insulin to a diabetic student while on a school campus.
0 comments - Posted Feb 11, 2010
In addition to diagnosing type 2 diabetes based on fasting blood glucose levels or a glucose tolerance test, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and the American College of Endocrinology (ACE) have now approved the use of A1c as an additional diagnostic criterion for type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Feb 5, 2010
CHICAGO, IL - On Thursday, February 4, Oprah, Dr. Oz, Bob Greene, Art Smith, Dr. Ian Smith and more reveal the staggering human cost of the growing diabetes and pre-diabetes epidemic on a special episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. Before a studio audience comprised of all diabetics and their families, Oprah and Dr. Oz reveal the latest facts and figures, share stories of those affected, and hold a no-holds-barred, revealing conversation about risk factors, diet and lifestyle.
0 comments - Posted Feb 4, 2010
Dear Diabetes Health, I'm 26 years old and engaged to a woman I've known since college. We live together, love each other, and have good sex, but now I'm having doubts. A year ago, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. She started taking insulin, and it has been rough. Four times now she has started sweating and shaking and saying strange things. Twice this happened during sex.
0 comments - Posted Feb 3, 2010
January 2010
Clinical and basic science researchers from around the world will convene in Hong Kong from January 28 to 30 for the First International Congress on Abdominal Obesity: "Bridging the Gap between Cardiology and Diabetology." The congress, sponsored by the International Chair on Cardiometabolic Risk (ICCR) (http://www.cardiometabolic-risk.org), is the first-ever specialized forum for sharing new insights and evidence about abdominal obesity and its clinical and public health implications.
0 comments - Posted Jan 28, 2010
Novo Nordisk announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the new drug application for Victoza (liraglutide injection), the first once-daily human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analog for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Victoza is indicated as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve blood sugar control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
0 comments - Posted Jan 28, 2010
Researchers at Sansum Diabetes Research Institute and University of California, Santa Barbara have concluded that changing the height of a conventional insulin pump in relation to its tubing and infusion set can significantly impact expected insulin delivery rates. Such changes can occur during routine daily activities like dressing, sleeping or showering. The study, "Siphon Effects of Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion Pump Delivery Performance," evaluated the siphon or hydrostatic pressure action effects on continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion and was published in the January issue of Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology.
0 comments - Posted Jan 27, 2010
An international research consortium has found 13 new genetic variants that influence blood glucose regulation, insulin resistance, and the function of insulin-secreting beta cells in populations of European descent. Five of the newly discovered variants increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jan 23, 2010
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) announced today an innovative program aimed at improving the treatment of type 1 diabetes by developing novel insulin delivery products to enhance the use of insulin pumps.
0 comments - Posted Jan 22, 2010
Living with a chronic condition like diabetes can be a challenging and stressful experience. Unfortunately, all the worry about blood glucose and the constant effort to balance insulin against food intake and exercise can itself raise blood glucose levels. But stress management can help control the stress hormones that affect blood glucose levels. Yoga practice, for example, can have a calming effect and play a major role in stress management.
0 comments - Posted Jan 21, 2010
A five-year study of 2,613 people treated for diabetes at Italian clinics shows that tight blood sugar control may not be the number-one priority for patients who have other medical problems.
0 comments - Posted Jan 13, 2010
MADISON, Wis. - Using one of the two major national diabetes screening guidelines misses about one-third of those with diabetes, consequently putting them at risk for serious health complications, according to surprising research findings at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
0 comments - Posted Jan 13, 2010
"People who give up smoking are prone to developing diabetes because they gain weight," TheTimes reported. It said a study has found that quitters are twice as likely as smokers, and 70% more likely than non-smokers, to have type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jan 8, 2010
BEDFORD, Mass. and BURGDORF, Switzerland, Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Insulet Corporation (Nasdaq: PODD), the leader in tubing-free insulin pump technology with its OmniPod® Insulin Management System, and Ypsomed AG (SIX Swiss Exchange: YPSN), a leading independent diabetes specialist and technology provider of innovative injection systems for self-medication in Europe, today announced an exclusive agreement for the distribution of the OmniPod Insulin Management System in nine countries across Europe, as well as China and Australia.
0 comments - Posted Jan 7, 2010
The first time that my fiancé Richard and I got, um, "intimate," I had some explaining to do. "Er, that's for my diabetes. So's that. And this thing. Oh, and this too." Richard was a bit overwhelmed. I think his exact words were, "Are you bionic or something?"
0 comments - Posted Jan 6, 2010
Using a pedometer as part of a structured education programme could reduce the chances of Type 2 diabetes by more than 50 per cent in those at risk of developing the condition, reveals a new Diabetes UK-funded study1 out today.
0 comments - Posted Jan 5, 2010
"You have diabetes." Have you just heard these words? Or maybe you recently heard it about your son or daughter. The oxygen rushes out of your body. A knot forms in your stomach. "What now?"
0 comments - Posted Jan 4, 2010
ROSEMONT, IL - Exercise is a critical piece of a healthy lifestyle, however those who suffer from diabetes may see an even greater impact, according to a study published in the January/February 2010 issue of Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Authors confirm that exercise can aid in diabetes treatment by improving glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity.
0 comments - Posted Jan 4, 2010
December 2009
December 29, 2009 - The American Diabetes Association (ADA) revised clinical practice recommendations for diabetes diagnosis promote hemoglobin A1c (A1c) as a faster, easier diagnostic test that could help reduce the number of undiagnosed patients and better identify patients with prediabetes. The new recommendations are published December 29 in the January supplement of Diabetes Care.
0 comments - Posted Dec 31, 2009
BOSTON, Mass. - Dec. 23, 2009 - Cells in your body are constantly churning out poisonous forms of oxygen (oxidants) and mopping them up with a countervailing force of proteins and chemicals (anti-oxidants). This balancing act of oxidative stress is particularly likely to go haywire in beta cells, the insulin-producing cells that malfunction and then start to die off in type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Dec 29, 2009
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Combining artificial sweeteners with the real thing boosts the stomach's secretion of a hormone that makes people feel full and helps control blood sugar, new research shows.
0 comments - Posted Dec 26, 2009
A 20-year study that tracked 704 women from before their first pregnancy onward suggests that the first year mothers breastfeed, they reduce their risk of acquiring type 2 diabetes within the next 15 years by 15 percent. Each subsequent year of breastfeeding further reduces the risk by 15 percent. For example, a mother who has two children and breastfeeds each for a year could enjoy a 30 percent reduction in her risk of type 2 over a 15-year period.
0 comments - Posted Dec 25, 2009
The dictionary defines a sugar plum as a small round or oval piece of sugary candy. But for most of us, visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads conjures up a far vaster array of sweet holiday treats. From cakes, cookies, and pies, to sugar-laced seasonal beverages, and yes, plenty of sweet confections, the holiday season is arguably the sweetest time of the year - and the most difficult when one is trying to keep carbohydrates and calories in check.
0 comments - Posted Dec 15, 2009
Dr. Bill Polonsky, PhD, CDE, knows diabetes. Among other things, he has served as Chairman of the National Certification Board for Diabetes Educators, as a Senior Psychologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, and as an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is the founder and president of the Behavioral Diabetes Institute (BDI) in San Diego, California, and a member of Diabetes Health's Advisory Board.
0 comments - Posted Dec 7, 2009
November 2009
Dr. Jennie C. Brand-Miller, from the University of Sydney stated that, "The food insulin index (FII) may provide a better way to adjust insulin dose in Type 1 diabetes.... In time, it may also enable us to design diets to prevent diabetes."
0 comments - Posted Nov 26, 2009
For 2,000 years, diabetes has been recognized as a devastating and deadly disease. A Greek by the name of Aretaeus described its destructive nature in the first century AD, naming the affliction "diabetes," the Greek word for "siphon." Eugene J. Leopold, in his text "Aretaeus the Cappodacian," described Aretaeus' diagnosis: "...For fluids do not remain in the body, but use the body only as a channel through which they may flow out. Life lasts only for a time, but not very long. For they urinate with pain, and painful is the emaciation. For no essential part of the drink is absorbed by the body, while great masses of the flesh are liquefied into urine."
0 comments - Posted Nov 24, 2009
Q: How do I lower my blood sugar when it goes over 200 mg/dl? I have type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 20, 2009
PRINCETON, N.J., Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly one-third of doctors surveyed said they did not have enough time and did not receive sufficient reimbursement to provide comprehensive care to their patients with diabetes, according to the results of a study of endocrinologists and primary care doctors published in American Health & Drug Benefits.
0 comments - Posted Nov 20, 2009
The Food and Drug Administration has given ARKRAY, Inc., a 510(k)* clearance to begin marketing its new GLUCOCARD® VitalTM blood glucose monitoring system in the United States.
0 comments - Posted Nov 17, 2009
The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and the College of Endocrinology (ACE) released online a one-page resource for physicians and healthcare providers for the management of glycemic control in type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 7, 2009
I recently ran into Theresa Garnero at the California AADE annual meeting and discovered that Diabetes Health had not yet reviewed her book, Your First Year with Diabetes: What To Do, Month By Month. We regret the oversight because it's a great resource for anyone dealing with the shock of a diabetes diagnosis. And Garnero is the perfect author for a book like this. She's an award-winning certified diabetes educator (CDE) and advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) with board certification in advanced diabetes management (BC-ADM), and she earned an Master of Science in Nursing (MSN). She is also a former national educator of the year, a cartoonist, and the 2008 global recipient of Inspired by Diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 6, 2009
Fingertip blood-oxygen monitors, called pulse oximeters, measure oxygen in the blood using light and color. The noninvasive device, which clips onto a fingertip or earlobe, typically has a pair of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) facing a sensor. Light of a certain wavelength (a certain color) travels through a translucent part of the body like the fingertip or an earlobe, and is picked up by the sensor. The amount of oxygen in the blood (actually, oxygenated hemoglobin) affects how much light from each diode finally makes it through the finger and reaches the sensor. The result is an effective measurement of the amount of oxygen in the blood.
0 comments - Posted Nov 5, 2009
The California Association of American Diabetes Educators held its second annual meeting October 22 through 24, 2009, in Monterey, California, and Diabetes Health was there. The clinical and educational program, put together by Debra Norman and Kim Higgins, was called "Tidal Wave of Diabetes." The invited speakers shared innovation, research, and new techniques with the attendees.
0 comments - Posted Nov 3, 2009
October 2009
Dear Diabetes Health, Hello! I am 60 years old and have had type one for about 24 years. It has been quite some time since I had a relationship, and now I have one coming at me. The problem is, I am very dry. The commercially sold products don't seem to help, and Intercourse isn't comfortable. What do you recommend that I try? And what about a libido enhancer? I need this relationship to work because living alone is tough, and my partner likes his intimacy. Please!!!
0 comments - Posted Oct 31, 2009
The statistics are chilling. Children born today have a one-in-three chance of developing type 2 diabetes. For Latinos, however, that risk is one-in-two.
0 comments - Posted Oct 27, 2009
A South African university pharmacologist has found that simultaneous consumption of metformin and grapefruit juice raises lactic acid to dangerous levels in rats (and conceivably in people) with type 2 diabetes. Too much acid in the blood can cause low pH levels that interfere with the body's metabolic functions. Conceivably, says Dr. Peter Owira, a pharmacologist at the University of KawZulu-Natal, such low levels could be fatal.
0 comments - Posted Oct 26, 2009
A recent and contentious meeting of diabetes experts at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Vienna, Austria, has continued the intense international debate over whether bariatric surgery should become a treatment for type 2 diabetes or continue to be reserved only for the extremely obese.
0 comments - Posted Oct 24, 2009
The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health (CDC) recommends that everyone, especially people with diabetes and other diseases, get both a seasonal flu vaccination and an H1N1 flu ("swine flu") vaccination this year.
0 comments - Posted Oct 16, 2009
"Self-monitoring blood glucose" (SMBG), a staple in the lives of most people with diabetes who take insulin, involves consistently monitoring and recording blood glucose levels before and after specific activities, such as eating, exercising, sleeping, and taking insulin. By observing the effects of certain foods and activities on their blood glucose levels, patients can learn exactly what works to raise or lower them. Thus, SMBG affords a kind of "fine tuning" approach to diabetes that empowers patients to adjust their medicine, modify their behavior, and manage their disease without always needing expert intervention.
0 comments - Posted Oct 13, 2009
A law signed by New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine that allows teachers to give emergency glucagon shots to students with diabetes has parents elated but has drawn strong opposition from teachers and nurses. The law also allows students with diabetes to test their own blood glucose levels and use insulin pumps while they are in the classroom, two activities that were not previously allowed.
0 comments - Posted Oct 12, 2009
Hyperglycemia is known to cause microvascular damage, which then creates complications such as proliferative retinopathy. However, this microvascular damage may also affect cognitive functioning even before it is reflected by more easily observed complications such as retinopathy. A study carried out by Eelco van Duinkerken and colleagues in the Netherlands found that "functional connectivity", which is "an indicator of functional interactions and information exchange between brain regions," was different in type 1's as compared to controls.
0 comments - Posted Oct 10, 2009
In these challenging economic times, when unemployment is so high and insurance coverage is being lost, many people find themselves having to miss doctor's visits, skip preventive care, and do without their prescriptions. Change is in the air, but in the meantime, there are programs that can help.
0 comments - Posted Oct 8, 2009
Nature is wonderfully complex. During the second trimester of pregnancy, when the fetus is growing rapidly, hormones from the placenta begin to reduce the ability of the mother's insulin to bind with insulin receptors. Because the mother's insulin is consequently less able to shuttle glucose out of her bloodstream, the growing fetus is guaranteed a good supply of blood glucose.
0 comments - Posted Oct 6, 2009
Dear Aisha and David - I am a 22-year-old woman with type 1, on a pump. I've only had one real boyfriend, and we broke up two months ago. He said that my diabetes didn't have anything to do with it, but I'm not sure. I think that the lows scared him. Sex with him was good, but I don't have much to compare it with.
0 comments - Posted Oct 2, 2009
In August, I had the pleasure of traveling to Atlanta, Georgia to attend the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) annual meeting. I sat in on several seminars, the most interesting of which are summarized here.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2009
September 2009
The way information is presented to us makes a big difference in whether we are able to integrate that information into our daily lives. Although graphs and numbers may sway some people, putting educational materials into a culturally relevant context can be more effective. A recent study, for example, has found that a dietary program based on the Medicine Wheel Model for Nutrition can change eating patterns among Native Americans, who have the highest rates of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease of all ethnic groups.
0 comments - Posted Sep 26, 2009
Even if they don't lose weight, a moderate aerobic exercise program can improve insulin sensitivity in obese adolescents who are sedentary.
0 comments - Posted Sep 23, 2009
For a while now, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) has been conducting clinical trials on the effectiveness of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) for people with type 1 diabetes. Last year, they issued their first two reports on their findings, showing that CGMs can improve control even for people who already have A1c's below 7%. That information has already had a powerful impact: It's convinced a number of large health insurers (including Aetna, Cigna, Kaiser Permanente, United Healthcare, and Wellpoint) to cover CGMs for type 1s, and it's led to the inclusion of CGMs in national standards of care for type 1 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Sep 17, 2009
I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the night before Thanksgiving, and my family and I were driving to my parents' house for the holiday weekend. I am usually the one who drives, but this time my wife insisted on taking the wheel because I was so dizzy and light-headed that I could hardly stand upright. Over the course of the previous week, I had not been feeling well. I had been getting up frequently at night to use the bathroom, was insatiably thirsty, and had been so dizzy that I had actually fallen down several times.
0 comments - Posted Sep 11, 2009
Juice extracted from North American lowbush blueberries, biotransformed with bacteria from the skin of the fruit, holds great promise as an anti-obesity and anti-diabetic agent. The study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, was conducted by researchers from the Université de Montréal, the Institut Armand-Frappier and the Université de Moncton who tested the effects of biotransformed juices compared to regular blueberry drinks on mice.
0 comments - Posted Sep 10, 2009
The famous Diabetes Control and Complications Trial, known to its friends as the DCCT, was the first to prove the power of "intensive control" of blood glucose to reduce the complications of diabetes. Although the ten-year study ended in 1993, researchers have continued to follow about 90 percent of the nearly 1,500 original DCCT volunteers. And the follow-up study, called the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC), is measuring up to its illustrious parent in terms of demonstrating the value of tight control. According to results published in the July 27, 2009 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, microvascular and cardiovascular complications of type 1 diabetes are cut in half for patients with near-normal glucose.
0 comments - Posted Sep 4, 2009
August 2009
Canadian scientists have reported that a hormone found in the gut has the power to lower glucose production by signaling the brain and liver to do so. When the researchers activated its receptors in lab rats, they found that the hormone, called cholecystokinin (CCK) peptide, rapidly lowered the animals' blood glucose levels.
0 comments - Posted Aug 27, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning against the use of GDH-PQQ blood glucose test strips by people with diabetes who are taking medications that contain non-glucose sugars. [Note: GDH-PQQ is the abbreviation of "glucose dehydrogenase pyrroloquinoline quinone," a chemical that reacts with the non-glucose sugars maltose, galactose, and xylose, which are contained in some therapeutic products.]
0 comments - Posted Aug 24, 2009
In June, I attended the ADA's 69th Scientific Sessions Conference that was held in New Orleans this year. Among other presentations, I listened to Mary Sullivan's very interesting talk offering practical advice on better inpatient diabetes care. We've written numerous times online about how hospital glycemic control needs to be improved. For example, you can read our article on DiabetesHealth.com called, "U.S. Academic Medical Centers Are Not Cutting the Mustard."
0 comments - Posted Aug 20, 2009
Only a handful of studies have examined the relationship of a woman's menstrual cycle to her blood glucose control, but they have one finding in common: menstruation's effect on blood glucose is as varied as each individual's disease. As a result, blood glucose testing remains the only way to know how a woman's monthly cycle affects her diabetes control.
0 comments - Posted Aug 15, 2009
Onglyza (saxagliptin), a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor produced by AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb, has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Aug 15, 2009
This year the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) went deep south for its annual conference, hosting the event in Atlanta, Georgia, from August 3rd through August 9th. Diabetes Health was there, hobnobbing with thousands of attendees and hundreds of companies, and it was an amazing experience.
0 comments - Posted Aug 15, 2009
Now there's an iPhone and iPod Touch app for diabetes. AgaMatrix, Inc., the makers of the WaveSense line of blood glucose monitoring products, has announced the launch of the WaveSense Diabetes Manager, an electronic diabetes logbook software application that runs on the two Apple products.
The WaveSense Diabetes Manager, in development and testing for over a year, lays the foundation for a series of upcoming products that will take advantage of the iPhone and other mobile platforms to help people with diabetes manage the disease. AgaMatrix reports that the WaveSense app provides users with the following features:
0 comments - Posted Aug 12, 2009
Initially diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, Rob subsequently discovered that he had type 1. Knowing that he needed to exercise more, he returned to professional surfing. Today, he is a sponsored professional athlete who uses a CGM.
0 comments - Posted Aug 7, 2009
In April of 2008, our healthy nine-year-old son, Gaspar, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. After his two days in the ICU and a week in the hospital, a new life began for all of us. Although we couldn't immediately grasp all its implications and were simultaneously dealing with our shaken world, we gave the situation a "think outside the box" approach. When the endocrinologist told us, "That's the way it is. Just focus on the controls and all will be fine," we asked whether the condition might be cured or attenuated if we acted quickly at the beginning. We were met with the usual answer: "There's nothing you can do. Just focus on the controls."
0 comments - Posted Aug 3, 2009
It's very likely that you, like most people, believe many myths about diabetes. If you do, you might actually be doing yourself harm. Learning the truth can empower you (as it did me) to make choices and take actions that increase the quality and length of your life.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2009
In 1994, Kelli Kuehne was on a roll. That year, she won the United States Girls Junior Amateur Golf Championship and a year later, she won the U.S. Women's Amateur Golf Championship, repeating that win in 1996 while also taking the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship. The roll continues. Today, Kelli Kuehne is still playing matches in the LPGA and, through it all, has never allowed type 1 diabetes to beat her on the golf course or in her life.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2009
July 2009
A protein that builds up in the pancreases of baboons and leads to the suppression of insulin-producing beta cells, may provide one of the most significant indicators yet for predicting the onset of type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jul 28, 2009
After experiencing blurry vision and excessive thirst, Mr. R visits his primary care doctor, who tests him and diagnoses diabetes and high lipid levels. Mr. R is placed on hypoglycemic and statin medications and sent to a dietitian for nutritional advice, but he is confused about to how to shop and cook according to the new recommendations. In the next weeks, he experiences dangerous blood glucose swings and inadequate improvement in his LDL level. His primary care doctor refers him to an endocrinologist, but the next available appointment is three months away. What now?
0 comments - Posted Jul 24, 2009
A man who has been married for 15 years suddenly begins losing weight and buying new clothes. He starts staying late at work and taking weekend business trips, unusual behaviors for him. His wife thinks he is having an affair. Why?
0 comments - Posted Jul 22, 2009
Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc. is recalling some lots of its Quick-set infusion sets over concerns that they may cause insulin pumps to deliver too much or too little insulin.
0 comments - Posted Jul 21, 2009
The Organic Center (TOC), a leading research institute focused on the science of organic food and farming, announced that a balanced, organic diet-both before and during pregnancy-can significantly reduce a child's likelihood of becoming overweight or obese or developing diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jul 17, 2009
Medicare offers: Screenings for people at risk, Diabetes self-management training, Medical nutrition therapy services, Hemoglobin A1c tests, Glucose monitors, test strips, lancets, insulin, and some insulin pumps, Glaucoma tests, Foot exams, foot treatment, and therapeutic shoes, Flu and pneumonia shots, and Cholesterol and lipid checks.
0 comments - Posted Jul 15, 2009
Obesity has always been one of the major precursors to type 2 diabetes because of its ill effects on the body's ability to properly use insulin. But until now, scientists haven't been able to say with certainty just what happens in obese people to increase their insulin resistance.
0 comments - Posted Jul 14, 2009
People often ask me, "Why limit diabetes-related services to the iPhone when there are so many other cell phones out there?" I always answer them by asking, "How many applications have you downloaded onto your cell phone?"
0 comments - Posted Jul 13, 2009
Roche Diabetes Care Announces Unique Coaching Program for Diabetes Educators as Part of Long-Term Commitment to Fight the Disease
0 comments - Posted Jul 8, 2009
UK-based GW Pharmaceuticals has entered into a strategic alliance with Professor Mike Cawthorne and the Clore Laboratory, University of Buckingham, to research the use of cannabinoids-chemical compounds derived from marijuana-in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jul 5, 2009
By inhibiting the expression of a gene called sirtuin 1, Yale researchers have been able to reduce blood glucose levels, decrease the liver's production of glucose, and increase insulin sensitivity in rats conditioned to exhibit type 2 symptoms. A happy byproduct of their research is a simultaneous lowering of cholesterol levels.
0 comments - Posted Jul 3, 2009
June 2009
Every time I return from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Scientific Sessions conference, my head is so full of information that I need a week or two to sort through it. But now I've had a chance to choose what I think are the top five things that you need to know. Here they are...
0 comments - Posted Jun 30, 2009
Until now, care for insulin-dependent diabetes has focused on the delivery of insulin combined with frequent blood glucose (BG) testing. Keeping your A1c down is, and always will be, the name of the game. But numerous studies have shown us in the last few years that having access to continuous glucose data has a huge impact. How you deliver the insulin doesn't necessarily matter-you can use a pump, a syringe, or an insulin pen, it's knowing your personal BG trends that makes all the difference.
0 comments - Posted Jun 29, 2009
The American Heart Association (AHA) has added weight training to the list of exercises it recommends for people with type 2 diabetes to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease. Heart and blood vessel diseases account for nearly 70 percent of deaths among type 2s.
0 comments - Posted Jun 25, 2009
One of the fondest hopes of people with type 1 diabetes has long been for the creation of an artificial pancreas, a reliable combination of automated glucose monitoring and insulin delivery that could serve in place of a defunct pancreas.
0 comments - Posted Jun 24, 2009
In 1993, I published an article entitled "Is non-compliance a dirty word?" in The Diabetes Educator in which I expressed my sadness that people with diabetes were actually getting blamed by their health care providers for not following treatment advice (1). I suggested that the patient's failure might really be a failure in the partnership (or lack thereof) between patient and provider. Fifteen years ago, I challenged diabetes educators to work together with medical practitioners to change noncompliance from a dirty word to a rare occurrence. So how are we doing today?
0 comments - Posted Jun 19, 2009
In 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration published strong warnings that the type 2 diabetes drug exenatide (trade name Byetta) might increase risk of acute pancreatitis, a painful inflammation of the pancreas. The FDA's action came in the wake of reports that 30 exenatide users had come down with pancreatitis and that six of them had died from the condition.
0 comments - Posted Jun 19, 2009
I hear voices in my surroundings as the cloud of confusion gradually begins to lift. "Curtis, can you hear me?" "Curtis, what was the score of the football game?" "Curtis, do you know where you are?"
0 comments - Posted Jun 18, 2009
I attended the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE), held from May 14th to 18th, 2009. Here's a re-cap of the buzz about ICU glycemic control, prediabetes, and vitamin D.
0 comments - Posted Jun 17, 2009
Gale Fullerton is a 65-year-old Californian who has the distinction of being a Joslin 50-Year medal winner. Elliott P. Joslin, M.D., knew that good self-management was the key to minimizing long-term diabetes complications, and the medal program was designed as an incentive for those committed to good diabetes care. In 1970, Joslin Diabetes Center expanded the program and began awarding a 50-year bronze medal. They presented the first 75-year medal in 1996.
0 comments - Posted Jun 16, 2009
Obese lab mice with severe type 2 diabetes had their blood glucose levels restored to normal and experienced a doubling in physical activity when sensitivity to the hormone leptin was restored to a portion of their hypothalamus.
0 comments - Posted Jun 9, 2009
As Congress and President Obama get set to tackle healthcare reform, the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) has begun a multi-front battle to seek Medicare designation for all certified diabetes educators (CDEs).
0 comments - Posted Jun 5, 2009
CRx-401, an insulin sensitizer intended to assist metformin in type 2 diabetes therapy, has successfully completed a Phase 2 clinical trial in which patients taking it saw their fasting plasma glucose drop by 12 mg/dl after 90 days.
0 comments - Posted Jun 3, 2009
Here’s a handy meter to have if reading your meter is a challenge. The Prodigy Autocode meter speaks your test results in seconds, and it’ll do so in English or Spanish. The audible function also promotes team work by allowing you to hear your child’s or spouse’s test result from across the room and work together as a team to manage diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2009
May 2009
In a recent 16-week randomized, open-label pilot study, 169 patients were randomized to receive Welchol (n=57), Januvia (n=56), or Avandia (n=56).1 The results demonstrated that Welchol (colesevelam HCl) significantly improved glycemic control and reduced mean LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) when added to metformin monotherapy in patients with type 2 diabetes. In the study, Januvia® (sitagliptin) and Avandia® (rosiglitazone) also significantly improved glycemic control, but LDL-C increased in patients on both of these treatment regimens.
0 comments - Posted May 29, 2009
Researchers at Wayne State University and the University of Michigan have found that a common blood test for triglycerides may allow doctors to predict which patients with diabetes are more likely to develop neuropathy.
0 comments - Posted May 29, 2009
Wow. It's like discovering that the orchestra's second violinist, who does a good job but just isn't as glamorous as the first violinist, also has a fantastic operatic singing voice. In this case, the surprise comes from metformin, the solid performer that since the 1950s has been the first non-insulin drug that doctors prescribe to newly diagnosed type 2s.
0 comments - Posted May 27, 2009
Smoking has severe effects on your diabetes and your health. Quitting smoking will give you more energy, better control of your diabetes, and less chance of a heart attack or stroke.
0 comments - Posted May 21, 2009
My husband, Simon, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in October 2004. It was managed via oral medication at first, but his blood sugar levels were hard to control, and his doctor prescribed insulin to stabilize his condition.
0 comments - Posted May 21, 2009
Smoking increases the harmful effects of diabetes by increasing insulin resistance and worsening diabetes control. It raises the likelihood of microvascular and macrovascular complications associated with diabetes. The risk of death from heart disease and stroke is increased, as are the possibilities of neuropathy, nephropathy, and retinopathy.
0 comments - Posted May 12, 2009
Brave. Fight. Grandpa. Life. Alive.
Those words are some of the answers to the question "What would people living with diabetes or with somebody who has it tell you is the one word that sums up their own experience with the disease?"
0 comments - Posted May 7, 2009
The European Union's drug regulation agency has recommended that the EU approve the marketing of "Victoza" (liraglutide), a type 2 drug developed by Novo Nordisk.
0 comments - Posted May 6, 2009
Voglibose*, a generic drug often used in combination with sulfonylureas to control blood glucose levels, appears to delay or even prevent the onset of diabetes in people who are predisposed to the disease.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2009
April 2009
Long before Joy Pape, RN, BSN, CDE, WOCN, CFCN, served a stint as the clinical editor and contributing columnist for Diabetes Health Professional, she was a seasoned diabetes expert who knew her way around almost every aspect of the disease.
0 comments - Posted Apr 22, 2009
Understanding which proteins help control blood glucose during and after exercise could lead to new drug therapies or more effective exercise to prevent type 2 diabetes and other health problems associated with high blood sugar.
0 comments - Posted Apr 16, 2009
Pregnant women who have gum disease run a higher risk of developing gestational diabetes than pregnant women who have healthy gums, says a study from the New York University College of Dentistry.
0 comments - Posted Apr 16, 2009
The majority of U.S. adults are worried about being able to afford medical care and prescription medications.1 In addition, a recent study reveals that one in seven children and working-age Americans went without needed prescription medications in 2007 due to cost concerns, up from one in 10 in 2003. Experts predict these statistics are likely to get worse in 2009, and this could present even greater hardships for those Americans with chronic conditions such as diabetes.2
0 comments - Posted Apr 3, 2009
March 2009
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) and American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) released a statement last week in response to the study published online in the New England Journal of Medicine which suggested that intensive blood glucose control for critical care patients with hyperglycemia doesn't improve outcomes and is associated with an increase in deaths.
0 comments - Posted Mar 31, 2009
I hear voices in my surroundings as the cloud of confusion gradually begins to lift. "Curtis, can you hear me?" "Curtis, what was the score of the football game?" "Curtis, do you know where you are?"
0 comments - Posted Mar 27, 2009
If you get less than six hours of sleep per night, your risk of developing impaired fasting glucose rises by a factor of 4.56, according to a report from the American Heart Association.
0 comments - Posted Mar 25, 2009
The FDA has announced that starting in early April, its Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee will begin looking into two new drugs for type 2 diabetes: saxagliptin tablets from Bristol-Meyers Squibb and liraglutide, an injection drug from Novo Nordisk.
0 comments - Posted Mar 24, 2009
Sanofi-aventis U.S., a maker of insulin as well as many other pharmaceuticals, announced last month the launch of their new YouTube diabetes channel that's designed to challenge the barriers, myths, and misperceptions about insulin use and empower people living with type 2 diabetes to make better-informed decisions for managing their condition. The channel is part of their broader GoInsulin campaign, a multi-media resource for people living with type 2 diabetes to help dispel the myths about insulin.
0 comments - Posted Mar 19, 2009
Scientists at a Cambridge, Massachusetts, laboratory who set out to develop a tattoo for tracking heart health may now be on track for developing a tattoo for people with diabetes that changes color as blood glucose levels rise and fall. If it becomes a workable approach, the tattoo technology could spare millions of people the tiresome, often painful routine of pricking themselves throughout the day to produce blood samples for their glucose monitors.
0 comments - Posted Mar 6, 2009
It was in the spring of 2005 that I received a call from the director of the diabetes camp in the state where I lived and worked as a sales rep for a blood glucose meter company. He was calling to ask if I would volunteer as a counselor at the week-long camp, which served around 200 campers, the vast majority with type 1 diabetes. I'd known for years that counselors were always in demand at the camp, but had never stepped forward to volunteer. I'd heard the stories of how tough and exhausting it was keeping up with your group, performing 2:00 AM blood sugar checks, and ensuring that they all stayed safe and had fun. Frankly, I'd always had serious doubts as to whether I was up to it. This, however, was the first time that I had been directly asked to volunteer, and something inside me made me grudgingly agree. As I drove to the campsite to begin that week in June, though, I'd be lying if I did not admit to being as nervous as any of the kids who were attending.
0 comments - Posted Mar 6, 2009
A few quick, intense bursts of energy, such as 7.5 minutes per week of sprints on a stationary bicycle, may be just as good as 30 minutes per day of moderate exercise in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes. In fact, say researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, such short bursts may be even more effective.
0 comments - Posted Mar 5, 2009
A few years ago a young man named Jeff came into my office seeking help to lose weight. He was 5'10" tall and weighed 130 pounds. Jeff denied starving himself, denied making himself throw up, and denied over-exercising. I tried to convince him that he was actually 30 pounds underweight. As I looked for the most effective ways of motivating him to restore his health, he brought up the fact that he had type 1 diabetes. Jeff said that he rarely gave himself insulin and that he had "diabulimia." I had never heard of diabulimia and had no idea what I was dealing with. I gave him a list of clinicians and asked him to call me back after he made appointments with an endocrinologist and a psychotherapist.
0 comments - Posted Mar 3, 2009
February 2009
Editor's note: We recently received the following heartbreaking letter. The article that follows was first published in May, 2006. Little has changed.
0 comments - Posted Feb 12, 2009
Baxter International, Inc., which produces the peritoneal dialysis solution Extraneal (icodextrin), has teamed with MedicAlert Foundation International to encourage peritoneal dialysis patients to add a warning to their MedicAlert bracelets regarding the fact that icodextrin may cause false readings on non-specific glucose monitors.
0 comments - Posted Feb 5, 2009
Back in 1993, I published an article titled "Is Noncompliance a Dirty Word?" in which I expressed sadness that people with diabetes were being blamed by their healthcare providers for not following treatment advice (1). I suggested that the patient's "failure" might really be a failure of the partnership (or lack thereof) between patient and provider. Fifteen long years ago, I challenged diabetes educators to work with medical practitioners to change noncompliance from a dirty word to a rare occurrence. So, how are we doing today?
0 comments - Posted Feb 3, 2009
January 2009
We first reported on salsalate, an aspirin-like drug discovered in the nineteenth century, last October. At that time, researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston discovered that it appears to reduce inflammation and lower blood glucose in people with type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jan 27, 2009
Nearly every time that I mention islet transplantation in a conversation about diabetes, the person I'm with responds with a sniff that it's never going to work because of the immune suppression problem.
0 comments - Posted Jan 23, 2009
The treatment of diabetes has come a long way since Dr. Elliot Joslin wrote The Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus in 1916. But Dr. Joslin's idea that diet, exercise, and insulin (when it became available as therapy in 1922) are the keys to managing diabetes remains true today. This doesn't mean that diabetes is not a complex illness requiring ongoing education and individualized care. People with diabetes benefit greatly from the services of a team of health care professionals including a certified diabetes educator and an endocrinologist--a doctor who specializes in treating disorders of the endocrine system.
0 comments - Posted Jan 21, 2009
You've been diagnosed with diabetes because there is too much glucose (a kind of sugar) in your blood.
0 comments - Posted Jan 16, 2009
One of 2008's most interesting developments was the change in one long-standing recommendation for treating diabetes in people who have had the disease for a long time: Work intensely on getting blood sugar levels as low as possible.
0 comments - Posted Jan 15, 2009
As the 76-million-member Baby Boomer generation ages-its oldest members are now 63-nursing homes are bracing for an unprecedented demand for their services. Along with increased pressure from the sheer number of patients, nursing homes will also have to deal with the skyrocketing number of seniors with type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jan 15, 2009
They start in your forties as periodic mental hiccups where you suddenly lose the thread of a thought. By your fifties, they happen often enough to make you jokingly introduce the phase "senior moment" to your vocabulary. And by the time you enter your sixties, there's not a lot of humor in them any more. Senior moments become an often exasperating stall in conversations and thought.
0 comments - Posted Jan 6, 2009
December 2008
Here at Diabetes Health, we've learned the hard way that specific resolutions are the way to go. General plans like "I'll watch my weight" or "I'll check my blood glucose more often" tend to be less successful than the more specific: "I'll eat x number of carbs each meal" and "I'll check my BG before and after every meal."
0 comments - Posted Dec 29, 2008
Every type 1 fears having a hypoglycemic event. Because people are usually more accustomed to dealing with highs, however, a sudden low often catches them unaware. Use this fictional yet typical story to find out what might happen medically during a low and what you need to know to keep hypoglycemia in check.
0 comments - Posted Dec 29, 2008
Diabetes may be described as a disease of glucose intolerance: high blood glucose is both the characteristic indicator and the cause of complications.
0 comments - Posted Dec 25, 2008
About a year ago, Cheryl Tooke found herself in the last place she ever wanted to be. She weighed 268 pounds, and her doctor had just diagnosed her with type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Dec 25, 2008
Obesity in the United States is increasing in epidemic proportions. This is true in children as well as adults. It's estimated that the healthcare costs associated with obesity and its related complications will exceed $130 billion this year.
0 comments - Posted Dec 25, 2008
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recommended that companies manufacturing diabetes treatment drugs provide evidence that their products will not increase cardiovascular risks.
0 comments - Posted Dec 22, 2008
A common treatment for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) decreased the average glucose level during sleep of type 2s who were newly diagnosed with OSA. After seven weeks of the therapy, known as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), the diabetic patients' average BG level fell 20 mg/dl.
0 comments - Posted Dec 22, 2008
For 2,000 years diabetes has been recognized as a devastating and deadly disease. In the first century A.D. a Greek, Aretaeus, described the destructive nature of the affliction which he named "diabetes" from the Greek word for "siphon." Eugene J. Leopold in his text Aretaeus the Cappodacian describes Aretaeus' diagnosis: "...For fluids do not remain in the body, but use the body only as a channel through which they may flow out. Life lasts only for a time, but not very long. For they urinate with pain and painful is the emaciation. For no essential part of the drink is absorbed by the body while great masses of the flesh are liquefied into urine."
0 comments - Posted Dec 17, 2008
Take this test on insulin and see if you can get a higher score than hospital doctors and nurses.
0 comments - Posted Dec 17, 2008
It has been rags to riches for singer Elliott Yamin. With his naturally soulful singing voice, listeners feel his raw emotion and they like it. When you hear him, you know immediately that few guys in any musical genre sing with this kind of authenticity.
0 comments - Posted Dec 17, 2008
Most people with diabetes will tell you this: Everything about having it is a hassle, an annoyance and sometimes utterly overwhelming. Endless worrying over meal plans, carbohydrate counting, finger-stick checks, pills, injections, lab tests, prescriptions, supplies and doctors’ appointments are nobody’s idea of fun.
0 comments - Posted Dec 17, 2008
Bob Cleveland wondered if he’d live when he went to the hospital as a 5-year-old. In 1925, hospital visits were made for dire reasons.
0 comments - Posted Dec 17, 2008
An international team of researchers reports that a mutation in a gene that controls a person's body clock can cause higher blood sugar levels, leading to a 20 percent increased risk of acquiring type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Dec 15, 2008
Many people think of heart disease as something that mostly afflicts men. But heart disease actually kills more women in the United States than anything else, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. And diabetes plays a stronger role in risk for heart disease in women than it does in men.
0 comments - Posted Dec 15, 2008
The end of the year can be a difficult time because for many of us, it’s not just a day or two but whole weeks of merrymaking. We all know people who throw caution to the winds and give up all semblance of healthy behavior when holiday or vacation time comes around. It is not uncommon for these people to still be struggling to get back on track by March of the following year.
0 comments - Posted Dec 10, 2008
Sometimes happy holiday dreams and dazzling parties turn into nightmares of stressful schedules, impulse eating and battered blood glucose. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or the winter solstice, bountiful food and holiday stress can affect your festive mood and your health.
0 comments - Posted Dec 10, 2008
Need gift ideas? Holiday gift-giving can be a challenge. Some people like surprise gifts, some make “must have” or “wish” lists. I don’t always know what is on someone’s list, or if they would enjoy a surprise.
0 comments - Posted Dec 10, 2008
Hanukkah treats? Christmas traditions? Kwanzaa celebrations?
0 comments - Posted Dec 10, 2008
A doctor is trying to get his patient, an overweight man with diabetes, to lose some weight. "I want you to eat what you always do for two days, then skip a day, then repeat this for two weeks. When you come back, you should have lost five pounds." A month later when the patient returns, he's lost 20 pounds. The doctor is amazed. "Was it hard to follow my instructions?" he asks. "Well, on the third day, I thought I'd die," the man replied. The doctor nodded. "From hunger? " "No," the man replied, "From the skipping."
0 comments - Posted Dec 8, 2008
The first time I presented medical research findings, I was not yet a physician. The year was about 1975. I was in my early forties and a mid-career engineer. The forum was a scientific symposium on diabetes. At the time, I felt that I had discovered the holy grail of diabetes care and was eager to share what I had learned.
0 comments - Posted Dec 8, 2008
Older men who are worried about insulin resistance can take heart from a Tufts University study which shows that higher than normal doses of vitamin K slow development of the condition. (Insulin resistance is a condition in which the body increasingly cannot use insulin properly and blood glucose levels rise. It is a major precursor to type 2 diabetes.)
0 comments - Posted Dec 8, 2008
Last week we published an excerpt from Chapter 4 of Sheri Colberg's revised, updated, and expanded version of her 2001 book, Diabetic Athlete's Handbook: Your Guide to Peak Performance. Dr. Colberg has a PhD in exercise physiology, is a Diabetes Health board member, and is herself an athlete with diabetes. Her book draws upon the experiences of hundreds of athletes with diabetes to provide the best advice for exercisers with diabetes, either type 1 or type 2.
0 comments - Posted Dec 2, 2008
November 2008
Diabetes Health board member Sheri Colberg, PhD, has published a completely revised, updated, and expanded version of her 2001 book, Diabetic Athlete's Handbook: Your Guide to Peak Performance. Dr. Colberg, a diabetic athlete herself, has a PhD in exercise physiology. Her book draws upon the experiences of hundreds of athletes with diabetes to provide the best advice for exercisers with diabetes, either type 1 or type 2.
0 comments - Posted Nov 24, 2008
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, have found that two drugs used to treat cancer can prevent or cure type 1 diabetes in mice.
0 comments - Posted Nov 24, 2008
A study published in the August 25 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports that people with type 1 diabetes "may not judge correctly when their blood sugar levels are too low and may consider driving with a low BG." In the study, "low" was defined as less than 70 mg/dl.
0 comments - Posted Nov 10, 2008
Even as diabetes researchers worldwide strive for total control over-or even an outright cure of-type 1 diabetes via gene therapy, altered cells, or surgical intervention, other researchers continue to press toward creation of a functional "artificial pancreas."
0 comments - Posted Nov 3, 2008
October 2008
David Kliff of Diabetic Investor was the first to report last week that Animas, the Johnson and Johnson unit that makes the OneTouch Ping blood glucose monitor, is recalling the Ping. The brand-new Ping received FDA clearance this past summer on July 1. According to reports, there is a small problem with the Ping that has nothing to do with the Animas 2020 insulin pump it works in concert with. The bolus calculator on the Ping does not work properly when it isn’t synched with the pump. When the two are synched, it works fine. Animas says the problem has been corrected and they are sending new units to customers to replace the defective ones.
0 comments - Posted Oct 27, 2008
If you use more than 200 units of insulin a day (or your child needs more than three units of insulin per kilogram of body weight per day), and you aren't reaching your blood glucose goals, you may want to consider U-500 insulin.
0 comments - Posted Oct 27, 2008
LifeScan, the maker of OneTouch blood glucose meters, recently announced Global Diabetes Handprint, a new collaboration with the Diabetes Hands Foundation. The project encourages people with diabetes to post an image of their hand, decorated with words and graphics depicting their personal expressions about living with diabetes (or decorate a virtual hand online). The project is designed to help people with diabetes use self-expression to connect with each other and feel less isolated.
0 comments - Posted Oct 27, 2008
Novo Nordisk recently announced results from its LEAD 6 study showing that once daily liraglutide was significantly more effective at improving blood glucose control (as measured by A1c) than exenatide, a GLP-1 mimetic administered twice daily.
0 comments - Posted Oct 27, 2008
Diabetes Health has always been ambivalent when it comes to reporting diabetes research that involves mice. For one thing, although the critters are mammals, it's a stretch to say that what happens in a mouse can be duplicated in a human.
0 comments - Posted Oct 20, 2008
In gastric bypass surgery, the surgeon basically lops your small intestine in two and then hooks it back up again in such a way that it's much shorter than before. With the first section of your small intestine out of commission, food flows directly from your stomach to the middle of your small intestine. When less intestine is available to absorb food, less food is absorbed, not surprisingly. It works, but it's not pretty.
0 comments - Posted Oct 20, 2008
An aspirin-like drug discovered 132 years ago may prove to be a powerful weapon against type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Oct 13, 2008
The diagnosis of type 1 diabetes peaks at 13 to 14 years of age, but at any age it immediately requires children and adolescents to learn many complex facets of glycemic self-management. Dr. Elliot Joslin's belief of 85 years ago, that education is not just part of the treatment of diabetes, but rather the treatment itself, still holds true.
0 comments - Posted Oct 6, 2008
Heritage Labs has introduced the Appraise® Home A1c Kit, a product that allows people with diabetes and pre-diabetes to measure their average blood glucose level over a three- or four-month period.
0 comments - Posted Oct 6, 2008
November is National Diabetes Awareness month. It's a good time to reflect on your blood glucose successes and have compassion for what you may view as failures. What's in a glucose reading anyway? It's just a number. It gives you feedback for a certain time period. Everyone struggles with maintaining good blood sugars. The important thing to remember is that you are not alone. In this issue, you will find everyday heroes who are committed to reminding other people that we are all in this together. Since dialog is what it's all about when dealing with your diabetes, I am happy to tell you about a new section of our popular web site, Diabetes Health Forums. It's a place where you can participate in an existing discussion or start a new one of your own. Learn more at www.diabeteshealth.com/forums.
0 comments - Posted Oct 2, 2008
September 2008
Bret Michaels was only six years old when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Now 44 years old, he's a twenty-year veteran of the rock and roll scene as the lead singer of the eighties band "Poison."
0 comments - Posted Sep 22, 2008
A professional doctors' group has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to require that Avandia's warning label include a statement that a low-fat vegan diet is a safer, more effective approach to lowering blood sugar levels than the drug itself.
0 comments - Posted Sep 22, 2008
Many people know that it is beneficial to eat your morning meal, but it can be challenging for many reasons. Breakfast is not the meal to miss, especially when you feel stressed, since it can set the mood for the entire day. The truth is that what you eat for breakfast may be more important than if you eat breakfast at all.
0 comments - Posted Sep 22, 2008
Originally ice cream consisted of milk, cream, sugar, flavoring and lots of air. But modern brands adhering to this original recipe are few and far between.
0 comments - Posted Sep 22, 2008
Gastroparesis doesn't sound good, and it isn't. Literally "stomach paralysis," it is a form of diabetic neuropathy, or nerve damage, that is a common complication of diabetes. The damaged nerve in question is the vagus nerve, named for its vagabond-like wandering nature.
0 comments - Posted Sep 22, 2008
I remember the call from the doctor's office two weeks after a long overdue annual physical. I sat in the examining room expecting to hear the usual "lose weight" diagnosis. I had been feeling tired and had been making more than a few daily trips to the bathroom. But in spite of the fact that my grandmother, father, cousin, and brother all suffered from type 2 diabetes, I was not prepared for my doctor's stern warning: My sugar had been totally out of control for several months. I needed to adjust my diet and lifestyle immediately. I was a 40-year-old chocoholic and totally calorie clueless. I also weighed 255 pounds. The doctor prescribed an oral medication and told me that monthly visits for testing would now be required. I thought, OK, I can do this.
0 comments - Posted Sep 18, 2008
The OneTouch® UltraMini® Meter by LifeScan, Inc., is now available in Purple Twilight and Blue Comet.
0 comments - Posted Sep 18, 2008
People who tightly control their blood sugar-even if only for the first decade after they are diagnosed-have lower risks of heart attack, death, and other complications ten or more years later, a large follow-up study has found.
0 comments - Posted Sep 18, 2008
Diabetes educator Cindy Young used case studies to illustrate the many little things that can have a big effect on your blood glucose-or just on the readings you get with your meter.
0 comments - Posted Sep 11, 2008
A Canadian clinical study has delivered a double dose of good news for proponents of exenatide (sold commercially as Byetta), a drug used by more than 700,000 Americans to control blood glucose, ease food cravings, and, incidentally, lose weight.
0 comments - Posted Sep 11, 2008
A study sponsored by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation confirms that many older type 1 patients achieve better control of their blood sugar levels by using a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) than by conventional monitoring with a meter and finger pricks.
0 comments - Posted Sep 11, 2008
This is a worst case scenario.
This is the untrained trying to do the unknown.
This is 20 minutes of hell.
0 comments - Posted Sep 4, 2008
With 21 million U.S. residents now officially diagnosed as having diabetes, healthcare professionals are looking at another statistic that is causing them many a sleepless night: The Centers for Disease Control estimate that there are 57 million people with pre-diabetes in the United States. (Pre-diabetes is defined as impaired fasting glucose of 100 to 125 mg/dl, impaired glucose tolerance of 140 to 199 mg/dl, or both.)
0 comments - Posted Sep 4, 2008
Bayer Diabetes Care and teen pop sensation Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers are inviting people with diabetes to enter the "Walk In Nick's Shoes" (W.I.N.S.) sweepstakes, which runs through October 1, 2008.
0 comments - Posted Sep 4, 2008
August 2008
Imagine someone pressing a pillow over your face while you sleep. You wake up and struggle for air. After 10 seconds, you're allowed to breathe again. But pretty soon, the pillow goes back over your face.
0 comments - Posted Aug 28, 2008
My husband and I have nine children. Elliott is our oldest and when he was diagnosed with type 1 at age 11 in 1996, we were blindsided. Neither my husband, nor I, nor anyone in our extended family had diabetes. Elliot had all of the classic symptoms: excessive thirst, frequent urination, uncontrollable hunger, occasional blurry vision, and (something I think a lot of parents don't recognize as a sign) bedwetting.
0 comments - Posted Aug 28, 2008
I was forty-five years old when I found out that I had type 2 diabetes. I don't know why I was shocked. Diabetes ran like a river through my family. My father had type 1. He died at the age of forty-one from a heart attack, but my mother always insisted that it was partly because he didn't "manage" his diabetes well.
0 comments - Posted Aug 20, 2008
Diabetes educator Mary M. Austin reported that many people are paying for blood glucose test strips even though their insurance plans would cover them. "There is a lot of misunderstanding," she said. For example, a client of Austin's got a free meter at a health fair. He then paid for strips on his own for six months, until he found out that his insurance plan would cover them if he got a prescription for the strips from his healthcare provider.
0 comments - Posted Aug 20, 2008
Researchers Adeola Akindana and Laura Want explained that diabetes education may be an integral part of a clinical study, as it was in the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) and the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). But most diabetes studies have an education component even when it isn't specified in the study's protocol. For example, in a drug study in which participants must check their blood glucose levels, they may need to be taught the correct technique.
0 comments - Posted Aug 20, 2008
You know how important it is to control the sugar and carbohydrates in your diet. So you read food labels and listen to your body cues to make sure you’re getting what you need to stay healthy.
0 comments - Posted Aug 20, 2008
Do you want to lose weight and improve your blood glucose levels? Do you want to do it without having to weigh your portions and count your calories? Try a low-fat vegan diet. A vegan diet is one with no animal products: no fish, no eggs, no dairy, and, of course, no meat.
0 comments - Posted Aug 14, 2008
The hemoglobin A1c test (HbA1c) is a staple among people with diabetes attempting to map out their long-term blood glucose levels. However, it is not a standard test for non-diabetics, even those whose doctors suspect they may have the disease.
0 comments - Posted Aug 5, 2008
After it saved the lives of diabetic mice, a drug used to treat tuberculosis and cancer is now being tested in humans at Massachusetts General Hospital as a possible cure for type 1 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Aug 5, 2008
When the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) hosted its convention June 30 through July 5 in Dallas, Texas, it awarded the Access Plus (A+) Award to Diagnostic Devices, Inc., makers of Prodigy® blood glucose monitoring systems. “The A+ Award program was designed to reward companies that make consumer products that are truly accessible for blind people,” said Eileen Rivera Ley, Director of Diabetes Initiatives for the NFB. The A+ Award is for products that afford the blind the same convenience and features available to everyone else and is awarded only to products and services that meet the highest standards of accessibility.
0 comments - Posted Aug 5, 2008
I just returned from the American Diabetes Association’s 68th Scientific Sessions held in San Francisco in June and I’d like to share some highlights:
0 comments - Posted Aug 5, 2008
July 2008
You’ve got type 2 diabetes. A few years ago, you started using a long-acting insulin once a day, and your fasting glucose levels and your A1c came down. But now your A1c is creeping back up. Your doctor tells you that you need to add a mealtime insulin to your plan.
0 comments - Posted Jul 31, 2008
Hostility and anger are associated with higher blood glucose levels in non-diabetic single men, new research shows.
0 comments - Posted Jul 25, 2008
Before diabetes, I was a normal teenager whose greatest worry was whether I’d get an A or a B on a test. I was strong and healthy. Somehow, I took for granted all the freedoms that diabetes took away from me. Last year, at the age of fifteen, I learned that every day, even every breath, that we are given is a true gift.
0 comments - Posted Jul 25, 2008
WakeMed Health & Hospitals Children’s Diabetes ENERGIZE! program has won the coveted NOVA Award from the American Hospital Association (AHA).
0 comments - Posted Jul 17, 2008
Have you heard the story of the little boy who was on the beach after a storm? Thousands of starfish had washed ashore, and he picked up one after another and threw them back into the sea. A man watched him work and after some time said to the boy, “Look at all these starfish. You’re never going to be able to save them all. Do you think all your work will make a difference?” The boy thought for a minute as he looked up and down the beach. “I don’t know,” he said as he picked up another starfish and flung it into the brine, “but it sure will make a difference to this one!”
0 comments - Posted Jul 10, 2008
In the wake of its clearance by the FDA, Animas Corporation says it will make its new OneTouch® Ping™ glucose management system available to people with diabetes by mid-August.
0 comments - Posted Jul 10, 2008
The Diabetes Center at the University of California at San Francisco is currently seeking to enroll patients in five studies of people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and three related studies of non-diabetics:
0 comments - Posted Jul 3, 2008
June 2008
Every pilot’s nightmare is the thought of losing his medical certification and being stopped from flying. That happened to me in May of 1986, when I was diagnosed with type 1. In accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Standards and Recommended Practices, Canada, along with every other country in the world, would not allow insulin-dependent pilots to hold any type of pilot’s license. My short eight-year career with Air Canada came to an abrupt end, and I was told in no uncertain terms that I would never be allowed to fly an aircraft again.
0 comments - Posted Jun 26, 2008
Years ago, John Bantle, MD, gave brownies to people with diabetes. Brownies made with real sugar. And their blood glucose levels…did not skyrocket.
0 comments - Posted Jun 26, 2008
An impermeable liner inserted non-surgically into a portion of the small intestine produces rapid weight loss and remission of type 2 diabetes, according to a Montana endocrinologist.
0 comments - Posted Jun 26, 2008
Tekturna Reduces Kidney Disease Indicator
The blood pressure medicine Tekturna (aliskiren) may have a beneficial side effect for people with type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure who are at risk of kidney disease. According to a recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine, the drug reduces proteinuria, a key indicator of kidney disease, by 20 percent in patients with type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jun 26, 2008
Diabetes treatments are now the leading driver of prescription drug spending growth, displacing lipid-lowering drugs, which tumbled in price after a reign of 10 years in the top position. Generic drugs are cutting the cost of treating high cholesterol.
0 comments - Posted Jun 12, 2008
Dear Diabetes Health,
After reading the story in the April/May Diabetes Health about the mother and daughter who won approval from Blue Cross/Blue Shield to pay for the continuous monitor, I wanted to share our story.
0 comments - Posted Jun 12, 2008
May 2008
With annual worldwide sales topping 1.3 billion dollars, insulin pumps are one of the most popular devices in the treatment of diabetes. Not only do they allow people with type 1 diabetes to more easily manage their blood glucose levels, but they also help users regain their freedom and enjoy a more normal life.
0 comments - Posted May 30, 2008
HealthDay reports that according to a University of Miami study, people with type 1 diabetes who received transplanted islet cells from human donors lived insulin-free for up to two years.
0 comments - Posted May 30, 2008
Is it possible that a dip in the hot tub can cause a dip in the blood sugars? According to a pilot study that appeared in the September 16 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), "hot tub therapy" helped a group of type 2s reduce their blood sugars, lose weight and improve sleep patterns.
0 comments - Posted May 23, 2008
In the current era of “zero tolerance,” public school students who have diabetes have been caught in a frustrating crossfire.
0 comments - Posted May 22, 2008
Dear Editor, I am a medical student in the M.D. program at Oregon Health and Sciences University and a type 1 diabetic of almost 10 years. I use a Medtronic pump and I also use their continuous glucose monitoring system (Paradigm Real-Time).
0 comments - Posted May 22, 2008
Newswise — “The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists applauds the FDA’s efforts to protect the safety of children and adolescents who are using insulin pumps,” said Dr. Richard Hellman, the Association’s President.
0 comments - Posted May 15, 2008
A word of caution about the values used below. This study was conducted using people without diabetes. Some people with diabetes experience symptoms at higher glucose levels than the study suggests. Other people with diabetes appear to function well with blood sugars in the 30's and 40's (mg/dl). Therefore, the values in the study should only be used as an approximation. This study also used plasma glucose levels. Your values done at home might be 20 percent lower or higher than these lab values. For example, epinephrine release in someone without diabetes would begin at about 63mg/dl with a home blood glucose meter.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2008
April 2008
Hi, Keith,
One of our most popular articles right now is about the many, many folks who accidentally mix up their insulin bottles and take a huge dose of fast-acting insulin by mistake, thinking they are taking long-acting. (See the article and the 22 reader comments here.)
0 comments - Posted Apr 28, 2008
The FDA has cleared the OneTouch UltraLink wireless meter as the only meter certified by Medtronic to wirelessly communicate with its diabetes management products in the United States. The meter uses Medtronic-certified wireless technology to transmit glucose readings directly to MiniMed Paradigm insulin pumps and the Guardian® REAL-Time continuous glucose monitoring system. This makes bolus dosing more accurate and easier for patients compared to the manual entry of blood glucose readings.
0 comments - Posted Apr 28, 2008
Here is a troubling finding that you will want to discuss with your opthamologist and cardiologist: Type 2 diabetics who already have retinopathy when they are diagnosed are 2.5 times more likely to develop heart failure than type 2’s who are diagnosed without it.
0 comments - Posted Apr 21, 2008
It is estimated that nearly 3 million African-Americans have diabetes – 17 percent of all diabetes patients in the United States. That figure is growing as the proportion of African-American patients diagnosed with diabetes consistently increases year to year, according to research from GfK Market Measures’ Roper Global Diabetes Group.
0 comments - Posted Apr 16, 2008
LifeScan, a Johnson & Johnson company that manufactures OneTouch blood glucose meters, is sponsoring an online sweepstakes for children with diabetes that will offer the opportunity to attend a diabetes camp for free this summer.
0 comments - Posted Apr 16, 2008
Years from now, when we’re looking for significant milestones in the struggle to get insurers to cover the cost of continuous glucose monitors, keep this one in mind: Medtronic has just announced the sale of its one millionth sensor from its line of CGM products.
0 comments - Posted Apr 10, 2008
In November 2005, with an A1c of 7.5%, I was told that I had type 2 diabetes. It shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise to me because my mother has type 2 and her mother died from complications due to her uncontrolled diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Apr 2, 2008
When Dee Brehm was diagnosed in 1949 with type 1 diabetes, her prospects were not bright: a permanent chronic condition, a reduced life span, potentially devastating complications and perhaps no children. She married Bill Brehm in 1952, and they began a partnership knowing that together they would have to manage her disease. Dee subsequently defied the dim outlook for her life: She has two children and six grandchildren, and she has surpassed the half-century mark with this disease having been spared the ordeal of complications.
0 comments - Posted Apr 2, 2008
March 2008
Fifteen-year-old Californian Laura Miller, a brittle diabetic, and her mother, Gillian, thought they had a strong case when they asked Blue Cross in late 2007 to pay for a continuous glucose monitor for her.
0 comments - Posted Mar 27, 2008
Perhaps more than anyone, people with diabetes know that the motto “Just say no” often doesn’t work.
0 comments - Posted Mar 13, 2008
Blood sugar control is the heart and soul of diabetes management. How you handle it determines what will be the consequences of your diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Mar 13, 2008
NEW YORK – Growing evidence shows that surgery may effectively cure type 2 diabetes – an approach that not only may change the way the disease is treated, but that introduces a new way of thinking about diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Mar 13, 2008
For the first time, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) came out in support of low-carbohydrate diets for people with diabetes who want to manage their weight. The ADA announced this landmark decision in December 2007 with its 2008 clinical practice recommendations. The latest recommendation is in sharp contrast to decades of promoting only low-fat/high-carb diets.
0 comments - Posted Mar 9, 2008
A Diabetes Health advisory board member offers advice on how to treat your feet well and avoid wounds and infections that could lead to amputation.
0 comments - Posted Mar 7, 2008
Continually revved up insulin production, the kind that results from overeating and obesity, slowly dulls the body’s response to insulin. As a result, blood sugar levels start to creep up, setting the stage for diabetes-associated complications such as blindness, stroke and renal failure. To make matters even worse, chronically elevated blood sugar concentrations exacerbate insulin resistance.
0 comments - Posted Mar 6, 2008
February 2008
A1c tests, the standard measurement of blood glucose, underestimate the amount of glucose in people who are on kidney hemodialysis, says a Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center study.
0 comments - Posted Feb 27, 2008
Just after a massive U.S. study dropped its aggressive treatment of blood glucose levels because of increased deaths among type 2 patients, international researchers announced that their similar intense study of tight blood sugar control showed no increased risk of death.
0 comments - Posted Feb 22, 2008
A Texas endocrinologist who recently put the recently FDA-approved Medtronic iPro continuous glucose recorder through its paces with diabetic patients calls the tool a major step forward in doctors' ability to accurately monitor the disease.
0 comments - Posted Feb 18, 2008
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the newest continuous glucose monitoring system from diabetes management device manufacturer Medtronic.
0 comments - Posted Feb 15, 2008
After seeing an increase in deaths among type 2 participants, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has halted the intense blood sugar control portion of its years-long study on controlling cardiovascular risks to people with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Feb 8, 2008
Pioneering low-carb diet advocate Dr. Richard K. Bernstein has responded to the American Diabetes Association's recent support for low-carb diets with a critique of several of the ADA's most cherished notions.
0 comments - Posted Feb 8, 2008
Recently, meal-replacement bars, powders and beverages have been touted as a popular way of providing nutritious options for today's busy lifestyles, as well as aids for weight loss and poor appetite.
0 comments - Posted Feb 5, 2008
I don't know if you watched this show that aired the week of January 20 here in Rochester, N.Y., on WXXI Public TV. The program included a short segment where a 12-year-old type 1 diabetic relied upon a medical dog to avoid seizures. It was very incomplete and misleading.
0 comments - Posted Feb 2, 2008
January 2008
I just had a frightening experience. A severe hypoglycemic, I took my regular 5 units of R Humulin 30 minutes before lunch. Instead of my normal sandwich and milk at lunch, I drank a glass of Slim Fast with milk. I carefully read the label and figured out that it was almost identical to the sandwich in calories, carbs and sugars.
0 comments - Posted Jan 30, 2008
"It feels like you accidentally pricked yourself with a pin, only it's not accidental and you have to do it over and over again in the same areas."
0 comments - Posted Jan 18, 2008
To successfully treat any disease, one must know what disease to treat. Treating only a symptom of the disease will leave the underlying disease unchecked and possibly worse. For example, we evolved the "runny" nose to help us clean out upper respiratory infections. So taking a decongestant to eradicate the symptom of a "runny" nose is actually counterproductive for the underlying disease.
0 comments - Posted Jan 13, 2008
Startling statistics are only one reason sufferers should get help and why research into this lethal combination must continue. On the list of deadly diseases in the United States, diabetes ranks fifth. And for so many reasons: major killers like heart attack and stroke are among a slew of diabetes' potentially lethal complications.
0 comments - Posted Jan 12, 2008
The National Athletic Trainers Association has issued a seven-element plan for helping athletes with type 1 diabetes maintain proper blood sugar levels while competing, training or traveling.
0 comments - Posted Jan 10, 2008
You and everybody else alive encounter stress, daily, hourly and minute by minute. As unavoidable, inscrutable, and sometimes as aggressive as the IRS, stress is part of the human condition. It is not just a sense of being tense but is any event that causes a complex physiologic response called the "stress response."
0 comments - Posted Jan 3, 2008
Because scientists often tend to dismiss what they don't fully understand, many of them used to think that C-peptide had no physiological function. But while it's true that C-peptide does nothing to lower blood sugar, recent research is finding that it might have a role in preventing diabetes complications.
0 comments - Posted Jan 3, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS, July 21 - Eli Lilly and company today announced that it has begun limited testing in healthy human volunteers of biosynthetic human insulin produced by recombinant DNA technology. The company also announced that it has started construction of the world’s first manufacturing facilities—at a cost of $40 million—to employ recombinant DNA technology to produce the biosynthetic human insulin.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2008
December 2007
We can only conclude that the universe is being perverse again when it comes to the way it treats type 2s: Diabetes writer David Mendosa has reported there are new studies show that the caffeine in coffee causes moderate increases in glucose levels.
0 comments - Posted Dec 29, 2007
Bayer Diabetes Care has recalled 230,000 bottles of Contour TS test strips after finding that the strips resulted in blood glucose readings 5 to 17 percent higher than actual levels.
0 comments - Posted Dec 29, 2007
Recently on "Good Morning America," a friend of mine (and fellow A1c champion) watched author Gary Taubes talk about his new book, Good Calories, Bad Calories. My friend sent this email around: "Taubes says that exercise makes us hungry for carbohydrates and that carbohydrates cause insulin secretion, which creates fat."
0 comments - Posted Dec 27, 2007
There's now plenty of evidence that U.S. ethnic minority groups tend to have higher A1c levels than whites. (Your A1c is the percentage of your hemoglobin cells that are glycated - have sugar stuck to them. The higher your blood sugars are, the more sugar sticks to your hemoglobin over time, and the higher your A1c is.)
0 comments - Posted Dec 24, 2007
The name insulin comes from the Latin insula, for islands. It refers to the pancreatic islets of Langerhans that contain the beta cells.
0 comments - Posted Dec 20, 2007
In healthy people, beta cells are like tiny factories that churn out insulin. Proinsulin, which is the raw material for finished insulin, is produced in the endoplasmic reticulum deep within the beta cells.
0 comments - Posted Dec 18, 2007
Conversation Maps look like a set of very large and colorful children's placemats. Three feet wide and five feet long, each map is covered with a kids-book-style landscape painting illustrating one of five topics:
0 comments - Posted Dec 16, 2007
To conclude our pump survey, we asked you how you'd like to see pumping improved. As usual, you came up with a plethora of intriguing suggestions, although some were a bit more visionary than others: One reader said, "I wish someone would invent a device that could be waved over a meal, and it would display the number of carbs in the meal."
0 comments - Posted Dec 14, 2007
November 2007
I learned that I had type 2 diabetes in February 1994. A dozen years later, I knew I had to make a change. Technically speaking, I was "morbidly obese." I'm tall - 6 feet, 2½ inches - but I tipped the scales at 312 pounds and had a body mass index (BMI) of 40.
0 comments - Posted Nov 28, 2007
Many medications, both oral and injectable, exist to manage blood glucose in type 2 diabetes. Even insulin has many different formulations, including fast-acting and long-acting analogs as well as various pre-mixed combinations of faster and slower acting insulins in the same vial.
0 comments - Posted Nov 27, 2007
Once upon a time in a land called Sweeten, there lived a beautiful princess named Princess Tootsweet. She had long flowing hair, large dark eyes, and a lazy pancreas.
0 comments - Posted Nov 21, 2007
Many tests try (and many fail) to accurately predict whether a person will eventually develop type 2 diabetes. But they often test for single conditions, like impaired glucose tolerance, that don't appear until the road to diabetes is already well begun.
0 comments - Posted Nov 20, 2007
It's well known that dogs can somehow sniff low blood sugars. Many people credit their dogs with waking them up when they were dangerously low. How the dogs do it has been a mystery, but now there's evidence that they may be sniffing methyl nitrates on their owners' breath.
0 comments - Posted Nov 18, 2007
Parents have always said that they can tell when their children's blood sugar is high by their kids' behavior, which tends to change, and not for the better, when their sugar is high. Now a formal study has confirmed just that.
0 comments - Posted Nov 17, 2007
Diabetes educators are no less than a lifeline for patients, providing vital insights into the self-care behaviors that keep diabetes in check: managing blood sugar, dosing medications and insulin, exercising, and understanding all the numbers involved.
0 comments - Posted Nov 15, 2007
A recent study has found that the combination of metformin and sitagliptin lowers A1c's better than either drug alone, apparently because their different mechanisms work together synergistically.
0 comments - Posted Nov 12, 2007
SoLo Gi® Low Glycemic bars are delicious. We can vouch for that because we've eaten our way through all five flavors. And because they're clinically validated to have a very low glycemic index, they don't raise your blood sugar like other snack bars.
0 comments - Posted Nov 11, 2007
Floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, and fires strike fast, creating challenges that can be especially difficult for people with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 9, 2007
In research reports, they're always talking about glucose clamps. Two types of clamps are quite commonly used, but they have nothing to do with the common definition of the word clamp. Instead, they are used to measure either how well you metabolize glucose or how sensitive you are to insulin.
0 comments - Posted Nov 6, 2007
Researchers recently followed 38,000 healthy women for ten years to learn if their initial blood pressure influenced whether they developed type 2 diabetes later.
0 comments - Posted Nov 6, 2007
El Paso, Texas, October 31, 2007 - Diabetes has become the leading cause of death in Mexico and the third-leading cause of death among those living along the U.S. side of the border, according to a new study presented today by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
0 comments - Posted Nov 2, 2007
October 2007
This morning, a major meter manufacturer announced that its blood glucose meters will now operate on Microsoft's HealthVault. HealthVault is an online service that allows a patient to store and manage his health records without paying a fee.
0 comments - Posted Oct 31, 2007
When calculating glycemic index (GI) values, glucose is arbitrarily given the highest GI value: 100. To assign a GI value to another type of carb, a complex process is used to compare the blood sugar response elicited by the test carb to the blood sugar response provoked by glucose.
0 comments - Posted Oct 18, 2007
The take-home message from the Tufts study is that the GI value of white bread is 70. That's nothing new: The same value has been found in dozens of other studies around the world (1).
0 comments - Posted Oct 18, 2007
Chip Sullivan is a golf pro. This June he played his best game ever, beating the top club professionals in the country and qualifying for the fourth time to play against the likes of Tiger Woods in the PGA championship tour.
0 comments - Posted Oct 17, 2007
The higher your blood glucose is during pregnancy, the greater your child's chances of growing up to be obese, according to a recent study published in Diabetes Care.
0 comments - Posted Oct 15, 2007
Josephine Kulman has had type 1 diabetes for 45 years, ever since she was five years old. For much of her life, her blood sugars were rarely in control.
0 comments - Posted Oct 11, 2007
Want a meter that matches your ensemble of the day? LifeScan has the very thing. Now you can get their OneTouch UltraMini blood glucose meter in pink, black, silver, or green.
0 comments - Posted Oct 5, 2007
According to Pulse, the UK's leading medical weekly, a review of the evidence has concluded that for type 2s on oral medication whose A1c's are below 7.5%, blood glucose monitoring offers "little advantage and may increase the likelihood of hypoglycemia."
0 comments - Posted Oct 2, 2007
September 2007
In August, a number of august organizations agreed to report the A1c in a new way, as a number called an A1c-derived average glucose, or ADAG.
0 comments - Posted Sep 29, 2007
Until now, there were only two blood sugar numbers you had to worry about: your A1c and your fasting glucose level. The first, according to IDF guidelines, should be 6.5% or below, and the second 100 mg/dl or below.
0 comments - Posted Sep 27, 2007
It will soon be November, and National Diabetes Month will be here once again. It's a time when I like to reflect upon my past with diabetes and try to look into the future.
0 comments - Posted Sep 20, 2007
Swaying in rhythm like drunk fans singing their team fight song, we campers bellowed our camp theme, clapping and banging on dining tables: "Shock, shock for Camp Firefly! We take the insulin - try not to cry!"
0 comments - Posted Sep 18, 2007
For at least 12,000 years, Peru has been inhabited by descendants of the Inca civilization. For countless generations, the farmers of the Peruvian Andes have lived on potatoes, cornmeal cakes, and alpacha, or goat meat.
0 comments - Posted Sep 8, 2007
We recently wrote about a study which concluded that blood glucose meters are a waste of time for people with type 2 diabetes who are not using insulin ("Is Using a Meter a Waste of Time for Type 2s?"). Our readers vehemently disagreed with that conclusion.
0 comments - Posted Sep 6, 2007
August 2007
People with type 1 or type 2 diabetes have about three-quarters less thiamine (vitamin B) in their blood than people without diabetes, according to new research out of Warwick Medical School in England. And it's not because they're not eating enough thiamine.
0 comments - Posted Aug 25, 2007
A meta-analysis of 29 studies, none longer than six months, has shown that incretin therapies (like Byetta and Januvia) are moderately effective in lowering blood glucose in people with type 2 diabetes, especially after meals.
0 comments - Posted Aug 16, 2007
Everyone knows that for meter manufacturers, a meter is simply a means of selling a lifetime of strips. The Eocene blood glucose meter is no different in that respect, but it does have something extra to offer.
0 comments - Posted Aug 14, 2007
A study of 2,375 middle-aged British men reports that those who drank at least a pint of milk a day were 62 percent less likely than non-milk-drinkers to have metabolic syndrome (defined as raised levels of two or more of the following: blood glucose, insulin, blood fats, body fat, and blood pressure).
0 comments - Posted Aug 11, 2007
Diabetes is a chronic yet manageable malady; as such, it requires constant interaction between the person and the disease. You must pay attention to the endless flow of information produced by your various management tools.
0 comments - Posted Aug 10, 2007
Central adiposity, visceral fat, intra-abdominal fat, or a big belly, they all mean the same thing: increased risk of insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Aug 7, 2007
According to a University of Oxford study led by Dr. Andrew Farmer, home monitoring of glucose with a meter did not improve glucose control in non-insulin-requiring people with type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2007
July 2007
This issue, we lay out the many devices with which diabetic people must poke themselves: syringes, pen needles, and lancing devices. And we top them off with a sprinkling of sugar: a chart outlining all the sources of fast-acting glucose.
0 comments - Posted Jul 26, 2007
A life-time resident of the Syracuse, New York, area, Gerald Cleveland has had a history of not quite coming out on top - at least until now.
0 comments - Posted Jul 19, 2007
Lantus and Levemir have a lot in common. Both are basal insulin formulas, which means that they last for a long time in the body and act as background insulin, with a slow feed that mimics the constant low output of insulin produced by a healthy pancreas.
0 comments - Posted Jul 17, 2007
An A1c assesses glycated hemoglobin; that is, it tells you how many of your red blood cells have glucose stuck to them. The higher the percentage of hemoglobin cells that are sugared up, the higher your average BGs were over the preceding three months.
0 comments - Posted Jul 16, 2007
Two-thirds of pregnancies in women with diabetes are unplanned. How long after conception do those women realize they're pregnant? They may be eight weeks into their pregnancy before they know it's happened.
0 comments - Posted Jul 14, 2007
It's a fact that Byetta reduces A1c's, post-meal and fasting glucose levels, and weight in people with type 2 diabetes. The drawback is that it's another injection twice a day. In response, Amylin, the maker of Byetta, has developed exenatide LAR, a form of Byetta that is injected only once a week.
0 comments - Posted Jul 13, 2007
Recently we wrote that Living Cell Technologies (LCT), a New Zealand company, was about to begin transplanting pig islets into humans in a year-long Phase I/IIA clinical trial in Moscow, Russia ("Piglet Islets Soon Tested in Humans").
0 comments - Posted Jul 12, 2007
How elevated does your blood sugar have to be before you're diagnosed with gestational diabetes? Not near as elevated as we used to think, according to the findings of the Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome (HAPO) Study.
0 comments - Posted Jul 10, 2007
You have made a point of checking your blood glucose and getting your annual eye and foot checkups. You track your blood cholesterol and blood pressure. But now the pain in your hip is unbearable and interfering with your walking program, so your doctor suggests hip surgery. You will be admitted to the hospital for hip surgery, not diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jul 9, 2007
Sidney, NY, July 6, 2007 - A study by the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston has found that the AT-A-GLANCE® Balance & Stretch® Day Planner is an effective tool in improving the management of type 1 diabetes in children. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) highlighted the results of the study at its 67th Scientific Session in Chicago.
0 comments - Posted Jul 7, 2007
If you like cinnamon on your pudding, you could be in luck. In a Swedish study of fourteen healthy pudding-eating subjects, a teaspoon of cinnamon sprinkled on top dampened the post-meal blood glucose rises usually seen after a pudding fest.
0 comments - Posted Jul 6, 2007
Colorado Springs, CO, July 2, 2007 - LifeScan, Inc. announced the 2007 recipients of the LifeScan Prize for Athletic Achievement on June 30 at the annual meeting of the Diabetes Exercise and Sports Association (DESA).
0 comments - Posted Jul 2, 2007
June 2007
Do you think you might have carpal tunnel syndrome? If you have diabetes, your assumption is more likely to be correct, because carpal tunnel syndrome is fifteen times more common in people with diabetes than in the general population.
0 comments - Posted Jun 29, 2007
Kevin Powell is an athlete, first and foremost. Twice a year, he competes in an Ironman event, a grueling test of endurance that entails a 2.4-mile swim and a 112-mile bike ride, topped off by a full marathon of 26.2 miles.
0 comments - Posted Jun 28, 2007
Adolescents don't always check their blood glucose levels as often as they should. Because frequent monitoring is a keystone of diabetes care, this can make their parents frantic.
0 comments - Posted Jun 24, 2007
Prickly pear pads, otherwise known as nopales, are a staple of Mexican cuisine: People in mid- to low socioeconomic populations in Mexico tend to eat them about three times a week. Apparently they're pretty tasty when stripped of their prickles and boiled up in bite-sized pieces.
0 comments - Posted Jun 22, 2007
The results of our pump survey are in, and we had 841 respondents! Clearly, people are passionate about pumping, both pro and con. In fact, they seem to be more passionate about pumping than about sex, judging by the far greater response we got to this survey than we did to our survey about women and sex!
0 comments - Posted Jun 21, 2007
A company called Sugarest has developed a pill made from the Indian herb Gymnema sylvestre that purports to deaden your ability to taste sugar, thereby rendering sweets tasteless.
0 comments - Posted Jun 15, 2007
Imagine your delighted shock if, after living with type 1 diabetes since infancy, you suddenly learned that you weren't type 1 after all. If you were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes within the first six months of life, especially if your birth weight was low, there's a chance that instead you have permanent neonatal diabetes mellitus (PNDM).
0 comments - Posted Jun 15, 2007
May 2007
Analysis of several recent studies indicates that Avandia (rosiglitazone), a type 2 diabetes medication that's been taken by more than six million people worldwide, is associated with a 43 percent increased risk of heart attack and with a borderline-significant increased risk of heart attack-related death.
0 comments - Posted May 31, 2007
Two new meters that purport to measure your blood glucose without a fingerstick are currently in the works–again. The road to a non-invasive meter is one that many have traveled before, but no one, thus far, has ever reached the market.
0 comments - Posted May 30, 2007
That long snout on a typical dog is there for a very good reason. It gathers up scent molecules and sends them deep down to special sniffing cells that hold 25 times the number of scent receptors that we humans have. Dogs can sense complex odors that are 100 million times weaker than our little noses can. Among those scents is the chemical mix that bodies manufacture when they are getting dangerously low on blood sugar.
0 comments - Posted May 29, 2007
A type 1 diabetic, 21 years old, pedals a bicycle for nine straight days, nine hundred miles from Tecumseh, Michigan, to Grand Island, Nebraska.
0 comments - Posted May 24, 2007
Meters have come a long way since 1969, when the first meter went on the market. The meter measured the amount of light reflected off a Dextrostix, a paper strip that turned various shades of blue, depending on blood glucose level, after a large drop of blood was placed on it and then washed off.
0 comments - Posted May 24, 2007
Aggressive management of diabetes can lead to more episodes of severe low blood sugar, but a new study has found that these episodes apparently don’t impair cognitive (thinking) function.
0 comments - Posted May 18, 2007
While much of the diabetes community eagerly anticipates the latest research and treatment, many diagnosed with the disease struggle to gain access to doctors and the most basic supplies because they are poor or uninsured.
0 comments - Posted May 17, 2007
Eight New Zealanders with type 1 diabetes are hoping to receive pig islet transplantations by the end of the year, now that the company Living Cell Technologies (LCT) has surmounted the first of three regulatory hurdles in pursuit of permission for a twelve-month trial in New Zealand.
0 comments - Posted May 15, 2007
Sanofi-aventis and the Patient Mentor Institute are looking for people with diabetes to become patient mentors with the A1C Champions® program – a unique, patient-to-patient approach to diabetes education.
0 comments - Posted May 12, 2007
Let’s start from the beginning. First, you’ve got the endothelium. What’s that, you ask? Well, endo means “internal” and thelium means “cellular layer.” The endothelium, therefore, is the layer of cells that lines the heart, blood vessels, and certain other cavities in the body.
0 comments - Posted May 11, 2007
Continuous Glucose Monitors Are Revolutionary - I’ve always believed that if I could give myself insulin conveniently and constantly knew my blood glucose, I could control my blood sugar almost as well as a non-diabetic person. Nine years ago, an insulin pump made the first condition come true. Since then I have been waiting for the magic blood sugar machine.
0 comments - Posted May 10, 2007
Ever try to check one meter against another by testing with both at the same time and seeing if their results match up? Ever wonder why they might not?
0 comments - Posted May 7, 2007
The 21st century may be remembered as the time when diabetes became a worldwide epidemic. However, it may also be known as the time when the disease was cured.
0 comments - Posted May 3, 2007
Last summer our family changed forever when Lauren, our nine-year-old daughter, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. A whirlwind of shock, anger, and worry engulfed me as I watched an incurable chronic illness move into our home.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2007
April 2007
The crack of the bat on Opening Day at Fenway Park is a sure sign that summer is on its way. From the Green Monster seats to the dunes of Cape Cod, summer means bright sun, ultraviolet rays and of course, sunglasses. But did you know that people with diabetes need more than sunglasses to protect their eyes?
0 comments - Posted Apr 27, 2007
Carbs and carbs alone, not fat, increase body weight. It doesn't matter whether the carbs are from sugar, bread, fruit, or vegetables: They’re all rapidly digested and quickly converted to blood glucose. A short time after a carb-rich meal, the glucose in your bloodstream rises rapidly, and your pancreas produces a large amount of insulin to take the excess glucose out.
0 comments - Posted Apr 24, 2007
Let’s be realistic and take a long-term perspective in this “which diet is best” debate, rather than wasting time quibbling over extremes—from low-carb to vegan. You’ll have type 2 diabetes for the rest of your life, and you’ll likely struggle with weight management throughout your life as well. The major challenge in weight loss, and even more so in weight maintenance, is long-term adherence.
0 comments - Posted Apr 24, 2007
Dismal Predictions - In 1949, at the age of 13, I was diagnosed with diabetes. I was told that I would have to take shots for life and that my life would probably last only 25 years longer. Furthermore, I could eat no candy, and all my children would be diabetic.
0 comments - Posted Apr 23, 2007
A lot of new medicines have come out, with a pile of new acronyms: GLP-1, DPP-4, BYOB…well, that last one is probably familiar, but a little background on the other two might not be out of place. You’re going to be seeing a lot more of them in the future, and it’ll help to be on speaking terms.
0 comments - Posted Apr 20, 2007
Milpitas, CA, March 30, 2007 – LifeScan, Inc., maker of OneTouch® Brand Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems, is offering customers that own one of several models of OneTouch Brand Systems a no-charge meter upgrade to one of the company's latest, most innovative meters.(1)
0 comments - Posted Apr 20, 2007
The story of Doug Burns’ arrest during a low blood sugar episode has generated a lot of comments from the diabetes community. How did it happen, why did it happen, and how could it have been handled differently?
0 comments - Posted Apr 19, 2007
GlucoLight's continuous, non-invasive device is a novel approach to glucose monitoring in the acute care environment. Using optical coherence tomography (OCT), the device is able to measure blood glucose levels through a unique anatomical area in the skin that shows physiological changes that directly correlate to changes in blood glucose. The GlucoLight monitor displays real time glucose measurements with an initial single point calibration.
0 comments - Posted Apr 18, 2007
Obviously, risk factors for Type 2 diabetes show up long before clinical diagnosis of the disease. For women, however, this risk can be detected much earlier than previously thought.
0 comments - Posted Apr 17, 2007
Women with diabetes are up to five times more likely than the general population to have a baby with birth defects, especially of the heart and spinal cord, organs that form within the first few weeks of pregnancy.
0 comments - Posted Apr 17, 2007
A December 2006 review of clinical studies on chromium picolinate, published in Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, confirmed that chromium picolinate improves blood glucose control and lipid levels in people with type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Apr 15, 2007
Upcoming research in the Journal of Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice reveals that Pycnogenol (pik-naw-jin-all) that many-talented extract of pine tree, is 190 times more effective than the prescription medicine acarbose (Precose) in slowing uptake of glucose after a meal, thereby preventing after-meal glucose spikes.
0 comments - Posted Apr 15, 2007
There's an ancient Greek myth about a man named Sisyphus who was cursed to roll the same rock up a hill, then see it roll down, then roll it up again, for eternity. There's something a bit like diabetes self-care in that myth.
0 comments - Posted Apr 14, 2007
What’s the most important goal for kids and families dealing with diabetes? Learn all you can, and then strive for the best possible blood glucose levels without excessive hypoglycemia. This is a tough goal to attain. Our tools, food, insulin, and monitoring, while the best they have ever been, are still imprecise. And although optimal glucose control is critical for immediate and long-term health, one must always be wary of severe and recurring hypoglycemia.
0 comments - Posted Apr 13, 2007
Dr. Bernhard Hering of the University of Minnesota is recognized the world over as the premier expert on pancreatic islet transplants. He sees islet transplantation as the best hope for the cure of type 1 diabetes, and his optimism is supported by his research.
0 comments - Posted Apr 11, 2007
To the general public, the mood swings of a teenager are the wildest personal roller coaster around. But there’s another roller coaster out there that puts that kiddie ride to shame: the mood swings of a diabetic person like me. In an average teenager, hormones cause mood swings.
0 comments - Posted Apr 11, 2007
It’s well known that people with uncontrolled diabetes sometimes suffer from ketoacidosis, in which their breath gives off the strong odor of nail polish remover. Well, nail polish remover is made of acetone.
0 comments - Posted Apr 10, 2007
Here are some useful tips to help you choose a meter that’s right for you - and continue to use it successfully.
0 comments - Posted Apr 3, 2007
March 2007
Medtronic has received FDA approval for pediatric models of both of its REAL-Time continuous glucose monitors, the MiniMed Paradigm REAL-Time System and the Guardian REAL-Time System. Previously approved only for adults, both pediatric models will be appropriate for kids ages 7-17.
0 comments - Posted Mar 29, 2007
BOSTON - March 23, 2007 - Did you know that diabetes is the number one cause of preventable vision loss and blindness? Did you also know that an annual eye exam can lead to early detection of diabetic retinopathy and other eye disease, a frequent complication of diabetes?
0 comments - Posted Mar 27, 2007
Q: Are there any long-term side effects of the popular drugs to treat type 2 diabetes?
0 comments - Posted Mar 24, 2007
Boston - March 5, 2007 - Over the past several years, Joslin Investigator Mary R. Loeken, Ph.D., and her colleagues at Joslin Diabetes Center have unlocked several mysteries behind what puts women with diabetes more at risk of having a child with birth defects.
0 comments - Posted Mar 21, 2007
BOSTON - March 1, 2007 - A new study from Joslin Diabetes Center may shed light on why some people can eat excessive amounts of food and not gain weight or develop type 2 diabetes, while others are more likely to develop obesity and this most common form of diabetes on any diet.
0 comments - Posted Mar 7, 2007
NEW YORK - Feb. 28 - Duane Reade Holdings, Inc., the leading drug store chain in the New York metropolitan area, today announced the launch of the Diabetes Resource Center, a comprehensive training and educational facility for patients with diabetes mellitus.
0 comments - Posted Mar 7, 2007
If Professor Brent Cameron has his way, people with diabetes will soon be able to measure their blood glucose by simply shining a light into their eye.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2007
February 2007
BOSTON - Feb. 27, 2007 - It is widely recognized that the teenage years are often a challenging time for youth with diabetes to maintain good blood glucose control. Hormonal changes, peer pressure, food temptations, and resistance to following good health practices are among the factors that make it difficult for many youngsters. Unfortunately, poor diabetes control places youth at increased risk of developing complications from diabetes later in life.
0 comments - Posted Feb 28, 2007
On October 10, 2006, Roche Diagnostics announced the launch of the first ACCU-CHEK branded insulin pump—the ACCU-CHEK Spirit insulin pump system.
0 comments - Posted Feb 28, 2007
BETHESDA, MD - February 21, 2007 - The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) is calling for the medical and public health community to increase alarmingly low influenza vaccination rates among persons with diabetes – the fifth deadliest disease in the U.S.
0 comments - Posted Feb 23, 2007
Six people are about to receive pig islet transplantations for the first time, as a New Zealand company called Living Cell Technologies (LCT) begins a year-long Phase I/IIA clinical trial in Moscow, Russia.
0 comments - Posted Feb 22, 2007
Nancy was totally blindsided when she found out she had diabetes. A 56-year-old lab technician at the time, Nancy was doing some work in the lab. She tested her own A1C and found a reading of 7.3%.
0 comments - Posted Feb 7, 2007
Data presented at the November 2006 Diabetes Technology Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, found that the Contour Blood Glucose Meter from Bayer accurately detects hypoglycemia.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
On November 6, 2006, Bayer HealthCare issued a news release that addressed the issue of miscoded blood glucose meters.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
Medtronic MiniMed’s Guardian RT is being called a “useful and important diagnostic tool for a phenomenon known as nighttime ‘late-onset hypoglycemia’.”
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
Roche Diagnostics recently announced the launch of the first ACCU-CHEK branded insulin pump—the ACCU-CHEK Spirit insulin pump system.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
UK researchers says that breastfeeding in infancy is associated with “a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, with marginally lower insulin concentrations in later life, and with lower blood glucose and serum insulin concentrations in infancy.”
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
U.K researchers say that twice-daily injection of insulin glargine (Lantus) helps to alleviate blood glucose rises in the late afternoon and drops toward the end of a 24-hour period that are frequently seen in type 1s who inject Lantus once daily with a meal-time fast-acting insulin.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
In kids with type 1, higher BGs can mean higher rates of affected emotion and behavior. That was the finding of Australian researchers.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
It’s not easy to navigate the crowded waters of type 2 oral medications. There are dozens of them, and their names have a lot in common with tongue twisters. They’re hard to pronounce, and harder to remember. But they’re necessary. Of the 20 million Americans with diabetes, 90 to 95 percent have type 2. Although some people with diabetes are able to manage their condition through diet and exercise alone, the majority cannot control their blood sugar without medication. According to the CDC, among adults diagnosed with diabetes, 57% take oral medication; 16% take insulin; 12% take both insulin and oral medication; and only 15% take neither insulin nor oral medication.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
You might know me as the publisher of Diabetes Health. I’m also a mother of two, the daughter of a woman who died of type 2 diabetes, and a theater buff. But from now on, I hope you’ll come to know me as someone who brings important stories to you every issue, stories about people who are making a difference in diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
Although most research about the effect of diabetes on sex has focused on men, some studies report that women are at higher risk for sexual dysfunction than diabetic men. It’s high time that the woman’s side of the story was given the attention that it deserves.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
December 2006
The new ezManager Plus from Animas Corporation is an upgrade from the older ezManager product, and adds the ability to download information from the Animas IR1000/1200 insulin pumps and numerous blood glucose meters. The ezManager Plus is actually two programs— one for a PDA and one that runs on Windows-based PCs. The Palm OS (PDA) application lets you count carbohydrates, calculate insulin dosages (carbohydrate dosages, too) and log meals, insulin, blood glucose and activity.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2006
In November 2006, Insulet Corporation, maker of the OmniPod Insulin Management System, announced that it had won a Nixon Peabody/Smith & Nephew Medical Device Innovation Award from the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC).
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2006
LifeScan promotes its new OneTouch UltraMini meter for people with diabetes who don’t have health insurance coverage.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2006
As any fan of the mega-hit television show American Idol knows, making it through the first stage of auditions is not easy. Contestants wait in line for up to 12 hours to get the chance to sing a few bars before the discerning ears of judges Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2006
November 2006
The idea for this article came to me one night after attending a diabetes support group at a local hospital. During the meeting, the discussion of serious complications became so graphic that there was an air of melancholy and hopelessness permeating the entire room. I thought, "What we really need is the good news." I tried to imagine whether I would miss any part of having diabetes if I could be cured today.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2006
October 2006
I have two teenagers! If you’re a parent of a teenager, you know why I used the exclamation point. Everything is changing fast in their world, and I try to keep up.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2006
A low-fat vegan diet was found to improve blood glucose and lipid control in type 2 diabetics, according to researchers at George Washington University School of Medicine.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2006
‘You wouldn’t believe how much I ate. Every night, besides dinner, I ate one of those big poppers full of popcorn with lots of butter and salt on it.”
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2006
A common misunderstanding regarding the metabolic effects of low-carbohydrate diets concerns the formation of ketone bodies. The presence of ketones caused by fat burning is often confused with ketoacidosis resulting from uncontrolled diabetes, starvation or certain alcoholic conditions.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2006
Diabetes and school make a difficult combination. Dealing with temporary basal rates, tests (for both BGs and academics), lunch, recess, and so on can all throw a student’s diabetes management a major-league curve.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2006
Have you dreamed of having a low-cost diabetes management program to track daily nutrition information, exercise, medication and blood glucose levels? D-Diabetic Software from Sugar World offers these features and more.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2006
Going low during exercise can be frightening. Preventing low blood glucose involves two strategies: decreasing insulin dosage or increasing carbohydrate intake. Sounds simple, but in reality it takes time for each individual to find the right combination that works for him or her.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2006
A German company has developed the world’s first blood glucose meter that can wirelessly transmit your blood glucose test results. The GlucoTel is the first meter to support Bluetooth wireless technology.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2006
September 2006
Walking to Work Decreases Type 2 Risk Japanese researchers say that the duration of a walk to work is associated with a decreased risk of incidence of type 2 diabetes in Japanese men.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2006
Real-Time Pump and CGMS Technology Given the Go-Ahead by the FDA
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2006
Women With Diabetes Suffer Worse Neuropathy Symptoms
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2006
As I get older, I get more calls from friends and family members telling me about their recent diabetes diagnosis. A little over a year ago, my first cousin Jeannie called to announce her inclusion in the growing type 2 club.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2006
DexCom’s real-time continuous sensor—the DexCom STS—burst on the scene in March 2006.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2006
As little as 15 years ago, drinking fluids during sports practice or exercise was considered a sign of weakness. In fact, water was often withheld from athletes as punishment or as an attempt to make them “tough.”
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2006
What are your expectations when it comes to pump training? Are they realistic? Do you want improved blood glucose control, improved health and flexibility in choosing when and what to eat? Or, do you just want to avoid frequent intensive insulin injections? Are you a “set it and forget it” type?
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2006
Everyone with diabetes can agree on one thing: Life needs to be a whole lot easier. To find that ease, we support research funding, we fight for access and we push for innovation.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2006
Was that person arrested for drunk driving truly under the influence of alcohol—or could it be that he was simply a diabetic having a low? The similarity in symptoms caused by alcohol intoxication and low blood glucose levels is striking and commonly leads to easy—but false—conclusions by law enforcement officers.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2006
Ron Mason was a workaholic. He spent six, sometimes seven days a week crafting and installing high-quality cabinets and furniture in and around Santa Cruz, California, where he owned and managed a small, homegrown woodworking business. Mason, who describes his product as “high-end, low-volume,” said that for a number of years, putting in a 70-hour workweek was not atypical—it was merely life as usual.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2006
Weight-Loss Books Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars, by Richard K. Bernstein, MD (Little Brown, 2003)
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2006
August 2006
Byetta, which came on the market last year, was developed to help people with type 2 diabetes who weren’t getting adequate blood glucose control using other drugs. Any associated weight loss was only incidental.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2006
Blaine Pharmaceuticals of Fort Wright, Kentucky, has announced the availability of its DiaSense family of nutritional supplements specifically for those living with or at risk for type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2006
“I can bend over and paint my own toenails now,” says Annie, who had bariatric surgery on February 5, 2005.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2006
One of the common criticisms of the lower-carb lifestyle is that it doesn’t provide adequate nutrition. Is this really true?
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2006
Hypertension (high blood pressure) affects about 50 million individuals in the United States and about 1 billion worldwide. It is the most common diagnosis, associated with 35 million office visits and a risk factor for heart disease, stroke and renal failure.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2006
“The 7 Step Diabetes Fitness Plan: Living Well and Being Fit With Diabetes, No Matter Your Weight” (Marlowe & Co., 2006) is the book I hoped would be there for me one day if I were to be diagnosed with pre-diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2006
Medtronic MiniMed has linked an insulin pump with a continuous glucose monitor. Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April, the pump part of the combination is already available. The company expects the monitor component to be available by the end of August.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2006
Stevia is a bush native to South America that has been used for centuries by the natives of Paraguay, where it’s grown primarily as a sweetener and for medicinal uses. The stevia leaf is usually a component of Paraguayan teas, including the widely popular beverage yerba mate.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2006
1. How do these oral hypoglycemic agents (OHAs) work?
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2006
I am always willing to discuss diabetes with anyone who is interested. And since I openly perform my blood glucose tests and administer insulin shots in public, it is fair to say that many people around me do become interested.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2006
July 2006
I just discovered your May 2005 article, “Why Did the JDRF Try to Discredit Cure Research?” That, and lingering resentment over my own futile correspondence with Van Etten and Ahearn, inspired me to dig deeper into some points you made and some reasonable suspicions your article aroused.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
Novo Nordisk announced that Levemir is now commercially available in the United States.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
Eli Lilly and Co. has launched a new premixed insulin, Humalog Mix50/50 (50 percent insulin lispro protamine suspension, 50 percent insulin lispro injection of rDNA origin).
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
What’s New LifeScan, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, has introduced its OneTouch Ultra2 Blood Glucose Monitoring System. LifeScan says the new meter is designed to help diabetics see the impact of their food and portion choices on their blood glucose levels.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
Bayer Diabetes Care of Tarrytown, New York, announced that its Ascensia Breeze blood glucose–monitoring system received an ease-of-use commendation and a product seal from the Arthritis Foundation. According to Bayer Diabetes Care, Ascensia Breeze is the first blood glucose meter to be recognized by the Arthritis Foundation for a design that is user-friendly for the more than eight million Americans with arthritis who also have diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
For Ed, diabetes wasn’t only a wake-up call—it was an alarm clock.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
At intervals of five days after giving birth and then four months after giving birth, Danish researchers interviewed 102 women with type 1 about breastfeeding. The type 1 women’s breastfeeding habits were then compared to a large random sample from the general population of Danish women.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
If the usual no-pain no-gain kinds of exercise don’t appeal to you, practicing the martial art known as tai chi (or qigong) may be the perfect alternative.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
Pump Expeditions from Medtronic MiniMed is a CD-ROM-based program that offers users both entertainment and education.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
Years ago it was common for women to indulge their food cravings during pregnancy, and usually without ill effect. Now it is vital that women of childbearing age understand the importance of good nutrition before pregnancy and how to decrease their risk of diabetes during pregnancy.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
This may well go down in history as the Year of the Meter. Not since Tom Clemens patented the first blood glucose meter in 1971 have we seen such significant advances.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
As David Mendosa points out in his feature article this month, ‘The Year of the Meter,’ 2006 is barely more than half over and we have already an abundance of new blood glucose meters. Well, it’s not only meters that are in abundance this year, but other diabetes drugs, devices and technologies as well. So much so, that there haven’t been enough pages in Diabetes Health to cover all of the new products.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
June 2006
It used to be called late- or adult-onset diabetes; now it is called type 2. Instead of occurring primarily in people in their 60s or 70s, it is now found in people of all ages—even youngsters in grade school.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2006
According to a survey conducted by the Whole Grains Council and a manufacturer of whole grain products, it was found that 68 percent of adults are unaware that they should consume at least three daily servings of whole grains. In addition, more than one-fifth of the public (22 percent) was unable to name any of the benefits of eating whole grains.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2006
Two and a half years ago, the journal Science published results from Denise Faustman’s groundbreaking study in which type 1 diabetes was reversed in non-obese diabetic mice injected with a combination of an immune adjuvant and spleen cells. Recently, researchers at the University of Chicago, Washington University in St. Louis and Harvard’s Joslin Clinic all partially replicated Dr. Faustman’s research.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2006
On January 31, 2006, GenExel-Sein, Inc., of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, announced it had received U.S. Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance for its Duo-Care device, which combines a home-use blood glucose monitor with a wrist blood pressure monitor—eliminating the need for two separate devices.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2006
On March 13, 2006, Abbott Diabetes Care of Alameda, California, announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market its FreeStyle Freedom blood glucose-monitoring system for consumer use.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2006
A noninvasive meter that measures glucose in perspiration instead of glucose in blood is being developed.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2006
Problems with blood glucose control need to be prevented and solved when using an insulin pump. When something goes wrong, do you blame it on the pump or suspect you made an error? Do you assume there is a pump problem with each alarm?
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2006
In 1998, Eli Lilly & Co.’s rapid-acting insulin analogue lispro (Humalog) appeared on the U.S. market, followed in 2000 by Novo Nordisk’s rapid-acting counterpart aspart (NovoLog). Joined now by sanofi-aventis’ glulisine (Apidra), these rapid-acting insulins offer both convenience and improved blood glucose control to people who require bolus insulin.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2006
May 2006
This month, we hear from Rachel, who will tell us about the process she is going through right now.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2006
By October of this year, Merck & Co., Inc., expects the FDA to rule on its novel type 2 drug Januvia (sitagliptin phosphate). On February 15, 2006, the FDA accepted Merck’s New Drug Application (NDA) for Januvia for standard review.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2006
My life depends entirely on getting little squirts of insulin into my bloodstream on a regular basis. Too little, and high blood glucose hijacks my moods—tired and cranky are the watchwords here. Too much insulin makes my BGs plummet—and shakiness and confusion take over until I eat something containing sugar.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2006
The Body Journal software from Berkeley Medical is a new entry to the market and is not simply for managing your diabetes information: It allows you to record, save and share complete health information for your entire family.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2006
Choosing the right insulin pump and infusion set can be a daunting task for prospective users, and the number of options available may be overwhelming.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2006
Who says the low-carb lifestyle is dead? You would never believe that after spending a weekend with experts in the field.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2006
When retired NBA center Chris Dudley was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1981, the high school sophomore’s first concern was whether he would be able to continue playing sports.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2006
April 2006
Why are today’s insulin syringes and pen needles better than ever?
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Why are today’s meters better than ever?
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
With the new basal-bolus insulin landscape, what is the most important thing that endocrinologists and primary care physicians need to know so that their insulin-using patients can follow the best possible regimen?
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
John H. Holcombe, MD, is a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine and medical fellow, diabetes, for Eli Lilly and Co.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Mary is a 64-year-old woman who has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes for 14 years. She is obese at 220 pounds. Mary has been treated with a sulfonylurea (a medication that stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin, such as glypizide and glyburide) for the past 10 years. Her glucose control for the past three or four years has not been good. A recent A1C was 9.5% (normal range is 4% to 6%, with a goal of 7%). Metformin (Glucophage) and rosiglitazone (Avandia) were added to her sulfonylurea. Both her pre-meal and post-meal glucose values improved and her A1C came down to 7.8%. However, her fasting blood glucose levels were in the upper 100 mg/dl to low 200 mg/dl range. She was afraid of “the needle” and did not want to start on insulin. In addition, Mary was recently diagnosed with early diabetic eye disease (retinopathy) and nerve disease (neuropathy).
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Several months ago, I met Sophia, a woman in her mid-40s who had been struggling to manage her type 2 diabetes for years. Her blood glucose levels were typically well above 300 mg/dl, and she had an equally high A1C of 12.5%. She made it clear that the last thing she wanted was insulin.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Last fall, Bob was surprised when his primary care doctor called to tell him that his recent blood tests showed that he had type 2 diabetes. The doctor immediately put Bob on 15 milligrams of Actos each day and advised him to stay away from sugar and to come back in three months for more blood work.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
High blood glucose coupled with inflammation is a one-two punch that researchers say is associated with an “advanced early carotid atherosclerosis progression and increased risk of new vascular events in diabetic as well as nondiabetic subjects.”
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
For patients with the metabolic syndrome, Iranian researchers say the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet can likely reduce most of the risks associated with the condition.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
French researchers say that dietary fiber plays a protective role against cardiovascular disease, and they are calling for increased fiber consumption.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Although they are equally effective when it comes to delivering insulin, more insulin-using patients expressed a preference to continue using an insulin pen after trying one.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Adding the sulfonylurea glimepiride (Amaryl) to insulin therapy results in “sustained improvement of glycemic control in patients with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes,” according to researchers at the department of endocrinology and metabolism at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
New Zealand researchers say that in clinical trials of people with type 2 diabetes, Actos as stand-alone therapy or in combination with metformin, repaglinide, insulin or a sulphonylurea induced “both long- and short-term improvements in [blood glucose] control and serum lipid profiles.”
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Dutch researchers say that treatment of diabetes in pregnant women should be aimed at achieving A1C levels within the range of 6% or less. They add that “a minimum of 10 self-monitored blood glucose determinations daily is necessary to obtain adequate information of all daily glucose fluctuations.”
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
LifeScan researchers say that at any given time, “there may be differences between palm and fingertip glucose values because of glycemic instability and/or test methodology.”
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
A majority of diabetes patients cannot accurately estimate their blood glucose levels, leading researchers to suggest that home testing is a necessary part of diabetes self-care.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
For people with type 2, self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is associated with decreased diabetes-related problems, leading researchers to suggest that SMBG “may be associated with a healthier lifestyle and/or better disease management.”
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
For people with type 2, Lantus in combination with oral medications can be a cost-equivalent alternative to conventional insulin therapy.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
In three comparative randomized trials, researchers at the department of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, demonstrated that type 2s who used premixed insulins were more likely to reach blood glucose goals than those using only Lantus once daily.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Although people with diabetes use many different approaches to help them adhere to treatment regimens, researchers say that there is little evidence that they are effective. However, in a study they conducted, they found that some “adherence aids” do work and lead to better diabetes control.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Australian researchers emphasize that therapies that inhibit the formation and accumulation of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) or that “remove established AGE modifications” will be an important part of treating diabetics with kidney problems.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
For pediatric patients with type 1, researchers are saying that prolonged moderate exercise results in a “consistent reduction in plasma glucose and the frequent occurrence of hypoglycemia when pre-exercise glucose concentrations are less than 120 mg/dl.” They add that treatment with 15 grams of oral glucose is “often insufficient to reliably treat hypoglycemia during exercise in these youngsters.”
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
In 1998, Eli Lilly & Co.’s rapid-acting insulin analogue lispro (Humalog) appeared on the U.S. market, followed in 2000 by Novo Nordisk’s rapid-acting counterpart aspart (NovoLog). Joined now by sanofi-aventis’ glulisine (Apidra), these rapid-acting insulins offer both convenience and improved blood glucose control to your patients who require bolus insulin.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Recent developments in the treatment of diabetes mellitus have shown that “tight” control and intensive therapy are necessary to prevent complications, increased morbidity and mortality. We are all familiar with the findings of the DCCT and various UKPDS studies and sub-studies. The importance of these “landmark” studies does not need any further discussion at this time.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Blood glucose meters have become too much of a good thing. It’s nearly impossible to keep track of the many different meters now available. My directory at www.mendosa.com/meters is the most comprehensive, and I think that there are currently 50 different meters from 15 different vendors on the American market.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
On January 7, 2006, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Ava Grace Baker. She was 8.4 pounds and 20.25 inches long. It took 30 hours, but it was worth every moment. Well, almost every moment.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Ernest had high triglycerides and his blood glucose was rising. He thought he was doing all right, so you can imagine what he thought when I recommended that he increase the amount of fat and protein in his diet and decrease his carbohydrate intake.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
As I discussed in the February 2006 issue, the Atkins Nutritional Approach has four phases, ranging from the most restrictive Induction phase to the Lifetime Maintenance phase.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Abbott Diabetes Care is already looking beyond continuous sensing. More than two years ago it asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve its FreeStyle Navigator Continuous Glucose Monitor; that application is still pending.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
This month we take a look at a Web-based product called DiabetEase from DiabetEase, Inc. DiabetEase, like other diabetes management software programs, provides you with tools to save, track and graph blood glucose data.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Pramlintide (Symlin) is a synthetic amylin analogue. First described in 1987, amylin is a neuroendocrine hormone produced by beta cells, which also produce insulin. This hormone is absent in type 1 diabetes and decreased in type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
While people with diabetes know that they face a long list of possible complications, it looks as if there’s one more to worry about: We now know that diabetics also face a higher risk of colon cancer. However, there is some consolation in knowing that colon cancer can often be prevented with proper testing.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
If you have ever dreamed of taking your insulin without needles, your dream came true on January 27, 2006. That was when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Exubera (insulin of human [rDNA origin]) Inhalation Powder for treatment of adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
March 2006
Have you ever thought, “No one understands me or my problems”? You felt alone. You felt overwhelmed. You struggled intensely.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2006
People are constantly being told that the only way to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight is to control calorie intake. It does not matter so much where the calories come from as long as one is eating less and burning more. Is this true? It is to some extent, but not completely.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2006
Insulow is an all-natural oral supplement that, according to its manufacturer, “addresses the root of the problem for diabetics and pre-diabetics: the correct balance between insulin production and glucose uptake.”
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2006
If you can read Diabetes Health, you don’t need a SensoCard Plus meter. But there’s a good chance that a friend or someone in your family does.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2006
I wish “Think Like a Pancreas: A Practical Guide to Managing Diabetes With Insulin” (Marlowe & Co., 2004) had been available in 1993 when I was first diagnosed with type 1.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2006
Dennis Robinson, a University of Missouri economist, says, “Give me a challenge, make it make sense, and I can do almost anything. That’s how I could lose 60 pounds and keep it off, and even take insulin.”
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2006
Are you an expectant mother with diabetes? If so, are you wondering about the disappearance of infusion sites as your baby grows and your abdomen expands? Do you anticipate that “pinching an inch” will become more of a challenge? Are you concerned about the angle and depth of insertion, and how often you should rotate insertion sites? Here are a few suggestions for you:
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2006
This month we are taking a look at Accu-Chek Compass from Roche Diagnostics. This diabetes management software works with their Accu-Chek line of glucose meters.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2006
For six seasons, actor Aida Turturro has played the role of Tony Soprano’s sister Janice on the award-winning and critically acclaimed HBO series “The Sopranos.”
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2006
If you are like me, you test your blood glucose at least four times per day, and you have been noting your blood glucose readings in a logbook. While this certainly helps to keep track of blood glucose data, I normally look only at how to manage the current reading.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2006
Anne Peters, MD, is director of the clinical diabetes programs at the University of Southern California (USC). Her latest book, “Conquering Diabetes” (Hudson Street Press, April 2005), has been hailed as one of the most “real” and readable diabetes guidebooks to date.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2006
February 2006
For Deb it was a vicious circle. She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 33 years ago at age 20. It was four weeks before her marriage. You can imagine the stress she endured at that time. “I have lived on a diabetes rollercoaster ever since, until about eight months ago,” she says.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2006
The Atkins Nutritional Approach (ANA) is a plan that teaches you to personalize your eating plan over the course of four phases. The plan begins with Phase 1, which initiates weight loss, and progresses through Phase 4, which helps you to maintain a healthy weight for a lifetime. In addition to the food plan, the ANA includes supplementation and regular exercise. It is a permanent lifestyle change, rather than a “diet” that you go on and off of.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2006
HemoCue knows accuracy. And precision. But Americans with diabetes don’t know HemoCue. Yet. That’s about to change.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2006
This month, we are taking a look at the Precision Link Direct program from Abbott Diabetes Care.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2006
Valentine’s Day is the single biggest day for chocolate sales. Among the many kinds of chocolate now available for gift giving are sugar-free as well as dairy-free varieties. Today, sugar-free chocolates may also be labeled “lower carb.”