Diabetes Health Talk

Planning a trip? Whether you’re camping or cruising, you can go anywhere and do almost anything. It just takes a little planning ahead to handle your diabetes.

How you prepare depends on where you’re going and for how long. Two weeks backpacking through Europe takes different planning than a week at the beach. Will you be crossing time zones? What kind of food will you eat and when? Will you be more active or less active than usual?

Getting Ready

Before a long trip, have a medical exam to make sure your diabetes is in good control. Schedule the exam with enough time to work on your control before you depart. Get immunization shots — if you need them — at least one month before you leave. If the shots make you sick, you’ll have time to recover before your trip.

Before any trip, get two papers from your doctor: a letter and a prescription. The letter should explain what you need to do for your diabetes, such as take diabetes pills or insulin shots. It should list insulin, syringes, and any other medications or devices you use. The letter should also list any allergies you have or any foods or medications to which you are sensitive.

The prescription should be for insulin or diabetes pills. You should have more than enough insulin and syringes or pills to last through the trip. But the prescription may help in case of emergency. In the United States, prescription rules may vary from state to state.

The prescription laws may be very different in other countries. If you’re going out of the country, write for a list of International Diabetes Federation groups. Write to: IDF, 1 rue Defaeqz, B-1000, Belgium (www.idf.org).

You may want to get a list of English-speaking foreign doctors from the International Association for Medical Assistance to Travelers (IAMAT), 1623 Military Road, #279, Niagara Falls, NY 14304 (www.iamat.org). IAMAT can be reached at 716-754 4883. If an emergency occurs while you’re traveling and you don’t have such a list, contact the American Consulate, American Express, or local medical schools for a list of doctors.

No matter where you go, wear a medical ID bracelet or necklace that shows you have diabetes. If you’re leaving the country, also learn how to say “I have diabetes” and “sugar or orange juice, please” in the language or languages of the countries you’ll visit.

Findings may lead to potential vaccines for the life-threatening condition

Two studies published on Thursday provide evidence that common viruses may cause childhood diabetes, paving the way for potential vaccines against the life-threatening condition, researchers said.

One team showed that enteroviruses — which normally cause colds, vomiting or diarrhea — were found frequently in the pancreases of young people who had recently died from type 1 diabetes, sometimes called juvenile diabetes, but not in healthy samples.

This suggests a virus could trigger the disease in children genetically predisposed to the condition, which affects an estimated 440,000 people worldwide, said Alan Foulis of the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow, who worked on one of the studies.

Type 1 diabetes is caused by the destruction of beta cells of the pancreas that produce the insulin necessary to regulate blood sugar levels. The autoimmune disease is different from the far more common type 2 diabetes, which is strongly associated with obesity.

Genetics play a role in diabetes but researchers know other factors such as diet are also important, with viruses long suspected as a possible trigger, researchers said.

Foulis and colleagues examined 73 pancreas samples of young people who had died from diabetes and found that 60 percent of the donated organs contained evidence of enteroviral infection of beta cells.

While Todd cautioned that many environmental factors besides viruses could contribute to type 1 diabetes, Foulis and his team said they wanted to whittle down the some 100 enteroviruses to find which ones played the main roles.

Doing this, and better understanding of how cells respond to viral infection, are steps toward a vaccine that could one day protect children against diabetes, Foulis said.

ADA-funded researchers Drs. Hollie Raynor, Rena Wing and Chantelle Hart have published findings that were highlighted in the January 9, 2009 issue of ScienceDaily News. In their research study conducted at Brown University School of Medicine in Providence, Rhode Island, they investigated the eating and activity patterns of children ages 2 to 12. They hypothesized that the early patterns of unhealthy eating and exercise habits in preschool can contribute to the onset of childhood obesity in school-aged children. Hollie Raynor, PhD, RD is the recipient of an ADA Healthy Food Choices Award. Rena Wing, PhD is the recipient of a Mentor-Based Postdoctoral Fellowship Award of which Chantelle Hart, PhD was the postdoctoral fellow from June 2006 to June 2007.

Quantitative data was collected on the parent’s age, height and weight. The child’s height and weight were collected from their previous medical records. Parents completed a questionnaire on their child’s eating and activity habits. The questionnaire results showed that parents of school-aged children had increased reports of their child consuming unhealthy foods such as sweet drinks, salty and sweet snacks. They also reported other behaviors such as eating dinner less with parents, which led to their less healthy food choices and more time in front of the TV. On the other hand, a greater percentage of parents with preschool children reported that their child was “just as” or “a little more” active than their peers.

So parents out there, watch what your kids eat, institute famiily meals with no tv or electronics of any kinds at the table. Good luck.

An ambitious effort to cut costs and keep aging, sick Medicare patients out of the hospital mostly didn’t work, a government-contracted study found. The disappointing results show how tough it is to manage older patients with chronic diseases, who often take multiple prescriptions, see many different doctors and sometimes get conflicting medical advice.

The study showed just how hard it is to change the habits of older patients and their sometimes inflexible doctors. And it points up the challenges the Obama administration will face in trying to reform health care for an aging nation.

Most of the patients had serious, but common, age-related illnesses including diabetes, heart disease and lung disease. Programs were set up at 15 centers around the country. Only two cut the number of times these patients were hospitalized, and those are still in operation. None saved Medicare any money.

The authors of the study called the results “underwhelming.” An editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association, where the study appears Wednesday, used the term “sobering.”

“The only way you can really do it is by changing patients’ behavior and by changing physicians’ behavior, and both things are really hard to do,” said study author Randall Brown, a researcher at Mathematica Policy Research Inc., in Princeton, N.J., which was hired to evaluate the programs.

Often, these patients need to stop smoking, or lose weight, exercise more, eat healthier foods — a challenge even for generally healthy people. Those changes are especially tough for sick, older patients who often are set in their ways.

Let’s pretend for a moment that you have two options for improving your health: Eat more nuts or eat more olive oil. Which should you choose?

Believe it or not, nuts could have a slight edge, especially if you’re concerned about metabolic syndrome (including diabetes), a combo of health conditions that raises heart disease risk.

Nuts for Your Health
In a 1-year study, people who ate a Mediterranean-style diet and added an extra ounce of nuts (roughly a small handful) had a lower incidence of metabolic syndrome compared with the people who ate the same diet but instead added 4 to 5 ounces more of olive oil every day.

The Whole Truth
Why the difference? Here’s one simple theory: Olive oil is a fat extracted from olives, but nuts are a whole food with more good-for-you stuff in them, including fiber, protein, and minerals. Both olive oil and nuts can — and should — have a place in a healthy diet. In the study, both seemed to help tamp down high triglycerides and abdominal fat better than a low-fat diet did. But the nut eaters also experienced better blood pressure, which is one reason their metabolic syndrome numbers were better.

If you found out that one particular health condition could increase your risk of at least ten other serious medical problems, you’d do Millions of Americans have syndrome X taking hold in their bodies and they don’t even know it.
everything you could to avoid that health condition, wouldn’t you? Yet millions of Americans have just such a condition taking hold in their bodies and they don’t even know it. The condition is called metabolic syndrome (also known as syndrome X or insulin resistance
syndrome), and it is quickly becoming a pandemic in the United States, affecting as many as 47 million Americans.

The list of health problems that metabolic syndrome can lead to is long and concerning. It doubles a person’s risk of heart attack, doubles a person’s risk of stroke, and also can lead to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, fatty liver, cholesterol gallstones, asthma, and even some forms of cancer.

Here’s the good news: adding a brisk walk to your routine every day may be enough to help stop this syndrome, and all of the accompanying health ills, in its tracks.

A cardiologist in Houston has come up with a special diet that reverses diabetes and heart disease, myfoxhouston.com reported.

Under the diet, Dr. Baxter Montgomery encourages patients to eat plant-based foods, minimally processed foods (that means all those foods that come prepared in a box or package), and to eat whole foods, as close to their natural state as possible.

For instance, you could shuck a corn on the cob and just eat it uncooked. He says it’s actually delicious that way, plus you get all the nutrients from it.

Dr. Montgomery also steers his patients away from meat, which he calls “animal flesh”. He says our digestive systems aren’t actually meant to digest meats and it puts an extra burden on the body.

More and more Doctors, Dieticians and Nutritionists are seeing the benefits of a low-carb, low-calorie, low-starch diet for Diabetics. Mostly plant-based, these meal plans for life (because ‘diets don’t work’) reduce and remove the underlying cause for diabetes and insulin resistance.

In my life, i’ve cut out most carbohydrates and starches, certainly no process foods and increased my vegetables and lean meats and fish. The old saying is true: Do most of your shopping on the outside perimeter of the store! All the processed, unhealthy foods are in the aisles. There is a noticible difference in my energy level. And my skin looks healthier, younger and more natural.

Make vegetables a main course or the big filler on your plate instead of meats, carbohydrates or starches. You will feel better, less likely to drowse off after eating and your blood sugar will thank you for it.

Children have delayed Type 1 diabetes when both parents have Type 2, studies have shown.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition in which the body mistakenly attacks insulin-producing cells, and it usually starts in childhood; type 2 diabetes is a metabolic derangement, often tied to obesity later in life.

Few studies have looked at how a family history of type 2 diabetes impacts the offspring with type 1 disease, according to a report in the medical journal Diabetes Care.

To investigate, Dr. Per-Henrik Groop, from Helsinki University Hospital, and colleagues analyzed data from 1860 patients with type 1 diabetes. About a third of the subjects had parents with type 2 diabetes.

On average, the onset of type 1 diabetes occurred at 17.2 years of age in the group with a family history compared with 16.1 years in the group without parental diabetes.

There’s no clear-cut answer to why this occurs, though, scientists say.

As with both types of diabetes, watch what you eat, exercise and take your medications as prescribed by your doctor or health care provider.

By eating low carb, low starch, low sugar foods, you deprive the body of the ability to raise your blood sugar, and you’re feeding your body healthy, nutritious foods it needs anyway. You’ll feel better, not only because your blood sugars will lower, but also because you’ll start losing weight. I know I do, since I’ve been eating more fiber-rich vegetables, like Eggplant, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Carrots, Bell Peppers and the like. You can make so much with just a few ingredients.

There haven’t been any more studies about Delayed Type 1 diabetics who have parents with Type 2 Diabetes.

Scientists have discovered the compund EGCG in Green Tea not only helps curb inflammation, prevent cell death, and possibly even ward off cancer, but also to slowed the development of type 1 diabetes.

In this study,

EGCG, the investigators found, reduced the severity and delayed the onset of salivary gland damage associated with Sjogren’s syndrome — a condition with no known cure.

EGCG also dramatically slowed the development of type 1 diabetes in the rodents. At 16 weeks, they found, 25 percent of the mice given the green tea compound had developed diabetes, compared to 67 percent of the mice given water. At 22 weeks, 45 percent of the EGCG group had diabetes, while 78 percent of the control group did.

Green Tea is becoming something of a wonder. Science is proving more and more what Asian countries have already known: that Green Tea is beneficial for one’s health. I drink two mugs of Green Tea a day, which has been shown to be a fat fighter, helping me lose 41 pounds. Green Tea also aids digestion (especially drinking after meals), removing helping to remove waste from your body, in turn, giving you more energy, feeling less weighed down.

Green Tea with added herbs is growing in popularity. There are Green Teas with Ginsing, ginger, Chamomile, Lavendar and Jasmine, to name a few. Green Tea is great for an afternoon pick-me-up, instead of a double tall espresso with whole milk, mocha and whipped cream.

So, to help yourself and those around you, suggest they drink more Green Tea, maybe with a little honey and/or lemon.

Is there a youth with diabetes in your life? If they are overwieght, chances are, they have tried using their diabetes type-1 or type-2 to lose weight.

More and more teenagers with diabetes type-1 or type-2 are skipping insulin shots or pills, fasting, using diet aids, vomiting or using laxatives in order to shed a few pounds. While they may be successful in shedding weight, many may not know the danger they are putting their health in.

They may be causing themselves heart, kidney, liver or eye problems or failure. Their heart and other organs must work harder to compensate by not taking care of themselves. Closely monitor their medications, if you must, to ensure they are taking the proper dosages at the proper times.

If they are concerned about weight loss, sit down and calmly discuss proper nutrition, exercise. Try not to turn it to a lecture, because that’s the surest way to lose their attention. What most people respond to is some listening to them and gently showing them proper eating and exercise habits. Will it happen overnight? No. But, it will happen, over time, by showing proper eating habits, fixing fresh foods with herbs and spices.

Find an activitiy that appeals to them: walking is the best activity known to humankind. There are many health benefits, and weight loss is among them. In 2007, I lost 41 pounds by cutting out fried, fatty, high colesterol foods and walking from 30-60 minutes every day. It’s just one pound a week (the FDA’s recommended weightloss).

Broccoli lovers, know this: Your favorite veggie is loving you right back, with ample amounts of this stroke-stomping, diabetes-deterring nutrient — vitamin C.

High blood levels of vitamin C could cut stroke risk by as much as 42 percent and reduce your odds of developing type 2 diabetes by a whopping 62 percent.

“C” the Stats
Yep, that’s exactly what happened in two recent studies involving middle-aged and older adults. As blood levels of C went up, risks went down. Researchers suspect that the vitamin’s strong antioxidant qualities may be the reason for its protective effects. And there’s no better way to raise your blood levels of C than to start filling your body with C-rich winter foods like broccoli, brussels sprouts, and oranges.

One Vital Vitamin

Slashing stroke and diabetes risk is just part of what vitamin C does. Here are a few of its many other roles:

Sight saver. Along with beta carotene, vitamin E, and zinc, C lowers the odds of age-related macular degeneration

Breath buddy. Your lungs love vitamin C.

Does Your Gum Have Vitamin C?

Snapping and popping gum remain image busters — just ask Britney Spears watchers. But here’s a good excuse for discreet chewing: less blood at the dentist’s office.

If your gums bleed a lot during cleaning — a sign of subpar dental health — your dentist may urge you to floss more. But chew gum more? It could help. In a recent study, gum chewers experienced less gingivitis-like bleeding than nonchewers, but only if their gum of choice was enriched with vitamin C. Better yet, they didn’t have to chew for a long time to get the benefit.

Dentists have been concerned that too much direct contact between tooth enamel and vitamin C leads to a breakdown in tooth structure, but there was no problem with erosion in this study. And gum chewers didn’t need to chew long — only for about 15 minutes — to release nearly all of the vitamin C in their sample gum. But they did chew daily — about five times each day, in fact — to achieve the benefits.

Sugar has been banned at Georgia elementary school for a decade

School required fitness classes, overhauled menu and banned junk food

More studies required to see if methods would improve student health

Recent research suggests banning soda not curbing kids’ consumption

As schools around the country have begun removing soda and junk food from their premises, the elementary school in Lithonia, Georgia, was ahead of the curve, cutting out sugar 10 years ago under the watch of principal Dr. Yvonne Sanders-Butler.

Sanders-Butler overhauled the school’s menu, nutrition program and vending machines after battling her own weight troubles and surviving a stroke at 39. When she sought to eliminate sugar from the school, many resisted and warned her she was endangering her job.

“If we don’t do something, we’re talking about children that are probably going to lose their life at some point. We have to take a stand,” she said.

Schools are now pulling soda from their vending machines and cafeterias. California schools can sell only water, milk and fruit and sports drinks that contain a specified amount of sweeteners. Beverage distributors such as Cadbury Schweppes, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have agreed to sell only water, unsweetened juice, and flavored and unflavored low-fat and fat-free milk at all elementary and middle schools by the 2009 school year.

Research into the effectiveness of these kinds of interventions in schools is beginning, but recent studies suggest banning soda at school has minimal impact.

A study in Maine compared the soda intake between students at high schools where soda was permitted and schools where it was banned. Researchers found that reducing soda availability did not decrease consumption, according to the 2008 study published in the Society for Nutrition Education.

Another study published this year in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that limiting soft drinks at school decreased consumption by 4 percent.

Removing junk foods from schools may not eliminate the problem.

What happened in Browns Mill was the result of a number of factors, said Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu, former U.S. Surgeon General, who now chairs the Johnson and Johnson Diabetes Institute. He credits the principal for creating “an environment in her school where it became a normal part of the curriculum to learn about what’s important as far as diet.”

“It really focuses on the children and having the children learn how to make healthy decisions for themselves,” he said. “Second, it created an environment within the schools that encouraged the kids to make those decisions. By having healthier foods, by having physical education, by having vending machines, that gives the children the opportunity to make healthy choices.”

Browns Mill fifth-grader Cori Bostic said she would prefer honeydew, watermelon or cantaloupe to cake anyway.

Wincing slightly, the fifth-grader said, “Junk food makes my stomach hurt.”

The gift, the second-largest donation in the university’s history, could be a shot in the arm toward finding a cure for Type 1 diabetes.

Courtesy of Josephine Marcotty. Best Buy founder Richard Schulze and his family foundation will give $40 million to University of Minnesota researchers who are intent on finding a cure for Type 1 diabetes, the university announced Thursday.

The money, the second largest gift in university history, will be paid over five years and provide about half the $20 million the university will spend annually on diabetes research. Officials said they hope it will provide the financial boost needed to defeat the disease.

“We must not settle for anything less than a cure,” said Dr. Bernhard Hering, who will head the project. “We only need to declare it possible.”

Schulze and his daughter, Debra Schulze, 40, who has had Type 1 diabetes for 28 years, said they chose the university’s program over a number of other research organizations, both public and private, after studying programs around the world. They chose the university because it seemed to be closest to finding a cure and was less focused on finding new treatments for symptoms, she said.

As many as 3 million people in the United States live with Type 1 diabetes, in which the immune system attacks islet cells in the pancreas, destroying the body’s ability to produce insulin and regulate blood sugar.

In people with type 1 diabetes, adequate control of blood sugar over the long haul helps reduce the risk of diabetes-related eye and kidney disease, new data suggest.

The findings stem from a look at 1,441 type 1 diabetic patients followed for roughly 9 years as part of the pivotal Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT).

By analyzing hemoglobin A1C levels over time — a standard indicator of long-term blood sugar control — the researchers observed that increasing variability in hemoglobin A1C heightens the risk of new or worsening diabetic retinopathy (damage to the retina) and diabetic kidney disease.

Specifically, for every 1 percent increase in hemoglobin A1C, they found that the risk of retinopathy increased more than twofold and the risk of diabetic kidney disease increased nearly twofold.

The findings suggest that the long-term stability of blood sugar, and not just the average blood sugar control, predict the risk of these complications, study investigator Dr. Eric S. Kilpatrick of Hull Royal Infirmary in Hull, England, noted in an interview with Reuters Health.

“It is probably another reason to aim for stable good glycemic control rather than only good glycemic control,” Kilpatrick said.

However, blood sugar management “is only part of the story,” he added. It is as important, he said, to ensure that blood pressure and cholesterol levels are “tightly controlled” in order to reduce the complications of diabetes.