Diabetes: November 2006 Archives

Type 1 diabetes is a growing health problem among European children. European data indicate that the disease incidence has increased five- to six-fold among children under the age of 15 years after World War II, and there are no signs that the increase in incidence is levelling off.

The most conspicuous increase has been seen among children under the age of 5 years. The EU-funded Diabetes Prevention study is generating a wealth of information on breast-feeding practices, infant nutrition and growth in young children in various countries. Newborn infants observed in Northern Europe (NE) had a higher birth weight but a shorter birth length than infants in Central and Southern Europe (CSE).

High blood sugar is among the world's top five killers, a Harvard study shows.

High blood sugar is one sign that a person is on the road to diabetes. But it kills many people long before they ever get diabetes, note Goodarz Danaei, MD, of Harvard School of Public Health, and colleagues.

Moreover, blood sugar levels start causing problems once they pass the higher-than-normal level. It's not a matter of getting disease at a certain point. It's a matter of ever-increasing disease risk.

Diabetes increases your risk of Alzheimer's. Reduce this risk by controlling your blood sugar. Diet and exercise can help.

Public health officials were already concerned about the projected increase in the number of Alzheimer's cases that will occur simply because the aging baby boom generation is so large. Now they worry there may be even more Alzheimer's cases than expected.

That's because diabetes — a strong risk factor for dementias like Alzheimer's — also becomes more common with age. Type 2 diabetes, which is by far the most common form of the disease, often occurs in people who weigh too much and exercise too little — a group that includes a large proportion of baby boomers.

With some 2.9 million people suffering from diabetes without enough care nationwide, medical experts have sounded a call of awareness to the public on how to prevent the disease they dubbed as "the silent killer."

"We should be alarmed about the worsening problem of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes. It is a silent epidemic that unjustly affects the poor," Health Secretary Francisco Duque said at the Diabetes Expo 2006 held at the Megatrade Hall 1 of SM Megamall on Saturday.

Diabetes (medically known as diabetes mellitus) is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia or high blood glucose concentration.

Fifty-four million Americans - that's one in six of us -- have pre-diabetes and most don't even realize it. Mark Schutta, MD, medical director of the Penn Rodebaugh Diabetes Center, is urging at-risk patients to be proactive and ask your doctor to give you a simple blood test for pre-diabetes - to arm yourself with information before the damage is done. It means you have blood glucose levels that are higher than normal and you could one day reach a high enough level that you would be diagnosed with having diabetes.

Diabetes is a disease that affects the body's ability to produce or respond properly to insulin and must be managed on a daily basis once diagnosed. If not, it can lead to several health complications including death. November is designated annually as American Diabetes Month.

"If you have pre-diabetes, there's a 75% probability that you will develop diabetes within 30 years," comments Schutta. "Our country is in the middle of a type 2 diabetes epidemic. Right now, if you're born in the U.S., your risk of developing diabetes is one in three."

Amylin has soared on sales of one diabetes drug. Now it's looking to extend its franchise into weight loss. Will it pay?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The biotech Amylin is testing what could be the next blockbuster in the $40 billion market for weight loss products, or the treatment could just be a big fat flop.

The only thing for sure is that it's too early to say, meaning the biotech's bet on the weight loss drug makes the San Diego-based company a risky, long-range investment.

Amylin is experimenting with its injectable drug Symlin, which is already on the market to control blood sugar levels for diabetics, for an additional use as a weight loss drug. The biotech recently reported that Symlin reduced weight by 7 percent to 8 percent over 52 weeks in diabetics, compared to a 1 percent weight loss with a placebo. 

HealthDay News -- The estimated 20 million Americans with diabetes need to remember that simple foot care can reduce their risk of toe, foot or leg amputations, say experts at the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons (ACFAS).

People with diabetes are 10 times more likely to have a lower limb amputated than people who don't have the illness, which can cause poor blood circulation and nerve damage in the feet. This makes feet more vulnerable to ulcers, infections, deformities and brittle bones. 

AUSTRALIA - Families affected by diabetes have put 15,000 syringes on the lawns opposite the entrance to Parliament House in Canberra to draw MPs' attention to the disease.

The syringes represent the number of insulin injections a young diabetes sufferer is likely to have in the first 10 years of their life.

One hundred children with type one diabetes gathered with their families today to talk to parliamentarians to ask for their support for research into a cure for the condition.

An extract made from milk thistle seeds may help control blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes, Iranian researchers say.

But the scientists -- who included H. Fallah Huseini, PhD, of the Institute of Medicinal Plants in Tehran, Iran -- aren't recommending the extract to patients just yet.

Instead, they call for further studies to probe milk thistle's effects.

Their report appears online in Phytotherapy Research.

"The results are very encouraging, and now we need to do further large multi-centre studies," Huseini says in a news release from the journal's publisher.

ISLAMABAD - Taking cod liver oil early in life appears to reduce the chances that children will develop insulin-dependent ("type 1") diabetes, researchers report. The protection may possibly come from the anti-inflammatory effects of long-chain n-3 fatty acids found in cod liver oil.

"In Norway, cod liver oil is an important source of dietary vitamin D and the long-chain n-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)," according to Dr. Lars C. Stene, of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, in Oslo, and colleagues.

All these nutrients "have biological properties of potential relevance for the prevention of type 1 diabetes," they explain in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.