Diabetes
Whole grains cut diabetes risk for black women
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Black women who eat plenty of magnesium-rich foods, especially whole grains, may lower their risk of developing type 2 diabetes, new research shows.
African Americans are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than whites, Dr. Rob M. van Dam of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and colleagues note in their report in Diabetes Care. Some studies suggest, they add, that calcium and magnesium may help lower type 2 diabetes risk, but this research has been done in predominantly white populations.
To investigate whether intake of these minerals might be tied to diabetes risk among black individuals as well, the researchers looked at 41,186 women participating in the Black Women’s Health Study. None of them had diabetes at the study’s outset, but 1,964 developed type 2 diabetes during eight years of follow-up.
Diabetes link with cancer seen in Japanese study
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A large study of Japanese adults found those with diabetes were more likely to develop cancer, especially of certain organs such as the pancreas and liver, researchers said on Monday.
Men with diabetes in the study of nearly 98,000 people were 27 percent more likely than non-diabetics to be diagnosed with cancer, the study by the National Cancer Center in Tokyo found. Women afflicted with diabetes were also more at risk for cancer, though the association was not as clear as with men.
Study author Manami Inoue wrote in this month’s Archives of Internal Medicine that researchers have suspected a link between the two diseases but have not had conclusive evidence.
Microalbuminuria and hypertension rates are higher in youth with type 2 diabetes
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Microalbuminuria and hypertension rates are higher in youth with type 2 diabetes compared to those with type 1 diabetes.
Researchers in Australia conducted a study “to compare the prevalence of diabetes complications and their risk factors in youth with type 1 versus type 2 diabetes.”
M.C. Eppens and colleagues working with the Children’s Hospital “performed a comparative clinic-based study of 1,433 patients with type 1 diabetes and 68 patients with type 2 diabetes aged <18 years from New South Wales, Australia. Retinopathy was assessed by sevenfield stereoscopic retinal photography; albumin excretion rate from three consecutive, timed, overnight urine collections; peripheral neuropathy by thermal and vibration threshold; and autonomic neuropathy by pupillometry. HbA[1c] (A1C) and lipids were measured in all patients and C-peptide in patients with type 2 diabetes.”
Diabetes control related to resident country, disease specifics, and health care features
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Diabetes control is related to resident country, disease characteristics, and health care features.
According to recent research from the United States, “The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship of patients’ self-reported well-being, self-management, and diabetes control with factors related to the patient’s health care. This was a cross-sectional survey of national samples of patients with diabetes (n=5,104) from the multinational study of Diabetes Attitudes, Wishes and Needs (DAWN). Patients from 13 countries in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America reported their level of well-being, self-management, and diabetes control.”
“Hierarchical multiple regression analysis (blocks are countries, respondent characteristics, and health care features) was used to examine predictors of diabetes-related distress and general well-being, adherence to lifestyle and medical treatment recommendations, and perceived diabetes control and hyperglycemic symptoms,” continued R.R. Rubin and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University.
Glycogen phosphorylase inhibition can impair aerobic muscle function in type 2 diabetes
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Glycogen phosphorylase inhibition can impair aerobic muscle function during prolonged contraction in type 2 diabetic patients.
According to recent research from Sweden, “Glycogen phosphorylase inhibition represents a promising strategy to suppress inappropriate hepatic glucose output, while muscle glycogen is a major source of fuel during contraction. Glycogen phosphorylase inhibitors (GPi) currently being investigated for the treatment of type 2 diabetes do not demonstrate hepatic versus muscle glycogen phosphorylase isoform selectivity and may therefore impair patient aerobic exercise capabilities.”
Diabetes risk down three times with newer hypertension drugs
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According to researchers patients given a mix of modern blood pressure drugs are one-third less likely to develop diabetes than those on older pills.
The results from Europe’s biggest ever trial of hypertensive patients showed only 8 percent given the newer drugs developed diabetes after five years, compared to 11.4 percent of those on the older drugs.
The trial involved 19,257 participants, 14,120 did not have diabetes at the outset and because the results were so promising it was stopped in November 2004.
Medtronic heart device as effective for diabetics
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Medtronic Inc’s cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) is equally effective for heart patients whether or not they have diabetes, researchers said on Sunday.
CRT, an implantable device, resynchronises the contractions of the heart’s ventricles by sending electrical impulses that help it pump blood more efficiently.
More than 200,000 patients with heart failure around the world have been fitted with a CRT device manufactured by either market leader Medtronic or one of its competitors.
Diabetic kids often have heart disease risk factors
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Children and adolescents with diabetes commonly have additional risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to a new report.
“This research emphasizes the importance of prevention, recognition, treatment and control of these risk factors,” Dr. Beatriz L. Rodriguez from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, told Reuters Health. “The prevalence of CVD risk factors was higher among ethnic minorities.”
Rodriguez and colleagues investigated the prevalence of CVD risk factors in a multiracial population-based sample of over 2,000 children and adolescents with diabetes. CVD risk factors specifically assessed were related to the metabolic syndrome cluster—high cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure and increased waist circumference.
Poor diabetes control tied to cognitive difficulty
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Elderly diabetics with poor blood sugar control have a high prevalence of undiagnosed cognitive dysfunction, depression and functional disabilities, according to a study by researchers in Boston.
Dr. Medha Munshi, of the Joslin Diabetes Center, and colleagues examined the association between cognitive dysfunction and blood sugar control in 60 diabetics older than age 70. These individuals had diabetes for an average of about 14 years and elevated hemoglobin A1C levels—an indicator of poor blood sugar control.
The mean HbA1C level was 7.9 percent. The American Diabetes Association recommends a target A1C level of 7.0 or lower.
Diabetes may worsen liver encephalopathy
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In patients with cirrhosis of the liver due to infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV), the presence of diabetes is associated with earlier onset and greater severity of liver or “hepatic” encephalopathy, according to results of a prospective study.
Hepatic encephalopathy is a complication of cirrhosis of the liver. Toxic substances like ammonia that accumulate in the blood and impair the function of brain cells are believed to be contributing factors.
Dr. Samuel H. Sigal and colleagues theorize that diabetes predisposes a cirrhotic patient to hepatic encephalopathy and its exacerbation by increasing ammonia levels as a result of delayed emptying of contents of the stomach and slowed intestinal motility contributing to bacterial overgrowth. Constipation often precedes the development of hepatic encephalopathy.
Drug combo works well for diabetes and high lipids
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For people with diabetes who also have abnormal levels of blood fats, or lipids, the combination of two types of cholesterol-lowering drugs seems to work better than either one alone, researchers report.
People with diabetes typically tend to have mixed lipid abnormalities, such as high cholesterol and high triglycerides. “Much of the cardiovascular risk associated with diabetes may stem from the associated abnormal ‘diabetic’ lipid profile, Dr. Joseph B. Muhlestein told Reuters Health.
This profile, which is characterized by a combination of abnormal lipid parameters, cannot often be rectified by just one drug,” he explained.
Early type 2 diabetes ups death risk in middle age
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People who develop type 2 diabetes before 20 years of age have higher rates of end-stage renal disease, and higher mortality rates, when they reach middle age than those who develop diabetes later in life, new research shows.
Type 2 diabetes has been increasing among children and adolescents in large part because of rising rates of obesity, according to the report in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association. The impact of early-onset type 2 diabetes on disease outcomes in adulthood, however, is unclear.
To investigate, Dr. Meda E. Pavkov, from the National Institutes of Health in Phoenix, Arizona, and colleagues analyzed data from a 37-year study of Pima Indians. This population is very prone to develop type 2 diabetes, in some cases as early as 3 or 4 years of age.
Diabetes and MS linked in Danish study
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People with type 1 diabetes are more than three times more likely to develop multiple sclerosis (MS) than are those without diabetes, new research from Denmark shows.
In addition, the two diseases appear to be linked, albeit to a weaker extent, within families.
Both type 1 diabetes and MS are auto-immune diseases, in which the body mounts an aberrant immune response against its own tissues—attacking insulin-producing cells in the case of diabetes, and the myelin sheath surrounding neurons in MS.
Community-wide program gets residents exercising
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A program designed to boost physical activity levels in a low-income, multi-ethnic community did just that, and led to real health benefits for residents.
Compared with a “control” community, fewer participants in the get-fit community gained weight and many lost weight, reducing their risk of type 2 diabetes—which largely results from obesity. Residents in the intervention community also saw improvements in cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels.
Dr. Anne Karen Jenum, at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Oslo, and colleagues tested their program over three years in a low-income, urban district in Norway with high rates of heart disease, obesity and physical inactivity.
Coffee drinking may lower diabetes risk
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Consumption of coffee, particularly the decaffeinated variety, is associated with a reduced risk of diabetes, according to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
The study is not the first to document this association. However, in previous studies it was unclear if the relationship was true among people of different ages and body weights and if the caffeine component was the ingredient primarily responsible for the anti-diabetes effect.
Dr. Mark A. Pereira, from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and colleagues addressed these uncertainties by analyzing data from 28,812 women enrolled in the Iowa Women’s Health Study, which ran from 1986 to 1997. All of the women were free from diabetes and heart disease when the study began.
