Health Protection
Diabetes Awareness: Just for a Month, or All Year Long?
Twenty years ago, when I opened Sugar Happy Diabetes Supplies in San Francisco, people would open the front door, lean in, and ask, “I’m curious. Are there enough people with diabetes for you to stay in business?” My reply was always, “You would be surprised by how many people have diabetes.” Back then, everyone knew [...]
Twenty years ago, when I opened Sugar Happy Diabetes Supplies in San Francisco, people would open the front door, lean in, and ask, “I’m curious. Are there enough people with diabetes for you to stay in business?” My reply was always, “You would be surprised by how many people have diabetes.”
Back then, everyone knew someone with diabetes, but they didn’t necessarily realize it because people with diabetes stayed silent, fearing discrimination. They did not want to be viewed as less than normal. Some would even say that having diabetes made them feel like damaged goods. In fact, I once had a customer who was baffled by the idea that I had married someone with type 1 diabetes. I was equally b
How the New Health Care Law Impacts YOU!
The new law is to commence effectively from September 23, 2010; six months after President Obama signed it into law. “For the older Americans with multiple health problems who rely on the system most, improving coordination and quality of care is especially critical. At long last, the new law puts that within reach. Soon, essential [...]
The new law is to commence effectively from September 23, 2010; six months after President Obama signed it into law.
“For the older Americans with multiple health problems who rely on the system most, improving coordination and quality of care is especially critical. At long last, the new law puts that within reach. Soon, essential preventive care like blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes screening will be free, and the building blocks will be in place to improve care coordination, reduce harmful medication interactions, prevent unnecessary hospitalizations, and improve communication among doctors and patients,” said Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, which leads the Campaign for Better Care.
The Scarlet ‘D’
Do you ever wish you could leave your diabetes at home? Maybe you’re at a holiday party, chit chatting with your buds gathered around the bar enjoying an adult beverage (or two), maybe grazing at the table of cookies, cakes and other tempting morsels. “Oh, I think I’ll try one of those. Maybe one of [...]
Do you ever wish you could leave your diabetes at home? Maybe you’re at a holiday party, chit chatting with your buds gathered around the bar enjoying an adult beverage (or two), maybe grazing at the table of cookies, cakes and other tempting morsels. “Oh, I think I’ll try one of those. Maybe one of those too. I didn’t bring my diabetes with me, so I don’t have to think about it tonight.” Diabetes is not last year’s outfit you can leave at home, or a bad relationship you can dump and move on. It is more like a tattoo. It goes everywhere with you.
Holidays are the hardest time to have diabetes. Food is everywhere. Day light hours are fewer and the weather is harsh, hindering activities and exercise outdoors. Maybe well-intentioned party hosts offer you sugar free alternatives while others get the good stuff, and you feel like a scarlet D is on your forehead. When I was first diagnosed in 1991, I was thrilled to find all of the sugar free cookies and chocolate. I remember devouring a giant bag of chocolate sweetened with sorbitol, thinking this diabetes thing is not that bad, then read the label that said excessive consumption may have a laxative effect. You also realize that sugar is not the enemy, it is carbohydrate. The casserole or pasta or potatoes can be just as damaging to your blood sugar as the Ben and Jerry’s and brownies everyone thinks is all you have to avoid. Everyone with diabetes has encountered someone, no doubt sincere but just not knowledgeable about the condition, who thinks that you are allergic to sugar. Even though you just gave yourself a private cookie bolus, they spot you sinking your teeth into a chocolate chip beauty and look at you like your face is going to swell into a balloon.
At holiday parties I try to give myself plenty of bolus doses of insulin and bring my blood sugar meter with me. An insulin pump is a great tool for delivering multiple boluses conveniently and discretely when food is nibbled and not just at regular meal times. I check my blood sugar a couple of times, before and during the event, to see if I am keeping myself in control. I also avoid liquor drinks mixers are usually full of glucose whether it is just juice or daquari mix or some exotic combination. Beer is a safer alternative that I prefer, and also a little easier to avoid excessive consumption for safe drinking, but again, consume in moderation and amounts you have experience with in the past. Of course, exercise is extremely important in the winter. Bundle up and get outdo
Press Release – Glucose Meter Plug-in for iPhone
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 [...]
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. BGS
Press Release – Kids and Diabetes Risk: Do Chromosomes Hold New Clues?
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 [...]
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.
Butte is with the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Children’s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, where she is a professor of pediatrics. ARS is USDA’s principal intramural scientific research agency.
Pediatricians and other healthcare professionals might someday use the biomarkers. So might
Diabetes and Autoimmunity
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 [...]
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.
Many people still use the broad term “diabetes mellitus” to cover all types of diabetes.
Press Release – Immune System Genes Show Links to Type 1 Diabetes
The exact cause of type 1 diabetes is still unknown, but international researchers have found a link between the blood sugar disorder and a network of immune system genes. Using a genome-wide association study, the researchers found that a certain group of genes that react in response to viral infections were present in both rats [...]
The exact cause of type 1 diabetes is still unknown, but international researchers have found a link between the blood sugar disorder and a network of immune system genes.
Using a genome-wide association study, the researchers found that a certain group of genes that react in response to viral infections were present in both rats and humans, and that those same genes were also associated with a susceptibility to type 1 diabetes.
“Diseases arise as a result of many genetic and environmental factors through gene networks that cause tissue damage,” explained study senior author Dr.
Press Release – Long-term Weight Loss may be Harmful to Health
Long-term weight loss may release into the blood industrial pollutants linked to illnesses like diabetes, hypertension and rheumatoid arthritis, researchers said on Tuesday. These compounds are normally stored in fatty tissues, but when fat breaks down during weight loss, they get into the blood stream, said lead researcher Duk-Hee Lee at the Kyungpook National University in Daegu in South [...]
Long-term weight loss may release into the blood industrial pollutants linked to illnesses like diabetes, hypertension and rheumatoid arthritis, researchers said on Tuesday. These compounds are normally stored in fatty tissues, but when fat breaks down during weight loss, they get into the blood stream, said lead researcher Duk-Hee Lee at the Kyungpook National University in Daegu in South Korea.
“We are living under the strong dogma that weight loss is always beneficial, but weight gain is always harmful…but we think that increased (pollutant) levels (in the blood) due to weight loss can affect human health in a variety of ways,” she wrote in an email to Reuters.
Lee and an international team of colleagues studied 1,099 participants in the United States and concentrations of seven such compounds in their blood, they said in a paper published in the International Journal of Obesity.
“Once released into the bloodstream, these pollutants are able to reach vital organs,” the researchers said in a statement.
Those who lost most weight over 10 years had the highest concentrations of the compounds, called persistent organic pollutants (POPs), compared to those who gained or maintained a steady weight.
“There is emerging evidence that POPs … are not s
