Stories tagged diabetes
Broccoli: The Super Food
Courtesy FIR0002New research coming out of Britain shows eating broccoli may reverse damage done by diabetes to heart and blood vessels. I’m always glad to hear anything new about the benefits of broccoli. Not that I have diabetes – I don’t. But broccoli is my favorite vegetable, and besides its potentially new vascular benefits, the leafy vegetable is high in fiber, full of vitamins C and K, and nutrients that have been found to reduce the risk of some cancers. A member of the cabbage family (Brassica), broccoli, along with other vegetables in the genus (including brussel sprouts, cauliflower, turnips, kohlrabi, and mustard seed) has been linked to the reduction of strokes and heart attacks.
Diabetes is a serious metabolic disorder resulting in abnormally high levels of blood sugar (hyperglycemia). The disease can affect nearly every part of the body, and left untreated can lead to blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage, and loss of limb. Diabetics have up to 5 times the risk of suffering from vascular diseases such as heart attacks, strokes because of damaged blood vessels.
The current research involves the anti-cancer compound sulforaphane, a product of another compound found in broccoli called glucoraphanin. Sulforaphane encourages production of enzymes that protect blood vessels, and reduce levels of cell-damaging molecules. When researchers at the University of Warwick tested the effects of sulforaphane on blood vessels damaged by hyperglycemia (high sugar levels), they noticed a nearly 75% reduction of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) molecules in the body. High levels of ROS -the result of increased blood sugar- can damage cells. The researchers noted sulforaphane also protected cells by triggering a protein that activated antioxidant enzymes.
“Our study suggests that compounds such as sulforaphane from broccoli may help counter processes linked to the development of vascular disease in diabetes,” said Professor Paul Thornalley of the University of Warwick. His team’s appears in the journal Diabetes. Thornalley added that he expects future tests of a brassica vegetable-rich diet could yield further health benefits for diabetic patients.
"It is encouraging to see that Professor Thornalley and his team have identified a potentially important substance that may protect and repair blood vessels from the damaging effects of diabetes,” said Dr Iain Frame, director of research at the charity Diabetes UK. "It also may help add some scientific weight to the argument that eating broccoli is good for you."
That brings to mind the time when the first president Bush said since he was president he didn’t have to eat broccoli anymore. (I think the quote was “Read my lips: no more broccoli”) Well, good for him. It just means more of the natural, leafy panacea for the rest of us.
SOURCE and LINKS
BBC website story
American Diabetes Association
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The big D: Research continues to shed light on the role vitamin D plays in our bodies.
Courtesy Leo Reynolds
We've talked beforeon Science Buzz about the link between sunlight, vitamin D and cancer. Well, the story just won't go away...
Here's more evidence that sunlight = vitamin D = a healthier life.
And research that shows vitamin D can reduce the risk of diabetes.
And also reduce risk of a heart attack.
But, just to keep things balanced, here's a report that vitamin D doesn’t do everything – some of the health benefits claimed for the vitamin don’t stand up to research
And here’s a summary of the pros and cons of vitamin D and sun exposure.
You want fries with that?: A high-fat diet may be helpful for some diseases. But it’s still a bad idea to pig out on fat, grease, starch and sugar.
Courtesy pointnshoot
(With apologies to Woody Allen.)
Researchers in England have found that a high-fat diet is effective in reducing seizures among epileptics.
Meanwhile, doctors in Boston report that having fat around your bottom may help prevent diabetes.
*NOTE: as with all medical news, we here at Science Buzz are not qualified to give medical advice. If you suffer from epilepsy or diabetes, consult with your doctor before changing your diet. And if you do not suffer from these diseases, DO NOT use this news item as an excuse to pig out. Really, the basic fast food meal of a burger, fries and a soft drink is just about the worst thing you can put in your body, short of arsenic.
No needles insulin
Courtesy Aki Hanninen
Using needles is a pain
Injecting insulin with needles must be a pain for those with diabetes. Non-needle insulin delivery like inhalers or skin patches have not made it to market. Insulin via pills have failed because stomach acid destroys the insulin.
Stomach-proof gel hints at jab-free diabetes treatment
A new flexible hydrogel, when formed into 100 nanometer particles, can soak up insulin. The insulin within its cage-like structure is resistant to the biodegrading effects of stomach acid or enzymes. In a non-acid environment (like the intestines), the hydrogel swells and releases its insulin payload. When coated with a wheat-germ protein called agglutinin, the nanoparticles stick to the cells in the upper small intestine and helps the insulin get through the intestinal wall and into the blood stream. Animal trials of the gel are planned to start soon.
Sources:
New Scientist Tech
American Chemical Society (Abstract of paper published in Biomacromolecules)
A burger a day?
With a diet soda, please!
Courtesy ebruli
Researchers from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health have found that adults who eat two or more servings of meat a day increase their risk of developing metabolic syndrome by 25% compared with those who eat meat twice a week. The study, published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association also linked a greater risk of developing metabolic syndrome with eating fried foods and drinking diet soda.
What is metabolic syndrome?
Metabolic syndrome is a group of cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk factors including:
- elevated waist circumference (a waist measurement larger than 35 inches for women or 40 inches for men);
- high blood pressure:
- elevated triglycerides (the chemical form in which most fat exists in food and in the body);
- low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL or “good”) cholesterol;
- and high fasting glucose (blood sugar) levels.
If a person has three or more of these risk factors, their risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease increases.
The study
The U of M findings came from a study of 9,514 participants from four U.S. communities in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study , funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The researchers divided the group based on an assessment of their food intake. One group ate a "Western-pattern diet" with many refined grains, processed meat, fried foods, red meat, eggs and soda, and an overall lack of fish, fruit, vegetables and whole grain products. Another group ate a "prudent-pattern diet" with vegetables, fruit, fish and seafood, poultry and whole grains, and low fat dairy.
After following the the participants for nine years, almost 40% of study participants had three or more risk factors for metabolic syndrome. When researchers analyzed the results based on specific foods, meat, fried foods, and diet soda were red flags for an increased risk for metabolic syndrome. The good news? They found that regular consumption of low-fat dairy products was beneficial in avoiding the same risk factors.
The authors acknowledge that more research is needed to determine how these specific foods, particularly diet soda, raise risk factors.
The lesson? Follow a balanced diet, include low-fat dairy, exercise, and eat your vegetables!
Sources and additional information:
"Dietary Intake and the Development of the Metabolic Syndrome. The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study." Pamela L. Lutsey, Lyn M. Steffen and June Stevens. Circulation; published online Jan 22, 2008.
University of Minnesota Academic Health Center
Posted by Meredith Craven, a communications assistant in the Academic Health Center Office of Clinical Research at the University of Minnesota
Hookworms in the lining of the intestines: All together now: "ewwwwwwwwwwww."
Courtesy Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Cleanliness is next to godliness, but is it possible to have too much of a good thing? For several decades, immunological diseases -- such as hay fever, asthma, diabetes and multiple sclerosis – have been increasing in developed countries, but are uncommon in many undeveloped regions. Medical researcher Joel Weinstock theorizes that modern life is too clean – by scrupulously avoiding dirt, bugs and germs, our immune systems don’t develop properly, leading to the diseases listed above. Weinstock goes so far as to speculate that exposure to hookworm, pinworm, and other intestinal parasites may have been the trigger necessary for developing a healthy immune system. As these parasites have been eradicated, immunological diseases have skyrocketed.
The theory is currently being tested in the lab. Weinstock doesn’t advocate the return of worm infestations. But he does think that getting your hands dirty once in a while can help keep your body in balance.
A new pill to fight diabetes is going into clinical trials with human subjects. The pill targets a gene linked to aging, and could lead to advances in longevity.
Alzheimer's disease, often called "old timers disease" effects about 1 in 5 people over age 80. Called dementia, the symptoms include problems with memory, thinking, behavior, and emotion.
Alzheimer's similar to diabetes
Researchers at Northwestern University think that the mechanism of Alzheimer's involves insulin receptors in brain cells. In the brain, insulin and insulin receptors are vital to learning and memory.
A toxic protein found in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer's removes insulin receptors from nerve cells, rendering those neurons insulin resistant.
The protein, known to attack memory-forming synapses, is called an ADDL for "amyloid ß-derived diffusible ligand." Science Daily
William L. Klein, professor of neurobiology and physiology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, said he believes the findings are a major factor in the memory deficiencies caused by ADDLs in Alzheimer's brains and reveals a fundamental new connection between diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. This offers hope for therapeutics. Finding ways to make those insulin receptors themselves resistant to the impact of ADDLs. might not be so difficult.
Early detection of Alzheimer's Disease
Klein not only helped identify the bio-marker, ADDL, but also helped develop a technique to detect it in patients with early stage Alzheimer's using bio-bar-code amplification technology.
To detect ADDLs, a magnetic microparticle and a gold nanoparticle are each outfitted with an antibody specific to the ADDL antigen. When in solution, the antibodies “recognize” and bind to the ADDL, sandwiching the protein between the two particles. Fienberg School of Medicine
After the “particle-ADDL-particle” sandwich is removed magnetically from solution, the bar-code DNA is removed from the sandwich and read using standard DNA detection methodologies. The researchers next would like to develop the technology so that the test could be done using a blood or urine sample instead of cerebrospinal fluid, which is more difficult to obtain.
Americans with diabetes nears 21 million and is growing 5% per year.
One out of every eight U.S. federal health care dollars is spent treating people with diabetes. A report by Medco Health Solutions Inc. issued last month found that the growing diabetes epidemic and more aggressive treatment could result in soaring costs to treat the disease over the next three years.
An analysis of Medco's 2007 Drug Trend Report found that, by 2009, spending just on medicines to treat diabetes could soar 60 percent to 68 percent from 2006 levels. The sales of diabetes drugs in the United States reached $9.88 billion in 2005, according to data from IMS Health Inc. Yahoo News
Diabetes is deadly.
Over the next 30 years, diabetes is expected to claim the lives of 62 million Americans. Uncontrolled diabetes can result in heart disease, stroke, vision loss, amputation of extremities and kidney disease.
Obesity blamed.
Using data from an ongoing federal health survey of U.S. adults, researchers found that, on average, obese 18-year-old men had a 50.1-percent lifetime risk of developing diabetes, while obese women had a 57.3-percent risk. Diabetes Care, June 2007.
Overweight? Do something.
If we are going to stem the growing burden of diabetes, we must improve our prevention efforts. You can start by reading about diabetes(World Health Organization fact sheet).
The Amazing Double Helix: Image courtesy the National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH.Scientists analyzing DNA from the blood of 17,000 people to find genetic differences have found new genetic variants for such common ailments as Crohn’s disease, coronary heart disease, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, depression, and type 1 and 2 diabetes.
The findings, done under the auspices of the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium study (WTCCC), a British organization, have been hailed as a new chapter in medical science supplying more new knowledge in the past 12 months than scientists have learned in the last 15 years.
"If you think of the genome as very long road that you are trying to find your way along in the dark, previously we have only been able to turn lights on in a small number of places, but now we can turn on lights in a large number of places - in this case half a million lights”, he said.
The findings, which were published recently in Nature, located a previously unknown gene common to Crohn's disease and type 1 diabetes, suggesting that they share similar biological pathways.
This hits home with my family since my youngest son suffers from Crohn’s disease , and one of my younger brothers has a son who developed Type 1 diabetes at age thirteen. And there’s also depression in our family. So it seems perhaps this means there’s a glitch somewhere in the family genome.
A team of 200 scientists studied hundreds of thousands of DNA markers by scanning “gene chips” to identify genetic differences across the whole genome. Surprisingly, they found that many of the genes identified were in areas of the genome not previously connected with disease.
What this all means is that people may be able to find out early on what sort of health issues to expect during their lifetimes.
"Our study should enable scientists to understand better how disease occurs, which people are most at risk and, in time, to produce more effective, more personalized treatments", professor Donnelly said.
It also means that hopefully even cures for some of the more serious diseases that plague mankind will eventually be found.
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