Chocolate May Cut Diabetes Risk

Scientists are to investigate whether eating chocolate can reduce the risk of heart disease in women with diabetes.

Volunteers - postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes - will be asked to eat a bar of chocolate a day for a year.

Cocoa is rich in compounds called flavonoids, which are thought to benefit the heart.

The University of East Anglia is using a specially formulated form of chocolate which contains more flavonoids than usual.

This compensates for the fact that many flavonoids are destroyed in the process of turning cocoa into chocolate.

Soy - another source of flavonoids - has also been added to the special bars.

The scientists are testing the theory that adding flavonoids to the diet may give added protection against heart disease on top of that provided by prescription drugs.

Deaths due to heart disease among women increase rapidly after the menopause and having type 2 diabetes increases this risk by a further three-and-a-half times.

If the trial confirms the hypothesis then it could have a far-reaching impact on the advice given to at-risk women.

Additional protection

Lead researcher Professor Aedin Cassidy said: "Despite postmenopausal women being at a similar risk to men for developing cardiovascular disease, to date they are under-represented in clinical trials.

"We hope to show that adding flavonoids to their diets will provide additional protection from heart disease and give women the opportunity to take more control over reducing their risk of heart disease in the future."

The researchers aim to recruit 150 women under the age of 70 with type 2 diabetes who have not had a period for at least a year, and who have been taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs for at least 12 months.

Dr Iain Frame, director of research at the charity Diabetes UK, said: "We certainly don't advise people to start eating a lot of chocolate as it is very high in sugar and fat.

"We would always recommend that people with diabetes eat a diet low in fat, salt and sugar with plenty of fruit and vegetables."

"However, there are compounds found in chocolate, called flavonoids, that are thought to provide some protection from heart disease.

"A successful outcome of this research would hopefully mean being able to offer people at high risk better protection over and above that provided by conventional drugs."

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Adults With Diabetes Doing Better Prevention Job

health.usnews.com

U.S. studies show they're keeping good track of daily blood sugar levels, while avoiding heart disease

Fewer American adults with diabetes are developing cardiovascular disease, and more of them are closely monitoring their blood sugar levels, according to new U.S. government research released Thursday.

Two U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studies, published in the CDC's weekly journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, delivered the good news on the first day of National Diabetes Awareness Month.

One study of diabetes patients aged 35 and older found that the self-reported prevalence of cardiovascular disease decreased by more than 11 percent between 1997 and 2005. Cardiovascular disease among black adults with diabetes, who tend to have higher diabetes rates than whites or Hispanics, decreased by more than 25 percent during the period.

The study also found a 14 percent reduction (31.1 percent to 26.7 percent) in self-reported cardiovascular disease among adults ages 35 to 64 with diabetes. This age group accounts for the majority of all new diagnosed cases of diabetes among adults.

The overall decrease may be due to declining rates of such cardiovascular disease risk factors as smoking, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure, along with increased use of such preventive treatments as daily aspirin, said the researchers, who analyzed self-reported data from the National Health Interview Survey.

Heart disease and stroke account for about 65 percent of deaths in people with diabetes. Adults with diabetes are two to four times more likely to die of heart disease than adults without diabetes.

"While the trends in this report are very encouraging, it is important that we continue to take steps to help prevent and control diabetes, which will also aid in the fight against cardiovascular disease," study lead author Nilka Burrows, of the CDC's Division of Diabetes Translation, said in a prepared statement.

The second study found that adults with diabetes who checked their blood glucose levels at least once a day increased by more than 22 percent between 1997 and 2006.

An analysis of data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance system revealed that more than 63 percent of adults with diabetes checked their blood glucose at least once daily in 2006, surpassing the 61 percent goal outlined in the federal government's Healthy People 2010 program.

Control of blood glucose is critical for managing diabetes and preventing diabetes-related complications such as heart disease, foot and leg amputation, and retinopathy, which can lead to blindness, researchers noted.

"People are taking better advantage of a tool that can aid in making critical decisions about how to treat their diabetes. Continued education about diabetes self-management can help ensure that people have the knowledge to continue -- or start -- taking steps to prevent or control diabetes," study lead author Liping Pan said in a prepared statement.

In 2005, according to CDC statistics, approximately 21 million persons in the United States had diabetes.

For Some, Diabetes Care Worse Than Illness Itself

Complicated daily regimens lower their quality of life, survey finds

For some people with diabetes, the burden of adhering to their daily care regimen nearly equals that of their diabetes-related health complications, a U.S. study finds.

University of Chicago researchers conducted interviews with more than 700 adults with type 2 diabetes.

As reported in the October issue of Diabetes Care, some patients said the inconvenience and discomfort of having to take numerous medications each day, carefully monitoring their diet, and getting the required amounts of exercise had a major impact on their quality of life.

Each day, a typical diabetes patient takes many medications, including two or three different pills to control blood sugar levels, one or two pills to lower cholesterol, two or more pills to reduce blood pressure, and an aspirin to prevent blood clots. As the disease progresses, the number of drugs increases and often includes insulin shots, according to background information in the study.

From 12 percent to 50 percent of patients interviewed said they were willing to give up 8 of 10 years of life in perfect health to avoid a life with diabetes complications, but between 10 percent and 18 percent of patients said they were willing to give up 8 of 10 years of healthy life to avoid life with treatments.

"The people who care for patients with a chronic disease like diabetes think about that disease and about preventing long-term complications," lead author Dr. Elbert Huang, assistant professor of medicine, said in a prepared statement. "The people who have a chronic disease think about their immediate lives, which include the day-to-day costs and inconvenience of a multi-drug regimen. The consequences are often poor compliance, which means long-term complications, which will then require more medications."

The study findings show "that we need to find better, more convenient ways to treat chronic illness," Huang said. "It is hard to convince some patients to invest their time and effort now in rigorous adherence to a complex regimen with no immediate reward, just the promise of better health years from now."

The patient interview results "certainly ring true with me," said diabetes specialist Dr. Louis Philipson, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago. He was not involved in the study.

"Some patients, if you judge by their behavior, would rather be well on the road to future blindness, kidney failure or amputations than work hard now at their diabetes," Philipson said.

Some diabetics sick of treatment

Omega 3 fatty acid reduces type 1 diabetes

U.S. researchers say dietary omega-3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of developing diabetes in children who are genetically at risk for the disease.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found higher consumption of omega-3 fatty acids - found in fish - by children at risk for type 1 diabetes decreased by 55 percent the risk of pancreatic islet autoimmunity, which is linked to development of diabetes.

Although it is not yet known what initiates the autoimmune process in diseases such as type 1 diabetes, the study authors believe it is likely that both genetic background and environmental factors such as dietary factors contribute to the disease process.

Jill M. Norris of the University of Colorado at Denver led researchers in examining the diets of 1,770 children at increased risk for type 1 diabetes - defined as having either a high diabetes risk human leukocyte antigen genotype or a sibling or parent with type 1 diabetes.

Fifty-eight children became positive for leukocyte antigen during follow-up. Adjusting for human leukocyte antigen genotype, family history of type 1 diabetes, caloric intake, and total omega-6 fatty acid intake - total omega-3 fatty acid intake was inversely associated with islet autoimmunity erythrocyte membranes, the study said.

Do Omega-3 Fatty Acids Decrease the Risks for Type 1 Diabetes in Kids?

Exercise and Diabetes: Best Bets

Blood Sugar Control May Benefit Most From Aerobic Exercise and Weight Training

By Miranda Hitti

Got type 2 diabetes? Your workout may do more than trim your waistline - it could also improve your blood sugar control.

A new Canadian study shows that people with type 2 diabetes who began exercising developed better blood sugar control, especially if they got aerobic exercise and lifted weights.

Doctors should prescribe exercise to all type 2 diabetes patients who are healthy enough to work out, states an editorial published with the study in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Exercise and Diabetes

The new Canadian study on exercise and diabetes included 251 adults with type 2 diabetes.

On average, they were in their early 50s(age range: 39-70) with an obese BMI (body mass index) of 35. None was taking insulin and none was an exerciser.

First, the patients got checkups. That's always a wise thing to do before starting an exercise program, even for people who don't have diabetes.

Having been medically approved for the study, all patients got a modest amount of supervised exercise for a month, just to make sure they could stick with an exercise plan.

After that first month, the researchers split participants into four groups:

• Aerobic exercise only
• Resistance training only
• Aerobic exercise and resistance training
• No assigned exercise

Diabetes Workouts

The exercise groups worked out three times per week at a gym (with their expenses paid by the researchers).

For aerobic exercise, participants used a stationary bike or treadmill, gradually lengthening their workouts from 15 minutes to 45 minutes. For resistance training, they performed seven exercises using weight machines, eventually doing two to three sets of each exercise.

Patients assigned to aerobic exercise and weight training did the full aerobic workout and the full resistance training workout, three times per week.

The researchers - who included the University of Calgary's Ronald Sigal, MD, MPH -- didn't ask the participants to try to lose weight or to diet.

Reaping the Benefits

Participants followed their assigned workouts for 22 weeks.

All three exercise groups improved their blood sugar control based on their hemoglobin A1c level, which indicates blood sugar control over the previous two to three months.

People who got aerobic exercise and also lifted weights had the biggest improvement in hemoglobin A1c. Not surprisingly, not exercising yielded no improvements in hemoglobin A1c.

The bottom line: For the biggest benefit, get aerobic exercise and resistance training. If you can't manage both, at least do one or the other, as each is better than doing nothing.

If the benefits of exercise for type 2 diabetes patients could be captured in a pill, diabetes experts would be quick to prescribe that pill, states the editorial published with the study.

"Failing to prescribe exercise to patients with diabetes is simply unacceptable practice," write the editorialists, who included William Kraus, MD, of Duke University Medical Center.

Exercise Aids Blood Sugar Levels

How to Provide Nutritional Support for People with Diabetes

AtheroGenics drug may help fight diabetes

www.bizjournals.com

AtheroGenics Inc. reported at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2007 that its experimental drug AGI-1067 shows some promise in fighting diabetes.

The drug, an oral anti-diabetic compound with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, in March failed its trial as a heart medication.

Atlanta-based AtheroGenics (NASDAQ: AGIX) said its data shows at 12 months, AGI-1067 "significantly lowered" levels of glycated hemoglobin A1c, a commonly used measure of glycemic control.

The data showed a reduction of 59 percent in the development of new onset diabetes in patients with impaired fasting glucose, a condition which is a precursor to diabetes.

In patients with diabetes, treatment with AGI-1067 also demonstrated a 22 percent reduction in hard cardiovascular events of cardiovascular death, cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction and stroke, the company said.

"We believe that the unique mechanism of action for AGI-1067 may provide multiple therapeutic benefits for patients with diabetes," said Dr. Rob Scott, AtheroGenics chief medical officer. "AtheroGenics is focused on the ANDES clinical trial to confirm the beneficial effect of AGI-1067 on glycemic control as the next step in clinical development for the agent."

Natural Nutritional Support for Diabetics

Skinny Gene Offers New Hope for Obesity, Diabetes

ScienceMode.com

By Ann Baker

Ever wonder why some people can stuff their faces and never gain a pound, while others eat only rabbit food but can’t lose weight? A new study from a Texas medical center might have found the answer in what’s it’s calling a “skinny” gene.

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas have discovered a single gene that might be the body’s trigger to store fat or burn it off. It’s a promising find for new ways to fight obesity and diabetes.

“From worms to mammals, this gene controls fat formation,” says Dr. Jonathan Graff, associate professor of developmental biology and internal medicine at UT Southwestern and senior author of a study appearing in the Sept. 5 issue of Cell Metabolism. “It could explain why so many people struggle to lose weight and suggests an entirely new direction for developing medical treatments that address the current epidemic of diabetes and obesity,” he says.

The gene was first discovered 50 years ago in fat fruit flies. It’s called adipose. The UT Southwestern researchers looked into how adipose works by watching fruit flies, tiny worms and genetically engineered mice. By using sophisticated molecular techniques, they were able to manipulate adipose in those organisms by turning the gene off and on. That’s how they figured out that the gene, which humans also have, is much like a high-level master switch that tells the body to burn or store fat.

In the mice, the researchers found that increasing adipose activity improved the animals’ health in many ways. Mice with experimentally increased adipose activity ate as much or more than normal mice; however, they were leaner, had diabetes-resistant fat cells, and were better able to control insulin and blood-sugar metabolism.

In contrast, animals with reduced adipose activity were fatter, less healthy and had diabetes.

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Hope for diabetics

http://www.news.com.au/

MILLIONS of diabetic patients could be saved each year by a treatment discovered by Australian scientists.

By combining two drugs that lower blood pressure, the chance of dying from type 2 diabetes can be cut by a fifth, according to the largest type 2 diabetes study led by scientists from Sydney's George Institute.

With most of Australia's 600,000 type 2 diabetics destined to die or be disabled by complications, Prof Stephen MacMahon wants the treatment widely used.

He told the European Congress of Cardiology yesterday the treatment could save 1.5 million lives in five years. The treatment involves a daily dose of perindopril and indapamide, sold as Coversyl Plus in Australia.

The institute studied 11,000 diabetics in 20 countries over more than four years.

Nutritional support for diabetics

Self-check blood sugar levels regularly

http://www.earthtimes.org/

Eschborn, Germany - Diabetics should test and evaluate their blood sugar levels as part of their regular routine, according to diabetes specialist Ruediger Landgraf in the Neue Apotheken Illustrierten. Self-testing helps patients understand how blood sugar levels are affected by lifestyle and new situations. They are even more important during travel, after a change in diet, during illness or when starting a new job, but less so for people with stable lives and metabolisms.

To check how to self-test, patients can ask most doctors, diabetes advisers and pharmacists about their testing devices.

Optimum Diabetics