Diabetes in the News: Fat, cold, blood sugar and ‘double diabetes’
Recent headlines reveal more links between fat intake and diabetes, cold weather and foot problems, blood sugar control and heart disease, type 2 and ‘double’ diabetes.
Molecular link between diet, type 2 diabetes discovered
A new study shows how and why a high-fat diet and obesity are linked to type 2 diabetes. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have found a molecular connection between the high-fat Western-style diet and the disruption of insulin production.
A single enzyme, called GnT-4a, enables the beta cells in the pancreas to sense blood glucose levels and produce the appropriate amount of insulin. Studies with mice show that this enzyme is suppressed by a high-fat diet, resulting in diabetes.
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Trans fat on food labels: Now you see it, now you don't
When it comes to food labels that list levels of unhealthy trans fats, zero plus zero doesn't always equal zero. That's because newly implemented U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules on labeling allow foods with less than 0.5 grams of trans fats per serving to claim "zero" grams of trans fats on their labels.
Under these guidelines, which went into effect on Jan. 1, a food with 0.4 grams of trans fats can be listed as having zero trans fats. That means that Americans who consume three or four servings of these foods in a day will have unwittingly eaten an extra gram or two of trans fats.
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Treat your feet to heat when it's cold
During winter, you need to pay special attention to your feet, to protect them from cold-related injuries such as frostbite, fractures and sprains.
Certain people are especially susceptible to frostbite. These include people with illnesses that cause poor circulation, such as diabetes, hypothyroidism and hardening of the arteries.
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Strict blood sugar control cuts diabetes heart risk
A 20-year study of people with type 1 diabetes shows that tight control of blood sugar levels cuts their risk of heart disease by more than half.
The new research, published in the Dec. 22 New England Journal of Medicine, is "a landmark study," according to Dr. William T. Cefalu, chief of the division of nutrition and chronic diseases at the Louisiana State University Pennington Biomedical Research Center, who also wrote an accompanying editorial.
"It is tremendously difficult to maintain the proper glucose level," he said. "This study shows that it is important to make the effort."
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'Double diabetes' poses double threat
It's a scene occurring with increasing frequency in doctors' offices across America: A patient, usually overweight, comes in with all the symptoms of obesity-linked type 2 diabetes. But blood tests reveal antibodies to the pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin -- a sign that the patient also has the rarer type 1 form of the disease.
"We call it 'double diabetes,' or hybrid diabetes," said Dr. Francine Kaufman, past president of the American Diabetes Association and head of the Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology at Children's Hospital, Los Angeles. She and other experts warn that a growing number of patients are being spotted with both forms of the disease.
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