Category Archives: Diabetes

By Marlene Cimons By Marlene Cimons February 19

Women typically dont develop heart disease or high blood pressure, one of its major risk factors until after menopause. But if you have diabetes, that rule no longer applies, says Christine Maric-Bilkan, a program officer in the vascular biology and hypertension branch of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Diabetes dramatically increases the risk of heart disease at any age overall, people with diabetes are twice as likely to have heart disease or a stroke as are other people and its impact tends to be greater in women than in men, she says. Diabetes, a disease in which the body either doesnt produce enough insulin (Type 1) or cannot use it properly (Type 2), can cause spikes in blood sugar. Over time, these spikes can damage nerves and blood vessels, putting diabetics at elevated risk of heart disease and stroke.

Uncontrolled diabetes also contributes to vision loss, kidney failure and amputations, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

[What you need to know about those new, deadly heart-surgery infections]

People with diabetes are up to four times as likely to develop cardiovascular disease as are people who do not have diabetes, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Women with diabetes are twice as likely to suffer a second heart attack and four times as likely to suffer heart failure as are women who do not have the disease, according to the American Diabetes Association.

The risk of developing hypertension doubles in men and quadruples in women if you have diabetes, Maric-Bilkan says. (Hypertension is a major contributor to heart disease.)

There is something about diabetes that takes away the protective factor against heart disease that premenopausal women seem to have, something probably related to estrogen, she says. Women are not impacted by heart disease as much as men at younger ages, but once they have diabetes, that protection is lost and diabetes has an overall greater impact on women, compared with men, at all ages.

In 2011, Maric-Bilkan tested a small group of premenopausal Finnish women with Type 1 diabetes and found that they all had lower-than-normal estrogen levels.

[Diabetes was once a problem of the rich. Now it belongs to the poor.]

I dont know if they got diabetes because their estrogen levels were reduced, or the reverse, she says. One thought is that its the estrogen that gives protection, but men with diabetes, who also have a greater risk of heart disease, have high estrogen and low testosterone, the opposite of women. So the high estrogen doesnt protect men. Diabetic women have more testosterone than non-diabetic women, so it may have to do with the balance of hormones.

She stresses that the risk of death from heart disease is exceptionally high in women with early-onset [Type 1] diabetes compared with women in the general population, according to a study she authored.

Women with diabetes need to understand that the risk of getting heart disease is significant, and they need to be aware of it, she says.

Read the original post:
Women with diabetes are especially prone to developing heart ... - Washington Post

In the poor, remote island nations of the South Pacific, the Type-II diabetes rate ranges from 19% to 34%, a devastating health statistic that is challenging the countries' economies and wellbeing.

Some of these countries have tried taxing sugar or sweetened beverages, but Vanuatu is set to go further, banning imported food from government and tourist institutions altogether. It's the first step to a comprehensive ban on all junk food importation -- something that has been unsuccessfully tried in the region, as when Samoa passed a ban on high-fat "turkey tails," only to have it reversed by the World Trade Organization.

Public health experts who study the island nations of the Pacific welcomed the ban, saying that bold measures were necessary for an impoverished and isolated region of 10 million people one where the cost of sending legions of patients abroad for dialysis treatment or kidney transplants is untenable.

Imagine if 75 million Americans had diabetes thats the scale of the epidemic were talking about in Vanuatu, Roger Magnusson, a professor of health law and governance at Sydney Law School in Australia, said in an email.

Can anyone seriously say that Vanuatu doesnt have the right to exercise its health sovereignty in every way possible to protect its population from an epidemic of that scale? he added.

Experts say the regions health crisis is primarily driven by a decades-long shift from traditional diets based on root crops toward ones that are high in sugar, refined starch and processed foods.

As Obesity Rises, Remote Pacific Islands Plan to Abandon Junk Food [Mike Ives/New York Times]

report this ad

Edinburghs Nahid Akram installed a CCTV system that let him record his downstairs neighbours Debbie and Tony Woolley in their back garden, capturing both images and audio of their private conversations, with a system that had the capacity to record continuously for five days.

Internet traffic nowadays is mostly encrypted (HTTPS). Thus, for a few years now, Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) have been facing far more challenges at gathering data through the interception of connections than they used to.

Civil asset forfeiture is the bizarre American practice of seizing peoples property without charging its owner: instead the property is charged with being the ill-gotten gains of a crime, and if the owner doesnt pay their propertys legal bills, the police get to keep or sell the property.

Python is immensely popular in the data science world for the same reason it is in most other areas of computingit has highly readable syntax and is suitable for anything from short scripts to massive web services. One of its most exciting, newest applications, however, is in machine learning. You can dive into this booming []

Learning new skills is a great way to improve your resume and stand out from other candidates. Especially in a workforce in which many job-seekers have a wide variety of qualifications. With lifetime access toVirtual Training Company, you wont have to choose a specific focus. You can pick up new expertise whenever you deem it []

Instead of throwing out all the empties after your next party, why not transform them into some new DIY glassware? Cut back on waste and add some home ambiance with the Kinkajou Bottle Cutter and Candle Making Kit.The Kinkajou is designed as a clamp-on scoring blade to make precise cuts. Just slide abottle in, tighten []

report this ad

Read the original post:
Tiny, poor, diabetes-wracked Pacific island nations want to ban junk food, despite risk of WTO retaliation - Boing Boing

Live Well, Be Well diabetes program set in Union County Annanews A free, six-week diabetes self-management course is scheduled to begin on Feb. 28 at the Union County Courthouse in Jonesboro. The Live Well, Be Well with Diabetes course is scheduled from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. each Tuesday in the community room at the ...

More:
Live Well, Be Well diabetes program set in Union County - Annanews

There are a lot of barriers standing between the average youth soccer player and a career as a professional. Theres competition, fitness, skills, bad coaching. Jordan Morris had one more barrier to deal with. He was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was nine.

You dont see a ton of professional soccer players with diabetes, Morris tells Sounder at Heart. My dad recently told me he didnt even think Id be able to play soccer in college.

Having Type 1 diabetes means that Morris pancreas doesnt produce insulin. After eating, sugar and other nutrients enter the blood stream, and insulin helps the body absorb that sugar and turn it into energy. Morris wears an insulin pump, a cell phone-sized device that gives him a steady stream of insulin throughout the day, and more whenever he eats.

Zach Galifianakis surrounded by math in the Hangover

A lot of being a diabetic is trying to keep the amount of sugar in the blood within a specific range. That requires constantly paying attention to insulin, exercise, and food intake. It can feel a bit like living in that gif of Zach Galifianakis enshrouded in a swirling cloud of calculations. Insulin lowers blood sugars. With some exceptions, exercise also lowers them and food has the opposite effect.

Even for diabetics with the best control, the disease is a major health issue. Low blood sugars can make a diabetic feel lightheaded or blur their vision. Serious low blood sugars, although rare, can cause loss of consciousness. On the other hand, high blood sugars can mean headaches or nausea and, if left untreated, can lead to comas.

When I was newly diagnosed, it was scary, Morris says. It was tough. There were a lot of questions going through my mind.

Morris profusely credits his parents (his dad is the Sounders team doctor, and his mom was a nurse) for helping him early on. He had to learn to check his blood sugar multiple times a day: when he eats, exercises, wakes up, goes to bed, or just feels off. Before meals he has to count how many carbs hes going to have, so that he knows how much insulin to give himself, because the body converts most carbs into sugar. He carries a backpack around with diabetes supplies he might need in an emergency.

In his journey from high school to college to Major League Soccer, he has gotten better at dealing with the disease, largely because of how well he has gotten to know his body. Things like how sensitive a diabetic is to insulin (in other words, how much insulin they give themselves for how many carbs they eat, or how much their blood sugar is off), can change based on things as simple as the time of day. So knowing your body helps. Morris has a specific food that he knows works well when he has low blood sugar: fruit snacks. Nowadays, most of his diabetes management is up to him.

Its pretty much all me doing it, Morris says. [The Sounders] obviously do normal dietary stuff with athletes, but in terms of my diabetes, its me kind of having to deal with it, because I know my body best.

Even with all the knowledge that he has stored up, with all he knows about how his body reacts to different stimuli, dealing with the diabetes is still difficult. He has to deal with the fact that no matter how much calculation he does, things can still go wrong.

I think the toughest part about diabetes is its so unpredictable, he says. You can eat the same things, do the same work out a couple days in a row and your blood sugar will turn out differently at the end. Its just different days lead to different blood sugars.

And being a professional adds new difficulties too. Adrenaline raises blood sugars, meaning that on gameday, when hes looking up from the turf at a sea of screaming fans, the same thing that energizes him to play his best is also going to cause a spike in his blood sugars if he doesnt counter it with the exact right amount of insulin.

He fine-tuned how he deals with the adrenaline over the 2016 season. During a game against Portland, his blood sugar went low and he had to scramble over to the sidelines to eat some gummies. He said that during the MLS Cup final in Toronto he came into the locker room feeling sick, checked his blood sugar, and found out it was high. That was annoying.

If things arent right with your blood sugar, youre not going to be as efficient on the field, he said. Obviously as a professional athlete everything should be focused on the game, and not on your diabetes.

Dave Tenney, the Sounders High Performance Director, is impressed with Morris diabetes management. Whatever Jordan says, I trust him, because I know what hes been through and that hes learned to listen to his body better than the average (21)-year-old, Tenney told the Seattle Times last October.

Morris says hes proud of how he has dealt with his diabetes, and of course for making it to MLS, too. Now that hes a Sounder, he says hes trying to be a role model for younger kids. Diabetic athletes Jay Cutler and Adam Morrison gave him hope growing up, and he likes giving that same hope to a new generation of young diabetics.

When I was a kid, I told myself I wasnt going to let it hold me back, and now that my dreams become a reality, its pretty special to see that thats happened. I think it taught me how to be responsible at such a young age. I had to deal with this disease that you have to be constantly aware of. I definitely dont think Id be the person I am today without it.

Go here to read the rest:
Type 1 diabetes didn't stop Jordan Morris - Sounder At Heart

By PEG MEENTS Over the past decade, Dining with Diabetes has been a very popular Ohio State University Extension program. Here in Hancock County, weve collaborated with Blanchard Valley Health System. Registered dietitians and exercise physiologists participate, and there are also dedicated volunteers who provide support. Program participants learn strategies to manage diabetes through menu planning, carbohydrate counting, portion control, label reading, and taste-testing healthy recipes. One of the most difficult challenges for people with diabetes is often figuring out what they can eat, and when. A newly revised version of the program is being introduced this year and it will be exciting to see what new recipes and recommendations are offered. The program will now have four classes, and our series in Hancock County begins March 8 and will be held every Wednesday through March 29 from 10 a.m. to noon in the Cardiac Rehab department at Blanchard Valley Hospital. Program fee is $40, and thanks to the Blanchard Valley Hospital Foundation scholarship, assistance can be provided if needed. Enrollment deadline is Feb. 28, and a minimum of six participants is needed so, if interested, please contact OSU Extension Hancock at 419-422-3851 or email meents.1@osu.edu The recipes in the Dining with Diabetes collection incorporate healthy cooking techniques. Food and fellowship are always a great combination. We learn from each other and share our successes as well as struggles. While this program is intended for persons with diabetes and their family members or caregivers, much of the focus is on establishing healthful eating patterns which many people can benefit from. Heart-healthy eating and modest weight loss will be included, as persons with diabetes have a greater risk for cardiovascular disease and modest sustainable weight loss can significantly improve blood sugar control. Since I am relatively new in my position with Extension, this will be my first time working as a part of this team. Julie Russell and Natasha Wappelhorst from Blanchard Valley Health System have been involved and are anxious to begin the March series. Past participants of Dining with Diabetes sing the praises of how this program has helped them to add months or years to their life. But while program supporters are dedicated, participation is fundamental to the continuation of Dining with Diabetes here locally. So lets think spring and make a plan for healthy eating and warmer days when we can get outside to walk. If Dining with Diabetes sounds like a program that you could benefit from, I hope that you will enroll and make the commitment to fully participate in the food and fellowship! Meents is program coordinator for family and consumer sciences at the Ohio State University Extension office, Findlay.

comments

Read more here:
Weekend: Dining with Diabetes gets 2017 updates - The Courier

This week in Paris, companies in the diabetes managment space came together at theAdvanced Technologies and Treatments for Diabetes conference to share news and, mostly, a lot of efficacy data. It's an exciting time for the space as closed-loop systems that allow people with diabetes to monitor their glucose continuously and automatically manage their insulin dosing get closer and closer to becoming a validated, regulated reality for people with Type 1 diabetes. We didn't make it out to Paris ourselves, but we're covering the news. We've written up some of the bigger stories from the conference earlier this week. Look below for a roundup of other digital health news from the show.

Nonprofit organizationT1D Exchangepublished a major study in Diabetes Care yesterday (and presented the research at the conference).The data re-affirmsthe FDA's recent clearance ofDexcom's CGM for insulin dosing. The study looked at 226 adult CGM users for six months. Of those, 149 dosed their insulin using the CGM and 77 used a fingerstick glucometer in addition, as is currently required for most CGMs. There was no difference in outcomes between the two groups.

"This study is an important step to support regulatory pathways for the automation of insulin delivery for people with type 1 diabetes, Dana Ball, executive director and co-founder of T1D Exchange, said in a statement. These data are supportive of the recent FDA decision to approve the Dexcom G5 indication for insulin dosing and removes a key obstacle that has prevented reimbursement of CGM by Medicare.

Integrity Applications, makers of GlucoTrak, a novel non-invasive glucose monitor that clips onto the ear lobe, presented data showing that their device has improved in accuracy from previous generations. The data shows GlucoTrak has increased its tracking consistency, with different devices on opposite earlobes of the same subject returning the same results. They've also corrected for previous inaccuracies in readings before and after meals.

Aspire Ventures announced that its portfolio company Tempo Health's Rhythm system, based on Aspire's A2I adaptive artifical intelligence platform, performed well in an observational study at Diabeter, a specialized treatment center in Europe. Rhythm uses A2I toforecast and manage blood glucose levels of people with diabetes, based on data from non-invasive biometric sensors. In seven out of eight patients in the study, Rhythm would have helped them to achieve a 20 percent increase in time in range, and a 9 percent reduction in low glucose ratings, as compared to the actual results achieved by active monitoring by Diabeter doctors and their diabetes teams using patient-activated remote monitoring.

Waltham, Massachusetts-based Glytec,which makes a personalized therapy and decision support module for patients with diabetes, presented two studies about its Glucommander system. One study sawA1C levels drop from a baseline average of 10.2 percent to 7.7 percent at three months and 7.6 percent at six months. Another study looked at the use of Glucommander for patients prescribed subcutaneous insulin.Among 5,718 patients, the median time to prescribed glucose target was 0.8 days. Once in the target range, 67.9 percent of all blood glucose readings remained between 70 and 180 mg/dL.

Insulet, maker of the Omnipod line of tubeless insulin pumps, presented data about its own closed-loop system, a hybrid system called OmniPod Horizon.The 36-hour, 24-person study used a modified version of Omnipod, a Dexcom CGM sensor, and Insulets personalized model predictive control algorithm. Use of the system was associated with significantly less time spent in hypoglycemic blood glucose range compared to ranges prior to the study, the company said. Additionally, patients stayed in the target blood glucose control range 69 percent of the time over the course of the study, including staying in range 90 percent of the time at night.

Valeritas, which makes a wearable, disposable insulin-delivery device called V-Go, shared data showing the device helped lower A1c and insulin dosage better than insulin pens for people with type 2 diabetes. In a retrospective study of 107 people, split roughly in half by use of V-Go versus insulin pens, V-Go users had their A1c levels down by 1.96 percent to insulin pen users 1.23 percent reduction. V-Go users also had fewer insulin doses than insulin pen users, with 56 units per day versus 77, respectively, and insulin pen users had to go through 3.6 needle sticks per day while V-Go users only required one.

UK-based device company Nemaura Medicalshowcased sugarBEAT, its still-in-development continuous glucose-monitoring patch. In a poster session, the company demonstrated the needle-free disposable patch, which is about 1 millimeter thick and uses a small electronic sensor to measure blood sugar levels and streams the data via Bluetooth to a companion smartphone app. They expect to launch at a "cost-competitive" price point next year.

Original post:
Roundup: News from the Advanced Technologies & Treatments for ... - MobiHealthNews

Drug pricing is a drawing a lot of column space across both mainstream and financial news media right now, and some of the bigger players in the pharmaceutical and healthcare spaces are taking a hit as a result. It's an industry wide pressure factor, but there is particular focus right now on the diabetes market leaders including Sanofi SA (NYSE:SNY), Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) and Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY). All of them are under investigation as part of a lawsuit rooted in allegations of price-fixing for insulin products.

How the suit will play out is anyone's guess.

It's going to be tough to prove anything as the very definition of "price-fixing" is quite ill defined and subjective anyway. Nonetheless, if prosecutors do manage to bring something to the table and the ruling goes against the companies in question, while for any one company the ramifications may be minimal, they are likely to be big for the direction of the diabetes industry as a whole.

Investors are picking up on this as a number of smaller diabetes plays are drawing increased speculative volume as the bigger players come under increased pressure. If these smaller companies can play their cards right, now could be a great time to wrestle some speculative attention away from the more established entities, and for smaller players to gain strength near to medium term.

One company that is attempting to do exactly that right now, and that looks to have an attractive pitch, is Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ORMP).

The company's CEO, Nadav Kidron, featured on CNBC's Squawk Box earlier this week and highlighted both the potential impact of the company's insulin product on the treatment landscape, and the way that product plays into the great insulin pricing debate that now rages. Both sides of the story reinforce an already intriguing investment pitch, and make Oramed a compelling contender in the insulin/diabetes space going forward.

A quick introduction

Oramed has spent the last twelve months or so slowly crawling out from under the radar in the biotech space. The firm is an Israeli biotech that has developed a technology capable of enabling oral delivery for compounds that wouldn't normally be viable orally because of their pharmacologic composition and the pharmacokinetics associated with their administration. Oramed's flagship candidate is oral insulin, and with Novo Nordisk recently dropping out of the oral insulin space, Oramed is now pretty much all alone.

There are a few problems with oral insulin as a concept, and these problems are the root of the fact that no company has been able to bring an oral insulin to market to date.

The first is that insulin is very unstable in its naked form, and as a result, it is extremely difficult to get it to the liver without it being broken down along the way. Our gastrointestinal tract is built to break things down, and even the most resilient of material falls foul to enzymes in the stomach. On its own, insulin doesn't stand a chance. The second is that even if insulin does get past the stomach, uptake and absorption through the intestine are very tough to achieve. Without intestinal absorption through to the liver, the insulin is essentially useless.

ORMD-0801

Oramed's drug candidate ORMD-0801 has a built in combination of protease inhibitors and absorption enhancers to try and get the insulin through intact. As has been noted in past coverage of this company, the technology behind the absorption enhancers is unclear, with Oramed holding its cards close to its chest on the proprietary tech that underpins the process. What we can assume with relative certainty, however, is that the protease inhibitors distract the enzymes (the proteases) that would normally break down the insulin, while the absorption enhancers enhance intestinal permeability to facilitate uptake and get the insulin where it needs to be.

From there, ORMD-0801 employs the portal vein to get the insulin to the liver. This vein is the same transport route taken by naturally-produced insulin in its journey from the pancreas to the liver. By mimicking this route, the theory is that the liver can regulate the insulin administered similar to what happens in a normal healthy person. Intramuscular insulin needs to be measured manually each time it is injected with overdoses and underdoses a chronic problem, since the insulin cannot be regulated automatically.

Many will read this and say that oral insulin isn't going to replace injectable insulin, as this sort of delivery doesn't facilitate long-acting insulin administration. That's true, but there's a key point here that many who have looked at this company and denounced its prospects have missed - Oramed isn't trying to replace long acting (basal) insulin; at least not right now and not with ORMD-0801.

Application to type 1 diabetes

Type I diabetes patients will generally inject long-acting insulin daily, and also rapid acting insulin (bolus) before meals. The goal of this bolus administration is to stabilize blood sugar levels before meals. The problem is that administering both types of insulin through injection results in a large number of daily injections, and it's a really unpleasant and tough regimen to stick to. The latter administration type, the bolus admin, is what Oramed is trying to replace with ORMD-0801, with the goal (at least at the beginning) being to reduce the daily injection count.

And the data that the company has collected to date supports this replacement.

Patients that took one capsule of 8mg insulin before meals, three times daily, demonstrated an 11.5% reduction in mean glucose pretreatment to post treatment. In a Phase IIa study that followed up on this data, across 21 type 1 patients, Oramed was able to show a consistently lower blood glucose level (as measured by FPG) in dosed patients compared to placebo.

Application to type 2 diabetes

In type II diabetes, the drug has shown a similar promise. Again, here, Oramed is not trying to replace current standard of care. Instead, it's trying to delay the point at which patients need to start administering standard of care. Type II diabetes treatment is lifestyle-based initially, and then moves on to active injection therapy. Oramed is trying to add a middle stage between these two points with ORMD-0801, to reduce insulin resistance and stimulate insulin secretion with the goal of a delay in onset of severity.

And this takes us full circle to the price-fixing issue in diabetes treatment. It's this delay that the CEP pointed to as potentially providing cost-saving to the consumer and market as a whole in the interview linked above. This could become a key point in the ongoing conversation about insulin and drug-pricing as a whole.

Again, data is in place that supports this hypothesis. In a Phase IIa designed to confirm safety and tolerability across 30 type 2 patients, ORMD-0801 demonstrated a reduction not just in fasting glucose levels, but also in nighttime mean glucose levels and daytime glucose levels, when compared to placebo.

A follow up to this, a Phase IIb, replicated these results, but to a more impressive degree. Against a primary endpoint of a reduction in mean nighttime glucose, ORMD-0801 hit across a patient population of 180 patients. The dose was one pill, nightly, for a month.

China

There's a licensing deal in place right now with a Chinese entity that brought in a little over $600K revenues for the last quarter and that promises to bring in up to $38 million in milestone payments related to ORMD-0801's development. There's also the promise of 10% royalties on what amounts to a 500 million patient population of prediabetic Chinese patients. Remember, this is a prophylaxis target, not a responsive one at core.

Risk

The primary risk right now is the standard development stage biotechnology company risk - operational cash. Cash on hand was $2.3 million as of November 30, 2016, but as per the most recent company presentation, here, this had risen to $44 million by start Feb, 2017. Even with this degree of cash on hand, however, chances are we are going to see some degree of dilution near term unless Oramed can complete a direct offering, especially as the company moves towards the initiation of a registration trial in the type II target later this year. Pivotal trials are expensive, especially in an indication like type 2 diabetes, and the company will have one eye funding commercialization as and when the trial closes and an NDA submission follows.

If data comes out as supportive of an efficacy thesis, however, and ORMD-0801 reaches commercialization, this dilution should have minimal impact on an early stage holding.

So where are the catalysts coming from?

The primary catalyst is the initiation of a phase III trial in the type 2 indication. Based on company communication, the type 2 target is the first that will move into a registration study, and initiation is expected at some point during late 2017.

During the same timeframe, Oramed also intends to initiate a phase II multi site study to investigate the efficacy of its GLP-1 analogue, which is built on the same technology as the insulin assets.

Both events are value creating.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Editor's Note: This article covers one or more stocks trading at less than $1 per share and/or with less than a $100 million market cap. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.

Read more:
Here's Where Oramed Fits Into The Diabetes Space - Seeking Alpha

Pilot study shows stable insulin production in type 1 diabetes Science Daily Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body loses its ability to produce insulin. During the development of the disease, the body's own immune system attacks the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. This often gives rise to the ...

Follow this link:
Pilot study shows stable insulin production in type 1 diabetes - Science Daily

HUNTINGTON A health professor and researcher at the Department of Family and Community Health at Marshall University has received a $1.3 million grant to support health care work for high-risk diabetes patients.

Dr. Richard Crespo said the funds from the Appalachian Regional Commission will aid community health workers in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ohio. He said the grant supports the creation of care coordination teams, which work with patients in their homes and communities.

What community health workers can do is invaluable, especially with patients with chronic conditions who are at high risk, Crespo said. What we are doing with this project is engaging the health insurance companies in coming up with a system for reimbursing the health care agencies who are doing this care coordination for the high-risk patients.

Crespo said community health workers rely on grants for much of their funding, so the project is important to the continued care of patients.

The critical outcome of this grant is sustainable employment for the community health workers, he said.

Crespo estimated the funds will support approximately 25 community health workers care for about 625 high-risk diabetes patients with the goal of providing them with self-management skills to control their condition.

In Kentucky, he is working with Big Sandy Healthcare, which operates in Magoffin, Martin and Pike counties.

Read the original here:
Marshall researcher lands grant for diabetes - The Independent

They added that increasing evidence is suggesting plant based diets benefit health and also have less impact on the environment.

Butter is rich in unhealthy saturated fatty acids and trans fats and has been linked to a high risk of suffering type 2 diabetes, the form linked with obesity.

So the international team of researchers evaluated the associations between the amount of fat, and the type, consumed by 3,349 people in the PREDIMED (Prevention With Mediterranean Diet) and their risk of diabetes.

At the start the participants, who were all Spanish, were free of diabetes but at high risk of heart disease or stroke.

After four and a half years 266 of them had diabetes and this was twice as likely among those who consumed higher amounts of saturated fatty acids and animal fat.

The consumption of whole fat yogurt was associated with a lower risk, reports the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Dr Marta Guasch-Ferre, of Harvard University, said: "These findings emphasise the healthy benefits of a Mediterranean diet for preventing chronic diseases, particularly type 2 diabetes, and the importance of substituting saturated and animal fats, especially red and processed meat, for those found in vegetable sources such as olive oil and nuts."

Diabetes UK says as well as being protective against type 2 diabetes, Mediterranean diets rich in fruit, vegetables and fibre can help people with diabetes to control their blood sugar levels.

Previous large-scale studies have linked a Mediterranean diet with a lower chance of developing diabetes.

A traditional Mediterranean diet is principally composed of oily fish, poultry fresh fruit and vegetables, legumes, fresh bread, pasta and olive oil.

More here:
Two slices of buttered toast a day doubles diabetes risk, study suggests - Telegraph.co.uk