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Diabetes: Research; Risk Factors; Remedies

ramonmercado

ramonmercado

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Toward a new oral delivery system for insulin using nanoshell shields

Scientists in Taiwan are reporting development of a nanoparticle drug delivery system that shows promise as a potential way to administer insulin and perhaps other protein-based drugs by mouth rather than injection or nasal sprays.

Hsing-Wen Sung and colleagues at the National Tsing Hua University, the Chinese Naval Academy and the National Health Research Institute point out that stomach acid destroys protein-based drugs, making them ineffective.

That problem has led to broadly based efforts to find ways of encapsulating or otherwise protecting insulin from damage in the stomach so it could be given in a convenient oral form. Once the drug passes through the stomach, it can be absorbed in the small intestine.

In their new research, scheduled for the Jan. 8 issue of ACS' Biomacromolecules, a monthly journal, researchers describe loading insulin into nanospheres made from chitosan, a natural carbohydrate polymer material obtained commercially from shells of shrimp that is nontoxic and biocompatible. When given to diabetic laboratory rats, the insulin-loaded nanoparticles successfully reduced blood sugar levels in the animals.

Source: American Chemical Society


http://www.physorg.com/news87473452.html
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'Insulin pill' hope for diabetes

Diabetes patients may soon be able to take a pill to control their condition instead of repeated injections.

UK company Diabetology, with experts at Cardiff University, says it has solved a crucial problem with oral insulin.

The capsule's special coating protects the drug from acids in the stomach, allowing it to pass into the small intestine where it is absorbed.

The researchers will present their early trial results in 16 patients to the American Diabetes Association.

The details of Dr Steve Luzio's presentation cannot be released until he has made it, but are expected to show that oral doses achieve the necessary changes in the body's blood sugar handling to treat diabetes.

The trial is expected to show that the oral dose, taken twice daily before breakfast and dinner, controls glucose levels successfully, at least in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Other scientists have also been looking at ways to deliver insulin by mouth without it being degraded in the stomach. Taiwanese investigators are using a chemical found in shrimp shells to protect the drug.

And inhaled insulin is already available to those diabetics with a proven needle phobia or people who have severe trouble injecting.

Diabetes UK welcomed the new research but said the findings were very early and should be treated with caution.

Dr Iain Frame, research manager at Diabetes UK, said: "There are currently 700,000 people in the UK who take insulin injections, sometimes up to four times a day, so being able to take their insulin orally would have a great impact on their quality of life.

"This research, however, is still in its early stages. We would like to see further results of how the medication might affect people with diabetes who are eating a normal diet.

"Also, the research indicates that a large quantity of medication is needed in order to lower blood glucose levels."

Also, the group that relies most on insulin to control their blood sugar is people with type 1 diabetes.

Often, type 2 diabetes can be controlled by diet alone or other oral diabetes drugs. It is only as the disease progresses that insulin may be needed.

Story from BBC NEWS:

Published: 2007/06/22 09:46:40 GMT

© BBC MMVII
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Scradje
 
Study of a Paleolithic diet in early humans
Medical Studies/Trials
Published: Thursday, 28-Jun-2007


Foods of the kind that were consumed during human evolution may be the best choice to control diabetes type 2. A study from Lund University, Sweden, found markedly improved capacity to handle carbohydrate after eating such foods for three months.
During 2.5 million years of human evolution, before the advent of agriculture, our ancestors were consuming fruit, vegetables, nuts, lean meat and fish. In contrast, cereals, dairy products, refined fat and sugar, which now provide most of the calories for modern humans, have been staple foods for a relatively short time.
Staffan Lindeberg at the Department of Medicine, Lund University, has been studying health effects of the original human diet for many years. In earlier studies his research team have noted a remarkable absence of cardiovascular disease and diabetes among the traditional population of Kitava, Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea, where modern agrarian-based food is unavailable.

In a clinical study in Sweden, the research group has now compared 14 patients who were advised to consume an 'ancient' (Paleolithic, 'Old stone Age') diet for three months with 15 patients who were recommended to follow a Mediterranean-like prudent diet with whole-grain cereals, low-fat dairy products, fruit, vegetables and refined fats generally considered healthy. All patients had increased blood sugar after carbohydrate intake (glucose intolerance), and most of them had overt diabetes type 2. In addition, all had been diagnosed with coronary heart disease. Patients in the Paleolithic group were recommended to eat lean meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, root vegetables and nuts, and to avoid grains, dairy foods and salt.
The main result was that the blood sugar rise in response to carbohydrate intake was markedly lower after 12 weeks in the Paleolithic group (-26%), while it barely changed in the Mediterranean group (-7%). At the end of the study, all patients in the Paleolithic group had normal blood glucose.

The improved glucose tolerance in the Paleolithic group was unrelated to changes in weight or waist circumference, although waist decreased slightly more in that group. Hence, the research group concludes that something more than caloric intake and weight loss was responsible for the improved handling of dietary carbohydrate. The main difference between the groups was a much lower intake of grains and dairy products and a higher fruit intake in the Paleolithic group. Substances in grains and dairy products have been shown to interfere with the metabolism of carbohydrates and fat in various studies.

-If you want to prevent or treat diabetes type 2, it may be more efficient to avoid some of our modern foods than to count calories or carbohydrate, says Staffan Lindeberg.

This is the first controlled study of a Paleolithic diet in humans.

http://www.info.lu.se

©2007 News-Medical.Net
 
Drinking milk cuts diabetes risk

Drinking a pint of milk a day may protect men against diabetes and heart disease, say UK researchers.

Eating dairy products reduces the risk of metabolic syndrome - a cluster of symptoms which increase likelihood of the conditions - the Welsh team found.

In the 20-year study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, metabolic syndrome increased the risk of death by 50%.

Experts recommended people only eat two or three portions of dairy a day.

The University of Cardiff study of 2,375 men aged between 45 and 59 classified metabolic syndrome as having two or more out of high blood glucose, insulin, blood fats, body fat, and blood pressure.

Over the 20-year period, food questionnaires and weekly food diaries were used to assess how much milk and dairy foods the men consumed.

At the start of the study 15% had metabolic syndrome and had almost double the risk of coronary artery heart disease and four times the risk of diabetes of those without the syndrome.

But the researchers found men were 62% less likely to have the syndrome if they drank a pint or more of milk every day, and 56% less likely to have it if they regularly ate other dairy produce.

The more dairy produce the men consumed, the less likely were they to have the syndrome.

Study leader, Professor Peter Elwood, said milk consumption has plummeted in the UK over the past 25 years, amid concerns about its impact on health.

But dairy produce is part of a healthy diet and its consumption should be promoted, he concluded.

"The present data add further to the evidence that milk and dairy products fit well into a healthy eating pattern."

Jemma Edwards, care advisor at Diabetes UK, advised against consuming large amounts of full fat dairy products in a bid to prevent type 2 diabetes and stressed the importance of a balanced diet and physical activity.

"The results of this study are interesting.

"Dairy products are an important part of a healthy, balanced diet and we would recommend people aim to eat two to three servings of low fat dairy a day."

"One portion is equivalent to a third of a pint of milk, one small pot of yogurt or a matchbox-size piece of cheese.

"Maintaining a healthy weight through diet and physical activity are vital in reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes."

Story from BBC NEWS:

Published: 2007/07/13 16:26:52 GMT

© BBC MMVII
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Scradje
 
This advice should only be taken by people whose digestive systems can cope with milk.

Dairy products, in the form of "government cheese," bear a large part of the blame for the epidemic of obesity-related diabetes in some southwestern reservation-based tribes, as government programs tend to supply food based on the nutritional needs of people of European background. Desert-based tribes are not only lactose-intolerant, they have a gene which hordes fat and sugars; a tremendous advantage back when they were living on desert agriculture, herding, and wild food sources, transformed into a disadvantage when their economy was disrupted and imported foods began to displace native ones. The word gets around, but slowly. Powdered milk supplied to reservations is sometimes used to mark out boundaries in sports fields, as this is a healthier use for it than drinking it.

I love dairy products, myself, but most of my genes got selected in a central European agricultural context. There's no substitute for knowing your own body.
 
I've drunk a pint of milk almost every day of my life - I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes last year :cry:
 
Some worrying news.

Global Diabetes Population Rises From 150 To 350 Million In 30 Years

25 Jun 2011

The number of people with diabetes worldwide is estimated to have risen by about 133% to approximately 350 million, researchers from Imperial College London and Harvard School of Public Health report in the medical journal The Lancet. The authors explain that the main reason for this rise has been longer life spans - people today live longer and diabetes risk increases with age. However, obesity and overweight are also factors that have contributed considerably.

Authors, Professor Majid Ezzati and Dr Goodarz Danaei wrote that diabetes rates have risen in virtually every corner of the globe since 1980 - in a very small number of places where incidences have not gone up, they have remained stable.

People with diabetes cannot control their blood sugar levels properly. If somebody has diabetes type 1 it is because their insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas have been destroyed - they produce no insulin. Patients with diabetes type 2 are either not producing insulin properly, or their bodies (cells) are not responding to insulin in the way they should (insulin sensitivity). Inadequate blood sugar control can lead to stroke, heart disease, and damage to retinae, nerves and kidneys.

Diabetes and elevated glucose cause about 3 million deaths worldwide annually - experts say this number will increase.

The authors evaluated FPG (fasting plasma glucose) records from 2.7 million individuals aged 25+ years worldwide, and estimated prevalence using advanced statistical methods. They worked out that worldwide there were approximately 153 million people with diabetes in 1980, and 347 in 2008. This is a much higher figure than a 2009 estimate of 285 million.

They believe 70% of this increase is due to longer life-spans - people are living longer. The older you are, the higher your risk is of developing diabetes. Other risk factors, including obesity are probably responsible for the remaining 30%, the authors added.

Between 1980 and 2008:
Adult male diabetes prevalence rose by 18%, from 8.3% to 9.8%
Adult female diabetes prevalence rose by 23%, from 7.5% to 9.2%
The reason the total number more than doubled while the percentage prevalence increase rose at a different rate is simply because over the last 30 years the world's population has grown considerably.

Diagnosing diabetes - doctors test a patient's blood glucose levels after he/she has fasted for between 12 and 14 hours. Any readings below 5.6 millimoles per litre (mmol/L) are considered normal, while from 5.6 to 7 are considered pre-diabetes, and above 7 are diagnosed as diabetes. Mean global FPG (fasting plasma glucose) has gone up over the last 30 years in both sexes.

FPG rises have not been the same in high-income nations. In the USA, for example, rates have increased at twice that seen in Western Europe. Industrialized countries with the highest FPG rates are the USA, Spain, New Zealand, Malta and Greenland, while France, Austria and the Netherlands have the lowest.

The UK is an enigma. It has a high obesity rate compared to other rich nations, but diabetes prevalence among men are the 5th lowest while among women are the 8th lowest.

Pacific Island countries have experienced the highest increase in diabetes rates, including the Marshall Islands, where one-third of adult females and one-quarter of adult males have diabetes. Diabetes rates in Saudi Arabia have risen markedly, as have rates in the rest of the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and the Caribbean. Prevalence in Eastern Europe changed little over the thirty-year period.

The researchers identified a close parallel between BMI (body mass index) and diabetes rates globally. The link was closer among males than females.

They added:

"However, genetic factors associated with ethnic origin, fetal and early life nutritional status, diet quality, and physical activity might also affect glycemic values and trends (and therefore diabetes prevalence_."


Professor Ezzati wrote:

"Diabetes is one of the biggest causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Our study has shown that diabetes is becoming more common almost everywhere in the world. This is in contrast to blood pressure and cholesterol, which have both fallen in many regions. Diabetes is much harder to prevent and treat than these other conditions."


Dr. Danaei added:

"Unless we develop better programmes for detecting people with elevated blood sugar and helping them to improve their diet and physical activity and control their weight, diabetes will inevitably continue to impose a major burden on health systems around the world."
Accompanying Comment

Dr Martin Tobias, Health and Disability Intelligence, Ministry of Health, Wellington, New Zealand, wrote, in conclusion:

"Worldwide..the urgent need is to strengthen basic surveillance of dysglycaemia and diabetes, including standardised frameworks, case definitions, survey methods, tools, and reporting protocols. The forthcoming high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases (New York, Sept 19-20, 2011), provides a welcome opportunity to strengthen global commitment to non-communicable disease surveillance."


"National, regional, and global trends in fasting plasma glucose and diabetes prevalence since 1980: systematic analysis of health examination surveys and epidemiological studies with 370 country-years and 2•7 million participants"

Goodarz Danaei MD, Mariel M Finucane PhD, Yuan Lu MSc, Gitanjali M Singh PhD, Melanie J Cowan MPH, Christopher J Paciorek PhD, John K Lin AB, Farshad Farzadfar MD, Prof Young-Ho Khang MD, Gretchen A Stevens DSc, Mayuree Rao BA, Mohammed K Ali MBChB, Leanne M Riley MSc, Carolyn A Robinson MSc, Prof Majid Ezzati PhD
The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 25 June 2011 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60679-X

Written by Christian Nordqvist

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/229642.php
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I recently was told by my doctor that the medication I've been on for nearly fifteen years and will be on for the foreseeable future carries a diabetes risk. You can imagine how delighted I was at this news.

But he also said I should cut down on milk products, so what was that research in the article at the top about?
 
Ronson8 said:
Well I believe beer can be very efficacious and I'm sticking to that belief. :)
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Two words: milk stout. :lol:
 
This new research seems to boost hopes that stem cell manipulation can eventually provide a remedial treatment (if not a cure) for diabetes.
New Experiment With Human Stem Cells Ends Up Rapidly Curing Diabetes in Mice

A new technique to convert human stem cells into insulin-producing cells could hold huge promise for future diabetic treatments, if results seen in an experiment with mice can be successfully replicated in humans.

In a study, researchers figured out a new way to coax human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into pancreatic beta cells that make insulin. When these insulin-producing cells were transplanted into mice induced to have an acute form of diabetes, their condition was rapidly cured.

"These mice had very severe diabetes with blood sugar readings of more than 500 milligrams per decilitre of blood – levels that could be fatal for a person," explains biomedical engineer Jeffrey R. Millman from Washington University.

"When we gave the mice the insulin-secreting cells, within two weeks their blood glucose levels had returned to normal and stayed that way for many months."

Pluripotent stem cells are essentially blank, undifferentiated cells with the ability to grow into other kinds of cells that exist all throughout the body. Harnessing that potential, in the diabetic context, means researchers could devise ways of tweaking stem cells to become the insulin-producing cells that diabetics lack, helping them to control high blood sugar and stay healthy.

Scientists have been investigating how to do this for years, reporting a number of incremental successes in animal models as our understanding of the processes behind stem cell manipulation increases. ...
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FULL STORY: https://www.sciencealert.com/new-ex...cells-ends-up-rapidly-curing-mice-of-diabetes
 
Good news if they can do something with it.
Good news for me.
 
Yes, me too.

`Diabetes` is my family name.

My mother died of it, a great uncle died of it.

Even my father has it, and he has lived a healthy life.

And there are too many sweet things out there that need eating...

(Actually I prefer savoury, but some sweet things i wish I could eat more of)
 
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