Free Republic

Eating more dietary fiber may help prevent type 2 diabetes by promoting beneficial gut bacteria and substances produced during metabolism, according to research. The study looked at data from up to 11,000-plus participants in the ongoing Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. The researchers found that higher fiber intake was associated with specific "good" gut bacteria and certain favorable metabolites in the blood—some of which were actually produced by gut bacteria. Those gut microbes and metabolites were associated with lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes during an average follow-up of six years. According to federal dietary guidelines, the majority...

Type 2 diabetes alters the behavior of disks in the vertebral column, making them stiffer, and also causes the disks to change shape earlier than normal. As a result, the disk's ability to withstand pressure is compromised. This is one of the findings of a new study. Low back pain is a major cause of disability, often associated with intervertebral disk degeneration. People with type 2 diabetes face a higher risk of low back pain and disk-related issues. Yet the precise mechanisms of disk degeneration remain unclear. Investigating the biomechanical properties of the intervertebral disk is crucial for understanding the...

An international academic consortium has identified 13 biomarkers that significantly improve the ability to accurately predict cardiovascular disease risk in people with type 2 diabetes. The analysis, conducted by 23 experts from 11 countries, was led by The Johns Hopkins University in the United States, the Chinese University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong, and Lund University in Sweden. Although people with type 2 diabetes are two times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than those without diabetes, it is a challenge for clinicians to predict who in this population is most at risk. Traditional risk scores, which reflect risk...

Time-restricted eating, also known as intermittent fasting, can help people with type 2 diabetes lose weight and control their blood sugar levels, according to a new study. Participants who ate only during an eight-hour window between noon and 8 p.m. each day actually lost more weight over six months than participants who were instructed to reduce their calorie intake by 25%. Both groups had similar reductions in long-term blood sugar levels, as measured by a test of hemoglobin A1C, which shows blood sugar levels over the past three months. The study was conducted at UIC and enrolled 75 participants into...

New findings indicate that the type of protein in the diet is not as important as the overall amount of weight loss for those with type 2 diabetes. In a study, 106 adults with T2D were randomly assigned to either the high-protein or normal-protein diet for 52 weeks. Both diets were energy-restricted. The high-protein diet included recommendations to include lean beef in the diet, while the normal-protein diet instructed participants to refrain from eating any red meats. The team of researchers found that both a high-protein diet (40% of total calories from protein) and a moderate-protein diet (21% of total...

Amelia had been intent on losing weight most of her life — but this concern had never caused the 35-year-old to consider ending her life. Last summer, the Canadian woman was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and prescribed the wildly popular “miracle” drug Ozempic (semaglutide) by her doctor, who presented the drug as an easy way for Amelia to shed a few pounds and manage her blood sugar. Amelia, who asked that her last name be withheld for privacy reasons, avoided filling the prescription for three months since she “didn’t want to focus on the number on the scale.” However,...

They're a marine delicacy loved across Asia, but the humble sea cucumber is also proving to be a key ingredient in preventing diabetes, according to new research. Exploring the medicinal properties of sea cucumbers (Holothuria scabra), researchers found that processed dried sea cucumber with salt extracts can inhibit a compound that is associated with increased risk of diabetes, thereby reducing the likelihood of the disease. To date, there is no commercially available therapeutic agent to inhibit the formation of this compound, called Advanced Glycation End product (AGE). AGEs form when proteins and/or fats combine with sugars in the bloodstream. When...

Swansea University researchers have found that a drug commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes can potentially be used in the treatment of autoimmune disorders. Academics have found that the drug, canagliflozin (also known as Invokana), could be used to treat autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus as it targets T-cells, which form an essential component of the immune system. Canagliflozin is a drug that controls blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes, however researchers have found an unexpected role for the drug involving the human immune system. Existing research has reported that targeting...

Most U.S. adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D) meet recommended criteria for use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2is), but fewer than 10 percent use either of them, according to a research letter. Shichao Tang, Ph.D. and colleagues used nationally representative data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to examine the number and percentage of persons with T2D who met the recommended criteria for and were using GLP-1 RAs and SGLT2is. The researchers estimated that 22.4 million U.S. adults with diagnosed T2D (82.3 percent) per year would meet the recommended criteria for...

How much water do we need to drink to stay healthy? Studies of hormones are providing diabetes researchers with new answers. Neurotensin and vasopressin are two of the hormones that are being studied by diabetes researchers. Neurotensin is released from the gastrointestinal tract after we have consumed fat. Research has shown that neurotensin can be used as a biomarker to predict the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and fatty liver disease. "Studies have shown that there is an association between raised levels of the hormone after fat consumption and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular...

A new study suggests that controlling blood sugar levels within the first year of diabetes diagnosis reduces the incidence of major cardiovascular events. Furthermore, the team also found that the more a patient's blood levels varied 12 months after diagnosis, the more likely they were to experience dangerous cardiovascular events. Dr. Martin Whyte, co-author of the study and Reader in Metabolic Medicine at the University of Surrey, says that "the conventional wisdom has been to slowly and steadily treat type 2 diabetes with diet and medicine dose-escalation over years—the period over which it took people to reduce their sugar levels...

A new shows remission from type 2 diabetes is possible for people with lower BMIs. Results show a staggering 70% of participants with lower bodyweights went into type 2 remission through diet-induced weight loss, despite not living with obesity or overweight. The Counterpoint study first showed that shedding fat from inside the pancreas and liver was key to remission from type 2 in people living with obesity or overweight. To find out if losing excess fat could also help people with BMIs in the healthy range go into remission from type 2 diabetes, Professor Roy Taylor put people with the...

More than 100,000 Americans died from diabetes in 2021, marking the second consecutive year for that grim milestone and spurring a call for a federal mobilization similar to the fight against HIV/AIDS. The new figures come as an expert panel urges Congress to overhaul diabetes care and prevention, including recommendations to move beyond a reliance on medical interventions alone. The nation’s toll from diabetes has increased sharply, surpassing 100,000 deaths in each of the last two years and representing a new record. Diabetes-related deaths surged 17% in 2020 and 15% in 2021 compared to the prepandemic level in 2019. …"Type...

People with type 2 diabetes can achieve "remission" by sustaining normal blood sugar levels for at least three months without taking diabetes medication. There is still a lot of uncertainty around how long remission will last and what factors are associated with a relapse. A person may require ongoing support to prevent a relapse or a hyperglycemic episode, and the long-term effects of remission on mortality, heart health and quality of life are not well understood. The authors developed the following criteria to help clinicians and researchers evaluate and study diabetes remission using more consistent terminology and methods: 1. Remission...

In the simplest terms, obesity is the product of a body's energy output being less than its energy input. But in reality, there's nothing simple about this complex and mysterious disease. Obesity, which has skyrocketed in recent decades – now defining the body mass of over 40 percent of adult Americans – isn't just difficult for people to endure and scientists to understand. It's also incredibly hard to treat. Beyond commitment to sustained lifestyle changes – healthy eating and exercise, effectively – there are really only two potential options that may help: bariatric surgery and weight-loss medications. The former is...

They found that healthy mice have plenty of bacteria from a genus called Clostridia, but few from Desulfovibrio, and that their guts let most fat pass right through. Those with an altered immune system had fewer Clostridia and more Desulfovibrio, and this microbial balance helped the gut absorb more fats from food. These mice gained more weight and exhibited signs of type 2 diabetes. “Whether this applies in humans, we don't know,” Hooper says, “but this is a tantalizing clue.” The role of the immune system in the gut is to maintain balance. Changes to the body’s defenses, which can happen as a result of...

A low-carb diet may have benefits for people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes even if they don't lose any weight, a new study suggests. Researchers found that more than half of study participants no longer met the criteria for metabolic syndrome immediately following a four-week low-carb diet. About a third of American adults have the syndrome, according to the American Heart Association. After eating a low-carb diet, more than half the participants saw their metabolic syndrome reversed even though they were fed diets that intentionally contained enough calories to keep their weight stable. After eating the low-carb diet,...

The American College of Physicians (ACP) has issued new guidance on managing type 2 diabetes -- including relaxing the long-term blood sugar target called hemoglobin A1C. The A1C is a blood test that gives doctors an estimate of your blood sugar level average over the past few months. For most adults, the American Diabetes Association recommends a target A1C of below 7 percent. This goal may be altered based on individual circumstances. However, the new ACP guidance suggests that A1C should be between 7 and 8 percent for most adults with type 2 diabetes. For adults who achieve an A1C...

A drug-free approach might be the best treatment we have for America's most ubiquitous lifestyle disease.Type II diabetes is one of America's most ubiquitous—and expensive—chronic diseases. Patients often require a suite of pharmaceutical products to manage high blood glucose levels, and the complications that arise over the long term, ranging from loss of vision and limbs to kidney failure and coronary artery disease, strain the resources of patients, their families, and the health care system. The financial strain on insurance companies, employers, and Medicaid and Medicare is even more enormous. A 2013 study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine...

In a new clinical trial to observe a new method of injecting islet cells into a patient with Type 1 diabetes, doctors from the University of Miami’s Diabetes Research Institute have confirmed that their first trial patient no longer needs insulin therapy. Wendy Peacock, their first patient, has been giving herself insulin injections and following a strict daily schedule to take care of her diabetes since she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 17. Now 43, Peacock has undergone the surgery in this new trial and no longer needs injections because her body is producing insulin naturally. Since the...