Diabetes News

Two consecutive nights of extended sleep, a typical weekend occurrence, appears to counteract the increased risk of diabetes associated with short-term sleep restriction during the work week, at least in lean, healthy, young men eating a controlled diet. The finding, based on a study performed at the University of Chicago sleep laboratory published early online by the … [Read more...]

A Southampton study using high resolution imaging to create a "virtual bone biopsy" has shed new light on why people with type 2 diabetes are at risk of bone fractures. Researchers from the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, used high resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HRpQCT) to assess bone structure and … [Read more...]

Vitamin D is known as a major regulator of calcium levels and bone metabolism. Furthermore, it also influences the immune system. Previous studies have shown that patients with recently diagnosed type 1 diabetes have significantly lower vitamin D levels. Scientists from the Institute of Diabetes Research (IDF) and the Helmholtz Zentrum München, a member of the German Center … [Read more...]

Obese young people can still turn their chances of developing life threatening illness around if they change before middle age, says new research. The study looked at the body mass index (BMI) of people when they were young and compared it to when they were middle aged to see whether it affected their risk of heart attack, stroke or diabetes. Men who had high BMI levels … [Read more...]

Twenty-nine million Americans have diabetes, putting them at risk for stroke and heart attack.  But you probably didn’t know that 86 million Americans have pre-diabetes, meaning they have elevated blood sugar. And because there are no signs, many don’t even know they are at risk. As an obstetrician, Dr. Robert Atlas knows the importance of monitoring his pregnant patients … [Read more...]

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators may have uncovered a novel mechanism behind the ability of the diabetes drug metformin to inhibit the progression of pancreatic cancer. In their report that has been published in the open access journal PLOS One, the research team describes finding that metformin decreases the inflammation and fibrosis characteristic of the … [Read more...]

Preventing inflammation in obese fat tissue may hold the key to preventing or even reversing type 2 diabetes, new research has found. Researchers from Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, with colleagues from the RIKEN Institute, Japan, found they could 'reverse' type 2 diabetes in laboratory models by dampening the inflammatory response in fat tissue. Dr Ajith … [Read more...]

High concentrations of serum long-chain omega-3 fatty acids may help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a University of Eastern Finland study published recently in Diabetes Care. The sources of these fatty acids are fish and fish oils. Type 2 diabetes is becoming increasingly widespread throughout the world, including Finland. Overweight is the most significant … [Read more...]

Altered signaling through the vitamin D receptor on certain immune cells may play a role in causing the chronic inflammation that leads to cardiometabolic disease, the combination of type 2 diabetes and heart disease that is the most common cause of illness and death in Western populations. The research appears March 19 in the journal Cell Reports. "Because low vitamin D … [Read more...]

Combined assessment of parathyroid hormone along with vitamin D may be needed to assess the impact of vitamin D status on sugar metabolism, according to Toronto researchers. Their study is published on-line in Diabetes on May 29 2014. The new findings might explain why studies of vitamin D alone have been conflicting and why clinical trials of vitamin D supplementation to … [Read more...]

Factors in the blood from calorie-restricted rats can modify energy-producing mitochondria within the insulin-producing cells that regulate blood sugar levels, new research shows. This has a positive impact on glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and protects cells from fatty acid and glucose toxicity. The findings suggest that insulin-producing cells' mitochondria may be … [Read more...]

Targeted interventions based on genetic risk may not be the best approach for preventing type 2 diabetes and instead universal strategies to prevent obesity should be prioritized, according to new research published in this week's PLOS Medicine. This analysis, led by Claudia Langenberg from the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, UK, suggests that the … [Read more...]

Combined assessment of parathyroid hormone along with vitamin D may be needed to assess the impact of vitamin D status on sugar metabolism, according to Toronto researchers. Their study is published on-line in Diabetes on May 29 2014. The new findings might explain why studies of vitamin D alone have been conflicting and why clinical trials of vitamin D supplementation to … [Read more...]

Type 1 diabetes is a genetically-driven autoimmune disease of pancreatic beta-cells, whose origins remain unknown. Researchers at the Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) discovered that skin cells from patients with type 1 diabetes display abnormal activity triggered by immune response mechanisms to environmental stimuli like a viral … [Read more...]

New experiments on mice show, that mouse mothers can protect their pups from developing type 1 diabetes by eating a gluten-free diet. According to preliminary studies by reseachers at the University of Copenhagen, the findings may apply to humans. More than 1% of the Danish population has type 1 diabetes, one of the highest incidence rates in the world. New experiments on … [Read more...]

For people who already have high blood sugar, preventing diabetes could amount to just another day at the office. A new study found that employees enrolled in a workplace intervention program as a group lost more weight, showed greater reductions in fasting blood sugar and ate less fat than employees who received only written health guidelines for diabetes prevention. The … [Read more...]

In a study released online in The BMJ, researchers from Mayo Clinic report a national trend toward overtesting glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) levels in adult patients with Type 2 diabetes. Overtesting causes redundancy and waste says the study team, adding unnecessary costs and time burden for patients and providers. In addition, excessive testing can result in overtreatment … [Read more...]

Women with Type 2 diabetes are twice as likely to have coronary heart disease compared to men, and may also need more frequent and intense physical activity to lower their risk of having a heart attack or stroke, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement published in the association's journal Circulation. In the United States slightly more than nine … [Read more...]

Clinical Therapeutics features a special report in its April issue focusing primarily on the behavioral issues associated with patients' self-management of type 2 diabetes. "Diabetes, perhaps more so than any other chronic disease, requires people to significantly modify their behaviors -- sometimes in ways that are contrary to their cultural norms and backgrounds -- even when … [Read more...]

  In a randomized trial that included overweight and obese adolescents with type 1 diabetes, the addition of metformin to insulin did not improve glycemic control after 6 months, according to a study in the December 1 issue of JAMA. For youth with type 1 diabetes, being overweight or obese potentially has serious metabolic consequences, especially during adolescence. … [Read more...]

A team from Newcastle University, UK, has shown that Type 2 diabetes is caused by fat accumulating in the pancreas -- and that losing less than one gram of that fat through weight loss reverses the diabetes. Affecting two and a half million people in the UK -- and on the increase -- Type 2 diabetes is a long-term condition caused by too much glucose, a type of sugar, in the … [Read more...]

New research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) shows that increasing coffee consumption by on average one and half cups per day (approx 360ml) over a four-year period reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes by 11%. The research is led by Dr Frank Hu and Dr Shilpa Bhupathiraju, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of … [Read more...]

Air pollution is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and some people may be more susceptible to its effects than others. Investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health used data from a nationwide study of nurses to look for factors that made people more vulnerable to the effects of long-term air pollution … [Read more...]

High concentrations of serum long-chain omega-3 fatty acids may help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a University of Eastern Finland study published recently in Diabetes Care. The sources of these fatty acids are fish and fish oils. Type 2 diabetes is becoming increasingly widespread throughout the world, including Finland. Overweight is the most significant … [Read more...]

New research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) shows that taking blood pressure medications at bedtime, rather than in the morning, reduces blood pressure (BP) whilst asleep and also halves the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The research, published in two separate papers, is by Dr Ramón Hermida and colleagues from … [Read more...]

Which is more likely to raise blood sugar levels: sushi or ice cream? According to a Weizmann Institute of Science study reported in the November 19 issue of the journal Cell, the answer varies from one person to another. The study, which continuously monitored blood sugar levels in 800 people for a week, revealed that the bodily response to all foods was highly … [Read more...]

Approximately 26 percent of the U.S. population has impaired fasting glucose, which is a predisposition for developing type 2 diabetes, and chromium supplementation has been suggested as a method that may help control and prevent the disease. A new study by a University of Miami (UM) researcher analyses nearly three decades of data on the effect of chromium supplementation … [Read more...]

This National Diabetes Month, there is some good news for people with eye complications from diabetes. Earlier this month, a network of researchers supported by the National Eye Institute (NEI) found that the drug Lucentis (ranibizumab) can be highly effective for treating proliferative diabetic retinopathy, an eye disease that can occur as a complication of diabetes. The … [Read more...]

Obesity and Type 2 diabetes have been linked to several health issues, including an increased risk of bone fractures. In a new animal study, University of Missouri researchers examined how the development of obesity and insulin resistance contribute to bone-fracture risk and whether exercise prevents weight gain and diabetes and protects bone health. They found obesity and Type … [Read more...]

The drug sildenafil, sold as Viagra and other brand names, improves insulin sensitivity in people at risk for diabetes, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center reported today. Sildenafil inhibits an enzyme called phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5), resulting in relaxation of smooth muscle, vasodilation and increased blood flow. Sildenafil is used to treat erectile … [Read more...]