Diabetes

Changes in lifestyle are usually the most important way that individuals with diabetes can control their conditions.  Most people seem to know this, but a new survey shows that many diabetics do not follow that advice.

A study called SHIELD (The Study to Help Improve Early Evaluation and Management of Risk Factors Leading to Diabetes), which was presented at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association, surveyed nearly 4,000 people with type 2 diabetes.  In response to questions about the link between diabetes and obesity, 87% said they knew excessive weight contributed the disease, but only 70% of respondents reported trying to lose weight in the preceding year.  Only a third of those surveyed had managed to maintain their target weight for longer than six months.  Almost one-fifth of those studied (17%) said they preferred to take medication to control their conditions rather than try diet and exercise.
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Lupins lining the roadsides are common sights for anyone who has visited Atlantic Canada or Maine during the summertime, but have you ever heard of eating lupine seeds?  Even better, have you ever heard about how good lupin flour can be for the heart?

A study out of the University of Western Australia describes how it is possible to lower your risk of heart disease “significantly” by replacing conventional wholemeal flour with a blend that contains 40% lupin beans.  A yearlong study of over 100 overweight men and women showed that increasing one’s intake of “lupin flour lowered blood pressure and reduced the risk of heart disease.”
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Published in the journal Ophthalmology (Issue 118, 2011), research suggests that individuals’ quality of life declines more rapidly when their sight loss due to diabetic retinopathy becomes more severe.  The study involved over 1,000 type 2 diabetes patients taking part in the Los Angeles Latino Eye Study.
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Should researchers start to think about the role that the immune system plays in type 2 diabetes?

Scientists publishing in the journal Nature Medicine looked at why some obese people develop diabetes while others who are markedly overweight are not affected by the disease.

Researchers have linked the onset of diabetes to inflammation, which involves the immune system.  “The researchers have identified immune system antibodies in people who are obese and insulin-resistant that aren’t present in people who are obese without insulin resistance,” says the source of this post, HealthFinder.gov.
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Why do some people with type 1 diabetes remain free of diabetic retinopathy and other complications while others suffer from sight loss as well as kidney and cardiovascular problems?

Researchers publishing in Diabetes Care set out to answer this question by studying individuals who have been living with type 1 diabetes for over 50 years.  It seems that the sample group of 351 people with longterm diabetes diagnoses was mostly good at maintaining stable blood sugar levels, but blood sugar control did not seem to be the determining factor when it came to eye, kidney, and heart problems.
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