How 2 nurses help reverse type 2 diabetes in Tennessee
BY JOYCE GONZALES: Steve Wickham and his wife started an educational seminar in Grundy County, Tennessee in order to better able help those with type 2 diabetes.
Grundy County in Tennessee is known to have a very long list of public health challenges, including type 2 diabetes, according to NPR.
Even though this county is scenic and picturesque, it has one of the lowest life expectancy rates in the entire region. The good news is that type 2 diabetes can be reversed with exercise and weight loss. However, over the past years, research has shown that it would take a lot of effort and medical assistance to truly control an individual’s blood sugar levels.
Lowering blood sugar levels won’t simply happen with just a change in diet. It has to be coupled with exercise and a change in lifestyle. As for those with type 2 diabetes in Tennessee, they weren’t getting enough medical assistance to make this a reality. (read more)
A plant-based diet can reduce your risk for type 2 diabetes, if you do it correctly
BY GINGER VIEIRA: Type 2 diabetes is far more complicated than simply having eaten too much sugar.
However, preventing the escalation of prediabetes into type 2 diabetes can be simpler for some.
Approximately 22 percent of people diagnosed with prediabetes are able to prevent it from progressing to type 2 diabetes, according to a recent study from the Aging Research Center at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
ResearchTrusted Source published this week concluded that one of the most crucial factors in preventing type 2 diabetes and bringing blood sugars back into a healthier range comes down to embracing a plant-based diet.
“Plant-based dietary patterns, especially when they are enriched with healthful plant-based foods, may be beneficial for the primary prevention of type 2 diabetes,” explained the report. (read more)
Parents say Philadelphia’s hold-the-sugar campaign shames kids with Type 1 diabetes
BY RITA GIORDANO: A new public service ad campaign intended to dissuade parents from giving their children sugary snacks has raised the ire of parents and advocates of children with type 1 diabetes.
The parents, whose children suffer from an autoimmune disorder, not sugary diets, say the ads are misleading because they don’t distinguish between the types of diabetes. They claim the ads, which can be seen online and on billboards, oversimplify a complex disease and are insensitive to some of its sufferers — “disease shaming,” one mother wrote and was echoed by others.
A petition on Change.org urging the city to take the billboards down had gotten more than 1,730 signatures of the 2,500 sought by early Tuesday evening. The petition also suggests that money used for the billboards go to buying insulin for people who can’t afford it or to educate people about diabetes. (read more)
Global study: Diabetes increases risk of heart failure in women more than men
BY SUVARNA SHETH: The link between heart failure and diabetes has been known, but new research shows that women with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are a greater risk of heart failure compared with men.
The global study which compiled data from 10 countries: Australia, U.S., U.K., Italy, Sweden, Canada, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Korea, looked at 12 million people and over 200,000 cases of heart failure.
“It is already known that diabetes puts you at greater risk of developing heart failure but what our study shows for the first time is that women are at far greater risk – for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes,” says lead author, Dr. Toshiaki Ohkuma from The George Institute for Global Health. (read more)
Enzyme discovery could lead to new diabetic foot treatment
BY JACK WOODFIELD: A discovery involving an enzyme could help experts develop future treatments for diabetes-related foot wounds.
Using mice models with type 2 diabetes, researchers identified a vital compound called Setdb2 which when, missing in people with diabetes, might explain why wounds do not heal as quickly.
Dr Katherine Gallagher, vascular surgeon and an Associate Professor in Michigan Medicine’s Departments of Surgery and Microbiology/Immunology, led the study which aimed to shed light on the natural healing process.
Her team identified that Setdb2 is a crucial enzyme that helps repair inflammatory wounds. However in mice with type 2 diabetes it did not increase when it should have done, leaving the wound inflamed.
Through their work, they also discovered Setdb2 is important in the metabolism of uric acid which can be higher among people who have diabetes. (read more)
