Don't lose your feet! A report from the BBC shows that there is an increase in the number of amputations through diabetes type 2. It is so important to keep on top of your diabetes and to get your blood sugar and cholesterol under control. If you don't then you are at best self mutilating or at worst committing very slow suicide.

It seems that just a few cups of tea or coffee a day can help stave off diabetes.

This is from the BBC
Tea and coffee drinkers have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a large body of evidence shows.
And the protection may not be down to caffeine since decaf coffee has the greatest effect, say researchers in Archives of Internal Medicine.
They looked at 18 separate studies involving nearly 500,000 people.
This analysis revealed that people who drink three or four cups of coffee or tea a day cut their risk by a fifth or more, say researchers.
The same amount of decaffeinated coffee had an even bigger effect, lowering risk by a third.
Type 2 diabetes usually starts after the age of 40 and develops when the body can still make some insulin, but not enough, or when the insulin that is produced does not work properly. Type 2 diabetes is treated with a healthy diet and increased physical activity. In addition to this, medication and/or insulin is often required.
The identification of the active components of these beverages would open up new therapeutic pathways for the primary prevention of diabetes mellitus
The study authors
If the findings prove true, doctors may well start advising people to put the kettle on as well as take more exercise and watch their weight, say the researchers.
When the authors combined and analysed the data, they found that each additional cup of coffee consumed in a day cut diabetes risk by 7%.
Lead researcher Dr Rachel Huxley, from the University of Sydney in Australia, said because of the finding with decaffeinated coffee, the link is unlikely to be solely related to caffeine.
Instead, other compounds in coffee and tea - including magnesium and antioxidants known as lignans or chlorogenic acids - may be involved.
Special brew
"The identification of the active components of these beverages would open up new therapeutic pathways for the primary prevention of diabetes mellitus.
"If such beneficial effects were observed in interventional trials to be real, the implications for the millions of individuals who have diabetes mellitus, or who are at future risk of developing it, would be substantial."
Dr Victoria King, of Diabetes UK, said: "Without full information about what other factors may be influencing the type 2 diabetes risk of the studies' participants - such as their physical activity levels and diet - as well as what the active ingredient in tea or coffee appears to be, we cannot be sure what, if anything, this observed effect is down to.
"What we can be sure of is that the development of type 2 diabetes is strongly linked to lifestyle, which means that many cases could be prevented by keeping active and eating a healthy balanced diet that is low in fat, salt and sugar with plenty of fruit and vegetables."




This press release is an announcement from the Archives of Internal Medicine


CHICAGO - Individuals who drink more coffee (regular or decaffeinated) or tea appear to have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to an analysis of previous studies reported in the December 14/28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. A previously published meta-analysis suggested drinking more coffee may be linked with a reduced risk, but the amount of available information has more than doubled since.
By the year 2025, approximately 380 million individuals worldwide will be affected by type 2 diabetes, according to background information in the article. "Despite considerable research attention, the role of specific dietary and lifestyle factors remains uncertain, although obesity and physical inactivity have consistently been reported to raise the risk of diabetes mellitus," the authors write.
Rachel Huxley, D.Phil, of The George Institute for International Health, University of Sydney, Australia, and colleagues identified 18 studies involving 457,922 participants and assessing the association between coffee consumption and diabetes risk published between 1966 and 2009. Six studies involving 225,516 individuals also included information about decaffeinated coffee, whereas seven studies with 286,701 participants reported on tea consumption.
When the authors combined and analyzed the data, they found that each additional cup of coffee consumed in a day was associated with a 7 percent reduction in the excess risk of diabetes. Individuals who drank three to four cups per day had an approximately 25 percent lower risk than those who drank between zero and two cups per day.
In addition, in the studies that assessed decaffeinated coffee consumption, those who drank more than three to four cups per day had about a one-third lower risk of diabetes than those who drank none. Those who drank more than three to four cups of tea had a one-fifth lower risk than those who drank no tea.
"That the apparent protective effect of tea and coffee consumption appears to be independent of a number of potential confounding variables raises the possibility of direct biological effects," the authors write. Because of the association between decaffeinated coffee and diabetes risk, the association is unlikely to be solely related to caffeine. Other compounds in coffee and tea-including magnesium, antioxidants known as lignans or chlorogenic acids-may be involved, the authors note.
"If such beneficial effects were observed in interventional trials to be real, the implications for the millions of individuals who have diabetes mellitus, or who are at future risk of developing it, would be substantial," they conclude. "For example, the identification of the active components of these beverages would open up new therapeutic pathways for the primary prevention of diabetes mellitus. It could also be envisaged that we will advise our patients most at risk for diabetes mellitus to increase their consumption of tea and coffee in addition to increasing their levels of physical activity and weight loss."

http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2009/11/07/6438/aace-releases-new-algorithm-for-treatment-of-type-2-diabetes/

The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists have bought out new guidelines for the treatment of Type 2. I wonder if the UK guys follow similar guidelines?

Meanwhile whilst exploring other diabetes mellitus solutions beyond Metformin I have stumbled across Berberine, there is this report in the daily telegraph, and a quick google/bing bought up many other references. The dubiously reliable Wiki has a large sectrion on it here and it seems to have tremendous benefits, similar in effect to metformin, but with some added side effect benefits, such as inhibiting Stapphylococcus, fungal infections such as Candida, inhibits cancers such as Breast Cancer, and is a mild anti depressant. Looks like a wonder herb to me, yet a quick trawl of health foods shops doesn't readily find it listed. interesting?

Wonder if I should give it serious consideration and perhaps import it from China?

And in the UK they have stopped our strips for monitoring. Utter Madness. The following came from Diabetes Health.

Never a "Duh!" Moment: Study Confirms That Self-Monitoring Improves Patients' Response to Diabetes

Patrick Totty
Oct 13, 2009

"Self-monitoring blood glucose" (SMBG), a staple in the lives of most people with diabetes who take insulin, involves consistently monitoring and recording blood glucose levels before and after specific activities, such as eating, exercising, sleeping, and taking insulin. By observing the effects of certain foods and activities on their blood glucose levels, patients can learn exactly what works to raise or lower them. Thus, SMBG affords a kind of "fine tuning" approach to diabetes that empowers patients to adjust their medicine, modify their behavior, and manage their disease without always needing expert intervention.

So it's hardly surprising that an international study sponsored by Roche Diagnostics has confirmed that SMBG is a useful tool.

The study, published by SAGE Publications in The Diabetes Educator, looked at the SMBG practice of "paired testing," in which people with diabetes measure their blood glucose levels before and after specific activities to see how modifications in those activities might lead to better BG management. The researchers, located in five far-flung locations-Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, and Washington, DC-found that SMBG is helpful to patients because it increases their sense of control and provides nuanced information that allows them to finely hone their diabetes management.

The researchers also looked into the possibility that non-insulin-taking type 2s could benefit from SMBG. Because about 40 percent of type 2 patients are treated with oral drugs or through diet, constant self-monitoring of blood glucose has not been thought to be necessary. Even type 2s who take a combination of oral medications and a daily dose of long-acting insulin are not required to take anywhere near the number of self-administered BG tests that SMBG usually calls for. Given the depth of information and sense of control that SMBG affords, however, even type 2s who do not use insulin may soon hear their healthcare professionals recommending SMBG as part of an aggressive approach to managing type 2.

One in three people with type 2 diabetes are given medication too soon, instead of being urged to eat better and do more exercise, a study suggests.

The latest report that I saw suggests that Doctors are too quick to put us Type 2 diabetics on tablets (see here) . Well now I think that reports like that are very worrying, not because of the suggestion that they make, but worrying because the suggestion is misleading and the study poorly scoped.

It is reported that some people have Type 2 diabetes for years without knowing. How can that be I wonder? For me the disease came on very quickly, in December a full medical showed no illness and just a few pounds overweight, by the following June I was in full blown Type 2 and, according to my hurredly taken blood tests, only a few weeks away from hospitalisation. In the early months of the onset I increasingly felt 'old', my energy waned, my concentration was lacking and my thirst grew beyond belief. By June it was obvious to me and to my family that there was something seriously wrong. I could not have lived with that medical knowledge for years, in fact I couldn't have coped any longer. I put off going to the doctors for at least a month, even though I knew I shouldn't. I was scared to be told what I had, I wouldn't even look the thing up on the internet. Eventually I had no choice, I could not live any longer the way I was.

At the Doctors, armed with blood tests showing a skyhigh HbA1c and the records of how I ate and what I ate, my GP had only one option. Tablets. He told me that lifestyle was something I needed to look at but that a visit to the dietician was probably a waste of time, my diet was already very good. He put me on metformin, statins, aspirin and perindropril and signed me off work for a month.

In the few months since my full medical, my BP had gone from 140/80 to 200+/100, my cholesterol had gone from around 4.5 to 11 and my blood sugar was 'dangerous'. A lifestyle change by Jogging around the streets and eating more fruit and less fats was absolutely NOT going to sort out my Type 2. No way. Yet I am in the South West, I am one of the statistics in the study, the study that says Type 2 diabetics are given tablets too soon. From what I can discern, the study looked only at time from diagnosis to medication. A true scientific study should have taken many other factors into account, the levels of key indicators, the speed of onset, the existing dietary and motory habits of the patient.

I think that this study is poor, and I think this type of headline maligns the GP. My GP was excellent and did exactly the right thing for me. He is in the South West, the area covered by this report. The reporting of the frankly poor study should have given a balance, should have examined the assertions and perhaps spoken to some GP's for their opinion.

Not impressed, yet again. BBC I expect better quality reporting from you.
Rant over.

Yet again poor reporting on a major

“What the public needs to know,” Dr. Guallar says, “is that most people in the have adequate selenium in their diet. Moreover, taking selenium supplements on top of an adequate dietary intake may cause diabetes.”

Selenium rich foods include shrimp, crab meat, salmon, halibut, brown rice, light chicken meat, and pork. Brazil nuts from selenium rich soil are one of the foods that contain the highest level of selenium.

A scientist affiliated with foodconsumer.org suggests that just one dose of selenium supplements in the study can not rule out other positive effects associated with other usage levels. He says selenium is an important micronutrient. But like many others, too much of a good thing can be bad. He suggests consumers should follow a nutritionally balanced diet to prevent chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

So concludes a report that shows a group of people taking selenium supplements had an increased take up of Type II Diabetes, compared to those in the control group that tool placebos.

Read the article HERE .

Who would have thought it? The Gila Monster has a feature that helps us diabetics?

The drug is the first incretin memetic to be approved and works by mimicking the action of naturally occurring human incretin hormone, glucagons-like peptide-1 (GLP-1).

Byetta has been shown to stimulate insulin secretion only when blood sugar is high, and can even restore the 'first-phase' insulin response, an activity of the pancreas' insulin-producing cells that is lost in patients with type II diabetes.

Now is that bloody magic or what? Of course now I am worried that they are going to have to trap and kill a load of lizards just to help me.

Scientists say they have mapped the most important genes that put people at risk of type 2 diabetes, offering hope that a test could be delivered.
The findings could explain up to 70% of the genetics of the disorder which affects over 1.9 million UK people.
Family history is a major risk factor for the condition, along with obesity.
See http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6342855.stm for more

and

More evidence has emerged suggesting a link between pollutants found in oily fish and type two diabetes.
An international team found high levels of persistent organic pesticides (POPs) in the blood correlated to insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes.
see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6544709.stm

Interesting that as a man at under 16stone (ie under 98Kg) and at 6'2 " tall, I am in no definitiion obese, yet nearly everything i read points to obesity being the major contributing factor to beming type 2 diabetic. Indeed when I went to the Diabetics Session run by my local Health Authority, i was the thinnest person there, yet I now feel 'fat'

It is depressing