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Managing a stroke victim's blood sugar levels after they receive powerful clot-busting drugs might help them survive their health crisis, a new trial finds. People with high blood sugar levels were more likely to suffer a potentially deadly brain bleed after clot-busters reopened their blocked brain arteries, researchers found. The risk was particularly high in older patients with more severe strokes. "These data suggest that more focus and research is needed on the management of high blood sugar in the treatment of stroke patients, particularly those with higher risk, more severe strokes," said Dr. Andrew Southerland. For the study, researchers...

A dietary supplement significantly reduced high blood sugar caused by a diuretic used to lower blood pressure while also correcting electrolyte imbalances. Millions of Americans take thiazide diuretics, a class of medications used to treat high blood pressure. Although these drugs are very effective, Dr. Vongpatanasin said, they come with significant side effects, including reduced levels of the electrolyte potassium in the blood; higher cholesterol, triglycerides, and other circulating lipids; and elevated glucose (blood sugar), a precursor to Type 2 diabetes. The increase in glucose prompted by these drugs has long been attributed to the decrease in potassium levels. Although...

Drinking dark tea every day may help to mitigate type 2 diabetes risk and progression in adults through better blood sugar control, suggests new research. The study found that compared with never tea drinkers, daily consumers of dark tea had 53% lower risk for prediabetes and 47% reduced risk for type 2 diabetes, even after taking into account established risk factors known to drive the risk for diabetes, including age, gender, ethnicity, body mass index (BMI), average arterial blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, cholesterol, alcohol intake, smoking status, family history of diabetes and regular exercise. "Our findings hint at the...

— Effects in small study seen independent of weight lossJust 1 week of early time-restricted feeding (eTRF) cut fluctuations in blood sugar levels, and reduced the time that blood sugar was elevated, in people with prediabetes and a high BMI, according to the TRIO study. The difference in the mean amplitude of glycemic excursion (MAGE) -- the standard for assessing short-term within-day glycemicopens in a new tab or window variability -- was 2.9 mmol/L with a usual feeding pattern versus 2.4 mmol/L with eTRF, and the difference was statistically significant (P=0.001), reported Joanne Bruno, MD, PhD, of NYU Langone Health...

Animal cells share some qualities with plant cells, but one key feature ours lack is a rigid cell wall. While this provides structure for plants, it’s also something scientists are increasingly looking at for use in new materials, cellulose technology and, now, insulin delivery. Led by Henry Daniell from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Dental Medicine, researchers have created a promising plant-based insulin, containing the three peptides that occur naturally in insulin, which can also be ingested orally. Just as important as the genetic material on the inside, the plant cell walls are key to the drug's efficacy. Their...

The levels of long-term blood sugar, HbA1c, can be used to accurately determine the risk of a person with type 1 diabetes developing eye- and kidney complications. A study has shown that this level should be lower than 53 mmol/mol (7%). The study has followed individuals for more than 30 years after the onset of type 1 diabetes. People with diabetes may experience damage to the small blood vessels in various organs. The reasons for this are unclear, but it has been known that good control of blood sugar levels reduces the risk of complications. It has, however, not been...

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...

People with type 2 diabetes should be considered in remission after sustaining normal blood sugar levels for three months or more, according to a new consensus statement from the Endocrine Society, the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), Diabetes UK and the American Diabetes Association, and co-published in Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Diabetologia, Diabetic Medicine and Diabetes Care. pulation has diabetes, and these numbers continue to rise. 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...

…Leptin, the satiety or appetite-suppressant hormone, is secreted by the adipose tissue at levels proportional to the body's fat reserves and regulates appetite by controlling the feeling of fullness. It is transported to the brain by tanycytes—cells which it enters by attaching to the LepR receptors. Tanycytes are therefore leptin's gateway to the brain, helping it to cross the blood-brain barrier and deliver satiety information to the neurons. Previous research has revealed that such transport is impaired in subjects who are obese or overweight. This goes some way to explaining their dysfunctional appetite regulation given that it is more difficult...

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) — a commonly used type of antacid medication — improved blood sugar control in people with diabetes. Antacids improved blood sugar control in people with diabetes but had no effect on reducing the risk of diabetes in the general population, according to a new meta-analysis published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Type 2 diabetes is a global public health concern affecting almost 10 percent of people worldwide. Doctors may prescribe diet and lifestyle changes, diabetes medications, or insulin to help people with diabetes better manage their blood sugar, but recent data...

Indulging in chocolate is one surefire way to satisfy a sweet tooth. And according to a new study published in The FASEB Journal, your health can actually benefit from this treat. To gather their findings, the team studied 19 postmenopausal women who ate 100 grams of chocolate within one hour of waking up in the morning. Next, their volunteers dined on the same amount of the sweet one hour before going to sleep. After examining weight gain and similar measures in comparison to people who didn't eat chocolate at all, the researchers discovered that those who consumed the treat didn't...

Whether you have prediabetes or not, knowing what blood sugars are and how they work is important, as prolonged high blood sugars can lead to chronic illness. The food you eat will metabolize to glucose, or sugar, which fuels your body's cells to function properly. However, issues occur when the concentration of glucose in the blood is higher than the body's needs. The key to maintaining steady blood sugar levels is to choose the right foods. While there are no foods that will cause blood sugar levels to drop dramatically, there are foods that reduce blood sugar average readings over...

He's reported via Facebook that he's had a heart attack.

Prescribing metformin and vildagliptin to people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes reduced their long-term blood sugar levels more than single-drug therapy in a recent study. Sept. 18 (UPI) -- When it comes to controlling early symptoms of type 2 diabetes, two drugs are better than one, a new study says. Prescribing metformin and vildagliptin to people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes reduced their long-term blood sugar levels more than single-drug therapy, according to findings published Wednesday in The Lancet. The patients also had lower rates of treatment failure than those who only used Metformin, the current first-line drug...

You’ll want to be ready if you find yourself on the receiving end of a Kate Hall medicine ball toss. I wasn’t. During a midday early May workout, Hall recruited me to catch her throws and roll the ball back to her. I moved to the middle of the infield at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland, Maine. From just inside the track, Hall sprang forward and heaved the 8-pound ball. Next thing I knew, the ball landed just in front of me, bounced, and crashed into my chest. It left a red mark on my sternum that lingered for a week....

Jeenah Moon for The New York Times On most afternoons, people arrive from across New York City with backpacks and plastic bags filled with boxes of small plastic strips, forming a line on the sidewalk outside a Harlem storefront. Hanging from the awning, a banner reads: “Get cash with your extra diabetic test strips.” Each strip is a laminate of plastic and chemicals little bigger than a fingernail, a single-use diagnostic test for measuring blood sugar. More than 30 million Americans have Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, and most use several test strips daily to monitor their condition. But...

Dogs have the ability to sense when a human with Type I diabetes suffers a low blood sugar episode, and scientists have discovered how they are able to do this. When a diabetic is experiencing a drop in blood sugar levels, this produces a chemical that dogs are able to smell. This can alert a dog to the onset of hypoglycemia. Many families with diabetic children have begun taking in medical alert service dogs to help monitor their children's symptoms. Speaking to the Toronto Sun, an Alliston, Ontario family discussed the benefits of having Amy, a Diabetic Alert Dog, to...

Half of all U.S. adults have diabetes or blood sugar so high they're almost diabetic, researchers reported Tuesday. *snip* It's almost all Type 2 diabetes, which is caused by poor diet, obesity and a lack of exercise.

When mice with the human equivalent of Type 2 diabetes were injected with the protein FGF1, their blood sugar levels returned to normal over two days. Just one injection of the protein both regulated these levels and even helped reverse insulin insensitivity – the underlying cause of diabetes. Published in the journal Nature, the research on FGF1 could revolutionize diabetes treatment. In addition to being effective against diabetes, the protein has several advantages over current diabetes drugs. It does not result in dangerous side effects seen with other diabetes drugs, such as heart problems, weight gain, or hypoglycemia. Additionally, FGF1...

Traditional Chinese herbal medicines have been found to effectively slow the progression from prediabetes to diabetes diagnosis in a clinical trial. Yuan said that traditional Chinese herbs can be used to control blood sugar levels, either by consuming alone or in combination with other treatments. The study will be published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM).