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In Diabetes, a Complex of Causes
NY Times ^ | October 16, 2007 | AMANDA SCHAFFER

Posted on 10/17/2007 12:31:00 AM PDT by neverdem

An explosion of new research is vastly changing scientists’ understanding of diabetes and giving new clues about how to attack it.

The fifth leading killer of Americans, with 73,000 deaths a year, diabetes is a disease in which the body’s failure to regulate glucose, or blood sugar, can lead to serious and even fatal complications. Until very recently, the regulation of glucose — how much sugar is present in a person’s blood, how much is taken up by cells for fuel, and how much is released from energy stores — was regarded as a conversation between a few key players: the pancreas, the liver, muscle and fat.

Now, however, the party is proving to be much louder and more complex than anyone had shown before.

New research suggests that a hormone from the skeleton, of all places, may influence how the body handles sugar. Mounting evidence also demonstrates that signals from the immune system, the brain and the gut play critical roles in controlling glucose and lipid metabolism. (The findings are mainly relevant to Type 2 diabetes, the more common kind, which comes on in adulthood.)

Focusing on the cross-talk between more different organs, cells and molecules represents a “very important change in our paradigm” for understanding how the body handles glucose, said Dr. C. Ronald Kahn, a diabetes researcher and professor at Harvard Medical School.

The defining feature of diabetes is elevated blood sugar. But the reasons for abnormal sugar seem to “differ tremendously from person to person,” said Dr. Robert A. Rizza, a professor at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. Understanding exactly what signals are involved, he said, raises the hope of “providing the right care for each person each day, rather than giving everyone the same drug.”

Last summer, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center published...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: diabetes; health; medicine; obesity
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The Body’s Role in Diabetes(oversize graphic)


Life Sciences Institute/ University of Michigan
Study Fat tissue from a mouse that was fed a high-fat diet.

1 posted on 10/17/2007 12:31:01 AM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem

mark to read later


2 posted on 10/17/2007 12:46:40 AM PDT by Irish Eyes
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To: El Gato; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Robert A. Cook, PE; lepton; LadyDoc; jb6; tiamat; PGalt; Dianna; ...
Staph fatalities may exceed AIDS deaths

Staph Infection Kills Virginia Student, Prompts Closing of 21 Schools

FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.

3 posted on 10/17/2007 1:03:59 AM PDT by neverdem (Call talk radio. We need a Constitutional Amendment for Congressional term limits. Let's Roll!)
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To: neverdem

For type 2 diabetes, if we would cut out refined sugar and flours, and add more fiber to our diets, our chances of getting it would be greatly reduced.


4 posted on 10/17/2007 2:08:06 AM PDT by liliesgrandpa (The Republican Party - spineless!)
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To: liliesgrandpa
For type 2 diabetes, if we would cut out refined sugar and flours, and add more fiber to our diets, our chances of getting it would be greatly reduced.

As well as add a lot of good old-fashioned red meat, butter, eggs & bacon. In fact, if that was our usual diet (with a daily mixed green salad thrown in), we might eradicate Type-2 diabetes. But everyone is so anti-meat, you won't hear this from many quarters.

5 posted on 10/17/2007 2:41:18 AM PDT by XR7
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To: XR7
As well as add a lot of good old-fashioned red meat, butter, eggs & bacon. In fact, if that was our usual diet (with a daily mixed green salad thrown in), we might eradicate Type-2 diabetes. But everyone is so anti-meat, you won't hear this from many quarters.

LOL! So...you trade diabetes 2 for high levels of chorlesterol...and die of a heart attack or stroke instead.

6 posted on 10/17/2007 2:53:40 AM PDT by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon))
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To: DCPatriot
So...you trade diabetes 2 for high levels of chorlesterol...and die of a heart attack or stroke instead.

Despite the massive hype on this, there is no link between high cholesterol and heart disease. Cholesterol is merely a proxy indicator of health, not an actual indicator, which has been hyped up so that you will buy Statin drugs.

So yeah, go and eat red meat and eggs. They're good for you.

7 posted on 10/17/2007 4:08:51 AM PDT by agere_contra (Do not confuse the wealth of nations with the wealth of government - FDT)
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To: XR7

add to that, if you already have it ( as I do ) lose weight and get active again.....this is far more important than anything else you do..mine gets more under control with every pound I lose. My goal is to be off the drugs in another 2 years..


8 posted on 10/17/2007 4:17:02 AM PDT by joe fonebone (When in danger, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout)
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To: agere_contra

Glad to see more and more people stating these facts. Maybe there’s hope for the health of the American people after all.


9 posted on 10/17/2007 4:18:43 AM PDT by TruthSetsUFree
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To: agere_contra

Exactly! Cholesterol is a hyped up industry and a lot of people have been put through hell and expense to meet relatively meaningless numbers. Also cholesterol is necessary for an efficient immune system. If you force cholesterol down, you run the risk if having cancer rates go up. It’s all been a big lie.


10 posted on 10/17/2007 4:25:47 AM PDT by Liberty Ship ("Lord, make me fast and accurate.")
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To: DCPatriot; agere_contra; XR7

If you’re going to eat all that, and more, also make sure that you get an equally generous, if not greater, share of a primary component of the good, old-fashioned lifestyle: Hard, physical work.


11 posted on 10/17/2007 4:36:03 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick (The articles posted by me needn't necessarily reflect my opinion.)
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To: neverdem

There is a surgical procedure that has a 98% cure rate for Type 2 diabetes - it’s being tested in Europe.

The procedure is currently done for weight loss (Duodenal Switch - NOT Gastric Bypass) and has had wonderful results. The surgery is comprised of 2 parts - reduction of stomach size and duodenal switch. They are performing just the switch part in Europe as a possible cure for this horrible disease. I hope they will begin to do it in the states soon. Everyone that I know that has had it has come off of all meds within a few months of surgery.


12 posted on 10/17/2007 4:44:41 AM PDT by Clintons Are White Trash (Lynn Stewart, Helen Thomas , Maureen Dowd - The Axis of Ugly)
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To: liliesgrandpa

“For type 2 diabetes, if we would cut out refined sugar and flours, and add more fiber to our diets, our chances of getting it would be greatly reduced.”

Robert Atkins was mostly right.

Western man’s genetics are not made to thrive on large amounts of grains and sugars. The result is excess pounds, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.


13 posted on 10/17/2007 4:45:59 AM PDT by webstersII
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To: CarrotAndStick

.....Hard, physical work.....

Last spring I broke my leg. During the period of forced inactivity my carefully controlled numbers went to hell.

For me, exercise and work are the primary factor. I take Advicor and aspirin, but neither are completely effective without daily exercise.


14 posted on 10/17/2007 4:51:31 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . Moveon is not us...... Moveon is the enemy)
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To: neverdem

Bump to read later.


15 posted on 10/17/2007 4:58:39 AM PDT by Iowamerican
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To: DCPatriot
"LOL! So...you trade diabetes 2 for high levels of chorlesterol...and die of a heart attack or stroke instead."

Not true. Cholesterol is largely a result of liver function. The people on the Atkins diet did NOT exhibit higher levels of heart attack or stroke. IIRC, their incidence of those ills was less than average.

16 posted on 10/17/2007 5:07:35 AM PDT by Wonder Warthog (The Hog of Steel-NRA)
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To: neverdem

bump


17 posted on 10/17/2007 5:07:45 AM PDT by rock58seg (Change Homeland Security to U. S. Security. It's time they remember what country to protect.)
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To: IslandJeff

ping


18 posted on 10/17/2007 5:13:49 AM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: bert

My grandfather tended a 2-acre yard for their ma and pa motel up until the age of 90. What did he do? He used a push mower - no self-propelled anything and was picking weeds by hand. He was in better shape at age 90 than a lot of 30 yr. olds are, simply by doing basic human movement every day - walking, bending/stretching, pushing around small machinery - and lots of it.


19 posted on 10/17/2007 6:05:03 AM PDT by NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
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To: Apple Blossom

ping


20 posted on 10/17/2007 6:06:35 AM PDT by bmwcyle (BOMB, BOMB, BOMB,.......BOMB, BOMB IRAN)
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