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Exposure to arsenic and other toxic metals may accelerate the progression toward diabetes, according to a new study. In a longitudinal study of more than 500 Mexican Americans living in southern Texas, researchers found that high levels of toxic metals in urine predicted faster increases in blood sugar over subsequent years. Based on these results, individuals with the highest levels of arsenic in their urine were projected to qualify as prediabetic 23 months earlier and diabetic 65 months earlier than those with the lowest exposure to the toxic metal. The study highlights an underappreciated risk factor for diabetes, a disease...

While the link between diabetes and periodontal disease is known, the impact of diabetes treatment on periodontal health is less well understood. Research demonstrates that periodontal inflammation can be positively affected just by receiving intensive diabetes treatment. It is widely believed that there is an interrelationship between diabetes and periodontal disease. While it has been shown that treatment of periodontal disease improves blood glucose control, the effect of diabetes treatment on periodontal disease has remained largely unknown. A collaborative research team administered a two-week intensive diabetes treatment to 29 type 2 diabetes patients, analyzing systemic and dental indicators before and...

Metformin is the most common type 2 diabetes drug prescribed to millions of American each year, and a new study from researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published in Diabetes Care suggests the drug can lower the risk of developing long COVID, or post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), in diabetics. Metformin lowers blood sugar and is most commonly prescribed as a first-line treatment for type 2 diabetes. The drug also is prescribed off-label for weight loss and other metabolic conditions. The new findings come from the ongoing RECOVER trial and build on results seen in a 2023...

Patients who are being treated with systemic glucocorticoids are more than twice as likely to develop diabetes as those not receiving the treatment. Glucocorticoids (sometimes known as steroids) fight inflammation and are used to treat a wide range of inflammatory and autoimmune conditions. While they can be very effective in decreasing inflammation, glucocorticoids have many adverse effects including increasing blood sugar levels and causing diabetes. This is more likely when people use tablets or injections than when used as inhalers, creams or drops. A new study has investigated how commonly patients being treated with glucocorticoids can develop new-onset diabetes. The...

Night owls have a higher BMI, larger waists, more hidden body fat and are almost 50% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes (T2D) than those who go to bed earlier, shows new research. To find out more, Dr. van der Velde and colleagues studied the association between sleep timing, T2D and body fat distribution in more than 5,000 individuals. The analysis involved participants with a mean age of 56 years and mean BMI of 30 kg/m2. The participants were then divided into three groups: early chronotype, late chronotype and intermediate chronotype. The participants were followed-up for a median of...

New research shows that eating fruit, oats and rye in childhood is associated with a higher risk of developing type 1 diabetes (T1D). Eating berries, however, is linked to lower odds of developing the condition. T1D is an autoimmune condition in which the immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing islet cells in the pancreas. What triggers the immune system's attack is unknown but is thought to involve a combination of a genetic predisposition and an environmental trigger such as a virus or foodstuff. Finland has the highest incidence of T1D globally, with 52.2 cases per 100,000 children under the...

Insulin resistance is associated with 31 different diseases, and in women, is also linked to higher odds of early death. This is according to a study of data on hundreds of thousands of people. There is compelling evidence of links between insulin resistance and conditions as diverse as Parkinson's disease, gout and sciatica. Insulin resistance is also a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. To find out more, Ms. Jing Wu and colleagues analyzed data from the UK Biobank. The study involved 429,159 participants. Levels of blood sugar and fats, including cholesterol, were used to calculate each participant's TyG index—a measure...

VIDEODr. Ken Berry is starting this new "American Diabetes Society" organization as a helpful contrast to the harmful and corrupt "American Diabetes Association", which is beholden to "Big Pharma" and "Big Food", not seeking to achieve the optimal health of Americans.

Diabetes can age the brain by up to four years, a new study based on MRI scans shows. There was one silver lining: Healthy lifestyle changes could help prevent that neurological aging, the Swedish researchers said. "Having an older-appearing brain for one's chronological age can indicate deviation from the normal aging process and may constitute an early warning sign for dementia," warned study lead author Abigail Dove. "On the positive side, it seems that people with diabetes may be able to influence their brain health through healthy living," added Dove, a graduate student of neurobiology at the Karolinska Institute in...

This is a long video about the discovery of and research into a newly discovered essential fatty acid, C15, aka pentadecanoic acid. Very quick synopsis (by me, so may have reflect misunderstanding, lack of attention, etc.): first noticed Navy dolphins having 1 type of health problem; studied hard; found low levels of C15. Research showed this causes weakening of cell linings (and a bunch of technical stuff about mitochondria and so on), end result: this weakening of cell walls causes premature aging due to death of cells. Notice: more and more and more children now have Type 2 diabetes, which...

People who eat just two servings of red meat per week may have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to people who eat fewer servings, and the risk increases with greater consumption, according to a new study led by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. They also found that replacing red meat with healthy plant-based protein sources, such as nuts and legumes, or modest amounts of dairy foods, was associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. The study was published on Thursday, October 19, in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. “Our findings...

Cone snail venom contains consomatin, a toxin that could lead to better, longer-lasting drugs for diabetes and hormone-related diseases by mimicking somatostatin. A new study published in Nature Communications reveals the toxin from one of the most venomous animals on the planet may hold the key to improving drugs for diabetes and hormone disorders. An international team of scientists led by the University of Utah identified a component within the venom of a deadly marine cone snail, the geography cone, that mimics a human hormone called somatostatin, which regulates the levels of blood sugar and various hormones in the body....

An estimated 462 million people around the world suffer from type 2 diabetes, a chronic disease in which the body has problems using sugar as a fuel, leading to a buildup of sugar in the blood and chronic health issues. New research shows how zinc, pH levels and insulin work together to inhibit the buildup of protein clumps that contribute to this disease. The research focuses on the intricate dance between insulin and the hormone amylin, or human islet amyloid polypeptide (hiAPP). Amylin is a naturally occurring peptide hormone that plays a role in regulating glycemia and energy balance. But...

Higher intake of heme iron, the type found in red meat and other animal products—as opposed to non-heme iron, found mostly in plant-based foods—was associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) in a new study. The researchers assessed the link between iron and T2D using 36 years of dietary reports from 206,615 adults enrolled in the Nurses' Health Studies I and II and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. The researchers also analyzed the biological mechanisms underpinning heme iron's relationship to T2D among smaller subsets of the participants. They looked at 37,544 participants' plasma metabolic biomarkers, including...

A behavioral intervention designed to support weight loss can yield remission of type 2 diabetes, according to a study. Jonathan Valabhji, M.D. and colleagues assessed remission of type 2 diabetes among participants in the NHS Type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission program, a 12-month behavioral intervention to support weight loss, which included a three-month period of total diet replacement (composed of nutritionally formulated products such as soups, shakes, and bars and a total daily calorie intake of 800 to 900 kcal). A total of 1,740 participants started total diet replacement before January 2022 and had 12 months to complete the...

If you spend any time looking at diet and lifestyle content on social media, you may well have encountered a variety of weight loss "hacks". One of the more recent trends is a home-made drink called ricezempic, made by soaking uncooked rice and then straining it to drink the leftover starchy water. Sounds delicious, right? Its proponents claim it leads to weight loss by making you feel fuller for longer and suppressing your appetite, working in a similar way to the sought-after drug Ozempic – hence the name. So does this drink actually mimic the weight loss effects of Ozempic?...

Research on the gut microbiome has triggered a 'revolution' in nutritional science, and in the last few years, dietary fiber has become the "new protein" – added to foods in abundance to feed our gut and boost our health. A recent study on mice, however, suggests not all fiber supplements are equally beneficial. A form that is readily found in oats and barley, called beta-glucan, can control blood sugar and assist in weight loss among mice fed a high-fat diet. Researchers at the University of Arizona (UA) and the University of Vienna say it is the only type of fiber...

People living with diabetes might have a new hope. Scientists have tested a new drug therapy in diabetic mice, and found that it boosted insulin-producing cells by 700% over three months, effectively reversing their disease. Beta cells in the pancreas have the important job of producing insulin in response to blood sugar levels, but a hallmark of diabetes is that these cells are either destroyed or can’t produce enough insulin. The most common treatment is regular injections of insulin to manage blood sugar levels. But a recent avenue of research has involved restoring the function of these beta cells. In...

New research shows that people recently diagnosed with diabetes who experience short or long sleep duration are more likely to experience microvascular disease (damage to small blood vessels), which could ultimately lead to more serious complications. Microvascular complications, such as retinopathy and nephropathy, are major contributors to complications associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Nighttime sleep duration was classified into three categories: short (<7 h), optimal (7 to <9 h), and long (9 h or more). In total, 396 participants had valid sleep duration measurements, UACR measurement and eye examination. The median age was 62 years with a mean diabetes...

Avoiding bright light at night could be a simple way to reduce your risk of diabetes, a study shows. The study reveals the compelling relationship between exposure to light and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. "We found that exposure to brighter light at night was associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes," says Associate Professor Andrew Phillips. In the large modeling study, the research team investigated whether personal light exposure patterns predicted the risk of diabetes using data from approximately 85,000 people and around 13 million hours of light sensor data. The participants—who did not...