Arthritis Hits More Than Half of Diabetics

Arthritis strikes more than half of the 20.6 million American adults who have diabetes, and the painful joint condition may be a barrier to exercise among these patients, a new government report shows. Being physically active helps people manage both diseases better by controlling blood sugar levels and reducing joint pain, according to the report in the May 9 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The prevalence of arthritis is astoundingly high in people with diabetes," said Dr. John H. Klippel, president and CEO of the Arthritis Foundation. "Over half the people with diabetes have arthritis." Although there appears to be a connection between arthritis and diabetes, the reason for it isn't known, Klippel said. A possible explanation is obesity, which is a risk factor for both osteoarthritis and diabetes, he speculated.
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'Standard' Glucose Test May Be Wrong One for Obese Children

The current standard screening test for prediabetes in children often fails to detect the condition, Canadian researchers contend. Ironically, the findings are from a study group of 172 obese children -- ages 5 to 17 -- who joined a program to help them slim down to a healthy weight. The standard diabetes test for children is the fasting plasma (blood) glucose test, but it identified almost three times fewer children with diabetes than the glucose stress test, also called the oral glucose tolerance test. The glucose stress test takes longer, because blood is taken from the patient after fasting and again two hours after drinking a sugary solution. Using the fasting blood glucose test, the researchers found that only 8 percent of the children in the study met the diagnostic criteria for prediabetes. But the glucose stress test indicated that 25 percent of the children had prediabetes.
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Vending Machines Found in Most Middle Schools

Three-quarters of middle schools have vending machines where snacks and sugared drinks are sold, a new study finds. The research demonstrates that there are vending machines in most middle schools, and "that those vending machines don't always have the healthiest choices," said study author Amy Virus, a registered dietitian with the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University in Philadelphia. The results come from a nationwide sample of 42 middle schools, and researchers discovered that most of these vending machines offer food and beverage choices that contain as much as 320 calories an item, Virus said.
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Diabetes Rising In The U.S.

The latest statistics on diabetes are in, and they’re not good: The rate of new diabetes cases has almost doubled in the U.S. in the past 10 years, U.S. health officials report. About 90% of the cases are type 2, which is linked to obesity. The highest rates were in West Virginia, followed by South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Texas and Tennessee. The lowest rates were in Minnesota, Hawaii and Wyoming.
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Pregnancy Diet May Predict Obesity

Mothers who eat a high-fat diet during pregnancy may increase the likelihood of their child being overweight. Researchers at Rockefeller University in New York discovered that rats that were given a high-fat diet during pregnancy showed permanent changes in their offspring's brain that lead to overeating and obesity. This finding could provide a key step towards understanding the mechanisms of fetal programming and could explain the increased prevalence of child obesity over the last 30 years. "This work provides the first evidence for a fetal program that links high levels of fats circulating in the mother's blood during pregnancy to the overeating and increased weight gain of offspring after weaning," senior author Sarah F. Leibowitz, who directs the Laboratory of Behavioral Neurobiology at Rockefeller, was quoted as saying.
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Celebrities Help Fund Kentucky Diabetes and Obesity Center

LEXINGTON, Ky., Nov 10, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Every year, the Kentucky Derby brings celebrities from the worlds of Hollywood, sports and politics to Kentucky for the first weekend in May. And, every year, Louisville, Ky., resident Patricia Barnstable Brown hosts the biggest, most extravagant, star-studded Derby party in town -- the Barnstable Brown Gala. Last year's attendees included Edward Norton, Tom Brady, Nick Lachey, Molly Sims, Bill O'Reilly, Terrell Owens and Hugh Hefner. The annual celebrity bash allows the Barnstable-Brown Foundation to support diabetes research, education and patient care in Kentucky, which ranks seventh in the nation for prevalence of the disease. Barnstable Brown announced today that proceeds from the sales of the highly prized gala tickets -- which sell for $1,000 to $2,000 apiece -- will be used to fund the development of the brand new Barnstable Brown Kentucky Diabetes and Obesity Center at the University of Kentucky. "I am thrilled that all of our gala supporters can step back and see the wonderful work that the University of Kentucky is doing for diabetes," said Barnstable Brown. The large-scale, proposed center at the University of Kentucky will bring together the university's breadth and depth of researchers, educators and clinicians focused on diabetes and obesity and organize them to attack the problem collaboratively and, therefore, faster.
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Carbohydrates, Sugar, and Your Child

Often called carbs, carbohydrates are the body's most important and readily available source of energy. Even though they've gotten a bad rap in the 2000s and have often been blamed for the obesity epidemic in America, carbohydrates are a necessary part of a healthy diet for both children and adults. The two major forms are: simple sugars (simple carbohydrates), found in sugars such as fructose, glucose, and lactose, as well as in nutritious whole fruits starches (complex carbohydrates), found in foods such as starchy vegetables, grains, rice, and breads and cereals So how, exactly, does the body process carbohydrates and sugar? All carbohydrates are broken down into simple sugars. These sugars are absorbed into the bloodstream. As the sugar level rises, the pancreas releases a hormone called insulin, which is needed to move sugar from the blood into the cells, where the sugar can be used as a source of energy.
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Diabetes in children: Emerging epidemic

Type 2 diabetes is silently assuming epic proportions and holding an entire generation to ransom, affecting children and young people from all income groups. Ravi (name changed), a 14-year-old, Class 10 student, was secretly happy when he started losing weight without any effort on his part. He had always been on the chubby side and was tired of being teased by his classmates. However, his parents were wo rried. Ravi did not seem well and felt tired always. Of late he was also feeling thirsty and passing unusually large quantities of urine. A visit to the family doctor left the family devastated — Ravi had diabetes, with extremely high blood sugars. His parents were surprised; agreed, Ravi’s parents had diabetes but how could their son have gotten the disease at this young age? Diabetes does not immediately spring to mind when thinking about childhood diseases. Most people think that only obese, well-to-do, middle-aged individuals develop the disease. Not any longer — no age is exempt from diabetes and the incidence in young people, often in the middle and lower income groups, is increasing by leaps and bounds.
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State plan aims to cut diabetes

The state on Friday released its plan for slowing an "alarming" acceleration in obesity-related diabetes in Oregon. The plan was requested by the 2007 Legislature and will be considered during the next three legislative sessions, including the upcoming session beginning in January. About 262,000 Oregon adults already have diabetes, a 62 percent increase from 1995. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in three children born in 2000 will develop diabetes if conditions don't change. "If the epidemic of obesity continues unchecked in Oregon, our children will likely have worse health than their parents or their grandparents," said Dr. Mel Kohn, the acting director of the state Public Health Division.
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SURGEON GENERAL LAUNCHES EFFORT TO DEVELOP ACTION PLAN TO COMBAT OVERWEIGHT, OBESITY

Surgeon General David Satcher today announced a year-long effort to develop a national action plan for reducing the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States. Satcher said the process would be inclusive and collaborative, and would include open public comment periods, listening sessions, federal and non-federal dialogue, interactive workshops and the formation of working groups to implement strategies. "The prevalence of overweight and obesity has nearly doubled among children and adolescents since 1980," Satcher told public health and industry leaders attending an international nutrition conference. "It is also increasing in both genders and among all population groups of adults. We want to establish strategies and set priorities so that we can successfully implement obesity prevention efforts that focus on the family and community, schools, work sites, the health care delivery system, and the media."
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