Most Recent Diabetes Related News & Articles

Treating Diabetes With Surgery

Growing evidence shows that surgery may effectively cure Type 2 diabetes - an approach that not only may change the way the disease is treated, but that introduces a new way of thinking about diabetes. A new article - published in a special supplement to the February issue of Diabetes Care by a leading expert in the emerging field of diabetes surgery - points to the small bowel as the possible site of critical mechanisms for the development of diabetes. The study's author, Dr. Francesco Rubino of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, presents scientific evidence on the mechanisms of diabetes control after surgery. Clinical studies have shown that procedures that simply restrict the stomach's size (i.e., gastric banding) improve diabetes only by inducing massive weight loss. By studying diabetes in animals, Dr. Rubino was the first to provide scientific evidence that gastrointestinal bypass operations involving rerouting the gastrointestinal tract (i.e., gastric bypass) can cause diabetes remission independently of any weight loss, and even in subjects that are not obese. "By answering the question of how diabetes surgery works, we may be answering the question of how diabetes itself works," says Dr. Rubino, who is a professor in the Department of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College and chief of gastrointestinal metabolic surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. Dr. Rubino's prior research has shown that the primary mechanisms by which gastrointestinal bypass procedures control diabetes specifically rely on the bypass of the upper small intestine - the duodenum and jejunum. This is a key finding that may point to the origins of diabetes. "When we bypass the duodenum and jejunum, we are bypassing what may be the source of the problem," says Dr. Rubino, who is heading up NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell's Diabetes Surgery Center. In fact, it has become increasingly evident that the gastrointestinal tract plays an important role in energy regulation, and that many gut hormones are involved in the regulation of sugar metabolism. "It should not surprise anyone that surgically altering the bowel's anatomy affects the mechanisms that regulate blood sugar levels, eventually influencing diabetes," Dr. Rubino says. While other gastrointestinal operations may cure diabetes as an effect of changes that improve blood sugar levels, Dr. Rubino's research findings in animals show that procedures based on a bypass of the upper intestine may work instead by reversing abnormalities of blood glucose regulation. In fact, bypass of the upper small intestine does not improve the ability of the body to regulate blood sugar levels. "When performed in subjects who are not diabetic, the bypass of the upper intestine may even impair the mechanisms that regulate blood levels of glucose," says Dr. Rubino. In striking contrast, when nutrients' passage is diverted from the upper intestine of diabetic patients, diabetes resolves. This, he explains, implies that the upper intestine of diabetic patients may be the site where an abnormal signal is produced, causing, or at least favouring, the development of the disease. How exactly the upper intestine is dysfunctional remains to be seen. Dr. Rubino proposes an original explanation known in the scientific community as the "anti-incretin theory." Incretins are gastrointestinal hormones, produced in response to the transit of nutrients, that boost insulin production. Because an excess of insulin can determine hypoglycemia (extremely low levels of blood sugar) - a life-threatening condition - Dr. Rubino speculates that the body has a counter-regulatory mechanism (or "anti-incretin" mechanism), activated by the same passage of nutrients through the upper intestine. The latter mechanism would act to decrease both the secretion and the action of insulin. "In healthy patients, a correct balance between incretin and anti-incretin factors maintains normal excursions of sugar levels in the bloodstream," he explains. "In some individuals, the duodenum and jejunum may be producing too much of this anti-incretin, thereby reducing insulin secretion and blocking the action of insulin, ultimately resulting in Type 2 diabetes." Indeed, in Type 2 diabetes, cells are resistant to the action of insulin ("insulin resistance"), while the pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin to overcome the resistance. After gastrointestinal bypass procedures, the exclusion of the upper small intestine from the transit of nutrients may offset the abnormal production of anti-incretin, thereby resulting in remission of diabetes. In order to better understand these mechanisms, and help make the potential benefits of diabetes surgery more widely available, Dr. Rubino calls for prioritising research in diabetes surgery. "Further research on the exact molecular mechanisms of diabetes, surgical control of diabetes and the role played by the bowel in the disease may bring us closer to the cause of diabetes." Today, most patients with diabetes are not offered a surgical option, and bariatric surgery is recommended only for those with severe obesity (a body mass index, or BMI, of greater than 35kg). "It has become clear, however, that BMI cut-offs can no longer be used to determine who is an ideal candidate for surgical treatment of diabetes," says Dr. Rubino. "There is, in fact, growing evidence that diabetes surgery can be effective even for patients who are only slightly obese or just overweight. Clinical trials in this field are therefore a priority as they allow us to compare diabetes surgery to other treatment options in the attempt to understand when the benefits of surgery outweigh its risks. Clinical guidelines for diabetes surgery will certainly be different from those for bariatric surgery, and should not be based only on BMI levels," he notes. "The lesson we have learned with diabetes surgery is that diabetes is not always a chronic and relentless disease, where the only possible treatment goal is just the control of hyperglycemia and minimisation of the risk of complications. Gastrointestinal surgery offers the possibility of complete disease remission. This is a major shift in the way we consider treatment goals for diabetes. It is unprecedented in the history of the disease," adds Dr. Rubino. Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for 90 to 95 percent of all cases of diabetes, is a growing epidemic that afflicts more than 200 million people worldwide. At a time when diabetes is growing epidemically worldwide, Dr. Rubino says that finding new treatment strategies is a race against time. "At this point, missing the opportunity that surgery offers is not an option." In addition to having performed landmark studies in the field of diabetes surgery, Dr. Rubino was the principal organiser of an influential Diabetes Surgery Summit, held in Rome in March 2007. This international consensus conference helped establish the field, making international recommendations for the use of surgery and creating an International Diabetes Surgery Task Force. Dr. Rubino serves as a founding member.
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Mistaken Beliefs About Cancer Abound

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 27 (HealthDay News) -- People throughout the world have major misconceptions when it comes to what causes cancer, new research suggests. Results from a survey released Aug. 27 at the International Union Against Cancer's (UICC's) World Cancer Congress in Geneva, found that people tend to inflate the threat from environmental factors and minimize the threat of behaviors that are well-established cancer risk factors. Researchers interviewed 29,925 people in 29 countries last year to compare data on perceptions about cancer risk factors among high-, middle-, and low-income countries. Among their findings was the fact that people in high-income countries were least likely to believe that drinking alcohol increases the risk of cancer, when, in fact, cancer risk rises as alcohol intake increases. Specifically, 42 percent of the people in the high-income countries said alcohol does not increase the risk, compared with 26 percent of those in middle-income countries and 15 percent of those in low-income countries. Another finding was that people in high-income countries felt that not eating enough fruits and vegetables was more risky than drinking alcohol. The truth is that the evidence supporting the protective effect of produce consumption is weaker than the evidence that alcohol intake is harmful. In addition, people in rich countries thought that stress and air pollution were greater risk factors than alcohol intake, even though stress is not recognized as a cause of cancer and air pollution is a minor contributor compared with alcohol intake. The people in middle- and low-income countries were more likely than those in high-income countries to say that "not much can be done" to cure cancer or that they didn't know whether anything could be done. And a surprising 75 percent of survey respondents in low-income countries preferred for their doctor to make all their cancer treatment decisions, while 72 percent of the people in high-income countries said that the decisions should be made between the doctor and patient, or by the patient alone. Finally, people in all countries were more ready to accept that things they could not control (e.g., air pollution) were risk factors than things they could control (e.g., overweight, which is an established cancer risk factor). The researchers hope that their data will be used to put into action cancer education campaigns that address some of these misconceptions. "This survey reveals that there are some big unheard messages. These kind of data help us to quantify the differences between countries and to highlight where additional efforts are needed. Some of these countries have rarely had any population survey data to help their programme planning efforts," researcher David Hill, president-elect of UICC and director of the Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, said in a UICC press release. The survey was conducted by Roy Morgan Research and Gallup International on behalf of the UICC.
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Selective Killing of Autoimmune Cells Suggests Therapy for Type 1 Diabetes

Laboratory studies of type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases show that boosting levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) or its receptor activity selectively destroys autoreactive T cells, suggesting a possible cure for the diseases, investigators here reported.
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Independent associations between low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and cancer among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Data mining of records of more than 7000 Chinese patients with Type 2 diabetes and being treated with statins for high cholesterol suggests a V-shaped association between LDL cholesterol levels and cancer -- both low and high levels of LDL cholesterol being associated with elevated risk of cancer. These findings are independently commented upon in the same issue of CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) here: http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/179/5/403
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At 12 I Was Told I Had Diabetes and Wouldn't Reach a Ripe Age - Now I'M 63 and Fighting Fit ; Health

WHEN Susan Cottrell was 12 she was diagnosed with diabetes and told she would not survive into old age.

Now just having passed her 63rd birthday, Susan could hardly be described as old but she is certainly proving those early doctors wrong as she is fighting fit all these years later.

Susan's ability to control her diabetes, to eat correctly and to stay positive have won her the Alan Nabarro medal from the national charity Diabetes UK for having notched up 50 years of living with the illness.

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More Evidence Published That Epidemics of Childhood Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome Are Linked to Immunization

BALTIMORE, Aug. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Data by Dr. Bart Classen in The Open Endocrinology Journal provides further evidence that epidemics of childhood obesity, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome are the result of exposure to the increasing number of vaccines.

In a previous publication in The Open Endocrinology Journal, Dr. Bart Classen showed a 50% reduction of type 2 diabetes occurred in Japanese children following the discontinuation of a single vaccine, a vaccine to prevent tuberculosis.

Japanese children secrete large amounts of cortisol following immunization compared to Caucasians and Japanese children also have a low risk of developing type 1 diabetes.

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What Your Colon Has to Say About Sweets

The next time your sweet tooth sends out peanut-butter-cookie signals, stave off the sugar rush and reach for a spoonful of all-natural peanut butter instead. Why? Your colon will thank you. Ditching cookies and other sugar-laden refined carbs may mean less risk of colon cancer.
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Slim Down with This Vitamin

Lose a pound recently? Great! Then keep it off with this mighty nutrient: vitamin C. Research shows that your body needs sufficient vitamin C to burn fat -- and burning fat is key to keeping excess pounds away. So pop your C supplement, or snack on some C-rich orange sections before your next power walk
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Certain Socks Better for Diabetics

For diabetics suffering from circulation problems and foot swelling, finding the right pair of socks is more than a matter of comfort. Socks that create too much friction, are made out of constricting fabric or don’t allow moisture to ventilate properly can make diabetics particularly prone to sores and other foot ailments. In a survey addressing diabetics' sock needs, researchers at the University of Missouri took a closer look at some popular socks, finding that not all of them passed the diabetic-friendly test. According to researchers, 100% cotton socks were the worst as far as causing friction and trapping humidity. All-nylon socks, as well as socks made from different compositions of material, were generally found to be superior. In addition, researchers found that expensive brand-name socks were no more likely to offer greater comfort for diabetics than inexpensive generic models. It seems that several posts on this article are recommending Thor-lo socks. Here is the website: http://www.thorlo.com/ I think I will have to invest in a pair
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UT Southwestern Doctor Reports 'Intriguing' Diabetes Breakthrough

Dr. Roger Unger, chair of diabetes research at UT Southwestern Medical School, is quick to warn that practical applications, if any, are years away.

If the experiment is repeated in other labs, and then if leptin can be adapted to treat humans, it might offer the first alternate to the multiple insulin injections used by millions of people who have type 1 diabetes, Dr. Unger said.

How surprising was the result of the experiment?

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