The Diabetes Pro

Peppermint will soothe your tummy. Ginseng will give you energy, save your memory, and make you the coolest kid on the block. And apparently, cinnamon might be just the thing for diabetics.

Everyone has their own opinion on complementary and alternative medicine. It’s important to work with your doctor, and be honest with them about what supplements, herbal or otherwise, that you’re taking. Some alternative therapies are very powerful, and if you keep your physician in the dark about what you’re doing, you can contribute to some very big health problems.

The latest on cinnamon is that when used in a concentrated liquid extract, it can help promote healthy blood sugar levels. A Pakistani study, in which participants took between one and six grams of cinnamon daily for forty days, details that the cinnamon taking participants saw significant improvements in blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglycerides.

The next paragraph in the study, however, is what I find to be very telling:

The survey, which asked participants to describe what they had eaten in the last twenty-four hours, found more than 40% had not eaten a single piece of fruit, 20% had not eaten one vegetable, 55% had eaten red meat, and more than 44% had eaten at least one serving of luncheon meat or bacon that day.

Before you run out to buy cinnamon supplements, consider that. In diabetes, perhaps more than almost any other condition, we really are what we eat. Addressing proper nutrition (and getting away from the bologna!) may be far more critical to controlling blood sugar than cinnamon supplements — or what ever else the supplement flavor of the month may be.

Do you know why today’s important? It’s the 86^th anniversary of the first insulin injection. I realize this isn’t the type of holiday you’ve got marked on the calendar — and good luck getting the boss to give you the day off! — but it is kind of cool.

Fred Banting, a Canadian who served with distinction during World War 1, spent his life dedicated to diabetes research. A talented physician, he pioneered the treatment of diabetes with injectable insulin. The first insulin injection was given to Leonard Thompson, in 1922. Thompson lived 13 years under Banting’s care — at a time when diabetes was a far more fatal condition than it is today.

We’ve come a long way since that first shot! Banting, with his hypodermic, would have been astonished to see today’s insulin pens and jets, not to mention external insulin pumps! The fact that inhaled insulin — where insulin is delivered via inhaler, similar to the way asthmatics take their medication — is on the horizon is even better.

Still, Banting’s work was absolutely groundbreaking, and laid the foundation for the convenient treatment options we have available to us today. He, along with colleague J.J.R. MacLeod, were awarded the Nobel Price for Medicine in 1923 in recognition of their achievement.

So today, when you reach for your pen, or your pump is quietly working along, take a moment to smile and say “Thanks, Fred!”

Wanted to make you aware of this promotion.  Maybe we can all be involved in this fight against diabetes!  Please consider shopping at your local store.  Thanks from your fellow believer!

For two weeks, January 6-19, 2008, T.J. Maxx stores throughout the United States will hold the second annual in-store promotion to raise money for Joslin Diabetes Center’s High Hopes Fund and help advance our fight against diabetes. 

This is really something special, since there are more than 850 T.J. Maxx stores nationwide.  Last year’s promotion raised more than $290,000 for the High Hopes Fund. To find a local T.J. Maxx store, click here.

“Oh, you’re a diabetic?” The hostess smiles, obviously mentally reviewing what non-alcoholics she’s got in the fridge. “Let me see if I’ve got something you can drink.”

Sound familiar? Almost everyone knows that diabetes and alcohol don’t go well together. Some even assume, sometimes incorrectly, sometimes not, that a mixed drink will kill a diabetic. That’s not always true. However, there is a relationship between diabetes and negative reactions to alcohol. What isn’t as well known is why.

That mystery might be resolving, thanks to a group of scientists at the Karolinska Institute. This leading Swedish medical university may have discovered how consuming alcohol impacts insulin secretion, which often results in diabetics experiencing severe hypoglycemia.

That’s a mouthful of a sentence, isn’t it? Pared down, we all know how it goes: a diabetic takes a drink, and chances are they’re going to go into shock. It’s ugly, it’s nasty, and it’s scary. But why does it happen?

The problem might be in the pancreas. In the study, scientists measured pancreatic function in diabetic and non-diabetic patients alike. There was a marked change in pancreatic activity, prompting the organ to produce excess amounts of insulin. There may also be a relationship between medication and treatment protocols used to treat Type 2 diabetes and the hypoglycemic reaction to alcohol. Additionally, the study pointed out that people who could be classified as alcoholics tend to have other health issues — poor nutrition, liver and pancreatic damage — that contribute to the reaction.

This is a very individual situation: some diabetics can drink moderate amounts of alcohol safely, while others experience very negative health consequences after even the smallest drink. You know your body better than anyone: talk with your physician about what amount of alcohol is safe for you.

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to you.  If you are reading this column, you are as interested about your diabetes care as I am.  Recently, I “celebrated” my 47 year anniversary since being diagnosed as a diabetic.  At that time I was 14 years old and had no idea because of my youth what changes in my life were about to begin.  Having virtually no idea what it meant to be a diabetic, I put my care in the hands of my physician and was hospitalized two days later.  Why wait two days?  This was decided because of many factors. 

The physician who diagnosed me was also treating my father with his first heart attack.  My father being only 47 years old (how coincidental is the number 47!).  Being this was the day before Thanksgiving, the doctor had a sensitivity to what was to take place and decided to allow me to have the holiday dinner with my friends and family.  However, it was truly unfortunate that my father was not at our table.  We were cautioned to not let him know my current condition since it could conflict with his care following his heart attack. 

I had planned to be out of town with an organization for the weekend and, therefore, my father automatically assumed I had joined them and would be back in town on Sunday.  On Monday morning I begged the doctor to let me visit my father since he was only one floor away from where I was being hospitalized.  Honestly, from my observation, my father miraculously handled this much better than my mother had.  While we were at the doctor’s office and the diagnosis was presented, my mother became very tearful.  I had no idea why she was crying since this was totally foreign to me, and at the same time did not know how life altering this journey of my life was about to become. 

I totally consumed all information that was presented to me.  As you can imagine, 47 years ago the means of control was primitive.  I was instructed via the use of an orange how to inject the insulin.  That poor piece of fruit…it had no chance of ever being diabetic!  Sometime later came the testing of urine.  No, at home blood sugar testing was not available.  As a matter of fact it was not until many years later that we had the knowledge and privilege of managing our own illness via the many tools now on the market. 

The means of testing was by urinating into a cup, followed by a test tube into which drips of urine mixed with water were placed.  Then came the magic pill.  I would drop in a pill that would fizzle and when finished shake and bake!  The colors would range from blue to yellow.  Blue was the bonus color meaning there was no glucose present, and then the dreaded yellow with shade of orange in between.  What would happen next you might be wondering.  At your next appointment you would discuss the few and far between results.  Who knew what to do with any of this since your care was totally in the hands of your physician.

My next article will give you the wonders of the Joslin Clinic, a teaching facility, both in and outpatient.  It was truly mind opening what the people involved at the Clinic shared with us, the people coping with the daily routines to try to find ways to control our disease.  Coping may be too harsh a word because they presented information that was technical, while at the same time eye opening.

A relationship between sleep and type two diabetes?

Is there a relationship between the number of hours of sleep someone enjoys and the likelihood of them developing type two diabetes? The answer could be yes, according to this story (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080101093903.htm) in Science Daily.

In case you don’t want to click the link, let me just give you some highlights: Researchers at the University of Chicago have discovered that suppressing the amount of sleep otherwise healthy young adults get increases their likelihood of developing type two diabetes. Depriving these individuals of two or three day’s worth of deep sleep was found to lead to a decrease in insulin sensitivity — a decrease that was comparable to gaining twenty to thirty pounds!

This is the first study to conclusively link sleep deprivation and type two diabetes. Previous studies had linked poor sleep patterns to obesity and other risk factors. From this research, it is clear that slow-wave sleep plays a role in maintaining normal glucose control.

Sleep patterns tend to change as we age (just like everything else, alas!) which could play part of the role in the relationship between insulin sensitivity and increasing age. Subjects in this study were all in their twenties, and slept for over 8 hours — yet their sleep was interrupted repeatedly throughout the evening. At the end of each study, the researchers gave intravenous glucose (a sugar solution) to each subject, then took blood samples every few minutes to measure the levels of glucose and insulin, the hormone that controls glucose uptake.

I think the results are fascinating, especially as we have some measure of control over how much sleep we get. Go check it out for yourself, and let me know what you think!