In people with diabetes, diuretics work as well as ACE-inhibitors and calcium channel blockers in protecting against heart attack and improving survival, and offer more protection against congestive heart failure.
Diabetic retinopathy has been found in nearly 8 percent of pre-diabetic participants in the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), according to a report presented today at the American Diabetes Association’s 65th Annual Scientific Sessions. Diabetic retinopathy, which can lead to vision loss, was also seen in 12 percent of participants with type 2 diabetes who developed diabetes during the DPP. No other long-term study has evaluated retinopathy in a population so carefully examined for the presence or development of type 2 diabetes.
A significantly lower risk of heart disease can now be added to the list of proven long-term benefits of tight glucose control in people with type 1 diabetes. Researchers announced this finding today at the annual scientific meeting of the American Diabetes Association after analyzing cardiovascular (CVD) events such as heart attack, stroke, and angina in patients who took part in the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) years ago.
An experimental pill that controls blood fats as well as blood sugar could be a better treatment for diabetics with high cholesterol even though side effects may be worse than current drugs, researchers said.
Diabetes mellitus affects more than 16 million Americans. It damages blood vessels, including the coronary arteries of the heart. Up to 75 percent of those with diabetes develop heart and blood vessel diseases. Diabetes also can lead to stroke, kidney failure, and other problems.
The Zone Diet was developed by Barry Sears, a former researcher in biotechnology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Researchers from the National Institutes of Health have discovered the critical sequence of events by which insulin stimulates the entry of glucose into fat cells. The study, appearing in the May 9 Journal of Cell Biology, was conducted by researchers from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
The basis for the Zone diet, by Barry Sears, Ph.D. (a biochemist, neither a physician nor a dietitian), is that if a person eats the correct ratio of carbohydrate to protein to fat (40/30/30), s/he will improve his or her health, weight, and athletic performance, because certain hormones will be balanced and therefore in the preferred “zone.” The hormones he focuses on are insulin (necessary for glucose to enter our cells) and eicosanoids (hormone-like substances that regulate inflammation. Some eicosanoids are by-products of metabolism.).
The low GI nutrition approach – which ranks foods based on how quickly they raise your blood-sugar levels – is widely acknowledged by health experts as the healthier, better balanced, and more flexible alternative to every other diet regimen.
The glycemic index is a ranking of carbohydrates based on their immediate effect on blood glucose (blood sugar) levels. It compares foods gram for gram of carbohydrate. Carbohydrates that breakdown quickly during digestion have the highest glycemic indexes. The blood glucose response is fast and high. Carbohydrates that break down slowly, releasing glucose gradually into the blood stream, have low glycemic indexes.