Dr. Gojka Roglic, of the World Health Organization reports that revised computations of de aths due to diabetes triples the original number, bringing the figure to 2.9 million for the year 2000; thereby, establishing this illness as a leading cause of de ath worldwide.
The long-lasting weight reduction achieved with laparoscopic gastric banding, a minimally invasive type of weight loss surgery, can help in the prevention and remission of type 2 diabetes in obese patients, according to a report in the journal Diabetes Care. The surgery also helps stave off high blood pressure.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is notifying health care providers and patients of a problem with blood glucose meters made by Abbott Diabetes Care, Alameda, Calif. The meters can unintentionally be switched from one unit of measurement to another, resulting in an inaccurate blood glucose interpretation by the user. Users in the United States should make sure that their meter reading is displayed as mg/dL because an inaccurate reading can lead to taking the wrong dose of insulin or dietary changes, resulting in higher levels of sugar in the blood or hyperglycemia. Hyperglycemia can be a serious and even life-threatening condition and several cases of hyperglycemia have been reported to FDA.
A Syracuse University chemistry professor has patented a device that aims to make painful fingerstick testing of glucose levels a thing of the past for diabetics.
A government advisory panel backed approval of an insulin inhaler for the first time potentially offering adult diabetics an alternative to injections for controlling their blood sugar.
Episodes of dangerously low blood glucose, or hypoglycemia, were greatly reduced in people who received an islet transplant for poorly controlled type 1 diabetes, according to an analysis of outcomes in 138 patients who had the procedure at 19 medical centers in the United States and Canada. This is one of the conclusions of the Collaborative Islet Transplant Registry (CITR), which tracks many factors affecting the success of this experimental procedure in people with severe type 1 diabetes.
For type 1 diabetes patients, a episode of psychological stress significantly slows the decline in blood sugar concentrations following a spike after food intake — but has no effect on sugar levels during fasting — a new study shows.
Dr. Mikael Nilsson, of Lund University, Sweden, and team, studied the effect of whey protein on diabetic subjects consuming high glycemic index (GI) meals, which cause blood sugar levels to spike.
Inhaled insulin is effective therapy for patients with type 2 diabetes who fail to obtain adequate blood sugar control with diet and exercise, according to a report in the journal Diabetes Care.
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.