Re: news on diabetes

[Guest guest]

Diabetes seems to be more out front in the news lately, perhaps because it

seems to go hand in hand

with the obesity situation. I just digested TIME magazine for 11/04/02 and

it has a special 15-page

information and advertising section on this subject. I learned it takes 2

donors for one of the islet

cell transplants; 4000 donor organs are available per year, while there are

" about " 1 million Type-1's

living with the disease; while the US Gov't limits stem cell research. They

also mention new non-

penetrative bloodsugar monitors. I am going to follow up some of the

organizational links provided and

see if i can learn more about the cost, availability, and viability of such

devices.

BTW, on a semi-related subject - hypoglycemia - i came to a tentative

conclusion on something i'd

suspected before. When i breakfast solely on beans - i mean around 400

calories of cooked soybean -

my sugar level seems to stay solid til i eat again, which may be around 8

PM. On the other hand,

if i include substantial more carbs in breakfast, like a sweetpotato, i seem

to sense running low on gas

by early afternoon. ( I have enuff experience with suffering with this

challenge, that i am very sensitive

to to indications and onset of plummeting sugar. ) What is interesting, to

me anyway, is that my one

big meal, quite late at night, is quite large in carbs, yet it really

doesn't bother me afterward or the

next day. What i mean is, i am less " sensitive " to carbohydrate, as the day

goes on. Part of this

effect is mixed in with body being habituated to certain eating patterns - i

mean i think more insulin

is released, or is somehow readied for release, at certain " learned " times

of day, the accustomed

mealtimes.

Hue

[Guest guest]

I recalled i had saved the Eugene, Oregon newspaper 'Register-Guard' for

8/12/02, with a front page

article, photo, and drawings under the title " Clinical Trials: Hope for

Diabetics " .

" Doctors at the U. of Edmonton developed a new technique....in 2000....

" Of 33 Canadian patients monitored since 2000, 15 no longer have to take

insulin,

15 need fewer shots...

" Now doctors in Seattle and 8 other centers....are trying the protocol...

" Kresse found a website and saw that she fit the parameters for

the trial:

she was lean, had type 1 diabetes longer than 5 years....and significant

problems

with metabolic control of glucose levels...

" On May 30, she got her first transplant at Virginia Mason Medical Center in

Seattle.

" ...Patients require 2 transplants and sometimes 3 because a single pancreas

doesn't

yield enough islets for a patient to make adequate amounts of insulin.

There is a website referenced:

www.pnri.org/hits

yes, that's the way it's printed, with " h i t s " the word. I could not

reach the website either with

the /hits or just the homepage; i have hispeed access so i must assume at

this time, the site has

reached max capacity.

I had saved this article to mail to a friend gal who also very closely meets

those requirements. But

postponed it again after reading afterward about the limited number of

patients taken. I think i will

mail it anyway. So your mention of this topic, Francesca, may do some

longterm good in unexpected

places.

Hue ( Albany, Oregon )

[Guest guest]

--- Francesca Skelton <fskelton@e...> wrote:

> This week's Parade magazine supplement to many weekend

> newspapers has an article on Diabetes. I can't find it

> online yet, but if I do I'll post the link.

Here's what I found in the news:

Cereal Fiber Intake May Be Protective Against Diabetes

By

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Oct 30 - Eating cereal fiber appears to

lower the risk of diabetes in whites, but not in blacks, researchers

report in the October issue of Diabetes Care.

Dr. June s of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,

and colleagues note that studies of dietary fiber intake and

diabetes have had mixed results. Some show a considerable effect and

others demonstrate no significant association.

To investigate further, the researchers studied 12,251 subjects aged

from 45 to 64 years. Over 9 years of follow-up, 1447 developed

diabetes. The incidence was greater in blacks (17.5%) than in whites

(10.2%).

There was no association between glycemic index and diabetes in

either blacks or whites. This was also true of factors including

total dietary fiber, and intake of legume fiber and fruit fiber.

Cereal fiber intake was inversely associated with the risk of

diabetes in both blacks and whites, but this association reached

statistical significance only in whites. For whites, the hazard

ratio for diabetes was 0.75 in the highest compared to the lowest

quintile of cereal fiber intake. The corresponding figure for blacks

was 0.86.

The researchers suggest that this lack of a significant association

may have been due to a small sample size, and they call for further

studies in this " and other ethnic groups that are at increased risk

for this disease. "

Furthermore, as Dr. s told Reuters Health, " given the

explosion in the worldwide rates of diabetes that is following on

the heels of the obesity epidemic, we need to be working hard to

develop programs to prevent obesity and diabetes. At the same time

it is very important to have more research on the impact of dietary

fiber and other dietary factors on the development of the disease. "

Diabetes Care 2002;25:1715-1721.

[Guest guest]

--- Francesca Skelton <fskelton@e...> wrote:

> Also, the latest research suggests that those who eat

> whole grains, such as cereals have the lowest diabetes

> incidence. Whole grains appear to increase the efficiency

> of insulin, so that less is required to metabolize sugar.

> (I recall a well respected CRONIE preaching that grains

> can safely be omitted from the diet - well omit an entire

> food group at your own risk - I'm sticking with Suz's

> " Checklist for CRON Variety " in the files......)

Whatever their benefits might be, grains have a good number

of problems associated with them - e.g.:

http://www.beyondveg.com/cordain-l/grains-leg/grains-legumes-1a.shtml

" Omitting an entire food group " does not seem like a particularly

unreasonable response to me. It is not as though it is a group of

foods that most of our ancestors had anything to do with.

[Guest guest]

Hi Hue,

On hypoglycemia, I don't usually have a problem except with certain foods, like grits. A cup of grits will knock me out, but put some fat on it like egg yokes or butter and the effect doesn't happen at all. Only with grits - not potatoes - not sugar - not rice. Sometimes noodle soup if it has a lot of noodles. I avoid low-on-gas by eating more meals/snacks. I never noticed the effect with beans, but I don;t eat a lot of beans except some green beans and peas. I'm mostly vegetarian except for milk, and occasional seafood gumbo. So maybe spacing is the answer, small (350 kcal) meals.

Regards.

----- Original Message -----

From: Hue

Sent: Saturday, November 02, 2002 9:12 PM

Subject: Re: [ ] news on diabetes

BTW, on a semi-related subject - hypoglycemia - i came to a tentativeconclusion on something i'dsuspected before. When i breakfast solely on beans - i mean around 400calories of cooked soybean -my sugar level seems to stay solid til i eat again, which may be around 8PM. On the other hand,if i include substantial more carbs in breakfast, like a sweetpotato, i seemto sense running low on gasby early afternoon. ( I have enuff experience with suffering with thischallenge, that i am very sensitiveto to indications and onset of plummeting sugar. ) What is interesting, tome anyway, is that my onebig meal, quite late at night, is quite large in carbs, yet it reallydoesn't bother me afterward or thenext day. What i mean is, i am less "sensitive" to carbohydrate, as the daygoes on. Part of thiseffect is mixed in with body being habituated to certain eating patterns - imean i think more insulinis released, or is somehow readied for release, at certain "learned" timesof day, the accustomedmealtimes.Hue