DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #12: NEW Cause of Diabetes???

From the first moment I discovered I had been diagnosed with DIABETES, I joined a HUGE “club” that has been rapidly expanding since it stopped being a death sentence in the early 20th Century. Currently, there are about HALF A BILLION PEOPLE who have Type 2 Diabetes. For the past 3500 years – dating back to Ancient Egypt – people have suffered from diabetes. Well, I’m one of them now… Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting Diabetes research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: STARTING with a 2014 article, “Diabetes – Will it Ever be cured?”; I check up on the various therapies mentioned…

“A new study by researchers at Lund University provides increased support for the idea that epigenetic changes can cause type 2 diabetes. The researchers behind the new findings published in Nature Communications now aim to develop methods for disease prevention.” (Link below for the Science Digest condensed version!)

OK – so what does this mean? The key words are “epigenetic changes”.

You already know that we get our genes – hair color, body build, bone structure, even aspects of personality – from our parents. We’re made up of half of each parent’s DNA.

Now, the DNA doesn’t come out in us as a PERFECT half Mom-half Dad proportions. I can look more like my mom and my sister can look more like our dad than us being perfect blends of both parents.

The same is also true for susceptibility to disease, ability to recover from injury, tendency toward receiving certain kinds of injury. For example, while I am NOT TALKING ABOUT PREDESTINATION!!!!, it’s possible that bone and joint structure can lead to some siblings having “bad knees” and others having no trouble at all. Some siblings may show early signs of heart disease, others may have no trouble. Still others my experience kidney stones, while no on else in the family has that challenge.

“Epigenetics is the study of how your behavior and the environment around you can cause changes that affect the way your genes work. Unlike genetic changes, epigenetic changes are reversible and do not change your DNA sequence, but they can change how your body reads a DNA sequence.”

That was the simple explanation! How about this: you have you DNA. There’s ALL SORTS of information stored on there. Like say lung cancer is a big issue in your family. But when your parents got married, Dad insisted that because his parents died of lung cancer after smoking since they were old enough to hold a cigarette (and grew up in a house where Mom and Dad smoked like a coal-fired power plant). NO ONE IN HIS FAMILY WAS GOING TO EVER LET A CIGARETTE TOUCH THEIR LIPS.

While he dies of lung cancer, none of the ten kids ever have any kind of problem with lung cancer…because they weren’t exposed to the conditions that would “activate” the gene that would malfunction and allow them to develop lung cancer.

In fact, I spent my first six years of life with a dad who smoked regularly, yet I've never had a single issue in the sixty years since he stopped...

The article goes on to say: “…epigenetic changes that arise due to environmental and lifestyle factors can affect the function of genes.” And this means…what?

I have the genes that would let me develop Type 2 diabetes. If I had made different choices in my life: become a long-distance runner; learned to love exercise; paid even MODERATE attention to my diet (NOT just stop eating so much sugar…as I’ve pointed out before, TABLE sugar is SUCROSE; blood sugar is GLUCOSE. While related they are NOT the same. EVERYTHING you eat gets broken down into glucose – not just candy sugar! Fats, proteins, and carbohydrates all break down into glucose. Surprisingly, FAT is one of the biggest culprits of diabetes glucose surges. It’s why the October 23, 2023 article on the HealthLine website dings off 17 foods that can lower your blood sugar (aka GLUCOSE!!!)

They are (in no particular order): broccoli/broccoli sprouts; seafood (NOT FRIED!!!); pumpkin/pumpkin seeds; nuts/nut butter (NOT SWEETENED!); okra (EWWW! Sorry, not a big okra fan!); flax seed; beans and lentils; chia seeds; kimchi/sauerkraut (sauerkraut (EWWWW!) I love kimchi!); kale; BERRIES (any kind!); avocados; oats/oat bran (dark chocolate chip oatmeal cookies sweetened with monk sugar?…can’t even tell the difference!); citrus FRUITS (not citrus DRINKS! They have tons of sugar-added); kefir and yogurt (a plus for me is the yogurt adds calcium – one cup, twice a week, keeps my legs from cramping!); eggs; apples (we live in Minnesota – we INVENTED some of the most popular apple varieties and we’ve gone apple picking every fall for years now!)…

So – even if you come from a family with parents who have Type 2 diabetes – you can make good choices NOW and prevent the same fate!

Links: 17 Foods to Lower Your Blood Sugar (healthline.com);
Image: https://asploro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Diabetes-Research_Open-Access.jpg

Christmas 2023: "...the shadow of the cross is cast by the light of Bethlehem's star."

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer; the first hints of Dad's Alzheimer's; the first of my own grapples with diabetes...there was an awkward silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer, or parent or spouse had Alzheimer's Disease, or who had Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes themselves...seem disinclined to talk and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…

I remember the first holiday during my wife’s recovery – the double mastectomy had been in March; chemotherapy had taken most of the summer. Then the holidays were upon us.

I didn’t write about ANYTHING having to do with them. I certainly don’t remember what we did, but my guess is that family time was curtailed and we likely spent that time at home.

The significant thing was that I DIDN’T WRITE ABOUT IT.

If you take a moment and notice the nearly 500 posts I’ve done since March of 2011, you can imagine the significance of that. I was writing about different kinds of cancers as well as describing the origins and effects of the various drugs she’d endured during chemotherapy.

I was NOT talking about either her feelings or my feelings during the holidays. There are no comments on Thanksgiving or the first day of school or any other significant days during that time. Everything was focused on CANCER. DEFEATING CANCER. My “Christmas Message” in 2012 was “Chemo Killed Colds?” How meaningful.

Maybe I was mad still? My daughter certainly was.

Finally, in 2013, I dealt with it. Below you’ll find the post I managed to write then…

"Random, huh? Whew! Talk about random! Why would thoughts of death intrude on this holy time of year when we celebrate Santa Claus, children, “Ho, ho, ho!”, RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER…

Oh, and the Birth of the Christ Child.

I think about how Target and Walmart and Kay Jewelers and Marshall’s have coopted the season. And Christians fight back with pictures of Santa kneeling at the Manger.

My wife and daughter and I watched one of our season’s favorites the other night, Joyeux Noël (a 2005 French film about the World War I Christmas truce of December 1914, depicted through the eyes of French, Scottish and German soldiers…written and directed by Christian Carion…screened out of competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival…nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 78th Academy Awards. The film was one of Ian Richardson's last appearances before his death on 9 February 2007.)

The one Christian Holy Day Wall Street has never been able to coopt is Easter, because Easter is secularly speaking, about a gruesome, governmental execution. For Christians it’s about sacrifice and Resurrection – much like the film, Joyeux Noël.

Much like life in the shadow of death that breast cancer brings to everyone who experiences it, or loves someone who experiences it, or works with those who experience it. Like the inevitable end of virtually every Alzheimer's patient. Even when a diagnosis of diabetes seems to throw a shadow over the future.

This holiday season is somewhat sober for me for many reasons. Yet somehow that has created in me a deeper appreciation for the joy of this same season – a profound thankfulness for many, many things. This thankfulness isn’t like the Christmas play in MERRY CHRISTMAS, CHARLIE BROWN! Rather it’s like the thankfulness of Linus’ recitation of Luke 2: 1-14 – calm, peaceful, fully aware of what he is saying.


An interesting side-story, from Wikipedia: "Christian Carion (who wrote "Joyeux Noel") spent his youth in his parent's farm fields in Northern France, where he was constantly reminded of World War I as the family often found dangerous, unexploded shells left over from the conflicts in the fields. He had also heard of the stories in which French soldiers would leave their trenches at night to meet with their wives in the surrounding German-occupied towns and return to fight the next morning. Carion stated that he'd never heard of the actual Christmas truce incidents while growing up in France, as the French Army and authorities suppressed them, having been viewed as an act of disobedience. He was introduced to the stories via a historian who showed him photos and documents archived in France, Great Britain, and Germany, and became fascinated. He tried to portray all of the soldiers with equal sympathy, as "the people on the frontline can understand each other because they are living the same life and suffering the same way", so he could understand how the truce could have come about. He endeavored to stay true to the real stories, but one of the things he had to change was the fate of the cat that crossed into various trenches. In reality, the cat was accused of spying, arrested by the French Army and then shot by a firing squad, as an actual traitor would have been. The extras in the movie refused to participate in this scene, so it was amended to have the cat imprisoned."]

On that sobering note, and as a reminder of something I discovered a few days ago, "I forget that the shadow of the cross is cast by the light of the star over Bethlehem", I go to ponder this again...


May your Holy Day Season remind you of the same.

Image: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2080/2146696283_afc861ff00_o.jpg

GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…TYPE 2 DIABETES #17: Diabetes and Holiday Cheer…

For the first time since I started this blog eleven years ago, it’s going to be about me. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes two weeks ago. While people are happy to talk about their experiences with diabetes, I WASN’T comfortable with talking about diabetes. My wife is Type 2, as are several friends of ours. The “other Type” of diabetes was what caused the death of my Best Man a year after my wife and I got married. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was a kid. It was called Juvenile Diabetes then. Today it’s Type 1. Since then, I haven’t WANTED to talk about diabetes at all. But…for my own education and maybe helping someone else, and not one to shut up for any known reason, I’m reopening my blog rather than starting a new one. I MAY take a pause and write about Breast Cancer or Alzheimer’s as medical headlines dictate; but this time I’m going to drag anyone along who wants to join my HIGHLY RELUCTANT journey toward better understanding of my life with Type 2 Diabetes. You’re Welcome to join me!

I’m sure you’ve got all of your “hacks” for surviving the holiday Food Onslaught! I’m aware of it this year because my wife and I had our FIRST big party – making and decorating sugar cookies, Russian teacakes, with tacos afterward…

Haven’t taken my blood sugars yet, but I’m sure they won’t be great. My stomach is rumbling as well, so it inspired me to do a bit of work for myself, and I’ll share with you:

The A-1 thing to do during the holidays is to PLAN AHEAD! Your eleven-year-old granddaughter can eat six cookies and burn it off the next day. My 66-year-old metabolism DON’T WORK THAT WAY ANYMORE!

Make fruits and veggies a BIGGER part of our holidays than usual; and make them good so OTHERS will join me in eating healthier.

I need to pay Attention to how MUCH I’m eating.

I’ve tried the “fast-and-binge” method and it doesn’t work well for me – ON THE OTHER HAND, the “ignore-what-I’m-eating-and-it-will-all-go-away” hasn’t been particularly helpful, either!

I need to make sure I DRINK WATER! In our place, with three grandchildren, six kids and their spouses – we lay on the cases of soda. I should be drinking SOME water, at least!

I SHOULD test the blood sugars regularly – the problem with my is that I only get so many test strips each cycle (that insurance pays for), so I have to stick (no pun intended) with taking it once a day. My wife’s got a constant glucose monitor, so that’s one thing she can do regularly!

If I work to spread out the KINDS of carbs I'm indulging in and MAYBE avoid eating 18 sugar cookies with frosting or two bowls of chocolate-dipped pretzels. Steer toward oatmeal-raisin cookies, maybe broccoli instead of corn, and bring a lentil stew for everyone to enjoy.

When I toast in the New Year – I can work hard to control the amount. I don’t NEED a bottle of champagne when a fluted glass will do just fine!

One thing about youngsters during the holidays, they WANT to be out in the snow! I'm planning to join them sometimes!

If the holidays bring sadness with them – and they often do – I need to be aware of that and make a plan for doing something thoughtful that reminds me of happier days. The holidays are SUPPOSED to be a celebration of the things we hold dear. What can WE do or ask other to HELP US DO that will add a spark of peace to the holidays?

Finally, from THE STRAWBERRY POST: Here to Entertain, Educate & Inspire!

“Diabetes isn’t meant to stop you enjoying Christmas, but it’s good to be aware of what can happen during this time. So please be aware in the lead up to Christmas and make sure that you know what could occur and how to fix it so you can enjoy the day as much as possible.”

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU ALL!

Resources During The Holidays: https://our.today/wellness-watch-how-to-maintain-your-diet-as-a-diabetic-during-the-christmas-season/ ; https://www.bannerhealth.com/healthcareblog/better-me/how-can-i-manage-my-diabetes-and-still-enjoy-the-holidays

Image: https://thestrawberrypost.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/table-with-christmas-decoration-and-food.jpg

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #12: For Type 2 Diabetics? Jump-Starting the Pancreas???

From the first moment I discovered I had been diagnosed with DIABETES, I joined a HUGE “club” that has been rapidly expanding since it stopped being a death sentence in the early 20th Century. Currently, there are about HALF A BILLION PEOPLE who have Type 2 Diabetes. For the past 3500 years – dating back to Ancient Egypt – people have suffered from diabetes. Well, I’m one of them now… Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting Diabetes research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: The FACT is that as much as I would like it to be…THIS IS NOT TODAY! But it IS in the future and scientists are working on it!

“Everybody with diabetes has a reduced number of beta cells, but all still have some beta cells. Everyone with diabetes needs more beta cells. We set out years ago to find drugs that could help beta cells replicate,” Dr. Andrew F. Stewart at Mount Sinai Hospital of New York, says.

But some of us are a bit impatient. As a science teacher who CONTINUES his education in many areas of science, I have a vested interest in research dealing with breast cancer, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Type 2 Diabetes. I did a bit of searching, and we have few genuinely radical ways of treating our condition using sugar scavengers and drugs (both solid and injectable) that deal with the glucose in our blood in various ways: “Several classes of type 2 diabetes medicines exist. Each class of medicine works in a different way to lower blood sugar. A medication may work by causing the pancreas to make and release more insulin, limiting the liver's ability to make and release sugar, blocking the action of enzymes in the intestines that break down carbohydrates, slowing how quickly cells take in carbohydrates, improving cells' sensitivity to insulin, limiting the kidneys' ability to take in sugar, which increases the amount of sugar that leaves the body in urine, and slowing how quickly food moves through the stomach.”

While those keep millions of us alive and able to enjoy life to its fullest extent, I wondered about what LONG-TERM treatments might be like.

In the old 1986 STAR TREK movie, “THE VOYAGE HOME”, an elderly woman is laying on a surgical stretcher, waiting in a hospital corridor. Obviously listless and in pain, Doctor McCoy of the USS Enterprise hurries past. He takes a moment to ask her what’s wrong. She tells him she’s waiting for dialysis. Genuinely surprised, he says, “My God! What is this, the Dark Ages? He turns back to the patient and hands her a large white pill. As they later escape with Chekov, the old lady is in a wheelchair, wildly waving her arms, crying, “The doctor gave me a pill and I grew a new kidney! The doctor gave me a pill and I grew a new kidney!”

As if…

On the other hand…why not? The future is already HINTING at what is to come!

In the January 27, 2022 issue of the medical journal, Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology “Mount Sinai researchers are developing a novel two-drug approach to treating diabetes that enables the regeneration of insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells. A team led by Andrew F. Stewart, identified an orally-active drug class that could make beta cells REPLICATE, creating living WORKING beta cells! The prototype drug, called harmine, is a natural product found in plants. Pure harmine has never been studied carefully in humans, but at doses shown to be effective at inducing rodent and human beta cell regeneration in laboratory animals, AND it appears to be safe.”

However, this is not a Sci-Fi movie where they use the drug and POOF! everything is OK. “Although harmine is a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI), no psychoactive properties have been identified in animal studies at the doses we are employing, but animals can’t tell you if they’re hallucinating,” Dr. Stewart notes, adding “We’ll learn from this study what the maximum tolerable dose of harmine is in humans.”

Currently, MAOIs are used as “…antidepressants easing depression by affecting chemical messengers used to communicate between brain cells. Like most antidepressants, MAOIs work by ultimately effecting changes in the brain chemistry that are operational in depression.” SO far, harmine doesn’t seem to alter your brain in a negative way – though testing is ESSENTIAL if they want to eventually market the new treatment.

Most recently, Dr. Stewart and his team, found evidence to suggest that “the combination of a GLP-1RA (drugs like Trulicity) with the DRK1A inhibitor harmine TOGETHER started human beta cell replication in human pancreatic islets both in the lab and when they were transplanted into diabetic mice. The GLP-1RA and harmine combination also normalized glucose in diabetic mice compared to either drug alone…”

Finally, from a study published in June of 2023: "While more studies are needed to address mechanism and the identity of cell targets to improve methods to reduce the burden of insulin-dependent diabetes, these findings provide an exciting new avenue for the regeneration of beta-cells as a possible alternative source to islet transplantation for people living with diabetes and close that therapeutic gap."

So, there’s HOPE! Maybe not RIGHT NOW, but perhaps soon…

Links: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/type-2-diabetes/in-depth/diabetes-treatment/art-20051004#:~:text=A%20medication%20may%20work%20by,quickly%20cells%20take%20in%20carbohydrates.; https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/beta-cell; https://reports.mountsinai.org/article/endo2022-_3_beta-cell-harmine;  Study shows reactivation of beta-like cells in the pancreas to produce insulin (medicalxpress.com)

Image: https://asploro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Diabetes-Research_Open-Access.jpg

GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…TYPE 2 DIABETES #16: “This Simple Hack Will INSTANTLY Cure Your Type 2 Diabetes!!!!”

For the first time since I started this blog eleven years ago, it’s going to be about me. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes two weeks ago. While people are happy to talk about their experiences with diabetes, I WASN’T comfortable with talking about diabetes. My wife is Type 2, as are several friends of ours. The “other Type” of diabetes was what caused the death of my Best Man a year after my wife and I got married. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was a kid. It was called Juvenile Diabetes then. Today it’s Type 1. Since then, I haven’t WANTED to talk about diabetes at all. But…for my own education and maybe helping someone else, and not one to shut up for any known reason, I’m reopening my blog rather than starting a new one. I MAY take a pause and write about Breast Cancer or Alzheimer’s as medical headlines dictate; but this time I’m going to drag anyone along who wants to join my HIGHLY RELUCTANT journey toward better understanding of my life with Type 2 Diabetes. You’re Welcome to join me!

How many of you felt a rush of PURE JOY reading title of my post?

How many HITS do you think this post will get? (I’m going to keep a daily count starting today…)

How many of you desperately wish there WAS a cure…a pill…a shot…a simple way to let you eat however much you want to eat, whatever you want, whenever you want it, and that required absolutely no effort on your part whatsoever (except the effort to lift the first of a dozen BAKERY FRESH donuts to my face and eat them ALL without having my blood sugar affected in any way, shape, or form?

Apparently, there are a heckuvlot of us hanging out (in the case of my stomach, QUITE literally) near the Dairy Queen or MacDonald’s or Cane’s Fried Chicken or Olive Garden…or any of the OTHER places that those of us in the real world KNOW are basically off-limits because we have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes!

Here's a quote from the site, WEF Network: “A dedicated medical librarian with over 30 years of experience…uncovered the real root causes of diabetes and how it affects the body. Trying the solution, soon be able to shut off the debilitating effects of diabetes that's been ruining your life and feel completely normal again.”

I mean, despite the ridiculous grammar errors; and wondering faintly about the qualifications of a medical librarian (even with 30 years of experience…experience in…WHAT?) to announce that they have “uncovered the REAL ROOT CAUSES of diabetes”…despite several (slightly more reliable sources, like WebMD; Diabetes UK; Mayo Clinic; Northern Nevada Medical Center; National Institute of Health, and each country’s Diabetes Association (Example: American Diabetes Association; Diabetes Canada; Russian Diabetes Federation’, The International Diabetes Federation (“The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is an umbrella organization of over 230 national diabetes associations in more than 160 countries and territories” writing repeatedly that IT'S NOT POSSIBLE!

Or how about this headline: “Diabetes Discovery Leaves Doctors Speechless (Try This Tonight) A mind-blowing presentation that has been “going viral” because it shows you the best and easiest way to avoid “diabetes trap”. This 2023 discovery send shockwaves in the diabetes community. Every single patient who used this simple 30-second bedtime ritual balanced their blood sugar levels to normal range and sent their type 2 diabetes into remission! You must watch this incredible video before it disappears entirely! (At the bottom in near-microscopic print: “* Results will differ for each individual, depending on existing health factors, lifestyle and physical condition. The information contained on this site is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice provided by your doctor or physician. The information, we provide should not be used for diagnosis, treatment or prevention of any disease. Testimonials and results contained are reflective of the typical examples consumers experienced and may not be an implication of future results for you. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.”

And how many hits do you think this video has had? (here’s the address if you want to try it – I DID NOT - https://damnvision.com/new-diabetes-treatment/?gclid=CjwKCAiAxreqBhAxEiwAfGfndOwHgHAcEO1mqnMC0DvaMWHn5CWQtEtiCUrEfL7j-14zUItzo553AxoCWacQAvD_BwE )

According to this, 43,680 in the period of 16 hours…

What is it that sends people like me SCURRYING to check out these claims – to watch a video that shows someone in their kitchen at home, pouring a white liquid from a large bottle into another plastic bottle that used to have something else in it – claiming that it will (when countless actual doctors, medical institutes and research associations tell us there’s NO CURE FOR TYPE 2 DIABETES) keep us out of the “diabetes trap”?

It's to “magically” fix our problem. Make it so that, with the least amount of effort, we will be able to keep our blood sugars both stable AND in the safe range.

I WANT TO BE DONE WITH DIABETES!

But every creditable researcher, institute, and organization has a simple message, directly quoting THE premier medical institution on Earth – the Mayo Clinic (just an hour’s drive south of where I live! I also acknowledge that the Clinic itself doesn’t FOCUS on diabetes treatment, rather on hundreds of medical conditions. It operates on a level of trust such that the wealthiest and/or the most important people from around the world willingly fly to Rochester, Minnesota for treatment at the Mayo):

“There's no cure for type 2 diabetes. Losing weight, eating well and exercising can help manage the disease. If diet and exercise aren't enough to control blood sugar, diabetes medications or insulin therapy may be recommended.”

“Miracle Hack Cures Diabetes” = garbage.

Case closed.

Image: https://www.hcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/living-well-with-diabetes.jpg

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #11: “The HORRORS of Metformin!” Uh, say, WHAT?

From the first moment I discovered I had been diagnosed with DIABETES, I joined a HUGE “club” that has been rapidly expanding since it stopped being a death sentence in the early 20th Century. Currently, there are about HALF A BILLION PEOPLE who have Type 2 Diabetes. For the past 3500 years – dating back to Ancient Egypt – people have suffered from diabetes. Well, I’m one of them now… Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting Diabetes research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: What’s WRONG with Metformin?

Both my wife and I take the sugar-lowering type 2 diabetes medication, metformin. This blog was sparked by some concern an old friend of ours had. They wrote in a general “catch up” email: “Aren't there some new studies about how good metformin is? (Like maybe not so good?)”

So, I thought I’d check it out. I’m going to start with a doctor who apparently has questions about Metformin and has developed a HUGE line of alternative vitamins and supplements to use in place of Metformin. However, despite miles of glowing fabulous reviews about how wonderful his supplements are, he/the person in charge of his website, allowed this review to be published: “My experience with Dr. Ergin has been so opposite of these reviews that I question their veracity and/or source. To begin with, Dr. Ergin [ordered a] battery of tests he ordered did not provide an explanation of my symptoms, so a second round of the same test were ordered. Insanity, no? Frustrated I made an appointment with a GP who ordered a few additional test and was able to find the root of my symptoms. The difference I notice between the GP and Dr. Ergin is that medicine seems like a "calling" for the GP while Dr. Ergin seems overworked and pedantic. Afraid of making mistakes, he would be great for managing diabetes or thyroid problems but not for diagnostics. Beware." Additionally, “However, while the ingredients used are known, the products have not undergone third-party clinical trials…”

As with every medication, there are likely to be side-effects. The one I run across most often is called “in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease…may be susceptible to major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), and end-stage kidney disease (ESKD)”. The thing here, is that it’s primarily people who have chronic kidney disease – and I doubt very much that it’s a common disease. [“15% of US population has chronic kidney disease” - https://www.cdc.gov/kidneydisease/basics.html#:~:text=15%25%20of%20US%20adults%20are,is%20about%2037%20million%20people.]

Obviously, they would avoid using Metformin. Center for disease control in Atlanta states: “CKD is common in people with diabetes. Approximately 1 in 3 adults with diabetes has CKD. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes can cause kidney disease.” This seems a chicken and the egg – if a person is diabetic, they can eventually get CKD; but CKD causes MACE…so how do you know if you should continue or stop using metformin? Interesting…

What does metformin do and why is it important if keeping me healthy? Wikipedia states, “Metformin…is the main first-line medication for the treatment of type 2 diabetes…particularly in people who are overweight. Metformin is generally well tolerated, though may cause diarrhea, nausea, and abdominal pain, and there is a small risk of causing low blood sugar.

Metformin “…works by decreasing glucose production in the liver, [and] increasing the insulin sensitivity of body tissues…”. However, I found this as well: “The molecular mechanism of metformin is not completely understood.”

The physical aspects of how metformin acts were recently discovered (2020): “Metformin has been used for more than 60 years, and is the most frequently prescribed drug for diabetes in the world…A research team revealed that metformin promotes the excretion of blood sugar from the large intestine into the stool [this] may explain metformin's biological actions for which the underlying mechanism is unknown, and contribute to the development of new drugs for diabetes.”

So, we know how, we’re just not certain WHY. And as it’s been prescribed for the past 60 years, and the group of people who CANNOT take it is known, I’d say from this that YES: there are challenges and it’s not a “wonder drug”; but it does seem to be an effective tool in the current treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Links: https://www.practiceupdate.com/content/ada-2023-discontinuing-metformin-tied-to-worse-cardio-renal-survival-outcomes/154118; https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200603100503.htm; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metformin

Image: https://asploro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Diabetes-Research_Open-Access.jpg

GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…TYPE 2 DIABETES #15: What Do You Do When You’re TIRED Of Taking Care Of Your Type 2? PART 1 (MAYBE??? The Problem?)

For the first time since I started this blog eleven years ago, it’s going to be about me. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes two weeks ago. While people are happy to talk about their experiences with diabetes, I WASN’T comfortable with talking about diabetes. My wife is Type 2, as are several friends of ours. The “other Type” of diabetes was what caused the death of my Best Man a year after my wife and I got married. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was a kid. It was called Juvenile Diabetes then. Today it’s Type 1. Since then, I haven’t WANTED to talk about diabetes at all. But…for my own education and maybe helping someone else, and not one to shut up for any known reason, I’m reopening my blog rather than starting a new one. I MAY take a pause and write about Breast Cancer or Alzheimer’s as medical headlines dictate; but this time I’m going to drag anyone along who wants to join my HIGHLY RELUCTANT journey toward better understanding of my life with Type 2 Diabetes. You’re Welcome to join me!

PART 1 IS A BIT OF A RANT; PART 2 WILL OFFER UP SOME SOLID SUGGESTIONS!

Ya know, when I talk to my doctor about being tired of diabetes, he just brushes it off. I mean, he IS skinny as a rail, fit, and A PHYSICIAN’S ASSISTANT – he knows about diabetes. He knows EXACTLY what it does. So, of COURSE he avoids it.

But because HE avoids it, he sort of makes the assumption that once I have it, I can get better…

So, I wanted to find out if doctors have Type 2 diabetes – the quick answer is, “No idea, because the computer search doesn’t even RECOGNIZE the question!” Each time a searched I ended up with lists of hospitals that TREAT diabetes; specialist medical groups that TREAT diabetes; and medical resources for TREATING diabetes.

Only ONE resource even mentioned the possibility that DOCTORS can be diabetic…perhaps this is why when I visit certain physicians, PAs, nurses, and other allied personnel, they look at me with a critical eye – as if I intended to become a Type 2 diabetic through a slovenly lifestyle filled with sybaritic cupcake parties, a diet made up of any possible variety of sugar, pasta, fried food, and doughnuts. Like I’m somehow an IDIOT for ALLOWING MYSELF TO GET TYPE 2 DIABETES…

Maybe the above is an exaggeration – but only a slight one. Society at large ignores us on its constant and consistent path to consequence-free-maximum-gustatory-enjoyment, selling LITERAL tons of French fries, Big Macs, KFC/Raising Canes/Chick-fil-A/et al fried chicken…

BUT, the only admission to the guilt of (it seems like) having a weak personality and an inability to control yourself EVEN EXISTING IN THE MEDICAL PROFESSION, appears ONLY (as far as I can tell), in a journal referencing a study of Taiwanese doctors (and even THEY come out of smelling like only slightly wilted roses): “The current study found that the risk for DM (Diabetes Mellitus) in physicians was lower than that in the general population. Stratified analyses showed lower risks in the age subgroups of 35–49 years and 50–64 years and in the male population. Emergency physicians and surgeons had a higher risk for developing DM than other specialists. In physicians, male sex and older age were risk factors for DM.

“An explanation for the lower risk for DM observed among physicians in comparison with the general population is that, despite heavier workloads and the related poor lifestyle, the former have better medical knowledge, higher disease awareness, and easier healthcare access than the latter; these benefits may mitigate the risk for DM among physicians. The current result is also compatible with previous studies in Taiwan that showed that, despite physicians having higher risks for hypertension, hyperlipidemia, migraine, and herniated intervertebral disc than the general population [13,14,15,16], the former were also less vulnerable to major and life-threatening diseases, including cardiovascular, cancer, and severe sepsis than the latter [13, 17,18,19].”

If you do a search of American doctors, it will appear to you that they (unlike their Taiwanese associates) are completely and totally invulnerable to being AND flavor of Diabetic. This would explain their disdain for those of us who visit them in their offices…

Or not. It could also indicate a profound effort by the profession to continue to practice the art of Super Invulnerability and Imperviousness to Normal Aging And Disease…but that’s a false belief…

A new study published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association found the following: “Compared with people who don’t work in the medical field, health care workers face an increased risk of suicide, especially registered nurses, health care support workers and health technicians, according to a new study.

“The study, published Tuesday in the medical journal JAMA, estimates that the annual suicide rate in the United States among health care workers alone is about 14 per 100,000 person-years compared with about 13 per 100,000 person-years among non-health care workers. Person-years is a measurement that represents the number of people in a study multiplied by the years following them.”

I make an INFERENCE here – if the incidence of SUICIDE is higher among medical personnel – don’t you think it’s logical that something less deadly is ALSO higher than we’re aware of? I can’t even get a single Google hit on Type 2 diabetes among American medical personnel. OK – I checked: one hit: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6753812/

BUT: this covered ALL pathologies in ALL health-related careers, and covered the whole planet. Hmmm…might there be a bit of deception going on at health clinics across America? Maybe a sense of DENIAL? (“I’m exempt from controlling my eating habits! Look at how hard my job is! I deserve a little slack! I can function JUST FINE with my blood glucose levels above 300! I just won’t check them, that’ll fix everything!”)

I’d be interested to see what the incidence of Type 2 diabetes is among the health care world…And if our caregivers are dodging the bullet – can we expect them to be sympathetic at ALL when we share our struggles with them? ‘cause I know how I ACT when someone starts questioning one of my weaknesses too closely…I can get a TEENSY bit defensive when people find out I own over 2000 books in my basement library, yessiree, BOB!”

Source: https://www.healthline.com/health/type-2-diabetes/inspiration-when-youre-over-t2d#Four-things-to-try-when-youre-tired-of-type-2-diabetes ; https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-7403-z#:~:text=In%20comparisons%20among%20physicians%2C%20emergency,for%20DM%20than%20other%20specialists. ; https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/26/health/suicide-risk-health-care-workers/index.html#:~:text=The%20study%2C%20published%20Tuesday%20in,among%20non%2Dhealth%20care%20workers.

Image: https://www.hcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/living-well-with-diabetes.jpg

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #10: Which Is BEST For Diabetics: Queen’s “We Will Rock You” or “The Avengers” Soundtrack?

From the first moment I discovered I had been diagnosed with DIABETES, I joined a HUGE “club” that has been rapidly expanding since it stopped being a death sentence in the early 20th Century. Currently, there are about HALF A BILLION PEOPLE who have Type 2 Diabetes. For the past 3500 years – dating back to Ancient Egypt – people have suffered from diabetes. Well, I’m one of them now… Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting Diabetes research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: STARTING with an article from the August 22, 2023 post at Science Digest where they ask the question: Queen’s “We Will Rock You” or “The Avengers” Soundtrack?

I’m actually not even kidding!

But that's only PART of the question! The REAL question is how loud does your music have to be and WHAT kind of music is the best to play when you've got tiny packets of insulin in your blood that you may need to help you digest your meal and not go into a sugar coma or fall over from a sugar LOW???

Researchers working on novel ways to deliver insulin to the bloodstream of diabetics utilized a new technology. “…enclosing insulin-producing designer cells in capsules that can be implanted in the body. To be able to control from the outside when and how much insulin the cells release into the blood, researchers have studied and applied different triggers in recent years: light, temperature and electric fields…[They] have now developed another, novel stimulation method: they use music to trigger the cells to release insulin within minutes. This works especially well with “We Will Rock You,” a global hit by British rock band, Queen. (One of the members, is also a scientist himself. “Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Sir Brian aided the mission by helping to identify where Osiris-Rex could grab a sample from the asteroid.” (The recent NASA mission that dropped a reentry vehicle carrying 250 grams of material from asteroid Bennu, then continued on to its NEXT mission…)

"...researchers looked into which music genres caused the strongest insulin response at a volume of 85 dB. Rock music with booming bass like the song "We Will Rock You," from Queen, came out on top, followed by the soundtrack to the action movie The Avengers. The insulin response to classical music and guitar music was rather weak by comparison."

That a rock star and astrophysicist wrote and played music that “just happens” to be ideal for releasing insulin into a patient’s bloodstream is just one of the cool things about Sir Brian May, lead guitarist for the world-famous British band, Queen. (You know..."Bohemian Rhapsody"? Yes? No? (WHAT ROCK HAVE YOU BEEN HIDING UNDER! EVEN I KNOW WHO QUEEN IS! (Haven't you ever pounded on a nearby pop machine in the rhythm for "We Will Rock You" and then sing at the top of your lungs, "We will, we will, ROCK YOU!" Really? Wow...sad...)

The cells stimulated by the soundwaves are not, themselves a new thing: The scientists altered “human embryonic kidney cells [that were changed]…so that when they were exposed to high concentrations of glucose (as in a “sugar rush”), they responded by releasing insulin [IN RESPONSE TO THE SOUND AND FREQUENCY LEVEL found in the Queen song and Alan Silvestri’s sound track for The Avengers] when glucose levels reached dangerous levels. The insulin attaches itself to glucose molecules, transporting them to the liver for change into glucagon and storage, bringing blood sugars back to normal levels. This didn’t ONLY work for type 1 diabetes! “ the system was used to express glucagon-like peptide 1 in Type 2 Diabetes in mice, resulting in improved insulin secretion and post-meal glucose metabolism.”

I’d have volunteered for that study! Scientists don’t know if this will ever be turned into an actual treatment, “depends on whether a pharmaceutical company is interested in doing so. It could, after all, be applied broadly: the system works not only with insulin, but with any protein that lends itself to therapeutic use.”

But there you go! As my four-year-old grandson is wont to say when confronted by some amazing fact (of course, ALL facts are amazing at that age!): “Whaaaat???”

Links: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230822193045.htm
Queen’s “We Will Rock You” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tJYN-eG1zk, AVENGERS ( mix from all the movies) soundtrack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK3JHA2fTiI Image: https://asploro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Diabetes-Research_Open-Access.jpg

GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…TYPE 2 DIABETES #14: Just MOVING Helps…

For the first time since I started this blog eleven years ago, it’s going to be about me. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes two weeks ago. While people are happy to talk about their experiences with diabetes, I WASN’T comfortable with talking about diabetes. My wife is Type 2, as are several friends of ours. The “other Type” of diabetes was what caused the death of my Best Man a year after my wife and I got married. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was a kid. It was called Juvenile Diabetes then. Today it’s Type 1. Since then, I haven’t WANTED to talk about diabetes at all. But…for my own education and maybe helping someone else, and not one to shut up for any known reason, I’m reopening my blog rather than starting a new one. I MAY take a pause and write about Breast Cancer or Alzheimer’s as medical headlines dictate; but this time I’m going to drag anyone along who wants to join my HIGHLY RELUCTANT journey toward better understanding of my life with Type 2 Diabetes. You’re Welcome to join me!

I remember a really, really old joke that as a kid, I used without thinking: “Yo mama's so fat, when she sits around the house, she SITS AROUND the house!”

The phrase and ones like it have a fascinating history – I’m a word-geek, so I liked this.
Anyway, it got me to thinking about the weight I’ve gained since I was a teenager. At my physically mature adult, the LIGHTEST I’ve ever been was when I returned from West Africa. Admittedly, I’d had malaria at one point, and the number of snacks and cookies and candy bars and popcorn and…well all the rest – was severely limited by, um…NOT EVEN BEING THERE. When I returned, I weighed in at 150 pounds.

At the beginning of the Summer of 2023, I almost crushed the scale at 260 pounds. I was, quite literally approaching "laying AROUND" the house!

Today, I weigh 244.2 pounds.

How did I do it? Did I drink Kombucha Fermented Tea Drink? I DID drink a 16-ounce bottle last week in two glugs. But, no. I’d lost the weight before then.

Did I join Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, Livea, Noom, Optavia, Mediterranean Diet, Atkins, Whole30, New Mayo Clinic Diet, GOLO Diet, My Fitness Pal, LoseIt!, FatSecret, Fooducate, Strides, PlateJoy, Fitbit, Cronometer?

Nope. I HAVE done Weight Watchers and use their meal tracker right now; I was part of a Nutrisystem study designed to entice men into the program; I use several Atkins products (most notably their bars; and that’s about it. I started using Strava two years ago – I love biking, and for free, it tracks my route, how many miles I’ve ridden and how much time I’ve spent on my bike each week, for the past year, and total back to when I started biking. (My longest ride was 14 miles. My current average weekly mileage is 24 miles; my average number of rides/week is five. Since early spring (March 27), I’ve gone out riding 76 times, for a total of 47 hours and 27 minutes; and I’ve gone 398 miles!

All of the above is NOT to toot any horn I might have. My intent is to encourage you to move in the way you love most: walk, swim, bike, dance, yoga, ANYTHING THAT GETS YOU MOVING. Then figure out what a good pace is for you. For the first year, I rode every other day, once around the Lake (4.09 miles).

Later, that got boring, so I discovered four rides that were LONGER than four miles – 7.65 (Old Farm); 9.04 (Golf Course); 5.14 (Library) and 8.66 miles (River). I’d ride the Lake one day; skip a day, then one of the other four. Skip a day, a different one of the other four. This Spring, I found THAT was boring – this past summer, I rode the Lake, the next day I rode one of the Four; skipped a day, then did Lake, different one of the Four. I’m doing around 20 miles a week!

It's made a difference in my A1c as well: January 23 = 7.6; April 23 = 7.1; June 23 = 6.7…

So, my secret is to find something that gets you moving AND you love. Add together, repeat.

I don’t offer a Money-Back-Guarantee; but I CAN offer hope. I don’t offer a Program, but I’m offering a suggestion and the possibility that you CAN do it yourself! (Oh, BTW, my wife and I occasionally have a Dairy Queen treat! Based on my Weight Watcher tracker, ONE medium Peanut Buster Parfait hits me with 38 points! That’s ALL of my daily Points!

But, what-the-heck. Once or twice a month? I’m not beating myself up. I’m Human. And I’M slowly gaining control over my Type 2 diabetes. Wanna join me?

Source: https://www.forbes.com/health/body/best-weight-loss-program/; https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/best-weight-loss-apps; https://www.strava.com/get-started?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=RSR_B_SR_AllUser_US&utm_term=strava%20app%20running&utm_content=Brand_Running&gclid=CjwKCAjwjOunBhB4EiwA94JWsF16_TZQzNj_PLwpzbtVxjn9_zc1CioOgsDmIhxUoMm6eXyQoNjI0BoCHv4QAvD_BwE (Stick with the Free stuff. That’s all you really need – or go crazy! There’s plenty of crazy stuff there to pay for!)
Image: https://www.hcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/living-well-with-diabetes.jpg

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #9: “RADICAL” New Approach?????

From the first moment I discovered I had been diagnosed with DIABETES, I joined a HUGE “club” that has been rapidly expanding since it stopped being a death sentence in the early 20th Century. Currently, there are about HALF A BILLION PEOPLE who have Type 2 Diabetes. For the past 3500 years – dating back to Ancient Egypt – people have suffered from diabetes. Well, I’m one of them now… Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting Diabetes research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: “Radical New Approach to Managing Type 2 Diabetes Receives $3.5 Million”

OK, in today’s pop-a-pill-get-a-shot world, this study IS radical! In the real world, this strikes me as eminently a smart move smart people would take. But when it comes to Diabetes, how many of US are smart?

Think about it, I KNOW A Dairy Queen Peanut Buster Parfait® is NOT good for me; I know it will have a negative impact on my blood sugars the following morning. It’s not good for Olympic athletes, either. It’s not even particularly good for your average teenager But, does that matter?

Nah! I go ahead and get one anyway and hope my Type 2 Diabetes won’t notice it. Which is, for me, RIDICULOUS! I have a BS in Biology, I was a science teacher for 41 years, I also have an MS in School Counseling. I ain’t stoopid! But I AM when it comes to my Type 2 diagnosis.

Reading the first article explains not some kind of RADICAL new program. It outlines what I SHOULD have been doing all along. Possibly what we ALL should be doing anyway in today’s Fast-Food Nation: eating right. Simply put, this “radical new program” just received a $3.5 million dollar grant to do a large STUDY of “Glucose Everyday Matters, or GEM – aims to prevent blood sugar spikes via educated food and drink selection. This is coupled with physical activity to hasten recovery when blood-sugar spikes do occur. So someone might indulge in a piece of fruit or a small, sweet treat, knowing how it will affect them, and then go for an evening stroll to help even out their blood sugar.”

We all know how to eat right and of course exercise. I can do it myself. People all over the world eat right and exercise. Those people have normal blood glucose levels. They don’t need to take Metformin or Glipizide, Insulin, Ozempic, or any of the other drugs that are being coopted by obese people who want an way to get thin AND keep eating at MacDonald’s for four-square meals a day (“But I get a diet Coke with my double Big Mac Attack Burger!”) [PS – I AM an Obese People who wants a way to get thin and keep eating…].

BUT all that advertising is so…motivational! Even the weight loss clinics, and the fad diet foods (I KNOW of what I speak! I use Atkins food products; so if I sound disparaging, I’m SELF-disparaging!) It makes is sound easy.

When we try them, we discover much to our horror that they DON’T WORK. The way to lower my glucose levels and my A1c is by eating right and exercising.

That’s what this RADICAL program is supposed to test: to see if “GEM [Glycemic Excursion Minimization] was self-administered, [and] with the aid of a 4-chapter pocket guide…diary, automated motivational text messaging, and feedback from an activity monitor, as well as a Constant Glucose Monitor [CGM](an in-arm needle/sensor device that is read by the participant’s cell phone at any time), supplies for the 6-week intervention and the 3-month follow-up. Test subjects were instructed in the use of all technology.”

Anyone who is NOT in the program can ALSO do this. In fact…well, I have some opinions about the $3.5 Million that this program was granted to experiment with…I will try very, very hard not to judge. But this is something that I have managed to do myself. I DO take Metformin twice daily and finger prick to take my blood glucose levels. My wife and I encourage each other…and a simple English translation of “Glycemic Minimization Excursion” might be “how quickly foods affect blood sugar” + “the reduction of something you don’t want” + “a short journey or trip”…so this GEM program might more simply be named: “a trip to get rid of bad foods that hike your blood sugar”.

I’m pretty sure that anyone can do this – without a cash incentive, along with a little help from our friends/spouses/family members (we DO have to ask) and a bit of effort to reduce the number of those Dairy Queen Peanut Buster Parfait®s from three a week to only one a week…and if THAT AIN'T a Radical New Approach, I don't know what is!

Links: https://newsroom.uvahealth.com/2023/08/31/radical-new-approach-to-managing-type-2-diabetes-receives-3-5-million/, (The ACTUAL study with data, charts, and methodology) https://diabetes.jmir.org/2022/1/e34465
Image: https://asploro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Diabetes-Research_Open-Access.jpg

GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…DIABETES #13: Drinking Kombucha Tea MAY Reduce Blood Sugar Levels!

For the first times since I started this blog eleven years ago, it’s going to be about me. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes two weeks ago. While people are happy to talk about their experiences with diabetes, I WASN’T comfortable with talking about diabetes. My wife is Type 2, as are several friends of ours. The “other Type” of diabetes was what caused the death of my Best Man a year after my wife and I got married. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was a kid. It was called Juvenile Diabetes then. Today it’s Type 1. Since then, I haven’t WANTED to talk about diabetes at all. But…for my own education and maybe helping someone else, and not one to shut up for any known reason, I’m reopening my blog rather than starting a new one. I MAY take a pause and write about Breast Cancer or Alzheimer’s as medical headlines dictate; but this time I’m going to drag anyone along who wants to join my HIGHLY RELUCTANT journey toward better understanding of my life with Type 2 Diabetes. You’re Welcome to join me!

August 1, 2023 saw this statement in the research journal, FRONTIERS IN NUTRITION: “People with type-II diabetes who drank the fermented tea drink kombucha for four weeks had lower fasting blood glucose levels compared to when they consumed a similar-tasting placebo beverage, according to results from a clinical trial conducted by researchers at Georgetown University's School of Health, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and MedStar Health. This finding, from a pilot 12-person feasibility trial, points to the potential for a dietary intervention that could help lower blood sugar levels in people with diabetes and also establishes the basis for a larger trial to confirm and expand upon these results.”

Now, before you run out or do an internet search for your nearest Kombucha supplier, note the sentence: “This finding, [is] from a pilot 12-person feasibility trial”. 

What THAT means is that someone had the idea that drinking Kombucha might be a good way to reduce blood sugars in people with Type 2 diabetes. So they gathered a dozen people, made sure they drank Kombucha for four weeks – about eight ounces a day (your average diet Pepsi, Cherry Coke, Mountain Dew, Bubly flavored, carbonated water, and any other standard aluminum can of soda is TWELVE ounces of liquid.)

The study went like this: “one group of people [drank] about eight ounces of kombucha or placebo beverage daily for four weeks and then after a two-month period to 'wash out' the biological effects of the beverages, the kombucha and placebo were swapped between groups with another four weeks of drinking the beverages. Neither group was told which drink they were receiving at the time.”

The result was what you read above – six of the twelve people had a significant change in their blood sugars over the period of the test. What is significant? If you test your blood sugars daily as I do now, you know that the “ideal” number on your glucose monitor should be between 70 and 130.

During this test, the group that was drinking the Kombucha tea, 8 ounces every day for the four week study, saw their glucose monitor numbers go from 164 down to 116! Mine this morning was 184.

So…what do YOU suppose I’m going to do?

Well, keep taking my Metformin for one thing. Then it looks like (according to the site that provided the photo, who ranked each of the types of Kombucha drinks, did so based on multiple factors. They also showed how to get hold of the drink, so next time we’re at Target, I’m gonna pick me up some Kombucha bottles and see what all the excitement’s about…

On the other hand, I’m not going to just “drink the Kool-Aid so-to-speak! I’d also like to find out if there’s a LONG-TERM effect, in other words, is there an effect on the subject’s A1c – which we all know is an indicator of long-term changes in the individual’s blood sugar. I already keep track DAILY of my own blood pressure, weight, blood glucose, and one of three: steps, miles biked, or amount of yardwork/snow shoveling. I’ve got a pretty good baseline here (in case you were wondering, I was a science teacher for 41 years; and I continue to teach a science-based class for two or three weeks in the summer called Alien Worlds because I’m both a science fiction writer and I want young people to know that George Lucas created STAR WARS “aliens” by snapping his fingers and saying, “O! wouldn’t it be cool if we had an alien who looked like an easily sympathizable alien who looks like a humanoid Briard (a dog breed) – what did Leia call Chewbacca that one time? Oh, yeah: “Would someone get this walking carpet out of my way?”…(and if you want to learn more about THAT part of me, you can visit my other blogsite, POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS at https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/)

Source:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230801105026.htm#google_vignette

THE ACTUAL STUDY (very…sciencey, just so you know!): https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2023.1190248/full
Image: https://sporked.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/RANKING_KOMBUCHA_HEADER-UPDATE.jpg,
https://www.hcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/living-well-with-diabetes.jpg

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #8: Insulin Icodec – Findings Could Move GAME-CHANGING New Drug To Approval By FDA!

From the first moment I discovered I had been diagnosed with DIABETES, I joined a HUGE “club” that has been rapidly expanding since it stopped being a death sentence in the early 20th Century. Currently, there are about HALF A BILLION PEOPLE who have Type 2 Diabetes. For the past 3500 years – dating back to Ancient Egypt – people have suffered from diabetes. Well, I’m one of them now… Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting Diabetes research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: STARTING with a 2014 article, “Diabetes – Will it Ever be cured?”; I check up on the various therapies mentioned…This week: Icodec (https://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/articles/year-2023/july-weekly-insulin-found-safe.html#:~:text=DALLAS%20%E2%80%93%20July%2012%2C%202023%20%E2%80%93,a%20UT%20Southwestern%20Medical%20Center)

In a study published on June 20, 2023 at the Journal of American Medical Association’s website. (The abstract is here: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2806635), doctor Ildiko Lingvay (M.D., M.P.H., M.S.C.S., Professor of Internal Medicine in the Peter O'Donnell Jr. School of Public Health at UT Southwestern) reports the unsurprising fact that more than 37 million Americans are diabetic; but 90%-95% of them have Type 2 diabetes. What means that the body does not respond normally to insulin, causing blood sugar (glucose) to become abnormally high. These levels can lead to long-term complications including heart disease, nerve damage, vision loss, and lower-extremity amputations.

One third of those with Type 2 diabetes require insulin injections to keep their blood sugar within a healthy range. Many of those however, basically refuse to do the injections because of the pain, inconvenience, and the perceived stigma of this treatment. They made a study of an alternative type of the standard insulin delivered in DAILY does – one that only had to be injected ONCE A WEEK!

These once-a-week insulin shots could simplify the future of diabetes treatment, but HOLD ON THERE, BABA LOUIE! Taking a fancy pants shot won’t be all…doctors will instead begin to focus on weight loss! I know! I know! No fancy shot to magically cure our Type 2 diabetes AND melt away that pesky fat so we can go ahead and get back to work, ignoring what we eat and consuming fat, sugar, and whatever ELSE we want to shovel into our mouths without a thought or regret in the world!

We’ve already gotten into deep, deep trouble in that medication created to help Type 2 diabetics live with their condition has been coopted by the immense (number of) people who passionately remember 24-inch waistlines and close their eyes to the 54-inch waistline of their present, bloated self and beg their doctors for The Shot that will melt away the pounds and let them eat whatever the heck they WANT TO without consequence.

There is already a shortage because medications like Ozempic (https://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2023/03/diabetes-research-right-now-3-most.html) are being funneled to a market they were never intended for (or, as my grandchildren like to intone: “Or was it???”)

Back to the end of the study comparing patients who used the usual daily version of insulin called degludec, with the NEW weekly version of insulin called icodec, they noted that “The primary endpoint of the study was a change in a blood measure of longitudinal glucose control, or the patient’s A1C. After 26 weeks of treatment and five weeks of follow-up, patients on weekly icodec had significantly larger improvements in their A1C than those using degludec daily.”

“Both groups had an extremely low rate of adverse events, suggesting that both forms of insulin are safe. Although the patients who received icodec had a slightly higher risk of low-blood sugar events, none of the events were severe enough to require emergency medical attention. The end result appears to be that “patients on icodec stayed in a healthy blood sugar range noticeably more often than patients on degludec…[these] results suggest insulin icodec could be a significant innovation for patients with Type 2 diabetes if it is approved for clinical use. FDA evaluation is the next step.”

NOTE: YOU CAN’T GO ASK FOR THE NEW WEEKLY INSULIN SHOT YET!!!!! It needs to be approved FIRST for clinical use; THEN the FDA has to evaluate it! That means…like years until we even see icodec (with whatever catchy name the FDA and the drug companies decide to advertise it as – maybe something like Weekulin brand weekly Type 2 insulin blood glucose control or SugEven or

Links: (embedded above)
Image: https://asploro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Diabetes-Research_Open-Access.jpg

GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…DIABETES #12: "I Didn't Think It WOULD Make My Blood Glucose Go UP…"

For the first times since I started this column eleven years ago, it’s going to be about me. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes two weeks ago. While people are happy to talk about their experiences with diabetes, I WASN’T comfortable with talking about diabetes. My wife is Type 2, as are several friends of ours. The “other Type” of diabetes was what caused the death of my Best Man a year after my wife and I got married. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was a kid. It was called Juvenile Diabetes then. Today it’s Type 1. Since then, I haven’t WANTED to talk about diabetes at all. But…for my own education and maybe helping someone else, and not one to shut up for any known reason, I’m reopening my blog rather than starting a new one. I MAY take a pause and write about Breast Cancer or Alzheimer’s as medical headlines dictate; but this time I’m going to drag anyone along who wants to join my HIGHLY RELUCTANT journey toward better understanding of my life with Type 2 Diabetes. You’re Welcome to join me!

When I started this whole Type 2 Diabetes adventure, I simply assumed that I could never touch sucrose (table sugar and the stuff that makes donuts and frosted cupcakes TASTE so amazing) for the rest of my life.

In fact, I thought that until a couple of days ago, my wife (who is also diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes), said to me, “I had potato chips last night – why are my blood sugars sky high?” (Or something to that effect…I’m 66 now! I can hardly remember the names of my three grandkids!)

I started wondering and after a recent Peanut Buster Parfait from Dairy Queen gave me a blood glucose the next morning of 158 (usually my morning glucose levels are around 170) and my most recent morning glucose was 179 with no obvious sugar bump in sight, I thought I’d better do some research.

Jody Stanislaw, ND, in her article, “The Many Reasons for High and Low Blood Sugars (and why we need a LOT of compassion for ourselves!)” at TCOYD (Taking Control of Your Diabetes) notes, “First of all, all carbs are not created equal. If you eat 30 grams of carbs from pineapple, it will raise blood sugar much, much faster than 30 grams of carbs from a low glycemic food, like black beans.”

OK. Cool. But what the heck does that MEAN?

Let’s dig: a cup of pineapple chunks has 16 grams of sugar; a cup of black beans has .28 grams of sugar…yet BOTH can have a detrimental effect on your blood glucose levels!

WTH???? Blood glucose and the foods you eat is an intensely complicated equation and MULIPLE things can have an impact on your glucose numbers!

BUT IN THE LONG RUN IT ALL COMES DOWN TO GLUCOSE! Glucose itself is an incredibly simple molecule (with the fancy pants chemical “formula” for glucose is C6H12O6 (C stands for carbon, H stands for Hydrogen, and O stands for Oxygen – hooked up in a particular way, it makes glucose. The number tell me how many of that atom there are in the sugar or fat or protien.)

While glucose isn’t a molecule you see the formula for, most people have seen H2O and know it’s the symbol for WATER! There are some more complicated sugars as well like sucrose (table sugar): C12H22O11 and fructose (fruit sugar) C6H12O6 – the SAME NUMBERS OF Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen as GLUCOSE!!!! But it’s HOW the atoms are hooked up that make fructose twice as sweet as blood sugar.

Carbs are ALL made up of the same basic piece repeated twice to literally 10,000 times!

What’s black bean protein look like? It’s extremely complicated, which explains why it takes SO LONG to break it down in your blood. Usually you get saponins. Saponins, anthocyanins, flavonols, phenolic acids, and proanthocyanidins. I’ll show you just one: saponin?

Here’s its simplified H2O-kind of formula: C58H94O27. It takes a MUCH longer time for your stomach to break all those atoms up into glucose! The sugar in the fruit (in the form of fructose as well as sucrose) is EASILY available when it hits the blood because it arrives there as ALMOST glucose. The “sugar” in black beans comes from your stomach acid hitting the big carbohydrates and breaking them up into glucose – which takes awhile (it’s called digestion!) until they’ve been cut up until they show up on your blood sugar testing MUCH later.

With beans, you have to deal with FIBER, ‘cause they’re high in fiber.

Again, the formula for FIBER is even longer than the one for saponin but it’s not because its complicated, it’s because it’s a simple molecule that HOOKED TOGETHER INTO LONG STRINGS (you’d call them fibers!)

Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula (C6H10O5 yep, it’s basically a glucose molecule…that can be repeated INFINITELY) that is hooked up to form chains somewhere between of a few hundred to chains that hold over ten thousand glucose molecules. That’s why FIBER makes you feel full and then takes forever to break down into glucose when it can FINALLY be used by your body.

Then there are FATS which usually have slight variations on this molecule: C54H108O6

So, if I look at the bits and pieces of what I eat – if I’m eating sugars, they break down fast and slam into my blood sometimes in MINUTES. Fats take FOREVER to break down ‘cause they’re so big – they won’t slam my blood sugar for hours or maybe even days! If I eat fiber, I feel fuller and the sugars only leak off, having a minimal effect on my blood sugars.

So – my DQ Peanut Buster Parfait is mostly made up of the simpler sugars and takes little time to break down; where potato chips are mostly starch and oils – which take a MUCH LONGER TIME to break down into the glucose that shows up on my glucometer.

My DQ treat shows up early; the bag of chips show up late.

Source: https://tcoyd.org/2022/04/the-many-reasons-for-high-and-low-blood-sugars-and-why-we-need-a-lot-of-compassion-for-ourselves/?utm_source=google_cpc&utm_medium=ad_grant&utm_campaign=awareness&gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw8ZKmBhArEiwAspcJ7q9caZmUUmWbdd7o9TODGXdOL8BzGR-M090tEZmjYq5P1-pbxf3s6BoCcG0QAvD_BwE ,
Image: https://www.hcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/living-well-with-diabetes.jpg

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #7: Will There EVER Be A Real CURE For Type 2?

From the first moment I discovered I had been diagnosed with DIABETES, I joined a HUGE “club” that has been rapidly expanding since it stopped being a death sentence in the early 20th Century. Currently, there are about HALF A BILLION PEOPLE who have Type 2 Diabetes. For the past 3500 years – dating back to Ancient Egypt – people have suffered from diabetes. Well, I’m one of them now… Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting Diabetes research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: STARTING with a 2014 article, “Diabetes – Will it Ever be cured?”; I check up on the various therapies mentioned…

1) “researchers have found evidence that beta cells do not burn out and die as previously thought, but instead revert to more primitive cells or ones with altered function, leading some scientists to believe that if they can prevent this dedifferentiation or somehow push dedifferentiated cells to turn back into beta cells, they could prevent or cure type 2 diabetes.”

June 26, 2023: “A proof-of-concept study demonstrates that ductal cells derived from the human pancreas can be influenced by pharmacological stimulation to regenerate beta-like cells that functionally release insulin, providing new hope for people living with diabetes.” (https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-06-reactivation-beta-like-cells-pancreas-insulin.html) CLEARLY, the research is still in its infancy, BUT, what was simply hopeful thoughts is now moving into hopeful research. While this is also primarily a response to Type 1 diabetes, future investigation may yield a cure for Type 2.

2) “At Columbia University in New York, a team led by Domenico Accili, MD, professor of medicine, has made several discoveries about FOXO1, a protein that controls when genes are switched on or off.

“In research published in the March 11, 2012, Nature Genetics, the team found that deactivating FOXO1 in progenitor cells in the small intestines of newborn mice resulted in the cells becoming insulin-producing cells. In follow-up research published in the June 30, 2014, Nature Communications, Accili’s team conducted similar experiments in human intestinal cells derived from stem cells. Within seven days of FOXO1 deactivation, the cells began to produce insulin in response to glucose.”

While current research is looking specifically at cancer, “Therefore gaining a deeper understanding of FOXO family regulation, in addition to providing targeting opportunities for the development of novel therapies, may reveal robust FOXO-related pharmacological/prognostic biomarkers to enhance the clinical management and survival prospects of patients.” DE-activating this molecule appears to result in the reduction in cancer growth: “Several studies suggest that genetic variation in the FoxO1 gene is a predisposing factor for type 2 diabetes (T2D) or DKD [Diabetic Kidney Disease] in humans, revealing that FoxO1 may be involved in the initiation and development of DKD in patients with T2D, which provides new insight into the etiology of DKD.” (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2021.630617/full)

3) “Another team, led by Rohit N. Kulkarni, MD, PhD, principal investigator at Joslin and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, published a paper in the January 2014, Diabetes in which they identified immune cells in mice that had minimal effects on destroying beta cells in type 1 and instead actually promoted their growth.

“King says that this research could be just as important for type 2 as type 1. “Even if we can’t get rid of the insulin resistance in type 2, we might be able to generate enough beta cells to overcome the insulin resistance and get rid of diabetes,” he says.”

Today, again in reference to Type 1 diabetes: “However, molecular spikes have significantly improved single cell mRNA accounting, adoption of the molecular spike method and further improvements may help address the above issues. As such, genuine SC-β cells will eventually become available as donor cells for establishing curative therapies for people suffering from T1DM in the not too distant future.”

In English? An RNA spike-in is a short bit of RNA of known sequence and quantity used to calibrate measurements in RNA how well this piece has attached to a section of DNA. Then, a specific amount of this RNA spike-in is mixed with an experiment sample. The amount of the RNA that shows up in the DNA is used to tweak the RNA so that the PANCREAS cells will stimulate the growth of NEW cells to replace the ones destroyed and thereby bring insulin production back to normal. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10173812/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNA_spike-in


4) “The gist is that we are trying to indirectly tweak T cells, which will help protect the beta cells from destruction,” Tisch says. “Different cytokines can affect different T cells, so the catch is figuring out which ones are the most effective.”

“Although widespread genetic therapies that could cure diabetes are still years away, such innovative research offers hope for the 382 million people across the globe with diabetes.”

This avenue appears to have started bearing fruit, admittedly in dealing with Type 1 – which is, I remind you, ultimately deadly – which Type 2 is NOT in the short run (If you’re interested, ask about my best man…) “Rather than developing new forms of insulin or insulin delivery, targeting immune modulation, or repurposing existing T2D drugs…The beneficial effects of [these new] drugs appear to effect beta-cells [which make insulin]. Beta cells are found in the pancreas…In type 1 diabetes, the body's immune system mistakenly destroys numbers, function, or survival [of the beta cells].” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10253164/

Again, the trickle down from Type 1 research is certain to reach those of us with Type 2!

Link: https://endocrinenews.endocrine.org/sept-2014-diabetes-will-it-ever-be-cured/,
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/diabetes-the-top-discoveries-and-developments-of-2022
Image: https://asploro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Diabetes-Research_Open-Access.jpg

GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…DIABETES #11: Where’d Type 2 Diabetes Come From?

For the first times since I started this column eleven years ago, it’s going to be about me. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes two weeks ago. While people are happy to talk about their experiences with diabetes, I WASN’T comfortable with talking about diabetes. My wife is Type 2, as are several friends of ours. The “other Type” of diabetes was what caused the death of my Best Man a year after my wife and I got married. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was a kid. It was called Juvenile Diabetes then. Today it’s Type 1. Since then, I haven’t WANTED to talk about diabetes at all. But…for my own education and maybe helping someone else, and not one to shut up for any known reason, I’m reopening my blog rather than starting a new one. I MAY take a pause and write about Breast Cancer or Alzheimer’s as medical headlines dictate; but this time I’m going to drag anyone along who wants to join my HIGHLY RELUCTANT journey toward better understanding of my life with Type 2 Diabetes. You’re Welcome to join me!

So, I grew up totally ignorant of diabetes.

My family didn’t talk about it. My high school health class didn’t talk about it. My college biology classes didn’t talk about it.

So, when first my wife, then myself were diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, we were startled…

When did this whole Type 2 diabetes thing start?

Funny you should ask: “A disease characterised by the ‘too great emptying of urine’ finds its place in antiquity through Egyptian manuscripts dating back to 1500 B.C.1 Indian physicians called it madhumeha (‘honey urine’) because it attracted ants. The ancient Indian physician, Sushruta, and the surgeon Charaka (400–500 A.D.) were able to identify the two types, later to be named Type I and Type II diabetes…”

Besides my pee smelling sweet and attracting ants, what ELSE gave it away? (I’m staying away from Type 1 because that’s serious business and the man I asked to be best in my wedding, died a bit over a year later from complications due to his Type 1 (then called juvenile onset) diabetes, leaving a wife with a young child as well as a second child on-the-way…and while no death is pretty, his was pretty hideous…)

Type 2 has an interesting history that is pretty much hand-in-hand with the discovery and treatment of Type 1. “The ancient Roman doctor Galen mentioned diabetes but noted that he had only ever seen two people with it, which suggests that it was relatively rare in those days. By the fifth century C.E., people in India and China had worked out that there was a difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

“They noted that type 2 diabetes was more common in heavy, wealthy people than in other people. At that time, this might have implied that these individuals ate more than other people and were less active. Nowadays, [with] the ready supply of processed food [that] has weakened the association between wealth and eating more…obesity, diet, and a lack of exercise are still risk factors for type 2 diabetes.”

So, it was identified – who figured out what the real problem was? Where did “insulin resistance” come into the picture? Discovered by the British scientist Harold Percival Himsworth, he found that with insulin resistance, a person’s body cells lose their sensitivity to insulin and are not able to take in glucose. ALL cells need to use insulin to work and divide to make new cells. Because of that, the pancreas increases its output of insulin to “force” the cells to take enough glucose to run well. As this continues to happen, it puts stress on the pancreas, damaging it. But, more than seven decades after that discovery, our knowledge of insulin action at whole-body, tissue, cellular, and intracellular levels remain far from complete. We DO know that Type 2 diabetic insulin resistance is involved with polycystic ovary syndrome, a very common hormone problem for women of childbearing age. Causing loss of ovulation, high levels of androgens, and small cysts on the ovaries; missed or irregular menstrual periods, excess hair growth, acne, infertility, and weight gain. ALL people with Type 2 diabetes can experience sleep disturbances, and pathological brain ageing.

So, the Type 2 diabetes is serious, but we CAN deal with it – typically using metformin (a first line response), as well as the dreaded E’s: Eat right and Exercise…

While I love writing, my primary purpose for all three conditions I’ve written on: breast cancer, Alzheimer’s, and Type 2 diabetes – is to teach myself what the HECK is going on around me, and now with Type 2, what’s going on inside of ME.

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3749019/#b2-squmj1303-368-370; https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317484#early-science ; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1464-5491.2011.03488.x
Image: https://www.hcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/living-well-with-diabetes.jpg

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #6: Trial Runs Of ARTIFICIAL PANCREAS Successful for Type 2 Diabetes Patients!!!!!

From the first moment I discovered I had been diagnosed with DIABETES, I joined a HUGE “club” that has been rapidly expanding since it stopped being a death sentence in the early 20th Century. Currently, there are about HALF A BILLION PEOPLE who have Type 2 Diabetes. For the past 3500 years – dating back to Ancient Egypt – people have suffered from diabetes. Well, I’m one of them now… Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting Diabetes research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: Well, JUST LOOK AT THE HEADLINE ABOVE!!!!

At the University of Cambridge (England), researchers have successfully developed on of the first devices that might be used to treat Type 2 Diabetes: “The device -- powered by an algorithm developed at the University of Cambridge -- doubled the amount of time patients were in the target range for glucose compared to standard treatment and halved the time spent experiencing high glucose levels.”

Now, does that mean we can all run out, throw away our Ozempic pens [to the joy and relief of all the really…um…weighty people for whom drugs like Ozempic are…um…a great HELP in their continuing…uh…“battle” against…er…Inexplicable High Mass Syndrome (IHMS, aka, being fat…)…].

HOLD YOUR HORSES, BABA LOUIE! If you read the first sentence of the Science Daily article SLOWLY instead of skipping all words and leaving ONLY what I read as: “This [MIRACLE] device…doubled the amount of time…you can ignore your diabetes and eat whatever you want!"

My mind THINKS it's reading ‘patients were in the target range for glucose…and halved the time spent experiencing high glucose levels’. But then, my mind tends to be out to lunch in matters of what it can and can't direct my insulin-resistant body to do!

In case you’re new to this whole Type 2 diabetes thing, what is Type 2 diabetes? The English can explain it pretty well, “Type 2 diabetes causes levels of glucose -- blood sugar -- to become too high. Ordinarily, blood sugar levels are controlled by the release of insulin, but in type 2 diabetes insulin production is disrupted. Over time, this can cause serious problems including eye, kidney and nerve damage and heart disease.”

What that means is that…well, the outcome of our Type 2 diabetes is NOT trivial (which is sometimes what I allow myself to think – the whole, “Oh, I live in the 21st Century and I’m SURE that there’ll be a miracle cure pretty soon, so I don’t have to go all weird and stop eating doughnuts and drinking REGULAR soda, and I can eat like I’m 13 again. You just need to take on the ‘correct’ perspective…”

Anyway, the new device works something like this: For those of us with Type 2, it’s a fully closed loop system. The people for whom the device was originally developed – the ones with Type 1 have to “text” their artificial pancreas to let it know that they’ll be eating a meal. The AP (Artificial Pancreas) adjustment the amount of insulin it releases. For someone with Type 1, the AP adjusts automatically – just like your normal pancreas does.

The researchers recruited 26 patients. One group would use the AP eight weeks, then switch to doing multiple daily insulin injections. The other group would do multiple daily insulin injections for eight weeks, then switch to the AP.

The researchers monitored several things.

First: how much time did the patients spend with their glucose levels within a target range. They found that patients using the artificial pancreas spent two-thirds of their time on target. The other group only spent one third of their time on target.

Second: how much time spent did they have glucose levels 180? Average glucose levels fell from 170 to 106 about 70% of the time! The people using the insulin injections spent the same amount of time over 170!

Also, after using insulin injections, the average HbA1c levels were 8.7. Using the artificial pancreas they were 7.3!

By now you know that for those of us with Type diabetes, the higher the A1c, the greater the risk of developing diabetes-related complications. “Over time, high A1C levels may lead to impaired fasting glucose, high blood pressure, obesity, and an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.”

When all was said and done, the researchers found that “…participants were happy to have their glucose levels controlled automatically by the system, and nine out reported spending less time managing their diabetes overall. Users highlighted the elimination of the need for injections or finger prick testing, and increased confidence in managing blood glucose as key benefits.” As is usual, not EVERYONE was happy with the AP. Some reported “…increased anxiety about the risk of hypoglycemia, which the researchers say may reflect increased awareness and monitoring of glucose levels, and practical annoyances with wearing of devices.”

All-in-all, I think if I could get this TEST DEVICE right now, I’d volunteer to be first in line!

Link: (ScienceDaily) https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/354064720_646111904223281_7263858063343004950_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p526x296&_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=0debeb&_nc_ohc=ZihRXv-v-1sAX-1jkdq&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=00_AfBqk3DsoM2Y_v7tOlwbVKCMsaYoQooSsd_VrctAhwqmEA&oe=64933E1E; (The ACTUAL Article from the University of Cambridge (England): https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/artificial-pancreas-successfully-trialled-for-use-by-type-2-diabetes-patients
Image: https://asploro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Diabetes-Research_Open-Access.jpg