the Causes of Diabetes

The diabetes affects the total autoimmune of the body severely with a maximum average of the factors responsible to trouble nearly every second person in the globe and the numbers are expected to rise to millions by the year 2020.

The result of diabetes is caused due to the demolition of beta cells which are the body-building cells for humans and the natural formation of the cells is destroyed easily due to bodily ill-treated functions. Researchers and scientists are moving pillar-to-post to search the cause of excessive sugar formation in the bloodstream and knocking their noodles to relate the cause with genetic disorders due to change in the DNA of the human body, environmental factors or even mal-nutrition caused due to poor diet chart plan.

The another occasion for the diabetes build-up is because of the abnormal secretion of the hormones inside the bloodstream which acts as the opponent to insulin Adrenaline and Thyroid hormone secretion are in the midst of the wish list of the doctors to foretell the major changes in the patient instantly. The adult-onset diabetes transpires as the body produces adequate insulin as glucose but isn’t utilized effectively.

This category and characteristic of the diabetes emerges especially in the middle ages. The sexagenarians as well as octogenarians become over-weight and such diabetes affects them to 80% in total. According to doctors it is just a myth that only obese get diabetes in their bloodstream but it is the census survey that says that anyone can have diabetes and even it can be caused due to the contraction or availability of a weird virus from the environment found very easily in the food diet especially in the roadside eateries.

As these eateries are unhygienic the bacteria or virus multiply and reaches the bloodstream of the human body and harbor for a prolonged period of time. Drugs such as: Steroids have the propensity with variety of mechanisms to elevate the unwarranted blood sugar and certain supplementary drugs are toxic to the beta cells to affect pancreas and trigger up the symptoms of diabetes. It is the hyperglycemic state of the human body that causes permanent diabetic syndrome in the human body system and affects the immune system of the functions of the body.

Causes of Diabetes in detail segments:

1. Inherited traits: The strong believe of the transformation of one gene to passing to another gene is the generation course for various inherited traits as the stem cells in the mother’s umbilical cord of the womb is transferred to the newly born baby and the baby too gets infected out of the process.

2. Poor diet: Malnutrition too takes its toll due to poor diet chart adoption and causes the diabetes to the patient. The low-protein, low-carb vitamin is missing from the diet and patient becomes susceptible out of it.

3. Age factor: The adolescent age which is unstoppable is more affective then the younger age. The diabetes affects after 50 years of age which takes the shape of permanent diabetes syndrome.

4. Obesity and deskbound lifestyle: Insulin resistance increases with over-weight which is the major cause of obesity where the BMI (Body mass index) enhances to 25+ and sedentary standard of living is disturbed making the person prone to diabetes where he easily fall prey to other forms of diseases as well with diabetes. Poor wound healing, infections, unsecured sex without contraceptives; hypertension, increased fatigue, etc are all responsible for causing diabetes to the bloodstream of the human body. Read More...

Experts Back Switch to New Diabetes Test

Diabetes experts on Friday urged a switch to a diagnostic test for the disease that's more useful to primary care doctors and more convenient for patients because it doesn't require fasting.

An international panel recommended that a test known as the hemoglobin A1c assay be the new standard test for diabetes. In the past, this test has primarily been used to monitor if diabetes treatment is working. However, the committee -- which unveiled its recommendations at this weekend's American Diabetes Association meeting in New Orleans, La. -- said the A1c test's long-term measurement of chronic blood sugar control problems provides a better diagnosis than current "snapshot" tests.

The test has not been adopted by all doctors for diagnostic purposes. Many of them prefer to rely first on the tried-and-true techniques such as the standard fasting plasma glucose test (FPG) and the less common oral glucose tolerance test -- tests that the A1c screening would unseat as the new standard.

Still, other physicians have welcomed the new screening. Dr. Joel Zonszein, director of the Clinical Diabetes Center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, said many colleagues have been "waiting years for this to happen."

Proponents favor the A1c because it measures average blood glucose over the preceding two to three months, rather than just at one point in time, the researchers said.

"A1c values vary less than fasting plasma glucose values, and the assay for A1c has technical advantages compared with the glucose assay," said Dr. David M. Nathan of Massachusetts General Hospital, who chaired the expert committee.

"Also, testing for diabetes using A1c is more convenient and easier for patients who will no longer be required to perform a fasting or oral glucose tolerance test," Nathan added.

The recommendations -- made jointly by the American Diabetes Association, the International Diabetes Federation, and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes -- were published online today in Diabetes Care and will appear in the July issue of the journal.

Can Doctors Agree on A1c?

Many primary care doctors already use A1c screening as a first-line tool for diagnosis, while others use it in combination with FPG. One reason for caution about the A1c in the past, doctors said, has been concern about standardization in A1c screenings -- that is, whether doctors agree that a given result indicates that a patient has diabetes.

"It is my understanding that the A1c tests are now better standardized and, therefore, the A1c has been reconsidered as a screening tool," Dr. Gregory J. Anderson, a family practitioner at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., wrote in an e-mail. "It makes more intuitive sense, as it reflects blood glucose levels over a much longer period of time. ... It is also more convenient for patients, as it does not need to be done fasting."

Currently, diabetes patients typically receive A1c screening twice a year to measure progress in controlling the disease. The question for physicians is how to determine whether they need diabetes care in the first place.

"Glucose impairment runs on a continuum, making selection of a specific value where diabetes risk begins somewhat arbitrary," Nathan said. "However, those persons whose A1c levels are close to the 6.5 percent diagnostic level are clearly at higher risk."

The committee also recommended screening all adult patients who are overweight and have other risk factors, such as family history of diabetes, high blood pressure or an abnormal blood lipid profile.

"What the test will do is to give the clinician and the patient a better integrated view of the average blood sugar," said Montefiore's Zonszein.

Dr. Christopher D. Saudek, a Johns Hopkins Hospital endocrinologist, agreed, adding that the main advantage of the A1c is that it "does not require fasting, so it can be done any time of day."

Also, he noted, because it measures glucose levels over months, rather than at the moment of a blood test, "it is less susceptible to patients 'tuning up' before they see a doctor [by] watching their diet for a day or two."

Not All Doctors Performing Test

Until now, some practitioners say, diabetes specialists have favored the more finely-tuned FPG and glucose tolerance measurements, while primary care doctors have been more willing to embrace the A1c.

To Dr. Thomas L. Schwenk, a professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, this reflects different approaches to different patient populations. He said the A1c makes more sense in his practice.

"We are dealing with patients with many chronic problems and the obvious need for major lifestyle modifications, as well as managing six to eight medications directed at metabolic syndrome, not making decisions about tweaking insulin dosages by a couple units," he said.

Most agree that the A1c will reflect a more realistic pool of patients with diabetes and pre-diabetes.

It will help "chip away at the 40 percent of people with diabetes who don't know it," Saudek said.
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U.S. Nutritionists Urge New, Not-as-Sweet Drinks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Soft drink makers should invent and market a new category of semi-sweet beverages that will help wean Americans off their reliance on sugary drinks, nutrition experts said on Monday.

They proposed a new class of reduced-calorie beverages with no more than 1 gram of sugar per ounce, which with about 50 calories is about 70 percent less sugar than a typical soft drink contains. They said such drinks should also be free of artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and saccharine.

"We need to retrain American tastes away from super-sweet drinks," Lilian Cheung of the Harvard School of Public Health said in a statement.

"If we can shift the present American norm back to a lower expectation of sweetness, people will adjust their palates, particularly the younger population."

The American Beverage Association, which represents soft drink makers, was not immediately available for comment.

The researchers cited evidence that sugary drinks are an important contributor to the epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes in the United States, where more than two-thirds of the population is overweight or obese.

"The scientific evidence is now clear; soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages are important contributors to obesity in children and adults," said Walter Willett, chairman of Harvard's Department of Nutrition.

"Healthier beverage options would allow individuals to make better choices."

The group said four out of five children and two out of three adults drink sugar-sweetened beverages on any average day. A 20-ounce (590 ml) bottle of soda contains nearly 17 teaspoons (255 ml) of sugar and 250 calories (1.05 kj) and they said the Food and Drug Administration should be empowered to require more detailed labeling.

In a study of 90,000 women published in the April issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the Harvard team reported that women who drank more than two servings of sugary beverages each day had a nearly 40 percent higher risk of heart disease than women who rarely drank such drinks.

Food and beverage makers blame a lack of exercise and say people can choose to responsibly eat snack foods.
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Supernutrients That Fuel the Diabetes DTOUR Diet

The "Diabetes DTOUR Diet" is based on new research that found that certain nutrients in foods are powerful at balancing blood sugar and encouraging weight loss.
"And when eaten together, they are even more effective," says Francine R. Kaufman, M.D., medical advisor for "The Diabetes DTOUR Diet" book and head of the Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. "That's important because excess fat, especially around your abdomen, causes inflammation in cells, making them even more resistant to insulin and driving up blood sugar."
These four supernutrients -- the Fat-Fighting 4 -- together help you take control. See them now!

Fat-Fighter No. 1: Calcium
Scientists aren't sure how calcium burns body fat -- some believe it reduces the fat-producing effects of a steroid hormone called calcitriol, says Barbara Quinn, RD, author of "The Diabetes DTOUR Diet."

What we do know is that it works: Researchers at the University of Tennessee found that obese people who went on a low-calorie diet that contained three daily servings of calcium-rich dairy lost 70 percent more weight and 64 percent more body fat than those who ate just one serving of dairy a day.

Calcium food sources: Fat-free milk and low-fat dairy, spinach, kale, broccoli, and white beans.

Fat-Fighter No. 2: Vitamin D

A landmark study from Tufts-New England Medical Center showed that low levels of vitamin D raise a person's risk of type 2 diabetes by as much as 46 percent.

"Researchers believe vitamin D quells cellular inflammation that contributes to diabetes," explains Quinn. Plus, your body needs D to absorb calcium -- and together, they can help fight diabetes: According to the Nurses' Health Study, an ongoing investigation of more than 83,000 women, those who consumed more than 1,200 mg of calcium and more than 800 IU of vitamin D a day were 33 percent less likely to have developed diabetes than those taking in less of both nutrients. On the DTOUR Diet, you get 400 IU per day, so include a daily multivitamin that also contains 400 IU of vitamin D.

Vitamin D food sources: Salmon, mackerel, sardines, tuna, fortified whole grain cereal, fortified fat-free milk, and Swiss cheese.

Fat-Fighter No. 3: Omega-3s

New science published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that women who ate a balanced diet including omega-3s lost 1 1/2 more pounds of torso fat than women on the same exact diet but minus the omega-3s.

These healthy fats slow the rate of digestion, which makes you feel fuller longer, so you eat fewer calories throughout the day, says Quinn. "Omega-3s also reduce inflammation, a major risk factor for diabetes, and appear to improve insulin resistance," she says.

Omega-3 food sources: Tofu, enriched eggs, shrimp, salmon, tuna, walnuts, flax and flaxseed oil.

Fat-Fighter No. 4: Fiber

Foods high in fiber are nutrient-rich, filling, and low in calories -- a combination that makes them weight loss wonders. According to a study done at the University of Minnesota, people who stuck to higher-fiber diets lost 2 to 3 pounds more per month than those who followed lower-fiber diets. Fiber triggers hormones that control appetite, which also helps with weight loss, adds Quinn.

Plus, both soluble and insoluble fiber help control blood sugar: The soluble type dissolves in water and forms a thick gel during digestion, which can interfere with and slow down carbohydrate and glucose absorption in the intestines, explains Quinn. Insoluble fiber doesn't dissolve in water. It stays solid and moves quickly through the digestive tract, so intestines have less time to absorb carbohydrates, and blood sugar levels stay even. When Finnish researchers tracked 4,316 men and women over the course of 10 years, they found that the people who ate the highest percentage of cereal fiber were 61 percent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

Fiber food sources: Whole grain breads and cereals, brown rice, barley, oatmeal and oat bran, apples, pears, citrus fruits, carrots, beans and artichokes.
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