For people that live without diabetes it is hard to understand how the disease impacts the flow of daily life. Every day begins with a “stick” and a drop of blood. A “stick” is the term we use to describe using a lancet to pierce the skin and draw a drop of blood for a blood sugar test.
Add comment January 3rd, 2009
What exactly is a diabetic diet? I am not diabetic, but I know people who are. They often talk about their dietary restrictions, but I have honestly never stopped to ask what exactly they are trying to accomplish with a diabetic diet. I looked into it and found that there are a number of goals for and benefits to a diabetic diet.
Add comment December 30th, 2008
Babies and women may be protected against developing diabetes disease through breast feeding, according to new research. This current study states that the longer women nursed, the lower their risks of developing diabetes.
Diabetes as a medical disorder characterized by varying or persistent elevated blood sugar levels, especially due to eating, is a serious disease which symptoms are very similar for all types of diabetes.
Add comment December 23rd, 2008
A new cell transplantation technique is being used by researchers in order to repair the cells that produce insulin in patients with type 1 diabetes. The study, presented this week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, shows that the procedure is minimally invasive and with few complications.
One of the authors of the study explains that they used “ultrasound guidance to inject donor cells into the portal vein of diabetic patients, which is accessed through the skin. This is a safe method of cell transplantation that could potentially become a same-day procedure”.
Add comment December 19th, 2008
The prevalence of diabetes has been steadily increasing world over. Diabetes is a disease in which blood glucose levels are above normal.
It is estimated that more than 2000 new cases of diabetes are diagnosed everyday in the United States alone. While symptoms of Type 1 diabetes are usually obvious, Type 2 often shows few or no symptoms. After a meal, food is broken down into a sugar called glucose, which is carried by the blood to cells through out the body. Cells use the hormone insulin, made in the pancreas, to process blood glucose into energy. Diabetics have problems converting food to energy.
Add comment December 15th, 2008
Currently, about 20.8 million Americans suffer from some form of diabetes. That’s a whopping 7% of the population. Of those 20.8 million people, it’s estimated that nearly one-third of them (or 6.2 million) don’t even know they have it.
Add comment December 8th, 2008