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Monday 30 June 2014

Cereal Killers—The Movie

By Dr. Mercola
"The persistent myth that dietary fat causes obesity and promotes heart disease has undoubtedly ruined the health of millions of people. It's difficult to know just how many people have succumbed to chronic poor health from following conventional low-fat, high-carb recommendations, but I'm sure the number is significant.
In the featured documentary, Cereal Killers, 41-year-old Donal O'Neill turns the American food pyramid upside-down—eliminating sugars and grains, and dramatically boosting his fat intake. In so doing, he improves his health to the point of reducing his hereditary risk factors for heart disease to nil.
Watching people's reactions to his diet brings home just how brainwashed we've all become when it comes to dietary fat. Most fear it. Yet they will consume sugarin amounts that virtually guarantee they'll suffer all the devastating health consequences they're trying to prevent by avoiding fat, and then some!"
The film is available for a few days free of charge here.

Hat tip to Indy and Susan for the link.

Eddie 

Just when I think I am out I am pulled back in !

Regular readers of this blog will have noticed I have not been posting much lately. Over the years I have posted countless thousands of blog posts and comments on diabetes forums etc. I wanted out some time ago, I hung around to see this blog hit a million page views. When that happened I thought I had repaid the people that helped me over six years ago, and thought I would disappear into the woodwork. Walking away is harder than I thought it would be. Yesterday out of the blue the email below came in, email address and full name supplied. Looks like our website and blogs are still helping people and the website lowcarbdiabetic.co.uk will carry on for some time to come. Eddie

Hello- I'm health professional with a husband who was diagnosed with type 2 
diabetes last year. I want to congratulate you on a fantastic informative site 
with information that makes complete sense.
I attach a link to a documentary you will find really interesting if you haven't 
already seen it .
'CEREAL KILLERS' 
 I have a specific interest in nutrition and was convinced that the solution to 
blood sugar control was diet. When I started my nurse training in the 80s I 
remember that diabetics were advised on restricting carbs and measuring grams 
per day.
I was surprised that the NHS DEAL course did not even explain the GL GI or go 
into detail regarding the optimum diet plan. It was all very basic.
The more research I have done into the low carb life plan the more disillusioned 
I have become with the lack of information given to newly diagnosed diabetics. I 
have seen people ( type 2) in my clinics who have been diabetic for years and 
just assumed that it was a progressive condition and they could eat what they 
like ; if there was a problem their medication would be changed or increased. 
You will always find some people who are extremely motivated to take control of 
their own health- these people need to be empowered with the knowledge to do so. 
Others sadly can't be bothered to make the effort and want the medical 
profession to solve the problem with medication- no amount of information or 
support can really help until they change that mindset. I believe that with the 
right support everyone is capable of change but sadly the NHS is not where the 
solution is. I have seen the positive change in my diabetic patients who have 
taken back control and seen the benefits of a low carb diet plan and the 
resulting weight loss and improved glycaemic control. I am not a diabetes 
specialist but the problems I see in my clinics are often associated with 
diabetes.  As an NHS employee I cannot recommend any diet plan but I can  give 
my patients ( type 2) the links to do their own research and make their 
decisions about their own Health with the support and monitoring of their GP or 
practice nurse. So many have not even been given any test strips to monitor 
their blood sugar- it's incredible.
Once again- well done for the much needed information. I will be giving your 
website address to my patients and my husband will following a low carb diet 
from now on.

Kind regards,

Sunday 29 June 2014

Dear Diabetes

Well, we’ve been together for a long time now. You’ve been my constant companion throughout my whole adult life. You sat in the passenger seat when I learned to drive, you rode pillion when I passed my motorbike test, you came into the hospital with me when I got Chicken Pox at 22, you attended University with me, you were there when my daughter was born, you were looking over my shoulder when I met and fell in love with Mr B and no doubt, you’ll be there, hovering in the background, when I take my last breath.
You’ve experienced every nuance of my adult life. You’ve always been there, lurking in the shadows, biding your time and waiting for your moment. You’ve gone through the ups and downs of day to day living with me. Sometimes, you blended gently into the background but at others you’ve been a force to be reckoned with and a right pain in the ass. Sometimes, you’ve been content to let me man the rudder and find my own path but at others, you’ve tried to steer me in directions I didn’t want to go.
I’ve tried to fight you but to no avail. You’ve made me angry, scared, frustrated as hell and could make me cry at the smallest provocation. You’ve riddled me with guilt and plunged me into the depths of despair because I didn’t give you the time and attention you deserved. At times I’ve lived in denial, refusing your very existence but you didn’t care what your reception was, you were there whether I acknowledged you or not. Always waiting in the wings, ready to pounce at inopportune moments.
I’ve felt your hot breath as my body burned from ketoacidosis and I’ve felt your cool touch as my glucose levels plummeted down. I’ve tried to ignore you, shake you off or leave you behind but your tenacious grip on me has to be admired. You have been unfailing in your determination to hang on and now your grip is so tight that the separation between you and me has become blurred and indistinct.
I can’t remember what life was like before you came into my world. The carefree existence of not having to worry about what factors will wake you up and let me feel your wrath. You affect my blood glucose levels, my mood, my health and my mobility and your prevailing influence permeates every aspect of my life.
Upon reflection, I can see that i’ve been grieving for my former life. Shock and denial allowed me to avoid the pain of your reality. Then the pain and guilt kicked in, with feelings of frustration and remorse over the things that I did or didn’t do to avoid you. Close on its heels were anger and bargaining and questioning, “Why me?” This was then followed by a period of sad reflection where I realised the magnitude of the loss of my former life and was accompanied by feelings of depression and despair.
But, I now know you’re not the malevolent entity that I once made you out to be. You can’t help what you are, you just are. Without me, you would cease to exist and so, I must recognise our co-dependence and learn to live with you. I’m on the upward turn and as I handle you with a more organised approach, I feel calmer. My mind is working again and i’m actively seeking real solutions and reconstructing my life around you, not against you.
Diabetes, I won’t fight you anymore. I accept you and look forward to the rest of the life we will share together.
Bye for now,
Julie x 
Good post from a Type 1 diabetic @The Ketogenic Diabetic
Graham

Since he (Graham) seems to like quirky music videos. Indy

Saturday 28 June 2014

Thrift Shop (Vintage "Grandpa Style" Macklemore Cover)

And now for something completely different (again) enjoy.
Graham

Gary Clark Jr. - Bright Lights


Graham

Soul legend Bobby Womack dies aged 70 RIP

Rodrigo y Gabriela - Tamacun at Glastonbury 2014

It's 'Glastonbury' again ....the year has flown by and as usual the boots are ready in case of mud!

No I jest, I enjoy watching it courtesy of the BBC in the comfort of my feather filled sofa, a glass of wine in hand and having just eaten a gorgeous low carb high fat meal .....Eddie on the other comfy sofa what more could I ask for!

I thought the energy of these two was amazing and also enjoyed Blondie's set last night. Us 'oldies' still have a lot of go in us .......YES.

Hope you're having a fantastic Saturday Night

All the best Jan 


Hotel California versión acústica


Saturday night again and it's music night on this blog. Check out this stunning version of a genuine classic. Have a great weekend my friends. Eddie

Friday 27 June 2014

Butter Coffee - The new trend


WEST TOWN — DNAinfo headed to Ugly Mug Cafe in West Town to try the latest coffee craze: butter coffee.
Some athletes have been adding about one or two tablespoons of unsalted, grass-fed butter to their morning java as a way to add "healthy fat" to their diets. While Chicagoans have been trying it out at home, the Ugly Mug folks decided to add a butter latte to their menu. They describe it as "filmy and rich."
Watch our taste testers and Mik Wright of Ugly Mug explain the craze here:


Sorry unable to embed the video.
Graham

Thursday 26 June 2014

Diabetes: Good Control Now = Lifetime Benefit

Two famous studies showed that tight control of glucose did not cause a statistically significant reduction in heart attacks or early death. But roughly 20 years after the studies ended, tight control subjects are living longer and healthier than those who were in the comparison groups. What is going on?
This long-delayed benefit is called the “legacy effect.” It was found in follow-up of patients in the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) and the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS).
I learned about the legacy effect in a symposium at the American Diabetes Association’s 74th Scientific Sessions in San Francisco on June 13.
DCCT included more than 1400 people with Type 1 diabetes and lasted from 1983 to 1993. Half of the participants worked for “intensive therapy,” defined as an A1C “as close to normal as possible,” that “included three or more daily insulin injections or a continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion, guided by four or more glucose tests daily.” Many achieved an A1C of 7.0 or less.
The other half had one to two insulin injections a day. Their A1C levels averaged close to 9.0. The intensive therapy lasted an average of 6.5 years.
The participants in the study have since been followed in the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) study, which is still going on.
The intensive control group had immediate benefits. They had far less eye and kidney damage and less diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage that can cause sensations such as pain and numbness.) These are called “microvascular complications,” because the blood vessels in the eyes, kidneys, and nerves are small.
But they had no significant benefit in heart disease or stroke. These are called “macrovascular complications,” because the blood vessels in the heart and brain are large. The rates of heart attack, stroke, and death were the same in both groups at the study’s close in 1993. (According to researchers, at the time the study ended, it was still too soon to assess the impact on cardiovascular health.)
They’re not the same any more. According to the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse:
More than 10 years after the DCCT ended, when both groups began receiving similar care (and had similar glucose levels), the benefits to the heart of the earlier treatment emerged. Moreover, the EDIC study found the benefits of tight glucose control on eye, kidney, and nerve problems persisted long after the DCCT ended. Researchers call the long-lasting benefit of tight control ‘metabolic memory.’
Same in Type 2
The UKPDS tried to do for Type 2 diabetes what DCCT had done for Type 1: show the effects of tight glucose control. UKPDS included about 5,000 recently diagnosed people with Type 2. Half were assigned to a tight control group, defined as a fasting blood sugar (FBS) below 108 mg/dl (6.0 mmol/ml). In practice, the tight control group had a median (midpoint) A1C of about 7.0.
Just as in DCCT, people receiving “intense control” had fewer eye, kidney, and nerve problems. But heart problems and strokes were no different for the two groups at the end of the study. After ten years, “no attempts were made to maintain previously assigned therapies,” and glucose levels in the two groups became similar. However, 15 years later, the tight control group has had far fewer cardiac events and a lower death rate.
What this means
What does the legacy effect mean for you? Mainly, that your heart, brain, and legs will benefit from gaining good glucose control as soon as you can. According to Colombian researchers, a few months of high glucose can deposit proteins called kinase C and nuclear factor κB in blood vessels. These proteins don’t easily go away and lead to more damage over the years.
So don’t wait. Complications can occur even before diabetes is diagnosed, because dangerously high levels can be balanced by low levels at other times. These variations can lead to an OK A1C level, even if you have elevated glucose levels much of the time.
There is a “lag time” between starting tight control and seeing advantages in your large blood vessels. Big arteries take time to clog up, and they take time to heal. Expect a 3–5 year wait before seeing cardiac benefits from tight control. Even after blood sugar levels become completely normal, it may take 5–10 years for your cardiac risk to return to those of a person without diabetes. But you should feel a lot better in the meantime. Your small vessels will be protected, and your big vessels will be healing.
Third, even if heart disease and stroke (macrovascular complications) are unchanged with better control, protecting the eyes and kidneys (microvascular complications) is well worth the effort. So is reducing neuropathy, which can involve sexual dysfunction.
Fourth, it’s important to know that the “tight control” in DCCT and UKPDS wasn’t that tight. It’s possible to do quite a bit better than an A1C of 7.0, as we’ve written about on this site here and here.
Finally, tight control in these studies came primarily from drugs, not from self-management or lifestyle changes. This is an important distinction and may account for why the benefits were not even greater.
More recent trials of tight control, such as ACCORD (Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes), ADVANCE (Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease), and VADT (Veterans Affairs Diabetes Trial) showed no cardiac advantage for tight control. But this failure may have been due to the harmful effects of the drugs used, not to the lower blood sugar levels. Probably, as the ACCORD, ADVANCE, and VADT groups are followed for decades, legacy effects will emerge for them, too, especially if they are controlling their diabetes with lifestyle.
No legacy for blood pressure treatment
Interestingly, in all trials to date, there has been no legacy effect and no lag time for blood pressure control. You are safer while you are keeping your pressure down. But if your pressure goes back up, your risk immediately returns.
Graham

Cheesy Cauliflower Puffs – Low Carb and Gluten-Free


"I have to admit, I spent most of my life sadly underestimating cauliflower. I’ve always liked it and it’s been in my vegetable rotation for many years. But for 37 odd years, I had really only eaten it steamed or raw. Maybe in the occasional stir-fry. I had no idea how versatile a vegetable it truly was. It was just the plain white vegetable that graced my plate with a pat of butter and a sprinkle of salt and pepper, or sometimes hanging out on the crudite plate, often left behind with the mushrooms while the pepper and carrots got gobbled up. And although I liked it very much and ate it willingly at any time, I didn’t give it much credit for being interesting and adaptable.

And then…I became diabetic. And discovered low carb. And food blogging. Suddenly a whole new world of cauliflower goodness opened up to me. Mashed cauli in place of mashed potatoes? Cauliflower rice? Cauliflower pizza crust? Really, truly, this funny white cruciferous vegetable had so much more going for it than I ever thought."

Check out this great site and good healthy grub idea here.

Eddie


No more required !


Suarez goes low carb high fat shocker !


Lawyers acting for Luis Suarez are said to be blaming Luis's low carb high fat diet for his recent attack on an Italian footballer.

The independent disciplinary panel, chaired by Swiss lawyer Claudio Sulser, has a range of sanctions available, including force feeding Luis industrial quantities of carbs before he takes to the pitch.

An unnamed spokesman said "It's the MEAT ! they have been feeding the lad too much MEAT !"

The Sun


Wednesday 25 June 2014

Gretchen Becker, A1C Secrets: in Type 2 Diabetes

Gretchen Becker may live on a farm in a peaceful and quiet town in Vermont, but you might be surprised to know this farm-gal also has an incredible background in biology and journalism after studying for 8 years at Radcliffe/Harvard as a PhD Candidate, and is an author of two peer-reviewed papers in Harvard’s journals.
Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 1996, Gretchen is more than just a patient advocate, she has a wealth of medical knowledge on living with this disease. With a rich background in medical journalism and as the author of several books on diabetes, Gretchen is now a freelance editor of medical books and journals and lives on a small sheep farm. 
Gretchen is the author of “The First Year: Type 2 Diabetes” and “Prediabetes” and coauthor of “The Four Corners Diet,” and regular contributor at HealthCentral.
Here, Gretchen shares a few bites of wisdom she’s learned over the years about achieving her A1C goals through nutrition, exercise, medications, and good old fashion blood sugar testing!
Looking back at when you were first diagnosed, and your first few years of life with diabetes, is there anything you wish you’d know back then that you know now?
Yes.
  1. The statement that “Losing just 10 pounds will make your diabetes go away,” which I was told, isn’t true for many people, although it’s true for a few.
  2. Being put immediately on insulin, so your blood sugar is in normal range, can help preserve beta cells, although it can also make weight loss more difficult. They hadn’t really studied this back then, although in the early 1980s, some patients were hospitalized and put on a machine called the Biostator for two weeks. The Biostator was essentially an artificial pancreas, and it kept the blood sugar completely normal for those two weeks. It took two years for these patients to see their blood glucose levels rise to the pre-study levels. But the machine was cumbersome, and you couldn’t use it at home.
  3. The most important person in diabetes control is the patient, and fellow patients can often help educate you faster than your medical team.
  4. How have you seen your A1C vary throughout the years?

  5. I was diagnosed with an A1 (an older test) of 16, which is an A1c of about 13. For a year or so, on metformin, my A1cs were about 7, but at that time I was on my own version of the ADA diet (substituting 3 vegetable exchanges [5 g each] for each carb exchange [15 g each]).
  6. Although I lost weight, I got tired of being hungry all the time and gradually switched to a LC (low-carb) diet. Because the switch was gradual, I never had the difficulty some people have at first, with fatigue etc., but I also didn’t quickly lose a lot of weight as some people do when they go from high carb to low carb. I couldn’t seem to get my A1c under 6.0 with Metformin, so I went on a basal insulin. My last A1c was 5.2 percent.
    My exercise program doesn’t change much. In the summer, I have a lot of outdoor work, cutting brush, tilling the garden, shoveling manure, having a full-time battle with vegetation of all kinds, and stacking wood. When the vegetation calms down, I walk about 1.5 miles a day. However, I don’t walk when it’s raining or snowing, when it’s over 90 and humid, or when it’s under 20, especially when it’s windy. There isn’t room in my house for exercise equipment, and I probably wouldn’t use it if there were. I used to lift weights, but I find that terribly boring and stopped.
  7. The pressure to eat the perfect “diabetic diet” cannot only feel incredibly overwhelming but also very confusing because there are so many different nutritional philosophies out there. As someone with a deep understanding of nutritional chemistry, how have you made sense of today’s vast nutritional philosophies for your own life with diabetes?
  8. I’ve never felt any pressure to eat the perfect diabetic diet. I eat what works for me, and it might be different from what works for you. I started out thinking the ADA knew what it was talking about, but my first question to my doctor was, “If diabetes is a disease in which we can’t metabolize carbohydrate, why is the ADA telling me to eat a lot of starch?” So I was skeptical from the beginning, and when I saw that Dr. Richard Bernstein agreed that the ADA diet was harmful, I listened to him and not the ADA. I also felt very deprived being allowed only 2 oz of meat per meal on the ADA diet and was never satisfied after a meal. Now I usually eat only 3 oz of meat, sometimes 4, but just that extra ounce fills me up.
    What works for many people is to “eat to your meter.” If a certain type of food makes your blood glucose rise a lot, don’t eat it, or eat tiny portions. Test a lot, especially in your first year when you’re still learning a lot. Write everything down. Try to vary only one thing at a time for the best results.
    What about the mental part of your life with diabetes? How do you handle stress or burnout around the daily responsibilities of this disease?
    I think for a type 2, the problem of social isolation on a low-carb diet is greater than the various responsibilities of measuring blood glucose and taking meds. Most of my friends seem to be vegans or at least supportive of low-fat “plant-based” diets that are invariably high in carbs, so it makes getting together for meals difficult. I can’t go to the potluck suppers that are so common in small-town Vermont unless I bring my own food along. But I’ve always been a hermit, so that’s not too bad. I live alone, and I think that makes it easier as I don’t have to cook carby meals for other people.
    At my age (73), so many of my contemporaries have serious medical problems that I realize the diabetes is a piece of cake compared with what they’re going through. When faced with a disease, many people think, “Why me?” Before I got diabetes, when I saw contemporaries die of brain tumors or ALS or cancer, I sometimes thought, “Why not me?” I suppose it’s a form of survivor’s guilt. So now I don’t need to feel guilty about being disease-free.
    I think it’s more difficult when you’re younger and your contemporaries are mostly healthy.
    Anything else you’d like to share?
    Diabetes is not a death sentence. Well, we’re all going to die, but you can have a long life with diabetes. So you’re in this for the long haul, and it’s worth taking some time at the start to educate yourself about this disease. Then figure out what works best for you and stick to it so your future will be bright.
"The most important person in diabetes control is the patient, and fellow patients can often help educate you faster than your medical team."
How true is her comment above, the low carbers at DCUK gave us far more help and guidance than any advice we received from our medical professionals.

Graham

Footballing rodent bites Italian player !


Suarez celebrating goal 


He's at it again !


England team have new sponsorship 

Tuesday 24 June 2014

Vitamin D supplementation linked to halted diabetes progression

CHICAGO — Vitamin D supplementation in patients with prediabetes produced a decrease in the rate of progression to type 2 diabetes and increased the rate of return to normoglycemia, according to a presenter at the joint meeting of the International Congress of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society.
“Looking at the Bloomberg map of vitamin D deficiency, India along with China have a very high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and in India, specifically, 70% to 80% of our population are vitamin D deficient. Incidentally, the IDF map of diabetes show that these two countries constitute the diabetes capital of the world,” Deep Dutta, MD, DM, DNB, from the Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research and Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial Hospital, in Calcutta, West Bengal, India, said during a presentation. “Our experience suggests that in our population, indeed vitamin D supplementation in prediabetes was beneficial in improving glycemic outcomes and we also observed an improvement in the inclement cytokine parameters.”
Dutta presented data on 136 individuals with impaired fasting glucose and glucose tolerance over the course of two OGTT tests, but without severe comorbidities.
The participants were randomized to three treatment groups. Those with serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D (25-[OH]D) ≤30 ng/ml were randomized to either Group A (n=55) where they received vitamin-D (60,000 U once weekly for 8 weeks, then monthly) and calcium (1,250 mg of calcium carbonate/day) supplementation or Group B (n=49) who received calcium monotherapy. Those with serum 25-(OH)D >30 ng/ml were also followed with calcium supplementation and formed Group C (n=32). Dutta presented more than 2 years of follow up in each group.
The data showed significant correlation between 25-(OH)D and insulin resistance (r=–0.42; P=.004), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha; r=–0.31; P=.03) and C-reactive protein (r=–0.31; P=.03), after adjustment for BMI.
After follow-up and Cox regression analysis, Dutta said Group A had higher serum 25-(OH)D (P<.001), lower FPG (P=.023), TNF-alpha (P=.002) and interleukin-6 (P=.0005) as compared to Group B and Group C. Group A showed a lower level of progression from prediabetes to diabetes (6/55 vs. 13/49; P=.04) and a greater level of return to normoglycemia (23/55 vs. 10/49; P=.02). This significance did not persist after analyzed with Kaplan-Meier, though the trend did.
Cox regression analysis also pointed to 25-(OH)D and the 2-hour OGTT as independent predictors of progression to diabetes (P=.049 and P=.014, respectively) while hypertension and baseline 25-(OH)D predicted a return to normoglycemia (P=.043 and P=.046, respectively).
“There is urgent need for a large, multicenter trial in India similar to the [Diabetes Prevention Program] underway in the US,” Dutta said.
Graham

Dogs' Dazzling Sense of Smell and Lisa and her son.

Dogs' sense of smell overpowers our own by orders of magnitude—it's 10,000 to 100,000 times as acute, scientists say. "Let's suppose they're just 10,000 times better," says James Walker, former director of the Sensory Research Institute at Florida State University, who, with several colleagues, came up with that jaw-dropping estimate during a rigorously designed, oft-cited study. "If you make the analogy to vision, what you and I can see at a third of a mile, a dog could see more than 3,000 miles away and still see as well."

What do dogs have that we don't? For one thing, they possess up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses, compared to about six million in us. And the part of a dog's brain that is devoted to analyzing smells is, proportionally speaking, 40 times greater than ours. Taken from here.

You may be thinking very interesting, but what has this got to do with diabetes, quite a lot actually. A friend of ours Lisa in Australia has a type one diabetic son. She has worked morning noon and night to keep him safe and his diabetes well controlled. Well controlled is an under statement really, as her son is one of the very rare diabetics that run non diabetic HbA1c numbers. Lisa has even gone as far as to train a dog called Maya to sense the rare occasions her son has hypos. 

Check out her blog here, some heart-warming stories and lot's of good food ideas. BTW did I mention her son is a low carber ? Obvious to many I expect, how else would the lad be running non diabetic blood glucose numbers ?



Eddie

Monday 23 June 2014

ADA: LDL Doesn't Predict Heart Risk in Diabetes

LDL cholesterol wasn't a good predictor of cardiovascular disease in type 1 diabetes, but the total cholesterol-to-HDL ratio appeared more reliable, an observational study showed.... 


Christel Hero, MD, of Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden, and colleagues reported that, LDL had modest associations with development of cardiovascular disease but no consistent dose-response above the 100 mg/dL threshold for statin treatment in this population.
In type 1 diabetes patients already on statins, LDL levels didn't have any significant link to subsequent cardiovascular disease in the Swedish National Diabetes Register data.

The cholesterol-to-HDL ratio had likewise modest links to cardiovascular disease in patients on or off lipid medications, but with a consistent rise in risk across categories.
Hero added, "The ratio of cholesterol-to-HDL is a more reliable marker for risk when considering primary prevention."

Fernando Ovalle, MD, director of the Comprehensive Diabetes Center of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, commented, "The findings emphasized how much remains unknown about cardiovascular disease in type 1 diabetes."

"We made a lot of assumptions and jumped to a lot of conclusions that the markers of cardiovascular disease and treatments for prevention of cardiovascular diseases will be the same in type 1 -- and that just may not be the case." "This could potentially change the perspective on how we see the use of statins and the assessment of cardiovascular risk in general."

Elizabeth Seaquist, MD, ADA president for medicine and science and a moderator at the session cautioned, "Don't toss out LDL in clinical practice just yet." Dr. Seaquist continued saying that LDL may not be as strong a predictor for cardiovascular disease as in type 2, as has been suspected from prior studies, but further research is needed to determine what to use in the clinic. "These patients are still at great risk for cardiovascular events, and we need to make certain that we're doing the right things to prevent that," she said. "It will help us if we were to do a trial to determine the benefits of lipid-lowering in type 1 patients, how we might design it. They don't have particularly high LDLs in general."


Elizabeth Seaquist is not for "tossing out LDL in clinical practice" yet, maybe I'm an old cynic but could it be conflicts of interest that's behind that statement ?

Dr Seaquist reported serving as a board member and President Elect of
Science and Medicine for the American Diabetes Association; serving as a consultant for AMG Medical, sanofi-aventis, SkyePharma, and Merck; receiving grants or grants pending from the American Diabetes Association, Eli Lilly, and the National Institutes of Health; and receiving payment for lectures from the Japan Diabetes Society, the American Diabetes Association, Intellyst Medical Education, Pediatric Academic Societies, the Association of Specialty Professors, and the International Society for Neurochemistry

Graham

Sunday 22 June 2014

Comparative Safety of Oral Antidiabetic Therapy on Risk of Fracture in Patients with Diabetes

Some clinical and observational studies suggest that the use of antidiabetic drug classes such as thiazolidinediones (TZD) can increase the risk of fracture in patients with Diabetes. However, no studies have examined the long term risk across all classes of anti-diabetic drug therapies with respect to fracture incidence. A longitudinal retrospective cohort study using a large administrative claims database was conducted to examine the comparative safety of antidiabetics_sulfonylureas, biguanides (metformin), incretin mimetic agents, meglitinide analogues, TZD, and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4)_on risk of fracture.

Patients were included in the cohort if they met the following criteria: ≥18 years old, new users of antidiabetic drugs, diagnosis of diabetes before initiating treatment, continuously enrolled for 12-months before and at least 12-months after initiation of treatment, no diagnosis of fracture in 12-months before treatment, and not prescribed more than one antidiabetic drug class.

Multivariate survival analysis was performed. Patients were censored at the time of event, at disenrollment or at the end of follow-up period. A total of 99,892 adults (metformin (77.8%), sulfonylureas (15.3%), DPP4 (2.7%), TZD (2.7%), incretins (0.81%), and meglitinides (0.6%)) were identified as new users of antidiabetic drugs. Within the 5 year follow-up period, 7,353 patients (7.4%) had evidence of fracture. After adjusting for potential confounders, a significantly higher risk of fracture was found in users of sulfonylureas (HR 1.09, 95% CI 1.03-1.16) and TZD (HR 1.40, 95% CI 1.25-1.58) as compared to metformin. No statistical difference was found between metformin and other antidiabetic drug classes. This large longitudinal study found that risk of fracture is 9 to 40 percent higher in users of sulfonylureas and TZD.

These findings should be taken into consideration in prescribing antidiabetic drugs, especially in those patients already at higher risk for fracture.

http://app.core-apps.com/

And it appears we are more susceptible to fractures so adding theses drugs is only going to exacerbate the the risk.


Risk for fracture, post-fracture complications higher in diabetes

Patients with diabetes are at an increased long-term risk for fracture and more prone to adverse events and death after a fracture, according to recent findings.


Graham

DCUK Noblehead still talking complete nonsense !

"Basically there's no particular diet for type 1's as it's just the same as for those who don't have diabetes"

From Noblehead aka Pinocchio at the diabetes.co.uk forum here.

The great irony, he was posting on a thread called "Diet confusion" One thing is for sure, Noblyhead is one very confused guy ! Is it me or has the forum gone down rapidly just lately ? Most of the good posters and the highly knowledgeable appear to have done a Capt. Oates.

Eddie

Ever wondered why the England football team is crap ?


Cristiano Ronaldo                               Wayne Rooney 

Need I say more ?

Eddie

Most dietary information, pushed by most healthcare professionals, is complete and utter bollocks !

The first thing you have to understand, is the fact most dietary information, pushed by most healthcare professionals, is complete and utter bollocks. The straight thinking diabetic, with a reasonable quantity of functioning grey matter, the sort of person that realises we are conned and lied to 24/7 by junk food, pharmaceutical companies and so called scientists on the payola treadmill, quickly saw through the avarice, lies and greed.

Over six years ago, our blog crew and many of the well controlled diabetics we know, realized demonising saturated fats from whole food sources was totally ridiculous. Even more ludicrous was the fact us diabetics were and are still being told to base our meals on starch/sugar. Our good news stories were dismissed as anecdotal and worthless by well known medics and dietitians, how wrong they were and how times have changed.

Every day more medical professionals and straight thinkers are telling us butter is a safe food and does not cause heart disease. Sugar is now rated alongside cigarettes as a major health hazard, and for sugar read starch. Have you noticed how Unilever are telling us, in their adverts around the clock, butter is in their products such as ‘Gold’ and ‘Bertolli’ For decades Unilever have been telling us Flora was a good health product, more total bollocks.

“The fate of a nation depends on the way that they eat.”

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin 1755--1826

"Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food." Hippocrates.

Over two thousand years ago those words were uttered by the Father of medicine, they stand good today. Never has the food we eat had greater influence over our lives, yet so many believe drugs and quick fixes will save them from the epidemics of obesity and the often linked type two diabetes, they won’t, this has been proved.

Eddie


Bollocks a highly flexible term commonly used by the English.

1. something rubbish
2. a falsehood or series of lies
3. something great
4. the best possible
5. testicles
6. exclamation on making a error.

1. That Mel Gibson movie was a load of bollocks.
2. That Tony Blair is talking bollocks.
3. That curry was the bollocks!
4. That your wife is the dog's bollocks when it comes to cooking!
5. Then she kicked him in the bollocks.
6. Bollocks!

Hindi Zahra - Beautiful Tango

Time to chill before hitting the sack:
Graham

Saturday 21 June 2014

Friday 20 June 2014

Obesity research confirms long-term weight loss almost impossible

No known cure for obesity except surgically shrinking the stomach


There's a disturbing truth that is emerging from the science of obesity. After years of study, it's becoming apparent that it's nearly impossible to permanently lose weight.
As incredible as it sounds, that's what the evidence is showing. For psychologist Traci Mann, who has spent 20 years running an eating lab at the University of Minnesota, the evidence is clear. "It couldn't be easier to see," she says. "Long-term weight loss happens to only the smallest minority of people."
We all think we know someone in that rare group. They become the legends — the friend of a friend, the brother-in-law, the neighbour — the ones who really did it.
But if we check back after five or 10 years, there's a good chance they will have put the weight back on. Only about five per cent of people who try to lose weight ultimately succeed, according to the research. Those people are the outliers, but we cling to their stories as proof that losing weight is possible.
"Those kinds of stories really keep the myth alive," says University of Alberta professor Tim Caulfield, who researches and writes about health misconceptions. "You have this confirmation bias going on where people point to these very specific examples as if it's proof. But in fact those are really exceptions."
Our biology taunts us, by making short-term weight loss fairly easy. But the weight creeps back, usually after about a year, and it keeps coming back until the original weight is regained or worse.
This has been tested in randomized controlled trials where people have been separated into groups and given intense exercise and nutrition counselling.
Even in those highly controlled experimental settings, the results show only minor sustained weight loss.
When Traci Mann analyzed all of the randomized control trials on long-term weight loss, she discovered that after two years the average amount lost was only one kilogram, or about two pounds, from the original weight.

Tiptoeing around the truth

So if most scientists know that we can't eat ourselves thin, that the lost weight will ultimately bounce back, why don't they say so?
Tim Caulfield says his fellow obesity academics tend to tiptoe around the truth. "You go to these meetings and you talk to researchers, you get a sense there is almost a political correctness around it, that we don't want this message to get out there," he said.
"You'll be in a room with very knowledgeable individuals, and everyone in the room will know what the data says and still the message doesn't seem to get out." In part, that's because it's such a harsh message. "You have to be careful about the stigmatizing nature of that kind of image," Caulfield says. "That's one of the reasons why this myth of weight loss lives on."
Health experts are also afraid people will abandon all efforts to exercise and eat a nutritious diet — behaviour that is important for health and longevity — even if it doesn't result in much weight loss.
Traci Mann says the emphasis should be on measuring health, not weight. "You should still eat right, you should still exercise, doing healthy stuff is still healthy," she said. "It just doesn't make you thin."

We are biological machines

But eating right to improve health alone isn't a strong motivator. The research shows that most people are willing to exercise and limit caloric intake if it means they will look better. But if they find out their weight probably won't change much, they tend to lose motivation.
That raises another troubling question. If diets don't result in weight loss, what does? At this point the grim answer seems to be that there is no known cure for obesity, except perhaps surgically shrinking the stomach. 
Research suggests bariatric surgery can induce weight loss in the extremely obese, improving health and quality of life at the same time. But most people will still be obese after the surgery. Plus, there are risky side effects, and many will end up gaining some of that weight back.
If you listen closely you will notice that obesity specialists are quietly adjusting the message through a subtle change in language.
These days they're talking about weight maintenance or "weight management" rather than "weight loss."
It's a shift in emphasis that reflects the emerging reality. Just last week the headlines announced the world is fatter than it has ever been, with 2.1 billion people now overweight or obese, based on an analysis published in the online issue of the British medical journal The Lancet.
Researchers are divided about why weight gain seems to be irreversible, probably a combination of biological and social forces. "The fundamental reason," Caulfield says, "is that we are very efficient biological machines. We evolved not to lose weight. We evolved to keep on as much weight as we possibly can."
Lost in all of the noise about dieting and obesity is the difficult concept of prevention, of not putting weight on in the first place.
The Lancet study warned that more than one in five kids in developed countries are now overweight or obese. Statistics Canada says close to a third of Canadian kids under 17 are overweight or obese. And in a world flooded with food, with enormous economic interest in keeping people eating that food, what is required to turn this ship around is daunting.
"An appropriate rebalancing of the primal needs of humans with food availability is essential," University of Oxford epidemiologist Klim McPherson wrote in a Lancet commentary following last week's study. But to do that, he suggested, "would entail curtailing many aspects of production and marketing for food industries."
Perhaps, though, the emerging scientific reality should also be made clear, so we can navigate this obesogenic world armed with the stark truth — that we are held hostage to our biology, which is adapted to gain weight, an old evolutionary advantage that has become a dangerous metabolic liability.
Graham