Image by Bill_Owen via Flickr

Type 2 diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions around the globe and is largely a man-made problem. Your diet is the issue, yet few people seem to understand why or how eating the wrong foods can create this ever increasing problem.

Here is an interview with Dr Simon Griffin, that explains the current position.
Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which the body does not make sufficient insulin or the insulin it makes doesn’t work sufficiently well to maintain a normal level of blood glucose and so the blood glucose rises. The problem with this is that it leads to an increased risk of complications such as heart disease, stroke, amputations, kidney failure, blindness and so on affecting the large and small blood vessels in the body, leading to huge costs for individuals, the health system and wider society.

Type 2 diabetes is increasingly common. Perhaps up to 4.5 million people will have it in the UK by 2020. It is more common in people who have a family history, people who are overweight, and people who have other related conditions like high blood pressure. It is more common in different ethnic groups like Asians and Afro-Caribbeans.

How many people are known to have type 2 diabetes?

366 million people have type 2 diabetes worldwide, 80% of whom live in low and middle income countries. In the UK it is probably around 5% of the adult population. Historically, it has been believed that a similar proportion has diabetes but don’t know it yet.

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes varies according to different countries in the world. In some countries, such as some pacific islands, up to 50% of the population develop diabetes. In most high income countries you’d expect the prevalence to be single figure percentages.

What are the main problems of having undiagnosed diabetes?

Most people that have undiagnosed diabetes don’t feel any symptoms. The issue is the harm that the raised blood glucose causes to the large and small blood vessels. This begins to happen before diagnosis, such that when people are diagnosed with diabetes many of them have complications already present. Up to 50% of people have some signs of tissue damage at the point at which they are diagnosed.

How did your research into screening for type 2 diabetes develop?

That is a long story. It started off while I was doing a study when I was in Southampton, which was focused on trying to improve the care of people with newly diagnosed diabetes. What I noticed was that all the people with newly diagnosed diabetes that the practices recruited had certain characteristics about them that made me think that it would be quite easy to find these people earlier because they were clearly different from the age/sex matched population in the practices. For example, they were more overweight, they were more likely to be on blood pressure drugs and so on.

So I developed a score to see if that would help in identifying people who had diabetes. The question then was if we can find these people, should we? That led to a whole program of work trying to decide whether it was worthwhile trying to find people with diabetes earlier and if we did then what treatment should they be offered.

The study that we published is one example of the studies that led from that initial interest back in the late 1990’s.

What did your research involve?

We recruited general practices in and around Cambridge and surrounding counties, and, with their permission, we helped them to look in their medical records with a search using the score I just mentioned. We identified the people aged 40-69 who were at highest risk of having undiagnosed diabetes. We took the top 25% of those at highest risk of undiagnosed diabetes and randomly allocated the practices to either screen or not screen.

In the practices that were screening, we gave the list of people at high risk to the practice and we asked them to invite those people for finger prick testing. So, they wrote to all of those people offering them an appointment and if they didn’t attend that appointment to arrange a time for a follow-up one. Around 73% of those people at high risk attended in the screening practices. We also had a comparison group where we didn’t tell the GPs who the high risk patients were, so they didn’t systematically invite people for screening.

What were the results of your research?

What we found 10 years later was that there was no difference in mortality in the high risk populations in the screening practices and the high risk populations in the control no-screening practices. This suggests that population screening for type 2 diabetes in the short term won’t lead to reduction in premature mortality rates in the wider population….More at Type 2 diabetes screening: an interview with Dr Simon Griffin, MRC … – News-Medical.net 

More Reading

• Diabetes Independently Predicts Severe Osteoarthritis – Doctors Lounge
• Changes in Intestinal Bacteria Linked to Type 2 Diabetes – U.S. News & World Report
• How to Reduce Your Diabetes Risk Naturally – To Your Health

More information on this subject can be found at Petra Peach Nutrition.

There are many issues regarding the fats we eat on a daily basis, but many people are not fully aware of the dietary fat insulin resistance issue. Below is an article By David Liu, PHD

Image by Paleo-Crossfit-Omnivore-Lowcarb-NonVegan-Meat-Diet via Flickr

Friday Sept 28, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) — A new study in the journal of Obesity suggests that eating trans fat or trans fatty acids may increase risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus even if the calorie intake is not excessive. Both saturated fat and trans fat has early been proved in laboratory studies to be implicated in the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Dietary intake of trans fat or trans fatty acids have been known to increase risk of heart disease.  According to Harvard scientists, more than 100,000 deaths from heart disease annually in the United States have something to do with dietary trans fat.

The current study, an animal trial of 42 male African green monkeys led by Kylie Kavanagh of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC and colleagues, found moneys having had dietary intake of trans fat in a dose of about 8% of energy for six years gained significant amounts of weight with increased intra-abdominal fat deposition and impaired glucose metabolism.

Weight gain and insulin resistance or insensitivity can lead to obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus, both are associated with increased risk of heart disease, the number killer in the United States.

Some previous studies have shown that trans fatty acids may cause obesity and insulin resistance.  The researchers wanted to examine the effect of moderately high intake of dietary monounsaturated trans fatty acids on body weight and glucose metabolism.

For the study, monkeys were fed a diet with total calories that were to provide maintenance energy requirements without excessive energy to promote weight gain or obesity or type 2 diabetes mellitus.

At six years of study, body weight and abdominal fat distribution was measured using computed tomography scan analysis.   A number metabolic parameters were also measured including fasting plasma insulin, blood sugar, and fructosamine concentrations.  Additionally, “postprandial insulin and glucose concentrations, insulin-stimulated serine/trheonine protein kinase, insulin receptor activation and tumor necrosis factor-alpha concentrations in subcutaneous fat and muscle were measured,” according to the study report.

In addition to weight gain and impaired glucose metabolism, which were indicated by postprandial hyperinsulinemia, higher fructosamine, and tendency of getting higher glucose concentrations, the researchers also observed that “significant reduction in muscle Akt phosphorylation from the TFA-fed monkeys,” which suggested “a mechanism for these changes in carbohydrate metabolism.”

The researchers concluded “Under controlled feeding conditions, long-term TFA (trans fatty acids) consumption was an independent factor in weight gain. TFAs enhanced intra-abdominal deposition of fat, even in the absence of caloric excess, and were associated with insulin resistance, with evidence that there is impaired post-insulin receptor binding signal transduction.”

This study suggests that eating trans fat can increase risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus….More at Trans fat linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus – Food Consumer

• Shelby County vending machines going on a diet – DeSoto Appeal
• F is for ‘fat;’ childhood obesity – Battle Creek Enquirer
• Dietary Fat & Bacteria in the Gut Related? – Ivanhoe

I trust this provokes you to think about the type of fats you consume and the foodstuffs that may contain these fats. Always read the labels on pre-packed foods and the menu information at your favorite restaurant (if they provide any). If not go for fish dishes, salads, and tomato based sauces rather than cheese based, for example. Think before you order…

Petra

More information on this subject can be found at Petra Peach Nutrition.

We all consume too much sugar. Almost every product you see on the supermarket shelf contains added sugur (including savory products). Look at the ingredients listed on canned and package products and see where sugar is on the list. Often sugar is referred to as fructose, or corn syrup so look for those too.

So called healthy breakfast cereals are often high in sugar (and salt) so don’t be fooled by the “healthy” labels.

Below are some interesting articles regarding sugar:

Unless you have superhuman self-control, baking can often have you heading to the gym while the cake cools. Although we can’t make cookies calorie-free, there are ways you can bump up the nutrition and cut calories the next time you go to make a sweet treat. With a few simple substitutions and switches, you can have the muffin and its top — without the muffin top. More at…

Cut the Cake and the Calories — Without Really Trying – FitSugar.com

This article deals with more health related issue of sugar consumption

Are you suffering from unexplained mood swings? Do you have high blood pressure or high triglyceride levels? Maybe you suffer from Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis or cavities in your teeth? As you’re reading this are you wondering: Why is he writing about all these infirmities in the same paragraph – they’re obviously not connected? To which I reply, they certainly can be and the common cause can be an excessive intake of sugar.

Which leads us naturally to the next question: What, exactly, is an excessive intake of added sugar?  The answer might surprise you.

According to the American Heart Association, if you’re a woman, it’s six teaspoons a day and if you’re a man, it’s nine.  However in the United States, the average consumption is much higher than these maximum recommended levels.  Ready for the correct figure?  OK then: Americans consume an average of about 22 teaspoons of added sugar each and every day. Shocking isn’t it!

Read more: http://www.lansingstar.com/around-town/8880-food-and-wine-sugar#ixzz27kn9vWSW

More information on this subject can be found at Petra Peach Nutrition.

Adding salt during cooking or as a condiment is common place. We have taught ourselves to appreciate flavors enhanced by adding salt.

The health problems associated with excessive salt consumption are well documented, but often not fully appreciated.

Here is some additional reading to assist you in making the right dicision when creating your next culinary delight.

Image by kevin dooley via Flickr

Salt continues to remain one of the top debated health and nutrition topics to date. Without surprise, we continue to see health professionals who believe sodium/salt is the cause of current health problems and other professionals who believe sodium/salt is vital for optimal health.

Major government agencies and institutions advocate a low sodium/salt diet. Whether you are against sodium/salt intake or an advocate of for it, everyone can agree that like anything else, sodium/salt should not be consumed in excess. As consumers, we need to recognize the fact that anything in excess can have negative impacts on our health and, at the same time, understand the vital functions sodium plays in our bodies.

Sodium chloride (salt) is important to our diet. Experts agree on the fact that humans rely on sodium as a macro mineral to carry on many vital functions, including maintaining fluid balance, carrying nutrients into and out of cells, nerve impulses by signal transduction, brain communication with your muscles through sodium-potassium ion exchange and a major component of blood plasma, lymphatic fluid and extracellular fluid.

Our bodies work hard to maintain neutral levels of sodium. However, if your sodium levels drop too low or becomes too high, you can increase your risk of mild to severe health problems.

Now, before we move forward on this topic, I want to explain the difference between salt and sodium. Salt is sodium chloride (NaCl) and Sodium (Na) is simply a soft metal. When we look at sodium in nature, we are actually looking at naturally occurring salt, which consists of sodium chloride, major minerals and a large number of essential trace minerals. In addition, we can receive naturally occurring sources of sodium from foods, such as milk, meat, eggs, fish and most vegetables.

Salt is an amazing natural resource, but in our modern world, we have seen a huge decrease in quality and a huge increase in quantity. This trend not only relates to our salt consumption but also to our nonstop consumption of highly refined and processed foods. Together, both of these problems continue to fuel the fire and lead us down a path toward illness and disease….More at Sodium solution: Cut back on refined salts for health – The Union of Grass Valley

More Reading

• Your child’s health: Is sodium worth its salt? – Kern Valley Sun
• Concern Over Youth Salt Intake – KAALtv.com
• Local Dietitians Urge Parents to Monitor Children’s Salt Intake – OzarksFirst.com

Try to reduce the salt content of your meals. Your current desire for salty food is due to your current “bliss point” (what your taste buds expect). Lower this point by gradual salt reduction until a healthier point becomes acceptable  to your palate.

More information on this subject can be found at Petra Peach Nutrition.

Modern day, highly processed foods are often lacking in fiber. A situation that is adding to the dietary problems suffered by many in the civilized world.

Image by Dan Zen

Fiber is the bulk, the roughage, needed by the intestines to move its contents through the digestive tract. Fiber cannot be absorbed or digested. It is not fattening unless eaten in excessive amounts. Fiber acts like a sponge in the stomach. It prevents and relieves constipation, binds toxins, dilutes bacteria, and absorbs water. It also keeps the stools moist, soft and bulky.

Fiber is found in whole foods, particularly whole grains such as brown rice, millet, teff, and quinoa; legumes such as lentils, black beans and chickpeas; and in fresh fruits and vegetables.  Whole grains actually have more fiber than vegetables and fruits.

Cancer of the colon, prostate and breast, and other disorders such as diverticulitis, appendicitis, hemorrhoids, and varicose veins are all related to a high fiber diet. A diet high in fiber will be low in fat. Those who switch to a high fiber diet lose weight, cholesterol levels down, and need no laxatives….More at Leslie Cerier» Blog Archive » Importance of High Fiber Diet

More Reading

• High-Fiber Diet Might Lower Risk for Colon Polyps | A Cosmetics Blog
• Proper Way To A High-Fiber Diet

There’s a lot more going on in your gut than just digestion, absorption and excretion. Trillions of microorganisms inhabit your intestines. In fact, there are 10 times more bacterial cells than human cells in your whole body. And these little beneficial bugs are busy!

Scientists are beginning to unravel how friendly bacteria can protect your health and how the foods you eat can nourish them.

Fiber-rich plant foods give bacteria a fighting chance. Fiber feeds the healthy, hungry microbes, so that’s one of many reasons you should have lots of high-fiber plant foods, including grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables, on your plate. Medications, hygiene, age, health status and diet can influence your microbe balance. Eating wisely is likely your best strategy for boosting the beneficial bugs.

We see hints of the effects of food on intestinal bacteria when we examine diets around the globe.

In populations that consume a largely plant-based, fiber-rich diet, such as those in Africa and Asia, the predominant microbes are the beneficial ones, such as bifidobacteria and lactic acid bacteria, commonly known as probiotic bacteria. These crowd out the bad guys….More at Fiber-rich foods feed good bacteria – The Detroit News

I hope, from reading these curated posts and following the links, you have discovered just how important a healthy high-fiber diet is and how it can benefit you in your daily life

More information on this subject can be found at Petra Peach Nutrition.