Tag Archive for: diabetes

The Last Word on Sugar

The sugar war continues in the health headlines these last few days of 2016. Here’s a summary of what was said and my opinion.

Researchers reviewed the science behind the nutritional guidelines that fewer than 10% of calories should come from sugar (1), a position held by the World Health Organization and the USDA. After examining the science behind those guidelines, they concluded that the guidelines are not trustworthy.

Experts responded by calling what the researchers did junk science (2). The researchers were funded by a group composed of soda, candy, and fast-food companies. The experts said that . . .

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Curcumin: Question 3

Most super herbs and juices come from other countries—açai from Brazil and noni from Southeast Asia to Australia. Curcumin seems to have been used in India for hundreds of years. As we finish this look on questions we should ask about the latest and greatest nutrient, juice, or herb, this is most likely the simplest question of all. Here’s the obvious question: do the people where the herb is traditionally used live longer than we do in the U.S.?

I’ll stick with curcumin and India. Although our official life expectancy just decreased a couple of . . .

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Recent Research: Milk and T2D

Health news headlines got my attention this past week. They announced that full-fat milk products may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and becoming overweight. I don’t know about you, but it’s been decades since I drank whole milk or ate whole-fat yogurt or ice cream. It’s not just about the calories; it just doesn’t seem to taste as good. Have I been missing something? Headlines tend to exaggerate, especially when they’re based on press releases. Let’s take a look at the first study behind the headlines.

In the first paper . . .

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Prediabetes: What Now?

The messages this week have talked about the risk factors for prediabetes and how many people don’t know what they are. It’s time to change that, at least in those of you who read the messages. Please feel free to pass them along to anyone you feel might also be unaware.

How do you know if you’re actually prediabetic? It requires a blood test for a specific protein called HbA1c. This protein indicates the amount of sugar that’s been in your blood stream for the past 90 days. The number for your blood sugar might be . . .

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Drinking Your Phytonutrients: I Love Coffee

I’ll say it again: I love coffee. I’ve been drinking it since my mother put coffee with a little sugar in my bottle when I was a baby; I guess she wanted me to stay awake. (Yes, that’s Ma and I in the photo; Paula’s feeling creative this week.)

In my lifetime, the health news has said coffee is both bad and good for you. Today it seems to be mostly on the plus side; there’s good reason for that and it appears the benefits are due to the phytonutrients and—surprise!—the caffeine.

Caffeine . . .

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Low Carb vs. High Carb: The Results

In today’s message, we’re going to continue the review of a recent study that compared a low-carb to high-carb diet (1). Today I’ll focus on the results the researchers emphasized.

The researchers measured just about every variable associated with the development of type 2 diabetes including anthropomorphic measurements, insulin levels, and the complete breakdown of all the types of fatty acids found in triglycerides.

Let’s start with the basics. All subjects lost weight even though that wasn’t the intent of the study. The number of calories per day was decreased by an average . . .

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Low Carb vs. High Carb

The debate never seems to end over which diet is best: high carbohydrates as recommended by the USDA; or low carbohydrates as promoted by those following one of the Paleolithic diets; or an Atkins diet type of approach. The different diets aren’t just supposed to be good for weight loss, they’re also supposed to help reduce the risk of diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

In a recently published study, researchers attempted to answer the question: which diet is best, low carb or high carb (1)? They recruited overweight subjects with metabolic syndrome to participate in a . . .

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Taurine and Diabetes

We’re continuing our look at taurine and some interesting research on its potential benefits. Today, we’re looking at taurine and diabetes but let me be clear: this is mostly theoretical at this point; there has been substantial animal research but not as many human trials as I would like. Still I think it’s worth talking about now.

There are three areas that are affected substantially if you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes: the heart and cardiovascular system, the eyes, and the hands and feet. In this review paper, researchers found an association between diabetes and . . .

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