This is caused from various things including obesity, and a family history of the disease. This diabetes can be controlled with insulin, tablets, and by using diabetic diet calories to correct the blood sugar levels in the body, and improve the functioning of the pancreas (where the body’s natural insulin is produced).

The second is Type 1 diabetes, which is when the pancreas does not produce insulin at all. In this case, which is more severe, the diabetic will have to inject themselves with monitored does of insulin every day or twice a day to control their blood sugar levels. This is normally developed at birth or during a child’s early life, as well from a family history, and from certain medications that are associated with chemotherapy treatments. This diabetes is also known as insulin dependent diabetes and is when the pancreas is unable to produce its own insulin any longer.

The third type is gestational diabetes and occurs only during a woman’s pregnancy. Normally a family history of diabetes will cause the onset of this and it usually does not last after the woman has given birth. By having the correct diabetic diet calories, most women who are at risk can ward off the gestational diabetes, and those that do develop it can control it without needing medication, which is not safe for their baby.

Diabetic diet calories are necessary in the functioning of the body when you have diabetes and doing regular, appropriate exercise can also help to burn off any excess glucose that the body cannot absorb, which means that you can more easily control your diabetes.

Pre-diabetes is a condition that very frequently occurs before the onset of type 2 diabetes. This simply means that your blood sugars are not quite in a range for the diagnosis of diabetes, (which is 126 fasting on two occasions or more), but close to that range. The new classifications for concern now is any glucose level that is over 100 fasting. If your testing results fasting consistently show that result, you have pre-diabetes. This is also termed as impaired fasting glucose.

This diabetes stage is nothing to ignore. It should be of a serious concern. Serious medical conditions can occur from pre-diabetes such as lasting heart problems. Therefore it is wise to take action, and treat it aggressively.

One of the best favors you can do for yourself when diagnosed with pre-diabetes is to lose weight and also eat wisely. Counting carbohydrates is important, and including whole-grain sources is a must. Whole grains do not cause the big rise in blood sugar as simple carbohydrates. This is because your simple carbohydrates contain refined sugars, whereas whole grains do not.

Actvity on a daily basis for even fifteen minutes will help you a great deal. Try walking, which is the best aerobic activity as it burns many calories in that fifteen minutes time. Start at that level, and work up to thirty minutes or more. Walking every day will not only help you lose weight and your blood glucose levels, but will help you to have better cardiac health.

With pre-diabetes, you may or may not have symptoms of diabetes such as tiredness, intense thirst, visual problems, and urinating often. If you are having any of these symptoms, it is best to have your blood glucose monitored often, and work closely with your doctor to keep track of your conditions and treat with medication when it becomes necessary. Diabetes is nothing to fool around with.

Regular consumption of coffee is not associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) or mortality in men with Type 2 diabetes, report investigators in the journal Diabetes Care.

“Coffee drinking is widespread across the world and has been linked with both beneficial and harmful effects on biological markers of CVD,” say Rob van Dam (Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA) and team.

Caffeine has also been reported to have detrimental effects on glucose tolerance in diabetes, they add.

In this study, the researchers assessed whether coffee consumption was associated with increased risk for CVD (nonfatal myocardial infarction, stroke or fatal coronary heart disease) or all-cause mortality in a group of 3497 men with no previous CVD and Type 2 diabetes who participated in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS).

Participants of the HPFS were recruited in 1986 and aged 40??”75 years at baseline. The team determined how many cups of coffee participants drank on average each week, and their overall caffeine consumption, using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire sent out in 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, and 2002.

van Dam and colleagues found that, after adjustment for age, smoking, and other cardiovascular risk factors, men who drank four or more cups of caffeinated coffee a day were at no higher risk for CVD (relative risk [RR]=0.88) and all-cause mortality (RR=0.80) than men who drank no coffee.

Similarly, when comparing men in the highest with men in the lowest quintile of caffeine intake the risk for CVD and all-cause mortality was not significantly increased (RRs=1.02 and 0.96, respectively).

“Our findings do not support the hypothesis that habitual caffeinated coffee consumption increases risk of cardiovascular events or mortality among individuals with Type 2 diabetes,” conclude the authors.

MedWire (www.medwire-news.md) is an independent clinical news service provided by Current Medicine Group, a part of Springer Science+Business Media. © Current Medicine Group Ltd; 2009

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