Results from a meta-analysis published in the journal Diabetes Care show that moderate alcohol intake has a protective effect against Type 2 diabetes.

Heavier consumption of over 60 g/day in men and 50 g/day in women, however, was found to increase the risk for the condition.

Researchers lead by Dolly Baliunas (University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada) carried out a meta-analysis of 20 cohort studies comprising 477,200 individuals, 12,556 of whom developed incident Type 2 diabetes.

Inclusion criteria were having incident Type 2 diabetes as an endpoint diagnosed using World Health Organization criteria, having a longitudinal design, and a quantitative measure of alcohol consumption. Study duration ranged from 3 to 20 years.

The team found that compared with lifetime abstainers, men who consumed 22 g/day alcohol and women who consumed 24 g/day had a respective 13% and 40% reduction in relative risk for incident Type 2 diabetes.

Overall, the results showed a U-shaped curve, as higher levels of consumption (over 60 g/day in men and 50 g/day in women) increased the risk for Type 2 diabetes.

“Our findings confirm previous research, both individual studies and summary estimates, of the U-shaped relationship between average alcohol consumption and risk of diabetes in both men and women,” conclude Baliunas et al.

“Although the biological mechanism responsible for this relationship is still a matter of research, several possibilities exist including increased insulin sensitivity with low levels of alcohol consumption,” they add.

Other possibilities include the increased levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and the anti-inflammatory effect associated with alcohol consumption.

MedWire (www.medwire-news.md) is an independent clinical news service provided by Current Medicine Group, a trading division of Springer Healthcare Limited. © Springer Healthcare Ltd; 2009

Free abstract

If you have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, then your number one thought may be how you can fight the disease and live a healthy life. Well, one of the best ways that you can fight type 2 diabetes and live a long and healthy life is with weight loss. Losing weight can dramatically increase your chances that you will not suffer from medical complications from diabetes such as a stroke, amputations, and nerve damage.

One of the major reasons behind developing type 2 diabetes is being overweight or obese. By losing the weight, your body can better make use of the insulin and actually can go back to a normal and balanced system of properly using the insulin for the needed functions in the body. In fact, people who have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and have gone on to lose a substantial amount of weight and considered to be a healthy BMI (body mass index) have actually have completely gotten rid of the disease from their life. Even if you don’t go on to lose 50-75 pounds, just losing 10-15 pounds can increase your health and lower your type 2 diabetes complications.

Because weight loss is so important for people with type 2 diabetes or individuals that have been diagnosed as prediabetic, the American Diabetes Association has teamed up with fitness expert Kathy Smith to endorse a lifestyle program called Project You Type 2. Project You Type 2 is much more than a simple workout video. It is a complete lifestyle program that is specifically geared towards people with type 2 diabetes to help them get healthy and lose weight.

One of the hardest parts about losing weight is getting motivated to do so. Most people find out that eating healthier and getting some physical activity every day is not as bad as most people think. The best way to get motivated to lose weight is to think about how much healthier you can be. Type 2 diabetes has so many medical complications that can come across with it. Do you really want to potentially have a stroke because you weren’t motivated to lose weight? A good thing about Project You Type 2 is that all the information that you need to get started is right there in front of you. It has the workouts, a cookbook and program guides to walk you through the whole thing and will tell you what you should be doing each and every day.

So, if you have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or even just pre-diabetes, it’s time to change your life right now and get healthy and start your weight loss journey. Don’t put it off anymore as you may not have as much time as you think you do before you do start suffering from some complications from the disease. Even just losing 10 pounds can help you fight type 2 diabetes.

Do you know something about blood sugar level?

Either yes or nor; before listing the tips to bring your blood glucose to normal blood sugar count it will be good to know what is meant by blood sugar level. It is precisely defined as the level of glucose in the bloodstream.

The blood glucose level is regulated by the body but it cannot save the purpose help without your help. The food types you eat play an important role in maintaining the sugar level. There are some foods that help to bring the level to normal blood sugar count. Some other foods enter bloodstream much faster; this raises the level of glucose in blood. The function of the pancreas is to produce insulin. The foods with high glycemic index because the pancreas to work harder so pancreas can produce insulin as required.

The following tips help the person to lower blood glucose level and bring it to normal count

1. The first way to lower glucose in the bloodstream is by eating the right kind of food. The food types that are slowly digested help to maintain level of blood glucose. The examples are fruits like oranges, apples, pears and vegetables like zucchini, peas. Grains like barley, oatmeal and granola.
2. Exercise is the next way to control the level of glucose in blood. The exercise in the morning helps to lower the level of glucose in the blood just like medicine. The exercise sometimes can be used as the substitute of medicines. It is not only worthwhile but at the same time it also helps to lose weight and maintain the lost weight.
3. Substituting three larger meals with 2 to 3 smaller meals is also the best way of lowering blood glucose.
4. Avoid the consumption of soft drinks as they are rich in carbohydrates and sugars. One glass of soft drink contains around 11 teaspoons of sugars.
5. Before using any over-the-counter medicine carefully read the ingredients. Some of these medications can cause an increase in blood glucose level.
6. Explore to find out the reason of increase in sugar level. This normally varies from individual to individual. You must know the specific cause of higher levels. Stress is one of the leading causes of high level of blood glucose. If the levels are higher because of stress you must change your lifestyle.