Coming from a family with a history of diabetes (it claimed the life of my grandmother while she was only in her 60’s), I find it necessary to check my food intake and the ingredients of supplements I would want to take. With little concrete data pointing out the true cause of diabetes, I have to exercise vigilance in choosing products to consume.

The medical research available shows that diabetes is mainly thought to be derived from a combination of two factors - genetics and chemical imbalance. While I can do nothing about my genetic heritage, I could do much to maintain chemical equilibrium through my diet.

The Acai berry, one of the “superfoods” of renowned nutritionist Dr. Perricone, has developed international recognition because of its long list of health benefits, which include cancer prevention, anti-aging effects, and sustained weight loss.

What makes this particular miracle fruit ideal for diabetics is that the Acai berry has a very low glycemic index. In general, foods or supplements that possess a low glycemic index contribute to a slow release of blood sugar and insulin in your system, which diabetics know is very important to manage. Even among non-diabetics, a low glycemic index diet allows your body to release energy more gradually, avoiding energy surges and crashes that come with high sugar consumption.

Acai berries also help diabetics by cleansing their digestive tracts, helping them maintain relative balance and absorb nutrients properly, which will strengthen their bodies against the debilitating effects of the disease.

Lastly, Acai berries improve one’s metabolic rate and energy levels, allowing diabetics to combat one of the biggest culprits of diabetes complications - obesity. Through proper Acai consumption, I am confident that diabetics will enjoy a higher quality of life, and those that have to worry about it, like me, can live with greater confidence that we will not become afflicted.

Development of diabetes in children

The most common form of diabetes in children is type 1 diabetes .The largest percentage of children being afflicted with diabetes have type 1 diabetes.

It evolves from inability of the pancreas to produce insulin. In Type 1 diabetes, the insulin beta cells which produce insulin in the pancreas are destroyed by the body’s immune system, resulting in little or no insulin production. When this happens, the sugar level in the bloodstream rises and if untreated, diabetes kills.

Type 1 diabetes is referred as an autoimmune disease and this is a condition where the body’s immune system attacks one of the body’s own tissues or organs. Children diabetes is not common and there are marked variations around the world. In the last 30 years there has been a threefold increase in the number of cases of childhood diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes has for the first time been seen in young people. This is more or less caused by the increasing obesity in affluent societies. Obesity does not explain the increase in figures seen in Type 1 diabetes in children who make up the majority of new cases diagnosed.

Causes of childhood diabetes

The cause of childhood diabetes is not properly understood but is likely to involve a mix of genes and environmental triggers. It is interesting that majority of children who develop Type 1 do not have a family history of diabetes.

Symptoms

The symptoms to watch for are the same as those in adults and they include:-

- Excessive thirst

- Unexplained weight loss

- being tired

- Frequent urination.

Symptoms seen only in children include:-

- Headaches

- Behavior problems.

- Tummy pains

Diabetic acidosis can occur before diagnosis and this is a life-threatening condition that can occur in people with type 1 diabetes but also sometimes can occur in people with type 2 diabetes.

This happens when a lack of insulin leads to:-

- High level of glucose in blood.

- ketones are detected in urine and blood

- Acids known as ketoacids are in the blood.

This condition needs immediate hospitalization for urgent treatment with fluids and intravenous insulin.

Diabetic acidosis can be avoided by proper treatment of Type 1 diabetes. Ketoacidosis can also occur in a well-controlled diabetes situation if you get a serious infection or other illness like stroke or heart attack which can cause vomiting and resistance to the normal dose of injected insulin.

Doctors consider the possibility of diabetes in any child who has unexplained history of illness or tummy pains for some time.

Treatment of diabetes in children.

Managing childhood diabetes is specialized and most children are cared for by hospitals rather than by their family doctors. Children with diabetes require individual insulin treatment routine which will be planned with the hospital diabetes team.

Commonly used are the frequent daily dosage regimes of fast-acting insulin during the day and slow-acting insulin at night. Toddlers do not need insulin injections at night although they will eventually need one as they grow older.

Today many children use continuous insulin pumps. In the first year after diagnosis your child will need a small dose of insulin. This is termed as the honeymoon period. It is important to practice good glucose control and avoid low blood glucose attacks. Complications of diabetes increase with the length of time the affliction has been present in the body.

Parent’s role.

Children have problems with:-

- Compliance with instructions

- Activity levels

- and diet restrictions

The immediate family and child’s hospital medical team can help. Diabetes can put families under a lot of strain and access to backup support is very important. This may be from social services, the hospital team or the family doctor…

To understand all the different aspects of diabetes and its treatment need patience but this will be of benefit to all of you.

The hospital diabetes team can help you with:-.

Learning how to administer insulin injections which are usually injected into the skin over the abdomen or the thighs. Knowing symptoms of low blood sugar including diabetic acidosis and what action to take. Glucose should always be available and within easy reach.

The child should be taught how to self administer insulin when old enough. There should be regular doctor visits as the treatment may require adjustment as the child grows.

Last but not least, the school the child attends and his or her friends need to know signs of low blood sugar and what action to take.

Diabetes is growing with alarming speed in the United States. There are 23 to 24 million Americans with diabetes today and 57 million Americans with pre diabetes. The numbers have reached epidemic proportions and are growing in volume daily.?

Medical personnel are constantly stating two (2) facts that have a great deal to do with people who develop diabetes. Those 2 facts are (1) being overweight and (2) heredity. Being overweight can be changed with proper diet and exercise, but little can be done about heredity.

The number of diabetics is increasing and this disease is not contagious. A person becomes a diabetic because (1) he is born with diabetes, or (2) he becomes a diabetic because his body quits producing insulin or his body does not use insulin properly. The first kind of diabetes is known a s juvenile diabetes and the second kind is labeled type 2 diabetes.

If your family has a history of diabetes, then you are at a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The only thing you can do in this instance to lower your risk of developing diabetes is to fight the other factors that cause people to develop diabetes. That means you need to lose weight if you are overweight, eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly. If you do so, you can lower these risk factors and you may beat the odds of developing diabetes.

If you can lower your risk factors for developing diabetes, then there may be a possibility you will not become a diabetic. It is an uphill battle however. You have to change your lifestyle. Your whole life must change if you plan to stop yourself from developing diabetes. You may eat right, cut down on carbohydrates and calories, eat more fruits and vegetables, eat less fat, quit eating sugar, and eat smaller meals throughout the day, and exercise regularly. It still may not prevent your developing diabetes, but it gives you better odds.

You see, diabetes is high blood sugar levels or excess glucose in the blood and the urine. Sometimes you can do all things right and still develop diabetes. Not even the doctors know why. It all goes back to family history. That is the one factor over which we have little control.

If, however, you fight diabetes and do keep it from developing in your body, then it will be well worth it. You see, diabetes can begin and you will not know it is working in your body. It can work for years with very little warning. Usually the first signs of diabetes is so slight, we think it is something that is causing it. We do not think of diabetes until the warning sings are severe. Then we know and the doctor knows, we are looking at type 2 diabetes.

Those severs signs of diabetes are extreme thirst, frequent urination, feeling hungry more than ever, losing weight, being cranky and moody, cuts that are slow to heal, and numbness in hands and feet. So many times we have one of those symptoms such as numbness and tingling in the hands and we blame carpal tunnel because we work at a keyboard all day. It is not until we have 2 or 3 or 4 symptoms we begin to look at diabetes as the cause.

If you have any symptom listed here and you have a family history of diabetes, go to the doctor. They can run tests and determine if you are diabetic or not. Do not wait. The complications of diabetes are too severe to put it off even for a moment! Do not take a chance. The sooner you are diagnosed, the sooner you can begin to halt the progress of the disease.

In my next article, I will let you know the complications of diabetes and, in the meantime, let everyone you know read this article, especially if they are at risk for developing diabetes!

In the meantime, take care, eat healthy and exercise!

Results from a study in rats suggest that fathers who are overweight and eat a high-fat diet could increase the risk for diabetes in their daughters.

“We’ve known for a while that overweight mums are more likely to have chubby babies, and that a woman’s weight before and during pregnancy can play a role in future disease in her children, partly due to the critical role the intrauterine environment plays in development,” said study leader Margaret Morris from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

“But until now, the impact of the father’s environment - in terms of his diet - on his offspring had not been investigated.”

Writing in the journal Nature, the team reports results from a study of male rats fed a high-fat diet (n=9), which resulted in high body weight (22% increase vs normal males), adiposity, and impaired glucose tolerance, that were mated with normal weight female rats. The researchers also mated a group of normal-weight male rats fed a normal diet (n=8) with normal-weight females for comparison purposes.

Compared with controls, female offspring of the male rats fed a high-fat diet had early onset impaired insulin secretion and glucose tolerance that worsened over time, but were of normal weight and adiposity.

Further analysis, showed that these females had disrupted expression of 642 pancreatic islet genes, suggesting epigenetic modification as a primary cause, say the authors.

“This is the first report of non-genetic, intergenerational transmission of metabolic consequences of a high-fat diet from father to offspring,” commented Morris.

“A family history of diabetes is one of the strongest risk factors for the disease; however until now, the extent of any influence of non-genetic paternal factors has been unclear.”

“It adds another level to our understanding of the causes of the growing epidemics in obesity and diabetes,” she said. “While here we studied female offspring, we need to examine whether the effect is also found in males.”

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; 2010

Free abstract

The turning point was definitely, when the talking scales told us both to get off!

My annual fitness test was looming, bringing with it the memories of the previous year’s attempt. At the time I had vowed to take positive action, no more treats for getting through the day!

Every weight loss program I had looked at, appeared to have been tested by catwalk models, who are full after a spoonful of fresh air, washed down with a water biscuit!

This time, I was going to be determined and started to seek out my healthy eating program. No more balanced diets of a Snickers and Diet Coke!

To add to the mix was my family history of Diabetes, Strokes, High Blood Pressure and Gout. Now that is some list, a long line of finely tuned athletes brought up on a diet of Pies and Chips!

Speaking with a couple of Nutritional experts, Tommy from the Chip Shop and Sunny from the Taj Mahal Curry Emporium. I concluded that perhaps the weekly intake of their finest dishes, was not the best approach to my new diet.

Undeterred, I relentless researched my large library of books on food, Gordon, Jamie, Delia and Ainsley all had a similar topic throughout their books. Fresh Vegetables!

Now do not get me wrong, I love my veg, especially on a Sunday with copious slices of a Beef Joint. However, Sunday Dinner would not be right without a Fruit Crumble!

After looking at my weekly intake, it was obvious the Fruit and Veg portion did not meet the 5 a day total. This came as a shock, I had bargained on my glasses of fruit juice and grapefruit segments bumping up the tally. It was also sad to hear that Fruit and Nut chocolate bars did not get a mention!

So the writing was clearly on the wall, I needed to include a healthy portion of Fruit and Vegetables in my daily intake. A quick search on Google and a couple of books came up, about 1,235,786! Well I would cut out all the rubbish food, just by reading all the books.

The search criteria was narrowed, and a couple of books fitted the bill. Fruit and Vegetables that help reduce the risk of Diabetes, Strokes, High Blood Pressure, Heart Disease and High Chloresterol.

I was starting to feel ill just looking at my families ailments, it was no wonder Tommy from the chippie could afford his brand new Merc and Russian Bride, that was just from our weekly diet!

Something very strange happened to me, being partial to a plate of meat and the token vegetables, I was confronted with a bowl of salad. It actually looked quite tasty, plenty of variety, bright colours and topped with a punchy dressing. Not a bad start I thought, but just like a dish by Terry(I am sure that is not his real name!) from the Lonely Wok, I was bound to be hungry after an Hour.

I watched an entire evening of Football First, without any hunger pangs. My only interlude was to have a bowl of fresh fruit with a yoghurt. Brilliant, I did not feel as though I had missed out on my essential body fuels to get me through the evenings footie.

The true test was to come though, work and its renowned canteens. How was I going to be able to combat the breakfast ritual of Fry Up, Tea and Toast! This was a sterner test of my commitment, consulting the book, I devised a breakfast feast, combining Fruit and Yoghurt. Comparing prices of my usual breakfast ‘high’ energy diet with my new ‘high’ energy diet, I was surprised to see a considerable reduction. The myth of healthy foods being more expensive, appeared to have been dismissed at the first attempt.

Being the professional sceptic I was, this new diet needed to get me through the week. Several recipes tried from the book, were surprisingly tasty and filling. Even my colleagues had started to comment on my new diet, not to mention the side effects of fresh fruit and vegetables!

Then it happened, my creditability as a rough tough straight talking alpha male went out of the window! A female colleague said to me in front of all my groupies, “What moisturiser do you use, your skin looks so smooth and clear?” I nearly choked on my fresh pineapple chunk! When all of the hysterical screams of my groupies had subsided! I explained that my skins complexion was purely down to my new diet of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables. Did she believe me and more to the point did my cronies believe, did they heckers like!

In a more reflective moment, I recalled the mentally scarring events of the day. My skin was smoother and felt clean. Not to mention my waist line was not putting my trousers under constant pressure. This was only after a week, what if I could maintain this lifestyle, I had even forgotten about the impending fitness test. My trips to the gym appeared to of been more energised. Was I turning into a new age man? No!

I could see my new physique squeezing into that pair of Peter Stringfellow signed Speedo’s on our next expedition to Spain, what a treat for the ladies!

Many people have friends or family members may have a child with diabetes so may be curious about the condition. Many people also think that children must be born with diabetes to have it as a child. This unfortunately is not the case however, as children may develop diabetes. As a parent, it is important to educate yourself about diabetes and know the different kinds and also how to lower the risk factor for your child.

Insulin dependent or Type One Diabetes shows up in childhood normally and therefore also has the name juvenile diabetes. This form is caused when the body is unable to produce insulin and all and insulin shots will be depended on in order to obtain insulin. This form lasts into adulthood, but only accounts for 5-10% of all diabetes cases.

Type Two Diabetes is also referred to as Adult Onset Diabetes. Due to this name, people may be mistaken an d think that is cannot affect children. In this type of diabetes, the panaceas stops make sufficient levels of insulin. Normally adults form this condition over time, but it has been seen in increasing numbers of children.

If one has a history of diabetes in their family, they may want to avoid other risk factors for developing Type Two Diabetes for their children. The risk factors to develop this disease in children are eating a poor diet, lack of exercise and obesity.

After educating one’s self about diabetes in children, they will be more able to understand the children of close ones that have this disease, as well as help reduce the risk for their own children developing the disease.

The incidence of Type 2 diabetes in a population of German men and women over 55 years of age is high, according to data from a longitudinal, population-based study.

With increasing proportions of elderly individuals in many populations and the greater likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes with age, it becomes increasingly important to have accurate and up-to-date incidence data for older populations.

In 1999??”2001, Wolfgang Rathmann (Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany) and co-workers performed oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs) in a random sample of 2656 individuals aged 55 to 74 years living in the Augsburg region of southern Germany.

In 2006??”2008 they re-investigated the cohort to determine the incidence of Type 2 diabetes in an elderly population in Germany and its association with clinical and lifestyle factors.

Of 1353 individuals without Type 2 diabetes at baseline, 887 (74%) participated in the follow-up. Incident diabetes was defined by a validated physician diagnosis, or a fasting plasma glucose of at least 7.0 mmol/l or 2-hour OGTT of at least 11.1 mmol/l.

Other measurements taken at baseline and follow-up included height, weight, waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, smoking status, physical activity, and family history of diabetes. Blood was collected for laboratory measurements.

During the 7-year follow-up period, 93 (10.5%) individuals developed diabetes, giving a total standardized incidence rate of 15.5 per 1000 person-years. Incidence rates for men were 20.2, and for women 11.3 per 1000 person-years.

The authors also investigated whether risk factors for Type 2 diabetes identified in other age groups have the same importance in the elderly.

“In line with previous studies (central) obesity, hypertension, parental diabetes, and serum uric acid were important risk factors, whereas physical inactivity and alcohol intake were not related to incident diabetes in the total study population,” note the authors.

Both impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance were associated with an increased risk for Type 2 diabetes, and their combined presence was associated with a very high risk, with a 7-year cumulative Type 2 diabetes incidence of almost 50%.

“This longitudinal study provides an up-to-date estimate of Type 2 diabetes incidence in a European population. It also shows that diabetes risk can be estimated by glucose measurements using the OGTT,” conclude Rathmann and team in the journal Diabetic Medicine.

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

Consuming white or oily fish at least once per week may reduce the risk for Type 2 diabetes, whereas high consumption of shellfish may increase this risk, report researchers in the journal Diabetes Care.

Nita Forouhi and colleagues (University of Cambridge, UK) completed a prospective analysis of the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer-Norfolk (EPIC-Norfolk) study to assess whether consumption of different types of fish and seafood is associated with future risk for developing Type 2 diabetes.

In total, 21,984 participants aged 40-79 years at baseline completed a food frequency questionnaire, which asked about fish and seafood intake (white fish, oily fish, fried fish, and shellfish) and categorized consumption as at least one serving per week versus less than one serving per week.

The participants were followed for an average of 10 years for the development of any health conditions, during which time 725 individuals developed Type 2 diabetes.

Having a higher total fish intake was associated with a 25% lower risk for developing Type 2 diabetes after adjusting for known risk factors and potential confounders including age, gender, family history of diabetes, education, smoking, physical activity, other dietary factors, and obesity.

Researchers reported a similar inverse association with diabetes risk and white fish and oily fish intakes; however, the associations were not significant after adjustment for obesity or dietary factors. Fried fish was not significantly associated with diabetes risk.

Interestingly, the researchers found that eating shellfish at least once per week was associated with a 36% increased risk for Type 2 diabetes, which they suggest may be related to cooking methods and condiments as shellfish tend to be fried and accompanied by mayonnaise or garlic butter.

“Our novel findings are potentially important as they suggest that the type of fish consumed may differentially influence the risk of diabetes,” write the authors.

“Total intake of both white and oily fish was associated with a lower risk for diabetes, reinforcing the public health message to consume fish regularly,” they conclude.

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

Every year on November 14, the International Diabetes Federation celebrates World Diabetes Day. In 2007, this day became an official United Nations Day with the passage of United Nation Resolution 61/225. The goal of the campaign is to draw attention to diabetes and how important it is for the average person to have a reasonable knowledge of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. During the next five years, the event coordinators plan on emphasizing diabetes education as well as prevention programs.

The International Diabetes Federation is composed of 212 member associations in more than 160 countries and territories. All of them are member states of the United Nations. November 14 is observed because it honors the birthday of Frederick Banting who is known as one of the discoverers of insulin. He actually thought up the original idea which led to the discovery of insulin way back in 1922.

Experts have estimated the number of people with diabetes world-wide has reached around 285 million and because diabetics need to deliver 95% of their own care, learning how to stabilize their insulin and blood sugar levels, ongoing education is necessary.

The International Diabetes Federation estimates that over 344 million people throughout the world are at risk for type 2 diabetes.

The risks for developing type 2 diabetes include:

• obesity and carrying excess abdominal weight
• insufficient exercise
• unhealthy eating habits
• increased age
• high blood pressure
• elevated cholesterol levels
• a family history of diabetes
• diabetes during pregnancy (gestational diabetes)
• ethnic background including Asian, Hispanic, Indigenous people (Australia, US and Canada) and African American

Do you know the warning signs of diabetes?

They include:

• frequent urination including during the night time
• dry mouth and excessive thirst
• eating more food but losing weight (type 1 diabetes)
• feeling hungry soon after eating and weight gain (type 2 diabetes)
• fatigue and weakness
• blurred vision
• frequent infections
• slow-healing wounds
• tingling sensation in your hands and feet
• fuzzy head and lack of ability to concentrate

Do you or someone you love have any of these warning signs of type 1 or type 2 diabetes? If so, do not hesitate to make an appointment to see your healthy care provider so a diagnosis can be made and treatment started. Type 2 diabetes is a condition of lifestyle… following a healthy eating plan and increasing physical activity to thirty minutes a day at least five times a week will help to lower blood sugar levels.

Diabetes can afflict anyone of any age. It usually happens when the body does not properly use or produce insulin resulting in too much sugar in their blood. There are 3 main types of diabetes and they are Diabetes type 1, Diabetes type 2 and gestational diabetes.

The symptoms for diabetes type 1, caused by an auto immune disease, develop over a short period although it is important to take note that the beta cell destruction had already begun years earlier. An auto immune disease happens when a persons immune system (the bodies system for fighting infection) turns against a part of the body. Diabetes type 1 is also known as insulin dependent diabetes due to total or near total lack of insulin in the body.

The symptoms for diabetes type 2 develop gradually. About 95% of those who have diabetes are inflicted with diabetes type 2, making it the most common form of diabetes. It is mostly associated with those who have weight problems (obesity), older age (above 45 years), genetics (family history of diabetes), not enough exercise, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood levels of triglycerides and certain ethnics groups. Of these, more than 80% of those diagnosed are overweight. While diabetes type 1 afflicts those in childhood or adolescence, diabetes type 2 usually afflicts those more mature of age.

Another form of diabetes called Gestational diabetes inflicts some women during her pregnancy, even though she does not have diabetes before. This is because of the high blood glucose that develops at any period during her pregnancy. It was also found that nearly 40% of women who have diabetes during their pregnancy usually will develop diabetes type 2. This normally happens gradually between 5-10 years after giving birth.

The signs for diabetes type 1 and diabetes type 2 are quite similar. Excessive urination, sudden weight loss, fatigue, constant thirst, nausea, frequent infections wounds and sores heals unusually slow.

Research shows that more than 20 million CHILDREN in the United States have diabetes. While millions of adults have been diagnosed, millions more are unaware that they have the disease, an estimated 6.5 million to be exact. More than 60% of deaths among those with diabetes are due to stroke and heart problems, hence, making this disease under reported as the cause of death on death certificates.

With so much unhealthy food available at every corner and easy access, it is no wonder that obesity is becoming a major issue. An estimated 80%-90% of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are overweight. Studies found abnormal levels of cholesterol as well as similar fatty substances, circulating in the blood in more than 40% of people with diabetes. This increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Education is very important in order to stop the spread of diabetes, whatever form or types. It is crucial for diabetics to learn and practice healthy diets and exercise.

For more information and tips visit http://123chinesemedicine.com.