March 11, 2013

March Diabetes News Snippet Post

Here are all the news items posted in March:

Jenny said...
People taking Byetta, Victoza, Januvia, and Onglyza had less heart failure than those not on these drugs. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130310164109.htm

However, it is likely this is because Avandia and Actos CAUSE heart failure, rather than that these other drugs prevent it. People are rarely put on both families of drugs at once.

It may also be because these GLP-1 related drugs are mostly prescribed to affluent, younger people with diabetes and good health insurance, while poorer people are put on the cheap sulfonylurea drugs which are now known to raise the risk of heart attacks.
Jenny said...
Paleo fans will probably ignore the news that Mummy CT Scans Show Preindustrial Hunter Gatherers Had Clogged Arteries. From the report "The researchers performed CT scans of 137 mummies from across four continents and found artery plaque in every single population studied, from preagricultual hunter-gatherers in the Aleutian Islands to the ancient Puebloans of southwestern United States."

So plaque probably is some byproduct of an adaptation in the way humans process calcium--probably one that is a byproduct of the genetic changes that led to our species' distinctive bigger brains and smaller digestive tracts.

The Paleo diet is useful in helping cut back on junk food, but the idea that ancient humans were healthier than we are is almost certainly a fantasy. The life expectancies of junk food chomping modern day humans is far longer than that of any pre-agricultural peoples, if only because we have effective treatment for injuries and contagious diseases.
Jenny said...
Exposure to DDT in womb results in high blood pressure decades later. http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/DDT-exposure-in-womb-tied-to-hypertension-4346800.php

I remember playing outside in the summer in 1954, and the spray truck passing by spraying huge clouds of DDT. We would take deep breaths of the stuff which had a curious smell. Later, before we went to sleep, my mom would spray my bedroom with it and then I'd crawl right into bed.

Maybe my high blood pressure isn't so mysterious!
RLL said...
Having been, along with sibs, the victims of enraged ground wasp nests, my favorite revenge at 8-10 years old was DDT to the beasts.
Jenny said...
A newly discovered, fatal virus works by activating DDP-4 receptors. However, the diabetes drugs (Januvia and Onglyza) that suppress these receptors do not inhibit the virus.

Reuters: Scientists find how deadly virus infects human cells
Jenny said...
More problems with all incretin drugs--Byetta, Januvia, Onglyza, Victoza, etc. How many people will suffer life changing complications before the FDA acts? I bet your doctor is completely unaware of this ratcheting up of concern.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/Diabetes/37890
Jenny said...
A bakery is found to have put sugar in its sugar-free baked goods. The really sad part is that no one seems to understand that the FLOUR in the baked goods is digested into glucose every bit as toxic to people with diabetes as the sucrose. (See last line for what I mean.)

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-butterfly-bakery-sugar-20130314,0,7328666.story
Jenny said...
Industry strong-arms EPA onto allowing another very dangerous chemical to stay in your drinking water.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environment/jan-june13/epa_03-15.html
Jenny said...
This is to Skippy Pea, I deleted your comment because you had what looks like a ununintended Autocorrect" issue, but the answer to your question is that I don't recommend any protein meal replacements. I don't think they help with dieting and the ingredients are usually cheap omega 6 oils, chemical additives, and poor quality proteins. Why not try some Greek Yogurt with nuts and perhaps some berries instead?
Jenny said...
Victoza (Liraglutide) does not provide significant weight loss in a new study. This reinforces my belief that it isn't as effective a drug as Byetta, while causing much more troubling side effects.

It produced only 4% more weight loss than a worthless placebo. That's 8 lbs lost more than on placebo for someone weighing 200 lbs--which you can easily accomplish without drugs by eating a very low carb diet for a month.

Note that this was on a high dose regimen, and that this drug has been connected with both thyroid cancer and pancreatitis at normal doses.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/18/us-novonordisk-idUSBRE92H0EY20130318
Jenny said...
Some new research supports the "hygiene hypothesis" that Type 1 Diabetes is becoming epidemic because kids are growing up too clean and not encountering bacteria etc at critical stages of the development of the immune system.

Practical takeaway: let your kids play outside in real dirt when they are young and don't use antibiotic soaps.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130318203334.htm
Jenny said...
Potent statins linked to acute kidney injury. "Potent statins" are defined as:

Rosuvastatin (e.g. Crestor) at doses of 10mg or higher.
Atorvastatin (e.g. Lipitor) at doses of 20mg or higher.
Simvastatin (e.g., Zocor) at doses of 40mg or more.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2013/03/19/statin-kidney.html
Jenny said...
Interesting but very small study about the impact of supplementing with Vitamin D on various genes. Note that quite a few much larger studies have found ZERO impact of such supplementation on Type 1 diabetes, MS, or any other already existing autoimmune condition. If there is a benefit in supplementing with Vitamin D it occurs only before you have developed an autoimmunity.

Also note that they did measure blood levels after the supplementation which ended up on average in the low end of the normal range at 32 ng/ml. They did not observe what happens if you oversupplement and reach the much higher levels where nasty things can start happening to your calcium metabolism.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130320212824.htm
Jenny said...
The One Touch Verio meter has been recalled. Details here:

http://diabetes.webmd.com/news/20130325/glucose-meter-recall
Jenny said...
Duh. Tech devices don't make significant changes in A1c--when not coupled with INFORMATION about how to really lower blood sugar.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/Diabetes/38139

You can lower your blood sugar dramatically without using any technology but a blood sugar meter by using this technique:

How to Lower Your Blood Sugar
Jenny said...
Scientists discover how Metformin stops cells from being cancerous--it blocks overproduction of inflammatory cytokines.

Science Daily: Scientists Discover How Drug Prevents Aging and Cancer Progression
Jenny said...
High potency statins--high dose Lipitor and Crestor, for example, raise the incidence of hospitalizations for acute kidney injury. http://www.healio.com/endocrinology/cardiometabolic-disorders/news/online/%7B7A0F7760-A043-4AE8-9131-659AD4E6525C%7D/high-potency-statins-may-increase-risk-for-kidney-injury

19 comments:

Jenny said...

People taking Byetta, Victoza, Januvia, and Onglyza had less heart failure than those not on these drugs. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130310164109.htm

However, it is likely this is because Avandia and Actos CAUSE heart failure, rather than that these other drugs prevent it. People are rarely put on both families of drugs at once.

It may also be because these GLP-1 related drugs are mostly prescribed to affluent, younger people with diabetes and good health insurance, while poorer people are put on the cheap sulfonylurea drugs which are now known to raise the risk of heart attacks.

Jenny said...

Paleo fans will probably ignore the news that Mummy CT Scans Show Preindustrial Hunter Gatherers Had Clogged Arteries. From the report "The researchers performed CT scans of 137 mummies from across four continents and found artery plaque in every single population studied, from preagricultual hunter-gatherers in the Aleutian Islands to the ancient Puebloans of southwestern United States."

So plaque probably is some byproduct of an adaptation in the way humans process calcium--probably one that is a byproduct of the genetic changes that led to our species' distinctive bigger brains and smaller digestive tracts.

The Paleo diet is useful in helping cut back on junk food, but the idea that ancient humans were healthier than we are is almost certainly a fantasy. The life expectancies of junk food chomping modern day humans is far longer than that of any pre-agricultural peoples, if only because we have effective treatment for injuries and contagious diseases.

Jenny said...

Exposure to DDT in womb results in high blood pressure decades later. http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/DDT-exposure-in-womb-tied-to-hypertension-4346800.php

I remember playing outside in the summer in 1954, and the spray truck passing by spraying huge clouds of DDT. We would take deep breaths of the stuff which had a curious smell. Later, before we went to sleep, my mom would spray my bedroom with it and then I'd crawl right into bed.

Maybe my high blood pressure isn't so mysterious!

RLL said...

Having been, along with sibs, the victims of enraged ground wasp nests, my favorite revenge at 8-10 years old was DDT to the beasts.

Jenny said...

A newly discovered, fatal virus works by activating DDP-4 receptors. However, the diabetes drugs (Januvia and Onglyza) that suppress these receptors do not inhibit the virus.

Reuters: Scientists find how deadly virus infects human cells

Jenny said...

More problems with all incretin drugs--Byetta, Januvia, Onglyza, Victoza, etc. How many people will suffer life changing complications before the FDA acts? I bet your doctor is completely unaware of this ratcheting up of concern.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/Diabetes/37890

Jenny said...

A bakery is found to have put sugar in its sugar-free baked goods. The really sad part is that no one seems to understand that the FLOUR in the baked goods is digested into glucose every bit as toxic to people with diabetes as the sucrose. (See last line for what I mean.)

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-butterfly-bakery-sugar-20130314,0,7328666.story

Jenny said...

Industry strong-arms EPA onto allowing another very dangerous chemical to stay in your drinking water.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environment/jan-june13/epa_03-15.html

Jenny said...

This is to Skippy Pea, I deleted your comment because you had what looks like a ununintended Autocorrect" issue, but the answer to your question is that I don't recommend any protein meal replacements. I don't think they help with dieting and the ingredients are usually cheap omega 6 oils, chemical additives, and poor quality proteins. Why not try some Greek Yogurt with nuts and perhaps some berries instead?

Jenny said...

Victoza (Liraglutide) does not provide significant weight loss in a new study. This reinforces my belief that it isn't as effective a drug as Byetta, while causing much more troubling side effects.

It produced only 4% more weight loss than a worthless placebo. That's 8 lbs lost more than on placebo for someone weighing 200 lbs--which you can easily accomplish without drugs by eating a very low carb diet for a month.

Note that this was on a high dose regimen, and that this drug has been connected with both thyroid cancer and pancreatitis at normal doses.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/18/us-novonordisk-idUSBRE92H0EY20130318

Jenny said...

Some new research supports the "hygiene hypothesis" that Type 1 Diabetes is becoming epidemic because kids are growing up too clean and not encountering bacteria etc at critical stages of the development of the immune system.

Practical takeaway: let your kids play outside in real dirt when they are young and don't use antibiotic soaps.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130318203334.htm

Jenny said...

Potent statins linked to acute kidney injury. "Potent statins" are defined as:

Rosuvastatin (e.g. Crestor) at doses of 10mg or higher.
Atorvastatin (e.g. Lipitor) at doses of 20mg or higher.
Simvastatin (e.g., Zocor) at doses of 40mg or more.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2013/03/19/statin-kidney.html

Jenny said...

Interesting but very small study about the impact of supplementing with Vitamin D on various genes. Note that quite a few much larger studies have found ZERO impact of such supplementation on Type 1 diabetes, MS, or any other already existing autoimmune condition. If there is a benefit in supplementing with Vitamin D it occurs only before you have developed an autoimmunity.

Also note that they did measure blood levels after the supplementation which ended up on average in the low end of the normal range at 32 ng/ml. They did not observe what happens if you oversupplement and reach the much higher levels where nasty things can start happening to your calcium metabolism.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130320212824.htm

Jenny said...

The One Touch Verio meter has been recalled. Details here:

http://diabetes.webmd.com/news/20130325/glucose-meter-recall

Jenny said...

Duh. Tech devices don't make significant changes in A1c--when not coupled with INFORMATION about how to really lower blood sugar.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/Diabetes/38139

You can lower your blood sugar dramatically without using any technology but a blood sugar meter by using this technique:

How to Lower Your Blood Sugar

Jenny said...

Scientists discover how Metformin stops cells from being cancerous--it blocks overproduction of inflammatory cytokines.

Science Daily: Scientists Discover How Drug Prevents Aging and Cancer Progression

Jenny said...

High potency statins--high dose Lipitor and Crestor, for example, raise the incidence of hospitalizations for acute kidney injury. http://www.healio.com/endocrinology/cardiometabolic-disorders/news/online/%7B7A0F7760-A043-4AE8-9131-659AD4E6525C%7D/high-potency-statins-may-increase-risk-for-kidney-injury

Anonymous said...

Jenny
Type 2 daibetic,male,53 yrs old. I have read for years about all the problems with statin drugs. I read it in Mike and Mary Dan ,Eades book Protein power and in their book Protein Power Lifeplan,for the first time, and this was the red flag to me to look further into facts about Statin drugs.Actually, to simply read the drug side effects (posted with written material you get with the prescription) should be a red flag to anyone.

I have had heart problems for about 10 years. Cardiologists have made every attempt to get me on Statins.

11 years ago I took the advice and stayed on a Statin (which I do not even remember which one it was). And I developed fatigue, muscle pains, and actually gained weight. Which was , now that I have seen more research on statins causing insulin resistance, why I gained weight. My primary care physician took me off the statin. Of course if he had not, I was going to refuse to take it anyway ,due to what I had read about it. I have had cardiologist's attempt to get me to take statins over and over. The last heart attack I had convinced my wife to insist I quit being so hard headed and listen to the doctor. She filled my prescriptions and one of them was Simvistatin 40 mg. I still have not opened the package of Simvistatin. After much of newer research, including the research you posted on http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14046942.php, and on this same page I'm commenting on, I am still sticking to my being stubborn and refusing to take a Statin.

Jenny said...

gredib,

You may be missing the fact that the research DOES show, quite clearly, that statins DO HELP people who HAVE HAD HEART ATTACKS.

That is because once you have heart disease you have inflammation in your blood vessels, and the statins do help with that.

The problem with statins is that they are overprescribed to people who don't have the condition they actually improve. It isn't the LDL so much as the inflammation that are the problem.

Do reconsider taking a low dose statin if you have had a heart attack. The anti-statin people tend to ignore the benefits for the small group of people for whom these drugs may have use.