tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-302064732012-01-27T09:29:25.737-05:00Comments on the latest news about diabetes and the day-to-day challenges of controlling blood sugar. Also check out <a href="http://www.bloodsugar101.com">Blood Sugar 101</a> for an in-depth look at some cutting edge diabetes research your doctor may not have had time to read. It could make a huge difference in whether or not you get complications.Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.comBlogger4971100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-14425577920076788902012-01-25T11:49:00.000-05:002012-01-25T11:49:08.078-05:00

One of the things I don't like about FaceBook--besides the fact that I have no control over the spammy ads they show visitors--is that FB can make anything I post disappear at its whim. Since I started the FaceBook page in August, I've been posting more and more links to small but significant bits of diabetes and medical research news that, while they don't deserve an entire blog post here, do

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-47684184604549539302012-01-04T21:52:00.001-05:002012-01-04T21:52:44.870-05:00

Listen to it here: http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/the-llvlc-show-episode-527-encore-week-2012-interview-with-jenny-ruhl/12706 Questions and comments are welcome, just click on the "comment" link below.  

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-81598946174808049722012-01-02T10:15:00.001-05:002012-01-02T12:57:36.786-05:00

The rows of candy in the Seasonal Aisle will be replaced with Diet Food, mostly toxic. The media will be full of diet advice, mostly wrong. The bookstores (what few are left, but that's another story) will move the newest Miracle Diet books to the front of the store, each one promising to reveal a simple secret that will make the pounds drop off like magic. The gym will be packed. It only lasts

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-42612079927826383112011-12-26T18:29:00.000-05:002011-12-26T18:29:06.556-05:00

I've been reading up on mitochondria this month, in the writings of Nick Lane, Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life, and Oxygen: The Molecule That Made the World. There was a lot of interesting information in both books, but because at times Lane writes in a confused way about the relationship of diabetes and mitochondrial dysfunction, I became curious about what is actually

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-39900617543255007702011-12-19T10:59:00.002-05:002011-12-19T11:07:34.850-05:00

A presentation given at the recent 44th annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology claims that patients on dialysis have better outcomes when they have higher A1cs. As reported in Medscape, the chief researcher says, "The range from 6% to 9% seems to be the lower range of risk. There's even an impression that you could say that from 7% to 9% is the lowest risk." You can read the report

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-37944319566942389732011-11-30T09:37:00.001-05:002011-12-05T11:19:18.671-05:00

A recently published study based on data from the Womans Health Initiative (WHI) sheds light on a question many of us have wondered about: Is the higher incidence of cancer among people with Type 2 caused by higher insulin levels (or, perhaps injected insulin) or something else? The study was conducted by a team at The Albert Einstein College of Medicine, which some of you may remember is where

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-83566664543155222532011-11-12T11:09:00.000-05:002011-11-12T11:09:30.376-05:00

Now that I've discharged my obligations under my contract with the publisher of my novels, I'm considering what to do next. And that is leading me to ask what I could do that would be of use to the people who visit http://Bloodsugar101.com and this blog. Publishing the book version of the site has taught me that most people still find books a better way to study a complex topic, even when the

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-85475196144586774312011-10-05T10:22:00.001-04:002011-10-05T10:24:01.173-04:00

I have until now avoided discussing the issue of what normal blood sugars should be in pregnancy because it looked like gynecologists were being more aggressive with blood sugar control during pregnancy then other doctors. Blood sugar control is particularly important in pregnancy because a fetus that is exposed to continually high blood sugars will experience significant changes in the way that

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-28766940890162180822011-10-02T10:10:00.002-04:002011-10-02T10:18:18.181-04:00

Today the morning news carried this headline: Eggs may Increase Risk Of Lethal Prostate Cancer In Healthy Men. The article starts out by saying that "we already know red and processed meat may increase risk of advanced prostate cancer" and then claims that eggs are just as dangerous. The actual study is found here: Egg, red meat, and poultry intake and risk of lethal prostate cancer in the

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-5142609366370518822011-09-21T08:38:00.003-04:002011-09-21T22:25:32.301-04:00

Yes, I know FB is the greatest time suck ever invented, and that their entire reason for existing is to steal your personal information. But enough of you asked me to set up a page that I did, and it's getting a respectable number of fans. I'm posting snippets and links there that don't deserve a whole blog post but which are worthy of your attention. You can post questions there, too, for

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-46887663869055479362011-09-20T20:40:00.002-04:002011-09-20T20:44:54.547-04:00

No. I'm not about to rant on about people eating terrible foods that ruin their blood sugar. My topic is something else entirely. For the past few weeks, for some reason, my email box has been full of letters from people who are desperately hoping that they have diabetes. They don't. In fact, most of them have blood sugar numbers you and I would kill for. When I explain this, they come back

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-58425804279548198762011-09-01T11:29:00.000-04:002011-09-01T11:29:26.072-04:00

No one likes to be defined by their diabetes, not even me. Though I put a lot of time into dealing with it and sharing what I learn with you and other visitors to this site, I have a whole life outside of diabetes which for the past two and a half years has revolved around writing romance novels, since I was fortunate enough to be offered a contract by one of the "Big Six" publishers. So I'd

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-71355118662626366642011-08-31T11:23:00.003-04:002011-08-31T11:27:21.337-04:00

A new study, published in Nature Genetics, emphasizes the diversity of the many physiological breakdowns doctors lump together under the title "Type 2 Diabetes." You can read a good summary of the study here: Six New Genetic Variants Linked to Type 2 Diabetes Discovered in South Asians View the abstract of the actual study here: Genome-wide association study in individuals of South Asian

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-58817510138404394582011-08-26T15:28:00.001-04:002011-08-26T15:29:54.665-04:00

I'm still hoping the weatherfolk are crying wolf on this one, because the current predictions are that my little town is in the center of the hurricane track and that we can expect week-long power outages. If you don't hear from me after Sunday, you'll know why. But there's still time to take steps to prepare yourself for the worst, diabetes-style. Here are the basics. 1. Make sure you have

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-15698476714262521412011-08-25T13:35:00.001-04:002011-08-25T13:36:27.266-04:00

Cutting carbs is quite easy for people eating meat-based western diets, and very effective for cutting carbs. But periodically I hear from people with diabetes diagnoses who for religious or cultural reasons can't eat the kinds of food we westerners do. My usual suggestions are to eat more cheese, eggs (if allowed), nuts, yogurt, certain dals, papadums, green vegetables, lower carb fruits, and

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-23211930257956507082011-08-15T08:17:00.006-04:002011-08-15T08:23:17.187-04:00

I've received a torrent of mail about the study recently published in NATURE which claims that eating a "high fat diet" damages beta cells and causes diabetes. You can read a summary here: Science Daily: How a High Fat Diet Causes Diabetes I don't have access to the full article, but I have read (and commented on) dozens of other articles that purport to show that "high fat diets" cause

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-56701204154410856972011-08-03T10:14:00.005-04:002011-08-03T10:25:31.731-04:00

I've been a bit quiet over the past week as the publication date for my second Avon historical romance is coming up, which mean that I have to put a lot of effort into writing blog posts for various romance blogs in the hope that doing so will motivate readers to buy my book. You can read a good interview with me wearing my novelist hat--and comment to win a free copy of my first novel, Lord

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-46975061662756932082011-07-11T16:15:00.000-04:002011-07-11T16:15:24.418-04:00

As readers of this blog know, there's nothing I like better than data, and there's no data I like better than the blood sugar meter test results that tell an individual what foods they can eat without raising their blood sugar over the level that causes complications (which is roughly 140 mg/dl or 7.7 mmol/L). So I was intrigued when a Richard Smith, a friend of the blog, sent me the following

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-77588693308288328992011-07-06T15:43:00.000-04:002011-07-06T15:43:59.726-04:00

I just found out that Jimmy Moore is posting the conversation we had last month tomorrow on his Living La Vida Low Carb show. You'll find the podcast here: http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/shownotes/ If you have any questions after you hear it, feel free to post them here.

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-79883110216242049012011-06-24T09:56:00.002-04:002011-06-25T07:03:05.039-04:00

All last night and this morning my email inbox has been filling up with notes pointing me to this story: Crash Course Diet Reverses Type 2 Diabetes in a week. It is yet another example of the tragically flawed pseudo-science that damages the health of people with diabetes. There's no mystery here, nor is the effect reported a result of "reducing fat in the pancreas" as the doctor who came up

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-70233360098731635112011-06-09T18:03:00.000-04:002011-06-09T18:03:59.762-04:00

If your doctor is telling you that research has "proved" that lowering blood sugars below an A1c of 6.5% is "dangerous" print out this letter, which was just published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and demand that your doctor read it: Intensive Glucose Lowering and Cardiovascular Outcomes N Engl J Med 2011; 364:2263-2264 June 9, 2011 If you can't get the full letter to display here

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-10541553270097713672011-06-07T10:17:00.012-04:002011-06-07T15:37:31.804-04:00

Over the past month the media have been busy doing what they do best--reporting bady designed animal research as if it were human research. As a result we read "A high-fat diet during pregnancy may program a woman's baby for future diabetes, even if she herself is not obese or diabetic." This headline multiplied through the web appearing on dozens of newspaper sites. Only by reading the full

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-32208690542307883312011-06-02T10:25:00.004-04:002011-06-02T10:52:10.094-04:00

When this email hit my in basket I thought it was one of my many correspondents indulging in a joke. But it was June 1, not April 1, and, sadly, the email turned out to be real. It was sent by "Austin-based competitive food eater Hungry Todd Rungy" and it announced that in support of the American Diabetes Associations "Tour de Cure" Mr. Rangy would "attempt to break the world cupcake speed

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-25281955327809266502011-05-28T10:22:00.000-04:002011-05-28T10:22:24.224-04:00

The evidence has been accumulating throughout the past decade that the A1c test is a much better predictor of heart attack than any test of cholesterol levels. You can find summaries of the major studies that have established this finding HERE. Now scientists have discovered a mechanism that may explain why this is the case. The study is Glycation of LDL by Methylglyoxal Increases Arterial

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-80791875865372409902011-05-16T10:54:00.002-04:002011-05-18T06:50:43.347-04:00

For some reason the past week brought me a bunch of emails all asking the same question: Are we supposed to test our blood sugar one hour after we start or end a meal? As is true with everything involving diabetes the answer is not simple due to variations in individual blood sugar responses. The reason we test one hour after a meals is to learn how high our blood sugar goes in response to the

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-6334680926520764792011-05-06T14:59:00.001-04:002011-05-06T15:00:17.541-04:00

There have been several studies in the news over the past few weeks that reinforce the healthfulness of the low carb diet and cast doubt on the utility of the so-called Mediterranean diet doctors prefer because it is full of all those supposedly "healthy whole grains" and pasta. 1. A mouse study confirmed that a ketogenic low carb diet (less than 70-100 grams of carbs a day) can reverse

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-75488306815649244532011-05-04T17:07:00.001-04:002011-05-05T17:55:49.996-04:00

It took me a while, but I finally figured out how to convert my book, Blood Sugar 101: What They Don't Tell You About Diabetes to Kindle format without losing the charts, graphs, and layout. Several of you have asked me for an e-book version, which is why I'm providing one. If this version proves popular, I'll do the work needed to convert the book to the other e-platforms. Unfortunately, the

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-91399085034485398142011-05-01T20:59:00.002-04:002011-05-01T21:03:24.665-04:00

Every year Brenda Novak, a well known bestselling romance author, runs an huge auction to raise funds for the Diabetes Research Institute, and the whole romance writing community pitches in offering signed books, lunches with bestselling authors, and many more items. So far the auction has raised over a million dollars for diabetes research. The Diabetes Research Institute (DRI) is one of the

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-48261147981177324862011-04-11T09:12:00.000-04:002011-04-11T09:12:29.948-04:00

Here are the studies that caught my eye over the past month. Metastudies fail to identify who sponsored the studies they are based on, allowing studies funded by drugmakers to appear to be unbiased research. If you've wondered why you are seeing so many metastudies--studies that pool data from many smaller studies--being published, this may be the explanation. As reported by researchers who

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-22298027516377197932011-03-20T10:02:00.000-04:002011-03-20T10:02:50.015-04:00

Sometimes the continual flow of bad advice given to people with diabetes can seem overwhelming. All of us have know the neighbor whose doctor put her on the low fat diet that made her give up on diets or the friend on insulin who has been told to test once a week, fasting. We all run into dozens of people who have no idea that they could go a long way to normalize their blood sugars simply by

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-39052246807898021102011-03-10T08:11:00.003-05:002011-03-10T08:14:23.947-05:00

Here are some more items I've collected over the past few months that don't justify a separate post but are still of interest. Click on the link to see the study. Users of DPP-4 Inhibitors (i.e. Januvia and Onglyza) report far more infections than metformin users, especially respiratory infections which were twelve times more likely. This is not surprising, DPP-4 plays a significant role in the

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-51205032790001669432011-03-05T10:00:00.003-05:002011-03-06T08:58:57.394-05:00

I just encountered a study that might explain the pattern in which neuropathy develops and gives us insight into how long it will take to reverse it. Although the neuropathy investigated here was caused by HIV, the pattern in which it develops is the same as that of diabetic neuropathy--feet first, followed by hands after the neuropathy reaches the knee level. More importantly, the mechanism

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-63407751575480601062011-03-03T17:03:00.002-05:002011-03-03T17:08:57.698-05:00

Yet another PR release misrepresenting the latest findings of the ACCORD study is polluting the health news this week, and as a result tens of thousands of people with Type 2 diabetes will be given bad advice by their family doctors that will cause them to suffer unnecessary complications. I try to stay objective, but sometimes the sheer amount of poorly summarized research that is even more

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-31009521331973216382011-02-21T09:40:00.002-05:002011-02-21T11:40:51.403-05:00

Dr. Bernstein has been preaching about this on his web telecasts for years, but it bears repeating: If you are having problems with generic metformin or not seeing it make much impact on your blood sugar, change brands before you assume it isn't working or that you can't tolerate it. I just had this message brought home to me when my pharmacy (Walgreens) filled my prescription for metformin ER

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-51425680638726838052011-02-09T14:08:00.000-05:002011-02-09T14:08:51.766-05:00

A study to be presented at the International Stroke Conference 2011 in Los Angeles is getting some play in the health news. You can read a good summary here: U.S News and World Report: Can Diet Soda Boost Your Stroke Risk? The researchers "evaluated the soda habits of 2,564 people enrolled in the large Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS) to see if there was an association, if any, with stroke. The

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-24089672826785251102011-02-08T11:19:00.000-05:002011-02-08T11:19:19.737-05:00

I have long been suspicious of the claims for Dreamfield's pasta that all but three grams of the over-50 grams reported on the label somehow mysteriously dissappear due to some magical process they refuse to describe. Now a report in this month's journal, Diabetes Care confirms I was right to be suspicious. Here's the study: Glycemic Response to Ingested Dreamfields Pasta Compared With

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-63816788909070119192011-01-28T11:37:00.000-05:002011-01-28T11:37:48.901-05:00

A recent headline blares that fully one third of people in the U.S. have "prediabetes." This sounds dire, because the implication is that it is only a matter of time until one third of the population has full-fledged diabetes. In fact, it is highly unlikely that will ever happen. The incidence of full-fledged diabetes has remained around 9% in the entire population for decades and most of the

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-85985651534114615902011-01-21T10:12:00.001-05:002011-01-21T18:44:53.956-05:00

I received emails this week from three different correspondents that asked about strange blood sugar readings several hours after eating. In my replies I mentioned slowed digestion as a possible cause. As I did so I realized this is a blood-sugar related problem that isn't often discussed in mainstream media, so it isn't familiar to all of us. I first learned about it in reading Dr. Bernstein's

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-20501203011122688532011-01-12T14:50:00.005-05:002011-01-12T15:00:04.910-05:00

Here's another quick round up of recently published research. Click on the link to see the journal article abstract. 1. Exercise does not change metabolic parameters associated with weight gain or insulin resistance. Birth weight has long been known to correlate with weight gain, and in the case of low birth weight, with increased insulin resistance. The European Youth Heart Study, a

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-52843878787390143852011-01-08T09:49:00.003-05:002011-01-08T11:47:03.455-05:00

By now many of you are one week into your Repentance Diet--the one that starts New Years Day and is done by the Super Bowl. In honor of this annual ritual, I thought I'd post a list of the most helpful dieting truths I've picked up over the twelve years I've been fighting blood-sugar-related weight gain. 1. The diet you are eating as you approach your lowest weight is the diet you will have to

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-8201904190127396642010-12-23T07:53:00.004-05:002010-12-23T08:01:48.127-05:00

Aboott Laboratories has just issued a huge recall for blood testing strips which read low. The strips take too long to absorb the drop of blood. The list of affected lots is given here: http://www.precisionoptiuminfo.com/img/Lot-Numbers.pdf Further information can be found here: http://www.precisionoptiuminfo.com/EN Here is their stated policy, though it would have been nice if they'd

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-22435885997538452012010-12-13T09:05:00.003-05:002010-12-13T10:06:06.249-05:00

As I read the medical news, I bookmark many articles that aren't significant enough to form the basis of a blog post or which reinforce points I've already documented with quality research on the main Blood Sugar 101 web site. Many of these are discarded as time goes by, but when I went through the past year's accumulation, I ran into a few that I thought you might find interesting.What I'm going

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-41143812654502057392010-12-10T09:26:00.009-05:002010-12-11T08:26:14.607-05:00

I have already documented on my main web site data proving that blood sugar levels considerably lower than those labeled "diabetic" produce changes in the retina leading to blindness.Now this finding has been confirmed and quantified in a meta study that looked at records of "44,623 participants aged 20 to 79 years with gradable retinal photographs" which examined the correlations between signs

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-40787729702820418542010-12-06T10:12:00.006-05:002010-12-06T11:23:06.909-05:00

Every time you go to the lab to get tested, insist on getting a copy of the results for your own files. You (or your insurance) paid for these tests and they are legally yours, so the lab or your doctor must give you a copy if you ask. Most doctors will only tell you about abnormal lab test results and if nothing was what they consider abnormal they may only give you either a dumbed out summary

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-9568508892456979082010-11-30T09:28:00.002-05:002010-11-30T10:10:09.533-05:00

A lot of those of you reading this have been doing very well with your diets over the past weeks, months or even years. You know what's at stake and you're willing to forgo tempting high-carb treats if that's what it takes to avoid blindness, amputation or kidney failure. You have found meals that work for you, things to eat at lunch at work, and treats that don't raise your blood sugar to the

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-80413332405924801952010-11-23T15:48:00.003-05:002010-11-23T16:42:05.481-05:00

It's that time again. I've blogged on this topic several times before. You'll find those posts here. I have updated the links where they needed to be updated:Great Gifts for People with Diabetes (2009)Holiday Gifts for People with Diabetes (2008)The suggestions you'll find in these older posts are still useful. But here are some more. 1.Erythritol for baking There are several different brands of

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-55657976329322889532010-11-18T14:13:00.007-05:002010-11-20T07:07:11.717-05:00

As someone who saw her marginal blood sugar control deteriorate dramatically and permanently after a single course of prednisone I know that cortisone can cause permanent damange to blood sugar control. Years ago when I posted about this on the old alt.support.diabetes board, several people sent me emails reporting that the same thing had happened to them. Prescription cortisones had either made

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-42388192396148730512010-11-14T14:57:00.003-05:002010-11-14T15:23:05.262-05:00

I don't know about you, but I'm sick of diabetes awareness events that accomplish nothing. Wearing ribbons, lighting candles, and thinking about your friends with diabetes is what we call "Slactivism." You feel like you've done something, but all you've done is make yourself feel good. Nothing changes.So go on, light all the virtual candles you want, but when you are done, consider what the

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-52768757539673001322010-11-06T09:03:00.011-04:002010-11-07T07:22:45.796-05:00

Every week I get statistics that tell me, among other things, what pages on this blog get the most visitors.Since the traffic counts I get apply only to the previous month, the supremacy of these pages has nothing to do with cumulative traffic, but reflects the fact that the topics they discuss are the ones that people with diabetes commonly search on. Because many of you reading this are here

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-37947917538864040552010-10-28T08:54:00.003-04:002010-10-28T10:27:04.671-04:00

The public continues to buy the argument that "natural" products are safer and healthier than pharmaceuticals, despite ample proof that this is not true.The main reason why is this: in the 1990s wealthy large companies paid for expensive PR campaigns that appealed to the public's paranoia, convincing many that the government was trying to take away their wonderful supplements. At the same time,

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-85308061478109780752010-10-25T10:22:00.006-04:002010-10-25T13:36:38.876-04:00

Picture this: Your computer won't turn on, so you take it to the repair shop. The guy there tells you it's going to cost $60 for him to take a look at it. You leave the computer with him for two days. You pick it up, pay your $60, but when you plug it in at home you find it still doesn't work. The problem, it turns out, is that the repair shop you took it to was a car repair shop, not a computer

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-78344700037343428342010-10-19T13:49:00.007-04:002010-10-19T14:40:49.534-04:00

Vital information is revealed on this web site: Dollars for Docs. On it you will find a database that reveals the payments 7 large drug companies made to doctors in return for having those doctors pose as experts while promoting the company's drugs to other doctors. This promotion often involved reciting scripts provided by the company.These payment revelations were forced out of the companies,

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-12783265267919036852010-10-18T14:48:00.003-04:002010-10-18T15:37:17.410-04:00

The American Diabetes Association's Committee of [Misguided] Experts has recently recommended that the A1c test be used for screening patients to see if they have pre-diabetes and diabetes. They suggest defining an A1c of 6.0-6.4% as indicating "pre-diabetes" and one of greater than 6.5% as diagnosing "diabetes."Like almost every suggestion these so-called experts have made since they started -

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-28369729790015873962010-10-05T13:18:00.021-04:002010-11-01T18:45:14.823-04:00

As those of you who are friends of this blog know, after many years of writing novels for fun, I sold a three book series of historical romances to Avon a little over a year ago. The first of those books, Lord Lightning, is now on bookstore shelves around the U.S.A..The photo below shows me admiring the first copy of book I ever spotted in a store. It was the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Holyoke,

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-56289734040072992502010-09-26T09:41:00.002-04:002010-09-26T09:44:08.964-04:00

Though doctors call them "diabetic" complications, many studies conducted in cell cultures, animals, and humans, which you can read HERE, point to the conclusion that organ damage due to high blood sugars starts at levels that doctors label "prediabetic."Now another study--one that looked at the factors causing post-operative infections has come up with the same finding. The study is:

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-38164312048629809452010-09-24T09:48:00.005-04:002010-09-24T10:16:30.071-04:00

The FDA has for all practical purposes killed Avandia. Patients will have to be given a scary disclosure form to sign if it is prescribed and it can't be prescribed without the doctor filling in paperwork explaining why the patient couldn't be put on Actos.The flaw here is that Actos is just as dangerous a drug. Here is a brief list of the problems with Actos. You can find the citations to the

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-41254959477255350202010-09-18T08:51:00.002-04:002010-09-18T10:01:21.926-04:00

Yet another piece of bad news showed up--without mainstream coverage--in the health news this week. A long term study of Actos discovered that there is a clear dose and time-related increase in bladder cancer among those who take it. As MedPage Today reports:An interim analysis of data from the study, which includes more than 193,000 patients with type 2 diabetes, revealed no statistically

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-39331398582852351182010-09-13T08:34:00.005-04:002010-09-13T09:40:38.132-04:00

One of the most disturbing things about now doctors practice medicine today is that they very often don't know about the way that the different drugs they prescribe interact with each other, and some of these interactions can be quite dangerous. I learned this the hard way over the past few months. I had long known that Dr. Andrew Hattersley, who is the world expert on the form of MODY diabetes I

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-29974240529281685372010-09-07T10:42:00.008-04:002010-09-07T11:25:10.460-04:00

You'll soon be hearing about a large scale epidemiological study of low carb diets and mortality published this week in Annals of Internal Medicine which purports to show that eating a low carb-meat based diet increases the incidence of mortality (i.e. death!). Low-Carbohydrate Diets and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: Two Cohort Studies Teresa T. Fung et al. Annals of Internal Medicine

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-26317616302547302672010-09-02T13:19:00.002-04:002010-09-02T13:30:22.947-04:00

You've probably been told that because you have been diagnosed with diabetes your risk for a heart attack is the same as that of a person who has already had one.This turns out to be pure bullpucky. A study published in Diabetes Care this month followed for ten years 4,410 patients aged 30–74 years: 2,260 with type 2 diabetes without coronary heart disease recruited in 53 primary health care

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-50453862299625024922010-08-22T08:18:00.014-04:002010-09-01T09:07:26.288-04:00

My site stats show that quite a few people visiting this blog and the main Blood Sugar 101 web site translate these pages into languages other than English using translation software. I also get requests every now and then to translate the site into other languages. Since the site and blog represent several hundred pages of text, this would be a massive undertaking and since the site is

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-31936895435365302252010-08-15T09:58:00.004-04:002010-08-15T11:06:03.469-04:00

Though it isn't about diabetes, I came across a book last week that I believe is essential reading for anyone with any interest in health-related topics.The book is Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America by Robert Whitaker.Warning, this is not easy reading, because the story Whitaker makes--and documents--so convincingly is

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-32348953396401450892010-08-10T14:24:00.007-04:002010-08-11T22:39:01.306-04:00

Please tell the PR firm you retained to promote your worthless supplement, self-promoting diet book, dangerous drug, or sleazy clinic that they wasted their time emailing me the computer generated letter that praised my site and offered me the "exciting opportunity to partner with you."I do not want to meet with you at the ADA Scientific Sessions. I do not want to have a meaningful discussion

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-64362023657314979512010-08-06T11:21:00.002-04:002010-08-06T12:13:41.434-04:00

In one of those studies beloved by drug companies, three different drug regimens were compared against each other for a very brief period (six months) in a relatively small number of people (about 170 per regimen.) One of these drugs was long acting Byetta (LAR) which will be marketed as Bydureon if it ever gets approved by the FDA. That hasn't happened yet. While this study is being reported as

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-64166876315494368032010-07-13T08:13:00.003-04:002010-07-13T09:03:47.666-04:00

The drug companies will do whatever it takes to keep their blockbuster drugs selling, and often what it takes is deliberate hiding of research results that point to the dangers of the drug. I urge you to read this New York Times article published today in full:NYTimes: Diabetes Drug Maker Hid Test Data on Risks Files IndicateBut keep in mind that the media know Avandia is a dangerous drug because

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-90056544389418783722010-07-11T10:41:00.008-04:002010-07-11T12:46:36.590-04:00

Not a week goes by than I don't get an email from someone directing me to the web site of yet another physician with poor or nonexistent credentials in endocrinology who's trying to duplicate the financial success of people like Neal "I'm a psychiatrist but that doesn't keep me from making millions giving bad advice about diabetes" Barnard or Joseph "even a stopped clock is right twice a day"

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-18420249574576905582010-06-27T16:45:00.000-04:002010-06-27T16:46:43.862-04:00

My web stats tell me there are two different types of people who read this blog. One is people who find old posts thanks to Google Search. Google loves both this site and my main Blood Sugar 101 site, so even posts a few years old get a steady stream of visitors. The other is blog subscribers--people who come in every time I post something new. A few of these regulars post comments. The rest just

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com53tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-52720065108629355362010-06-24T06:25:00.004-04:002010-06-24T07:26:02.130-04:00

The biggest problem many people have with Metformin is that it causes such misery when it hits their stomachs that they can't keep taking it even though they know it is the safest and most effective of all the oral diabetes drugs.In many cases all that is needed is some patience. After a rocky first few days many people's bodies calm down and metformin becomes quite tolerable.If you are taking

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-19271544620504402572010-06-22T08:17:00.008-04:002010-06-22T12:57:10.412-04:00

A recent article in Science Daily reports on a presentation given at this week's meeting of the Endocrine Society. It's worth a look: Science Daily: Many People with Diabetes Do Not Know or Heed Dangers of Hot WeatherUnfortunately, while the points it makes are true, a much better title would have been Many doctors and pharmacies don't know or heed the dangers of hot weather.Just this week I

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-25408952920506194662010-06-13T08:18:00.008-04:002010-08-05T16:11:29.932-04:00

I've been struggling with a very tough to diagnose blood pressure problem for the past six months. A lot of expensive tests came up with nothing that would explain why my blood pressure was randomly surging well into the danger zone (168/110) and refusing to respond to the medications that had always worked for me in the past. To make it more confusing every so often my blood pressure would

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-29720551781412259002010-06-09T17:17:00.002-04:002010-06-09T17:27:57.717-04:00

Sometimes it seems like every day brings us new bad news about the side effects associated with the expensive, new heavily promoted diabetes drugs that most doctors push on patients. And then there's metformin. We keep getting news about metformin's side effects, but for the past year every single on of those side effects has been something good, for example, we now know metformin decreases the

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-51559811281651655202010-06-03T09:51:00.004-04:002010-06-03T10:55:19.622-04:00

The slimy weasels who profit from selling the dangerous drug Avandia don't give up easily. Though there is incontrovertible evidence that their drug causes heart failure in people who did not have it before starting the drug, as well as ostoporosis and an increased risk of heart attack, they keep sending the health media carefully doctored press releases touting new and marvelous features of

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-50067357153933089922010-05-31T11:18:00.002-04:002010-05-31T12:06:11.913-04:00

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that from time to time I pick out some company funded study that has turned into a media sound bite promoting the company's product and read it to see what it really found. Almost always close reading of these studies finds statistical abuse so blatant that one concludes that the peer reviewers who approved it for publication flunked

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-36687756784318473182010-05-11T10:14:00.003-04:002010-05-11T18:20:19.043-04:00

Among the most common questions people have about Type 2 diabetes is this: how can they lower their fasting blood sugar?To answer this question in a way that will help you lower your blood sugar we are going to have to first explain why doctors measure fasting blood sugar and what it does--and does not--tell us about our blood sugar health. WHAT IS FASTING BLOOD SUGAR?Traditionally, fasting blood

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-18119428472447858682010-05-05T08:23:00.003-04:002010-05-05T09:22:05.177-04:00

The ACCORD study has been used to justify the imbecilic idea that lowering blood sugar is dangerous to people with diabetes. ACCORD was a very large study in which one group of people with diabetes were given a strong cocktail of diabetes drugs with the aim of lowering their A1c below 6.0. Those drugs included sulfonylureas, Avandia and Actos, all drugs known to increase heart problems. The other

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-79916314321998709732010-04-25T07:47:00.007-04:002010-04-26T10:50:48.638-04:00

A recent study compared the effect of taking the very cheap generic sulfonylurea drug glipizide to the new extremely expensive drug Januvia. The abstract reports the results as if they meant that Januvia was far superior to glipizide in preserving insulin secretion, reducing weight, and avoiding hypos.Fortunately, the entire study is available online for free, and I was able to see the actual

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-5550141166671444292010-04-15T15:45:00.003-04:002010-04-15T15:54:48.185-04:00

Just a word of apology for steadfast Friends of the Blog. As many of you know, I'm in the middle of fulfilling a three book contract with HarperCollins/Avon. I'm finishing up my second novel and it is taking my full concentration in a way that is making it hard to devote the time and attention I usually put into following the diabetes news.I've been keeping an eye on things, and commenting here

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-84059884122008206242010-04-06T07:58:00.008-04:002010-04-06T09:21:21.545-04:00

A medically naive friend called me up all excited yesterday. He'd just been to his family doctor--the one who diagnosed him with diabetes last year based on his fasting plasma glucose, and guess what. The doc told him he wasn't diabetic anymore!Unfortunately for my friend, this was not because my friend had improved his blood sugar. Far from it. His fasting blood sugar had gone as high as 138 mg/

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-32289092418984688592010-04-02T11:42:00.007-04:002010-04-02T13:05:15.482-04:00

This year the American Diabetes Association told U.S. doctors to use the A1c as the first line diagnostic test for diabetes, rather than the fasting glucose test they'd long preferred. This is an improvement. The fasting glucose test missed a lot of diabetes until people had had dangerously elevated post meal blood sugars for as long as a decade. But the A1c is still an imperfect tool for

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-10959934913497179532010-03-25T08:40:00.008-04:002010-03-25T10:15:41.638-04:00

A new study confirms what quite a few other studies suggest. The reason that weight loss appears to "cure" diabetes has nothing to do with weight loss. It is because the surgery changes the way that gastric hormones, most notably GLP-1 are secreted.The study is discussed here: Science Daily: How weight loss surgery reverses Type 2 diabetes.I've blogged before about the irresponsible way that

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-64706003600596844312010-03-21T10:24:00.006-04:002010-04-07T08:20:53.934-04:00

I've been saying this for years, but finally someone has done the genetic work needed to prove it.The epidemic of diabetes we are seeing among children and people in their teens is NOT caused by overeating and failure to exercise. It's caused by genetic damage to the mitochondria--the parts of the cell that burn glucose.You can read the study that proved this here:Subjects With Early-Onset Type 2

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-6395610389216130112010-03-15T10:13:00.005-04:002010-03-15T11:31:52.233-04:00

Every time another study hits the news with a headline like, "Lowering blood sugar doesn't help diabetics" I get a slew of emails asking me what do I think of it? Unfortunately, what I think of most of them can't be printed here without the "adult content" warning popping up when you access the blog. It is getting to where I have two choices. I can spend my very limited research time reading and

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-59208277293545664952010-03-11T08:31:00.004-05:002010-03-11T09:06:44.761-05:00

A study just published in the journal Diabetes Care confirms what I have suspected for a long time. The one test that gives the best indication of whether a person is in the process of developing diabetes is not the fasting glucose test used by 99% of family doctors. Nor is it the two hour value found on an oral glucose tolerance test--which has long been the gold standard endorsed by the

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-1021289564226654052010-03-07T08:57:00.005-05:002010-03-07T09:37:46.477-05:00

You may see studies that purport to prove that eating a low carb diet raises cholesterol. There was one reported in the latest edition of Diabetes in Control which you can see HERE. You may even see your cholesterol go up when you start to eat a low carb diet. Is this reason for concern?No. And here's why. The studies that show a rise in cholesterol are always studies of very short duration. The

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-43464611300401438962010-03-03T10:50:00.008-05:002010-03-03T12:12:01.066-05:00

AMP-kinase (AMP-k) is an enzyme which is involved in many of the processes that break down in people with Type 2 diabetes.Wikipedia has this to say about it: Activated by muscle contractions... It is expressed in a number of tissues, including the liver, brain, and skeletal muscle. The net effect of AMPK activation is stimulation of hepatic fatty acid oxidation and ketogenesis, inhibition of

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-3149465361650234042010-02-27T09:27:00.007-05:002010-02-27T09:49:36.487-05:00

The cutoffs for diagnosing gestational diabetes--the kind that occurs during pregnancy--have always been more stringent than those used to diagnose the general population. Now a large study that matched maternal blood sugars with the outcome of the pregnancy has documented that even more stringent blood sugar limits are necessary to avoid diabetic problems during pregnancy.Not so surprisingly,

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-59315691011510838922010-02-18T15:16:00.004-05:002010-02-18T15:40:09.326-05:00

I've blogged about the way Avandia and Actos cause osteoporosis and broken bones before. I've also documented this on the page where I summarize all the research that makes it clear how dangerous both these drugs are, which you can read HERE. But I wanted to bring your attention to a new cohort study involving 19,070 patients with diabetes, which was published in the Journal of Clinical

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-20987152221484305042010-02-11T08:24:00.007-05:002010-02-11T09:49:30.020-05:00

Many of you have been sold a bill of goods about how you "caused your diabetes" with unhealthy lifestyle choices. The media are full of articles telling us that diabetes is caused by obesity and failure to exercise which cause insulin resistance. You might have been told that while people with Type 1 Diabetes don't secrete insulin, people with Type 2 Diabetes secrete too much insulin. Though

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-40743394432584916102010-02-09T08:42:00.003-05:002010-02-09T09:28:25.649-05:00

Many people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes are not aware that the presence of significant inflammation anywhere in the body can raise their blood sugar. But this is a very important finding. In rare cases, people can lower their blood sugar significantly by eliminating the inflammation.Unfortunately, because high blood sugar weakens the immune system, diabetes can create a vicious circle where

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-7896992300247257002010-02-03T07:01:00.005-05:002010-02-03T08:22:03.708-05:00

The latest outrage perpetrated on the diabetes community is a study published recently in the Lancet which is being widely reported in the media as proving that the 6.5% A1c is dangerous and that the "safest" A1c for people with diabetes is one of 7.5%. The 7.5% A1c corresponds to an average blood sugar of 169 mg/dl (9.4 mmol/L). To get an average that high a person would typically be seeing

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-17135177506700248542010-01-26T07:34:00.003-05:002010-01-26T08:03:09.711-05:00

The FDA finally approved Novo Nordisk's long delayed GLP-1 analog, Liraglutide, which is marketed under the name, "Victoza." This drug was developed in the same time frame as Byetta and is similar in concept. But it's side effect profile was more troubling, hence the delay. It's being released with a warning that it might produce thyroid cancers, though this supposedly is mostly a problem in

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-35111859951388326872010-01-24T08:58:00.003-05:002010-01-24T09:50:54.662-05:00

After years of tracking diabetes news, we old-timers can become jaded. We've seen hundreds of mouse "cures" that go nowhere, hundreds of poorly designed studies meant to promote some product or scientific-religious belief, and very few new ideas that are worth the time it takes to find them. When we turn to a blog like this, we want to read something new, and when we write a blog like this, we

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-19603478340849018572010-01-21T13:33:00.009-05:002010-01-21T14:18:11.391-05:00

A study published in the January issue of the journal, Clinical Chemistry put eight brands of A1c test kits, including the A1c Now test sold in pharmacies and online, through rigorous testing. The other kits were the ones marketed to doctors for use in their offices.You can read an abstract of this study here:Six of Eight Hemoglobin A1c Point-of-Care Instruments Do Not Meet the General Accepted

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-16678005153175190522010-01-13T18:17:00.010-05:002010-01-13T20:21:36.103-05:00

During the holiday season another disturbing diabetes news story was released to the medical press without attracting much notice. That probably didn't bother those who planted it because their target audience isn't you, it's your family doctor. The group releasing the news is an organization of surgeons who perform weight loss surgery (WLS) What they're promoting is the idea that WLS is a cure

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-20301472722565680162010-01-07T16:42:00.010-05:002010-01-07T18:23:50.522-05:00

More Bad New About Vitamin CI already blogged about the evidence that Vitamin C supplementation may make us more insulin resistant and render exercise useless, but the bad news about vitamin supplementation just keeps pouring in.Vitamin C supplementation, it turns out, is also associated with a higher rate of cataracts. This finding emerged in a long study of 24,593 women 49–83 years old from

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-52267918894347557102010-01-04T14:40:00.007-05:002010-01-04T15:39:23.120-05:00

It's that day again. The tree is down. The wrapping paper and party hats went out with the recycling. The supermarket has replaced the aisle full of candy canes with one of diet shakes because it's that time of year: Time to atone for all that self-indulgence. Time for the annual Super Bowl diet. Why do I call it the Super Bowl diet? Because 98% of those who start dieting today will have given up

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-7464624640005305212009-12-31T09:57:00.006-05:002010-01-12T13:55:57.031-05:00

Those of you who follow my postings know that I avoid most foods marketed as "low carb" and "sugar free" foods because they are so deceptively marketed. You have only to look at the latest fad food, Agave Nectar, to see the extent to which food companies will pervert science to make a buck.Agave Nectar is sold as being good for diabetics because it doesn't raise blood sugar. What they don't tell

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-84658690353191695712009-12-18T08:51:00.004-05:002009-12-18T09:00:04.835-05:00

I'm taking a few weeks off from blogging to complete the revisions my editor at Avon requested to my upcoming novel, Lord Lightning. This is exciting work. Publication, though still many months away, is starting to feel a lot more real. But it takes a lot of concentrated mental effort to make the last small but important changes that make this novel irresistible, which is making it impossible for

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-64537795541758326012009-12-09T09:10:00.008-05:002010-11-23T15:59:01.101-05:00

I wrote a couple posts last year suggesting some diabetes-specific gift ideas and several of you wrote me that you found them helpful so I'm going to reprise the earlier suggestions and add a few more.In the spirit of transparent disclosure, let me mention that some of these suggestions link to Amazon pages and if you visit Amazon using these links and buy things Amazon gives me 2-3% of the sale

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30206473.post-7319795644486675862009-12-07T09:20:00.006-05:002009-12-07T10:33:53.371-05:00

A study described in last week's Science Daily points to a problem that has been troubling me about diabetes research: the way that research relies on rodent models that are built on false assumptions about the human diseases they are supposed to model.You can read about the study describing severe problems with the mouse model for Muscular Dystrophy here:Science Daily: Mice Holding Back Muscular

Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384082448952856117noreply@blogger.com12