Go visit the World Diabetes Day web site and check out the activities.
This would be the perfect day to share one important fact about diabetes with your friends and coworkers who, like most people, are likely to be full of misinformation about diabetes. Keep your communication short and to the point, people close down after more than a sentence or two.
My favorite Diabetes Awareness fact is this: Despite what you read in the media Type 2 isn't caused by obesity. Eighty percent of the obese never develop diabetes. Diabetes has a genetic basis and the obesity associated with it is a result of the raving hunger that people experience as their blood sugar control deteriorates.
Obesity is a symptom, not the cause of Type 2 diabetes!
2 comments:
IMPORTANT EVENT MARKED WORLD DIABETES DAY, NOV. 14, 2008 IN NYC:
THE FIRST ANNUAL GERALD J. FRIEDMAN FELLOWS SYMPOSIUM ON
NUTRITION, DIABETES AND HUMAN HEALTH
The first annual Gerald J. Friedman Fellows Symposium was held November 14, 2008 on World Diabetes Day at the Tribeca Grand Hotel in New York City. This exciting day-long event, from 9AM until 6PM, explored the ongoing research of a unique fellowship program, bringing together multi-disciplinary academicians to advance research on nutrition, diabetes and health.
The symposium featured a plenary lecture by Dr. Anastassios Pittas, the first Friedman Fellow, on lessons from 10 years in research. Fellows, drawn from Beth Israel Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Siouxland Medical Education Foundation, Tufts University and Tufts Medical Center delivered presentations on cutting-edge research.
Symposium topics included: Molecular mechanisms that link type 2 diabetes and breast cancer progression, Novel biological roles for Vitamin K, Does women's empowerment really improve child nutrition in Bangladesh? and sixteen others.
One of the most exciting presentations on the agenda was that of conference co-chair Leonid Poretsky, M.D., Chief, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism Director at Gerald J. Friedman Diabetes Institute, Gerald J. Friedman Chair in Endocrinology at Beth Israel Medical Center and Professor of Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Dr. Poretsky presented data from the first year of operation at the new Gerald J. Friedman Diabetes Institute at Beth Israel Medical Center. Perhaps the most important measurable goal the program has achieved is a 50% reduction in excess HbA1C (a reflection of an average of all blood sugars in an individual which have occurred in a period of three months) levels, in all patients at the Institute. The odds of this occurring by chance alone are .1%. With 99% certainty we can conclude that patients who have entered this program have shown these improvements within at least 3 months.
The first annual Gerald J. Friedman Fellows Symposium was sponsored by The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman Foundation and marked the first anniversary of The Gerald J. Friedman Diabetes Institute, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York City.
as reported by April Sandmeyer
A 50% reduction in excess HbA1C - that sounds impressive. I wondered if they acheived this with diet or medication. I guess it is with medication as the friedman website says " Low-carb diets, where carbohydrates are less than 130 grams per day, are not recommended for people with diabetes. " http://fdi.eostudios.net/learn_about_diabetes/nutritional_considerations/index.html
Another Diabetes Awareness fact is a normal fasting blood glucose can not rule out diabetes. The postprandial blood glucose becomes abnormal 5-10 years before the fasting blood sugar goes up. That hits home for me as I was told my GTT was nothing to worry about(it was 203) because my fasting was under 100.
Anne
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