Links to Studies Posted on the FaceBook Blood Sugar 101 Page

Because posts on FB scroll off I'm reposting the posts I've made on the Blood Sugar 101 FaceBook Page so that they will still be available here when they are gone from FB.

THE POSTS:


Scientists may not understand what causes painful neuropathy, but I hear all the time from people who have cured it by dropping bgs below 140 mg/dl at all times.

Scientists uncover potential treatment for painful side effect of diabetes

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FDA about to approve Lorcaserin which achieves 5% weight loss in less than 50% of obese people over a year. Magic it ain't.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0909809

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If you want to stop smoking and not gain weight, cut your carbs then quit.

Increased bodyweight after stopping smoking may be due to changes in insulin secretion

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Researchers "take advantage of a new mouse model of diabetes type 2, which, like humans, develops the disease in adults as result of a high-fat diet." Which means it doesn't have the same diabetes humans get which is genetically almost always from insufficient insulin production combined with factors that make for insulin resistance like mitochondria that burn glucose poorly.

Caffeine can prevent memory loss in diabetes

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Experimental basal #insulin that lasts 40 hours gives almost the same results as Lantus with slightly less nighttime hypos. But blood sugars still remain high because of the way it's dosed.

Insulin degludec, an ultra-longacting basal insulin, versus insulin glargine in basal-bolus treatment

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Phthalates have also been linked with #diabetes in older people. Hard to eliminate our exposure. They're in everything.
Washington Post: If the food’s in plastic, what’s in the food?

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The news about #metformin just keeps getting better. It seems to protect against Parkinson's too!

Metformin can substantially reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease in diabetes, study suggests

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Serum levels of phthalate metabolites are linked with the development of type 2 diabetes in the elderly, Swedish researchers found.

Medical News:%20Common Chemical Tied to Diabetes in Seniors - in Endocrinology, Diabetes from MedPage

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This is about Type 1 #diabetes and mice, but it's still interesting and may have an application for Type 2, also.

Magnetic Nanoparticles Predict Diabetes Onset: Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a magnetic nanoparticle-based MRI technique for predicting whether—and when—subjects with a genetic predisposition for diabetes will develop the disease.

http://hms.harvard.edu/content/magnetic-nanoparticles-predict-diabetes-onset

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Blocking glucagon is way far from being a real treatment for #diabetes but it's an interesting concept.

Targeting glucagon pathway may offer a new approach to treating diabetes

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Slightly higher than normal blood sugars cause bad pregnancy outcomes, just as they cause #diabetes complications. Will doctors ever challenge the ADA's damagingly high diagnostic criteria?

New pregnancy risk for babies and moms: Overweight moms with moderately high blood sugar raise health risk

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Humans have evolved unique genes for fat metabolism, which supports our big brain. One reason why rodent research is so misleading.

Genetic adaptation of fat metabolism key to development of human brain

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Yet another study attributes to weight loss the effect of the mandatory carb-cutting enforced by WLS. The surgeons won't stop until everyone has this surgery. Note, that the incidence of diabetes in the most heaviest subjects in this group was under 10% and dropped by less than 6%. Most obese people will never develop diabetes, despite the hype. You need the genes to get it, and you need to cut carbs to lower your blood sugar. WLS isn't a "cure" it's a way of forcing people to cut carbs involuntarily.

Losing Weight When Obese Can Prevent or Cure Diabetes, Whatever the Initial BMI, Study Suggests

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Yet another antioxidant vitamin pill turns out to be harmful--Beta Carotene. Eat your veggies, folks and leave the pills on the shelf!

Potential 'dark side' to diets high in beta-carotene

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Confirmation of what we all know, bananas, oatmeal, and oral drugs won't do it. If only they taught these teens to cut carbs!

TODAY — A Stark Glimpse of Tomorrow — NEJM

also An Editorial on the Same Study.

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Read this list of unnecessary tests that you should NOT let a cardiologist perform on you. I've had some and refused another despite heavy pressure from an ER doctor. (I'd gone to the ER for something unrelated.) The last one can kill you.

http://choosingwisely.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/5things_12_factsheet_Amer_Coll_Cardio.pdf

From the same site's nephrology page: "Avoid nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) in individuals with hypertension or heart failure or CKD of all causes, including diabetes.The use of NSAIDS, including cyclo-oxygenase type 2 (COX-2) inhibitors, for the pharmacological treatment of musculoskeletal pain can elevate blood pressure, make antihypertensive drugs less effective, cause fluid retention and worsen kidney function in these individuals. Other agents such as acetaminophen, tramadol or short-term use of narcotic analgesics may be safer than and as effective as NSAIDs."

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Note that the recommendation is to get this nutrient from food, not pills. Chicken thighs will work. Bake them until crispy, paint with buffalo chicken hot sauce. Yum.Nutrient found in dark meat of poultry, some seafood, may have cardiovascular benefits

A nutrient found in the dark meat of poultry may provide protection against coronary heart disease in women with high cholesterol, according to a new study.

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Experimental drug stimulates a free fatty acid receptor in the pancreas which causes insulin secretion. And weight gain. What else it does it unknown as the testing on humans was brief and in few subjects.


Medical News:New Diabetes Drug Cuts Glycemic Risk - in Endocrinology, Diabetes from MedPage Today

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We recently learned Bisphenol A doubles insulin resistance, so a connection with heart disease is not that mysterious. I wish they'd correlated it with A1c. The EPIC-Norfolk study is the one that first found the tight correlation between A1c and heart disease even in the normal range.

Bisphenol A exposure linked to increased risk of future onset of heart disease

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Maternal PFOA blood levels => Fat daughters 20 years later. The obesity crisis's NOT just about lifestyle choices poeple.

The levels of the environmental pollutant perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) that mothers had in their blood during pregnancy increased the risk of obesity in their daughters at 20 years of age.

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Another reason to avoid those vegan "health food" diets. Arsenic is linked to rising rates of Type 2 diabetes. Next time you pick up an organic cereal bar or buy infant formula, you might want to read the label closely.

Arsenic found in organic baby food, cereal bars
todayhealth.today.msnbc.msn.co?m

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Yet another study in which supplementing with Vitamin D does NOT improve a condition associated with low Vitamin D levels but raises blood calcium--which is dangerous to your heart. Go easy on the Vitamin D folks!


Vitamin D is associated with decreased cardiovascular-related morbidity and mortality, possibly by modifying cardiac structure and function, yet firm evidence for either remains lacking.

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Huge study "Surprisingly, LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol, however, were not associated with stroke risk in this population" (Older women) Triglycerides were.
Lose the carbs, baby! Carbs are what raise triglycerides.

Triglyceride levels predict stroke risk in postmenopausal women

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Research, mostly rodent, showing raising insulin doesn't cause obesity unless you create hypoglycemia. Don't believe doctors who refuse insulin because "it will make you fat." Dose it right, and it won't. (I lost weight when I started insulin.)

Whole Health Source: Insulin and Obesity: Another Nail in the Coffin

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MRI scan 'better' for heart patients
A magnetic resonance imaging scan for coronary heart disease is better than the most commonly-used alternative, a major UK trial of heart disease patients has shown.

MRI is better at detecting heart disease, and safer than angiogram since it doesn't involve x-rays.

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An investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that between 1996 and 2008, the amount of leg and foot amputations among U.S. individuals, aged 40+ with diagnosed diabetes dropped. This is good news, but there are still too many people getting amputations, mostly the very old and people in under-served poverty-striken communities who can't afford medical treatment that could lower their blood sugars.

Lower Limb Amputation Rates Associated With Diabetes Drop,

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Thousands of untested new supplements have flooded the market with only the manufacturer's say-so attesting to their safety. Read this article in full if you buy pills you are told are "natural." They may contain dangerous ingredients.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1113325

I've Tweaked the Diet Calculator to Better Calculate Fat at Moderate Carb Intake Levels

To better handle the recommendations for people eating over ketogenic levels, I've changed the logic the calculator uses. It now computes what percentage of total maintenance calories are represented by your selected carbohydrate intake.

If your carbs are more than 30% of all calories, the calculator now recommends that you eat 30% of calories as protein and computes the fat calories and grams so that

Fat Percent = 100 - (Carb percentage + 30%)

This works a lot better for people of all different sizes than the previous version.

You'll find it here: http://www.phlaunt.com/lowcarb/DietMakeupCalc.php

Thanks for your very helpful feedback.

And yes, I know I need to find an URL for the low carb site, but the ones I want are all taken.

 

Yes, my third novel has been published

Several people have recently asked me about when my next novel was coming out, and I realized I hadn't announced the publication of my third novel here. The third of my Avon romances, Perilous Pleasures was released last month and is still on sale in some bookstores and of course online. You can read more about it at http://jennybrown.net.

This was the last of the novels I signed a contract to write, which is why I was finally able this fall to get back to working on the sequel to the Blood Sugar 101 book that I should have written two years ago.

I'll be writing more fiction, but not under contract, because it takes all the fun out of writing novels when you have to meet deadlines and comply with marketing expectations. The earnings from mass market fiction turn out to be surprisingly modest, so there's no reason to write such novels unless writing them is fun.

One thing I learned from this whole adventure is that I find it more fun to spend my days pawing through journals looking for interesting tidbits and figuring out how things work than I do making up stories from scratch. So it looks like it's time for me to embrace my inner-wonk. After my venture into fiction I certainly have come to appreciate how many of you read and respond to the factual writing I do. I'm very lucky to have a readership like you and don't think I don't know it!

Check out my new diet calculator--completely revised and updated

I spent some time last week rewriting the nutrition calculator that used to tell people how much protein they should be eating on a ketogenic low carb diet. Now it isn't restricted to ketogenic diets and provides several other new features. You'll find the calculator at:

http://www.phlaunt.com/lowcarb/DietMakeupCalc.php

I've revised it to do the following:

• Calculate caloric needs based on either total body weight or lean body mass by providing the ability to enter body fat percentage. This gives a much more accurate result for heavy people whose extra weight is largely contributed by fat which doesn't require much protein to sustain it.
• Provide the ability to specify how much fat-related weight you'd like to lose each week. The calculator will also flag unrealistic weight loss goals including those that would require cutting protein down to unhealthy levels.
• Allow any carbohydrate intake level to be entered. If the carbohydrates entered exceed 120 grams a day, the calculator changes its recommendation of fat and protein levels to match the nutrient intakes that appear to be the healthiest, based on the research I reviewed for my new book.

The calculator continues to account for the additional protein required by people on very low carb, ketogenic diets. But it also makes it clear that as carbs rise and the diet continues past the first few weeks when the body adjusts to the ketogenic state many people will need far less protein than they might think. Cutting out that excess protein is often the easiest way to break a low carb weight loss stall--and to eliminate diet-associated dragon breath.

I found that when I calculated my own caloric needs by entering my body fat percentage as measured by my Tanita scale first thing in the morning, the calorie and protein levels that the calculator came up with matched exactly the caloric intake and protein levels my food logging had shown to lead to continuing weight loss and, when I reached goal, successful maintenance.

This had not been the case when I calculated my nutritional needs using other online calculators that asked only for my total body weight. Most interestingly, entering my body fat percentage along with my total body weight into the new calculator provided a new daily calorie level that was a couple hundred calories higher than that provided by other calculators.

This eliminated the caloric difference that in the past I had attributed to the "metabolic advantage" of a ketogenic diet. It turns out that the only reason I could lose weight on a ketogenic diet at a higher caloric intake than suggested by the formulas beloved by nutritionists is that I have more lean body mass for my size than their whole-body based formulas assumed so I burn more calories.

This is in line with much of what I learned doing my research. I'd love to hear from you as to how the calculator's estimates match your own experience maintaining your current weight or achieving weight loss. Post in the comments section of this post and we'll keep the discussion going there.

Is Red Meat Dangerous?

An epidemiological study published a few weeks ago linked the consumption of red meat to a higher risk of death from all causes, cancer, and heart disease. You can read a good summary of it (with a link to the article at the bottom) here:

Science Daily: Red Meat Consumption Linked to Increased Risk of Total, Cardiovascular, and Cancer Mortality.

The study used data from "37,698 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study for up to 22 years and 83,644 women in the Nurses' Health Study for up to 28 years who were free of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer at baseline. Diets were assessed through questionnaires every four years."

The study found that "One daily serving of unprocessed red meat (about the size of a deck of cards) was associated with a 13% increased risk of mortality, and one daily serving of processed red meat (one hot dog or two slices of bacon) was associated with a 20% increased risk."

This isn't the first study to link health problems with red meat so we shouldn't be too quick to dismiss its findings. However, given the methodology it used, we also shouldn't be too quick to blame the red meat for the problems it reveals.

Was it the Meat or What's IN the Meat?

The first problem is with the way the nutritional questionnaires are designed that were used in these studies. They ask questions about people's food habits, along the lines of "How many times in the past month did you eat red meat?" and then give multiple choice options for answers like "Less than 5 times" or "6 to 10 times."

What they don't ask is "Where did you eat your red meat?" "Was your Red Meat filled with MSG?" "Was your red meat fried on a grill covered with damaged oils?" "Was Your Red Meat full of pink slime?"

This is important, because you'd have to be delusional to argue that the red meat sold in most chain restaurants is anything but toxic. People who get a daily serving of red meat from a fast food hamburger probably are shortening their lives. Not because of the meat, but because of what else is in the substance they've been sold as "meat."

Did You Get Fries with That?

The second problem with the questionnaires is that they don't ask "what did you eat WITH your red meat? None of us would question that a "red meat" meal that is made up of 3 ounces (cooked) of pink slime on a bun covered with ketchup, sugary pickles, mayo made out of the cheapest oils, and served with a big side of fries cooked in damaged fat, washed down with a 32 oz sugary soda is likely to have severe health consequences, too. But that's how most people at their meat. And if that is the case, the combination of damaged oils and lots of carbs can explain the negative health consequences without any need to demonize red meat.

The Ambivalent Role of Iron

But even so, other research has turned up some significant problems with iron which may also play a part, though as we'll see, we may not be getting the damaging iron from meat since there are other sources of dietary iron to consider.

Iron is essential to life. Without it our blood couldn't transport oxygen to our cells. But too much iron seems to gum up the works. For more than a decade numerous studies have linked higher than normal levels of iron in the brain to the development of Alzheimer's. Too much iron also damages the beta cell, which is why people who have a genetic condition called hemochromatosis where their iron stores grow abnormally large develop diabetes. But high levels of iron also damage the beta cells in people who don't have this gene.

You can read a good review of how iron can cause or worsen diabetes in this article, which also points out that high iron levels contribute to some complications:

The Role of Iron in Diabetes and Its Complications. Sundararaman Swaminathan. Diabetes Care July 2007 vol. 30 no. 7 1926-1933

What Raises our Iron Stores?

So what raises our blood iron stores? Three ounces (cooked) of hamburger are listed as containing 15% of a typical person's daily need for iron. So you'd have to eat a lot of burgers each day to exceed the iron RDA.

Four ounces of rare roast beef contain 43% of your daily need, so if you are eating 12 ounces of roast beef a day, yes, you are eating what could be dangerous amounts of iron if you were doing this day after day.

But it turns out there is almost twice as much iron in a serving of kidney beans as there is in roast beef. (You can find a good listing of the iron content of various foods HERE) And to keep vegetarians from feeling smug, 3 oz of Tofu contains more iron than three ounces of roast beef.

But that's not where the dangerous amounts of iron are coming from, as the link just cited makes plain. Because it also tells us that a cup of "Oatmeal, fortified instant, prepared" contains two and a half times as much iron as a hefty serving of roast beef, clocking in at 10 mg per serving where the 4 oz of roast contains only 4.2 mg.

The key word to note here is "fortified." Because it isn't just your packaged oatmeal that has extra iron in it. Breakfast cereals do. Cheap breads do, too. And of course, you get 100% of your daily iron RDA in any multivitamin not markets as being for "seniors." More iron is absorbed from your food if you consume a lot of vitamin C either from fruits or vitamin pills. The latter fact may have something to do with why large studies have shown that supplementing with vitamin C for a long time raises the risk of death.

But not all the iron in your body comes from your food. You will also get more iron in your food if you cook it in cast iron pans. And cans made out of steel may also contribute iron to your diet, especially if they contain acidic foods. (Details HERE.)

In short, it's very likely that high iron consumption is dangerous. But most of the iron you consume is not coming from the red meat you eat. It might be informative to run a few day's worth of food consumption through some nutritional software to see exactly how much iron you are taking in each day. (This won't, of course account for iron coming in from pans or cans.) If you are consuming a lot of iron, cut back. It might help lower your blood sugar over time.

If your iron intake is high, you might also ask your doctor to measure your ferritin level at your next physical. The hemochromatosis gene is fairly widespread in European populations with 1 in 8 to 12 carrying it and 5 in 1,000 having the two copies that cause damagingly high levels of iron in the blood

it would also be a very good idea for all of us to limit our consumption of red meat to quality meats, avoiding the chemical-laden patties sold in restaurants.