Diet Soda Sales Fizzle Due to Diabetes & Obesity Concerns

Americans are losing their taste for diet sodas – and that’s a good thing.

A recent report by Wells Fargo, citing Nielsen scanner data, shows sales of zero- and low-calorie soft drinks fell nearly 7% through November 23rd - and regular soda sales dipped by just a little more than 2%.

Effects of Diet Sodas

The diet drink craze in the U.S. surged between 1990 and 2010 as the American public became more concerned about obesity. Sales of diet drinks rose from 26 percent to 31 percent during that period, despite consumer complaints about the taste of artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose.

Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in a 2005 report considered these artificial sweeteners safe, and the American Diabetes Association and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics claimed them as safe weight-loss tools, there are studies that show frequent consumption of artificial sweeteners is linked to obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

After news broke of diet soda sales dropping amid health concerns, the American Beverage Association, the trade group representing soda companies, stood behind the artificial sweeteners. The group also reaffirmed the European Food Safety Authority’s backing of aspartame.

Additionally, the trade group defended diet drinks stating, “low- and no-calorie sweeteners offer consumers yet another way to enjoy their favorite beverages, while maintaining and managing their weight.”

Read full article at Drug Watch
http://www.drugwatch.com/2013/12/18/diet-soda-sales-drop/

Magic Answer For Diabetes Not Surgery

Over the past year, news headlines have suggested that Type 2 diabetes and obesity can be safely "cured" by bariatric surgery.

Patients who undergo this surgery, which bypasses part or all of the stomach, typically lose weight rapidly and may no longer need diabetes medication when they leave the hospital.

Surgery, however, has its own risks, including a significant number of complications that require re-hospitalization. In addition, follow-up studies demonstrate that many patients regain weight and have a re-emergence of their diabetes.

Although we do not fully understand why blood sugars normalize so rapidly after bariatric surgery, a study presented at the 2012 Obesity Society International compared low-calorie dieting to surgery. The study found equivalent effects on insulin and blood sugar levels, suggesting that a dramatic drop in calorie intake is the initial key.

The focus of diabetes therapy is prevention: Avoid or minimize the impact of damage to the eyes, kidneys, nerves and blood vessels. The usual therapeutic approach is to control blood sugars as much as is safely possible. This usually requires multiple medications and weight gain is a common side effect.

However, most people with Type 2 diabetes are already obese, and further weight gain as a result of well-intentioned therapy can increase psychological and physical distress. Weight gain means higher medication dosages and longer medication lists.

Read more here 

Give Up Soda - What The Heck Are You Eating

Can Childhood Obesity Hinder the Brain?

New study shows children who are overweight or obese may face problems with brain development, especially if they have risk factors for metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of problems that set the stage for diabetes and heart disease.

Risks for metabolic syndrome include:

• Belly fat
• High levels of blood fats called triglycerides
• Insulin resistance or prediabetes
• High blood pressure
• Low level of "good" HDL cholesterol

Researcher Antonio Convit, MD, says the bottom line is, "We are seeing brain changes in kids with metabolic syndrome and we don't know if this is reversible."

Children with metabolic syndrome scored 10% lower on mental tasks that are important for learning, he says. The findings appear in Pediatrics.

What to Do?

A Recipe For Soul Food Sanity

"Good Lord, good meat, c'mon, let's eat!"

That abbreviated grace uttered over a plate of soul food is one of the few laugh lines from New York filmmaker Byron Hurt's (shown at left) new documentary, Soul Food Junkies. 

Scheduled to screen Sunday at the BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia, Soul Food Junkies is a thoughtful, historical, and personal examination of the unhealthy effects of African American eating habits.

Nationally, nearly half of all African Americans suffer from high blood pressure. In Philadelphia, 20% suffer from Type 2 diabetes. Black children are 15% more likely to be obese than white children.

Mayor Nutter, in his ongoing crusade to make Philadelphia a safer, greener, more active, and healthier place to live, twice proposed a two-cent-an-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages - only to get gulped down by Big Soda.

Read more at philly.com

African Americans Hit by Lack of Living Kidney Donations

Kidney failure is at an epidemic level in part because it is linked to the obesity epidemic

At every transplant center in the nation, African Americans are the least likely to receive a kidney from a living organ donor.

Research published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, the official journal of the National Kidney Foundation, used data gathered from all 275 transplant centers in the U.S., and showed that those facilities serving predominantly African American populations had even higher rates of living donor transplant disparities.


Read more Study: African Americans Hit by Lack of Living Kidney Donations

Soft Drink Makers Target U.S. Youth

U.S. children and teenagers are seeing far more soda advertising than before, with blacks and Hispanics the major targets, as marketers have expanded online, according to a study released on Monday.

The report from the Yale University Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity also said many fruit and energy drinks, which are popular with teenagers, have as much added sugar and as many calories as regular soda.

When it comes to energy drinks such as Red Bull and Amp, the marketing is skewed toward young people, even though the American Academy of Pediatrics says such highly caffeinated beverages are not appropriate for children and adolescents, the report said.

Read full article
Soft drink makers target U.S. youth

How Long You Are Overweight Affects Diabetes Risk

Being obese might increase the chance of developing Type 2 diabetes, but the true risk factors may lie in how much overweight someone is and how long they've been that way.

Much like figuring how numbers of cigarettes smoked and years of smoking relate to lung cancer risk, researchers set out to see how degree and length of obesity factored into the risk of getting Type 2 diabetes.

They looked at data on 8,157 teens and young adults who were 14 to 21 years old at the start of a national study. Participants self-reported their height and weight and diabetes condition from 1981 to 2006.

Excess BMI (body mass index)-years - which researchers likened to smoking-pack years - were calculated by determining to what degree people were over a certain body mass index, and for how long. A BMI of 25, considered overweight, was used as a reference.

Read more: 

Sugar Consumption

It's no surprise to any of us that over half of Americans consume so many sugary drinks on any given day

Half of all Americans aged 2 and older consume sugary drinks on any given day and at least 25% of Americans drink the caloric equivalent of more than one can of soda a day, according to a new report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Consumption of sugar drinks in the United States has increased over the past 30 years among both children and adults," wrote the report's authors, led by Cynthia Ogden of CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

Most people drink their sugary beverages - defined as fruit drinks, sodas, energy drinks, sports drinks and sweetened bottled waters - in their own home and purchase them in stores. About 36% of sugar drinks are consumed in restaurants and fast food establishments. Children drink only 2% of these beverages in schools or day care centers.

Perhaps our problem with sugar consumption results from reading articles like this - Eating Chocolate is Good for the Heart 

As a "Diabetic" this picture is making me crave chocolate - and while this is NOT good for my sugar levels, it must be good for my heart - at least according to the article -

A recent finding, that is sure to delight many of us with a sweet tooth, claims that high levels of chocolate consumption may be associated with a 33% decrease in the risk of developing heart disease.

While other factors are much more important for a healthy heart, such as exercise and proper dieting, this finding gives a nice reprieve to chocoholics.

Obesity Ranks Low on List Parents Think Warrant Medical Attention

Parents need help connecting the dots between having an overweight child and what their future health consequences may be . . .


A new survey released today by Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City shows more parents would find it "very important" to seek medical care for a child with diabetes symptoms (81%), asthma (80%) or a learning disability (74%) - BUT only 54% of parents feel the same approach is needed for a child who is overweight.

Read full article 

Pre-Diabetes Can Be Turned Around by Exercise

Another good article at About.com - Charles

People diagnosed with pre-diabetes (impaired glucose tolerance) can reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by losing just 5 to 7% of their body weight and exercising regularly, according to a clinical study by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

Go to About.com to read entire article - and find more great links
Diet and Exercise Can Turn Pre-Diabetes Around

Fruits and Vegetables on a Budget

Anyone who's been to a grocery store lately knows about soaring prices.

Can we eat healthy when good food costs so much?

Eating 3 to 5 cups a day has long been recommended to reduce the risks of heart disease, high blood pressure, and development of type 2 diabetes. The health benefits are well documented, and so you may not need to be sold on why you should eat more produce.

Read full article Fruits and Vegetables on a Budget - Cutting the Cost of Heart-Healthy Produce - By Debra Manzella, R.N., About.com

Diabetes - The Inherited Risks

The causes of diabetes are complicated and only partially comprehended. And complicating the picture even farther is the reality that there are multiple types, all with their own risk factors.

Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are the two basic across-the-board diagnosis with some 97% or more of cases in the U.S. Both Types 1 and 2 result from a combination of environmental and hereditary influences.

Of those, Type 2 diabetes is by far the more common, and represents approximately 90% of diabetics.

Obesity is considered to be a leading contributor to Type 2 diabetes. Being overweight makes a good prototype since it's a combining of hereditary background and life-style choices. Although the preferred diet and the measure of physical exercise one decides to take on are life-style choices, it's still factual that a few individuals gain or drop weight a lot easier than others.

But on that point there are more factors to developing diabetes -

Unfortunately many pregnant women discover they have developed a particular type of diabetes as a consequence of pregnancy. A history of diabetes during pregnancy contributes greatly to the chance of developing diabetes after giving birth. Roughly 40% of women who acquire diabetes during pregnancy (gestational diabetes) will later on develop Type 2 diabetes. That generally comes about within 5-10 years after giving birth. Those who give birth to heavier babies experience a bigger risk.

Glucose intolerance is an additional hereditary element. Because Type 2 diabetes results not by underproduction of insulin (as in Type 1) but by insufficient use of it, it should not be surprising that glucose intolerance is a contributive circumstance. That glucose intolerance should exist is baffling enough, because it is a major source of the body's energy. But hereditary anomalies bring about some strange situations.

Ethnicity plays a part in whether or not a person will develop Type 2 diabetes, although the reasons are not fully understood. Even after adapting for life-style, Aboriginals, Africans, Latin Americans and some Asians are at higher risk. The profile varies between 1.5-2 times the relative incidence among Caucasians, reported to one broad Canadian study. Curiously, though, the risk of Type 1 diabetes is a great deal higher among Caucasians than any other race.

High blood pressure increases the likelihood, too. That once again is part of life-style (mainly, dieting and exercising) choice but it's a strong genetical aspect also. On that point, there's a strong correlation that those with high blood pressure could also develop diabetes. Likewise, high cholesterol levels step-up the risk. Over 40% of those with diabetes have got higher than normal levels of cholesterol in the blood.

Family medical history is in all likelihood the biggest hereditary risk factor for diabetes.

A person with a parent or sibling who has Type 1 diabetes has a risk 10-20 times higher than average. For a newborn infant with a parent who has Type 1 diabetes the likelihood is 1 in 25, or 4% if the mother gives birth earlier than age 25. Past the age of 25, the risk is 1%, almost the equivalent as the general population. The likelihood rises over again to almost 10% if either parent contracted diabetes earlier than age 11.

The hereditary risk factors of contracting diabetes are still an active area of research. Luckily, while in generations ago there was nothing one could do to influence these factors, but advanced genetic treatments hold out hope of changing even these odds with diabetes.

Charles Thompkins
Diabetic, Black and Senior
http://www.diabeticblackandsenior.blogspot.com


Webmasters are free to use this article, however no wording or links can be changed. Thanking you in advance! CT

ADA Updates Diabetes Care Standards

The American Diabetes Association, or ADA, recently released its "Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes -- 2008" position statement; the updated standards and supporting materials are available as a supplement to the January issue of Diabetes Care.

The ADA now recommends that physicians consider screening adults of any age who are overweight or obese and have one or more additional risk factors for diabetes; the organization also recommends screening all overweight or obese patients beginning at age 45, even if they have no additional risk factors. The ADA classifies this as a "B" recommendation, which means it is supported by evidence from well-conducted cohort studies or from well-conducted case-control studies.

For all overweight and obese patients, the guidelines recommend repeat screening at intervals of no more than three years. This is a grade "E" recommendation, which means that it is based on expert consensus or clinical experience.

The guidelines also recommend screening women who have had gestational diabetes mellitus for diabetes; this testing should take place six to 12 weeks postpartum and should be followed up with subsequent screening for the development of diabetes or prediabetes (grade E recommendation).

To prevent or delay the development of type 2 diabetes, the ADA recommends counseling patients about losing weight and increasing their physical activity.

For very high-risk patients who are obese and younger that 60, the guidelines recommend that physicians consider prescribing metformin, in addition to lifestyle counseling (grade E recommendation).

They also recommend monitoring any patients who exhibit signs of prediabetes every year (grade E recommendation).

To read more of the new ADA recommendations, go to the American Academy of Family Physicians site

Diabetes Costs More than Wars, and Katrina

Uncontrolled diabetes wreaks havoc on the body, often leading to kidney failure, blindness and death. A new study shows that the nation's unchecked diabetes epidemic exacts a heavy financial toll as well: $174 billion a year.

That's about as much as the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and the global war on terrorism combined. It's more than the $150 billion in damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.

The incidence of diabetes has ballooned - 1 million new cases a reported each year - as more Americans become overweight or obese, according to the study, released by the American Diabetes Association.

The cost of diabetes, in direct medical care and lost productivity, has swelled 32% since 2002, the report shows.

Diabetes killed more than 284,000 Americans last year, and costs the nation nearly as much as cancer, whose costs in 2006 totaled $206.3 billion, although cancer kills twice as many people, according to the American Cancer Society.

Read full article in the Indianapolis Star

Diabetes Study Favors Surgery to Treat Obese

Weight-loss surgery works much better than standard medical therapy as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes in obese people, the first study to compare the two approaches has found.

The study, of 60 patients, showed that 73 percent of those who had surgery had complete remissions of diabetes, meaning all signs of the disease went away. By contrast, the remission rate was only 13 percent in those given conventional treatment, which included intensive counseling on diet and exercise for weight loss, and, when needed, diabetes medicines like insulin, metformin and other drugs.

In the study, the surgery worked better because patients who had it lost much more weight than the medically treated group did — 20.7 percent versus 1.7 percent of their body weight, on average. Type 2 diabetes is usually brought on by obesity, and patients can often lessen the severity of the disease, or even get rid of it entirely, by losing about 10 percent of their body weight. Though many people can lose that much weight, few can keep it off without surgery. (Type 1 diabetes, a much less common form of the disease, involves the immune system and is not linked to obesity.)

But the new results probably do not apply to all patients with Type 2 diabetes, because the people in the study had fairly mild cases with a recent onset; all had received the diagnosis within the previous two years. In people who have more severe and longstanding diabetes, the disease may no longer be reversible, no matter how much weight is lost.

The operation used in the study, adjustable gastric banding, is performed through small slits and loops a band around the top of the stomach to cinch it into a small pouch so that people eat less and yet feel full. Other weight-loss operations are more extreme and involve cutting or stapling the stomach and rearranging the small intestine. Of the 205,000 weight-loss operations performed in the United States last year, 25 percent to 30 percent used the gastric banding.

Remission of Type 2 diabetes after weight-loss surgery is not a new finding; doctors have known about it for years. But the new research is the first effort to find out scientifically how it measures up against medical treatment in similar groups of patients with the disease.

The study reflects a growing interest among researchers in using surgery specifically to treat Type 2 diabetes, even in people who are not as obese as those who typically undergo operations to lose weight. The new thrust is in some sense a measure of desperation, as the United States and the world face increasing rates of the disease and its devastating complications, which can include heart attacks, blindness, kidney failure and amputation. To many doctors, the time is ripe for studying surgery as a potential cure for diabetes, and also as way to understand the disease better and develop better drugs to treat it.

Medical societies in the United States and abroad that once called their specialty bariatric surgery, a term that refers to weight loss, have started adding the word “metabolic” to their titles to emphasize the new focus on diabetes.

“I think diabetes surgery will become common within the next few years,” said Dr. John Dixon, the lead author of the study and an obesity researcher at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, where the research was conducted.

The study and an editorial about it are being published Wednesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

The editorial, by doctors not involved in the study, said, “The insights already beginning to be gained by studying surgical interventions for diabetes may be the most profound since the discovery of insulin.”

A researcher who is not a surgeon and was not part of the research, Dr. Rudolph L. Leibel, co-director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University Medical Center, said the study was important because it showed that a minimally invasive type of surgery could reverse diabetes.

“At this point,” Dr. Leibel said, “maybe we should be more accepting or responsive to the idea of surgical intervention for reducing or prevention of diabetes and its complications.”

But at the same time, he said, caution was in order, because the study lasted only two years and it would be essential to find out how these patients fared over time.

About 19 million people in the United States have Type 2 diabetes, and another 54 million are “prediabetic,” meaning they have abnormalities in their blood sugar that increase their risk for the disease, according to the American Diabetes Association. Diabetes is the fifth-leading cause of death by disease in this country, killing about 73,000 people a year. The number of cases in the United States is growing by about 8 percent a year, according to the association. Though treatable, the disease is not curable, and it is often poorly controlled.

The 60 people in the study had an average age of 47 and were assigned at random to have either surgery or medical care. All were obese, with a body mass index, or B.M.I., of 30 to 40. A B.M.I. over 25 is considered overweight, and over 30 is obese. (A person who is 5 feet 6 inches tall with a B.M.I. of 25 would weigh 155 pounds; with a B.M.I. of 30, 186 pounds; a B.M.I. of 35, 216 pounds; and a B.M.I. of 40, 247 pounds.)

Based on guidelines created by the National Institutes of Health in 1991, weight-loss surgery is generally only recommended for people whose B.M.I. is 40 or more, unless they also have Type 2 diabetes, in which case a B.M.I. of 35 is the cutoff. In this study, 13 people, or 22 percent, had a B.M.I. under 35.

Medicare covers weight-loss surgery according to the institutes’ rules, but many private insurers refuse to cover the surgery at all, said Dr. Philip Schauer, director of the bariatric and metabolic institute at the Cleveland Clinic. He said his center had to turn away three or four patients for every one accepted because insurers would not pay.

On average in the United States, banding costs $17,000 and the other bariatric operations $25,000.

Dr. Schauer said that the B.M.I. cutoffs did not make sense medically and that the study “blows away this arbitrary barrier.” He said that the cutoffs should be lowered, so that a patient with diabetes and a B.M.I. of 34.9 would not be considered ineligible, as is now the case.

Dr. Francesco Rubino, director of the metabolic surgery program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, also said that the criteria for the surgery should be changed so that it could be offered to diabetes patients early enough to reverse the disease.

Dr. Rubino and other researchers said that weight-loss operations that rearranged the small intestine had faster and more powerful effects on diabetes than did the banding, because the other operations changed the levels of certain gut hormones that greatly improve the body’s ability to control blood sugar, weight and lipid levels in the bloodstream. These operations, and the hormones responsible, have become the focus of intense research.

Dr. Dixon has received research grants and speakers’ fees from the company that makes the gastric bands, Allergan Health, and the company paid for the study through a grant to the university. But his report said the company had no influence on the design of the study, the data or their report.

The editorial writers said they had accepted travel grants from Allergan and other companies to attend a conference on diabetes surgery in Rome.

Source: New York Times - Diabetes Study Favors Surgery to Treat Obese