Treating Diabetes During Pregnancy can Break Link to Childhood Obesity

New study shows higher maternal sugar levels increases risk of childhood obesity

August 28, 2007 (EurekAlert) -- Treating diabetes during pregnancy can break the link between gestational diabetes and childhood obesity, according to a Kaiser Permanente study featured in the September issue of Diabetes Care.

The largest study of its kind, this research shows that the risk of childhood obesity rises in tandem with a pregnant woman’s blood sugar level and that untreated gestational diabetes nearly doubles a child's risk of becoming obese by age 5 to 7. The study also shows for the first time that by treating women with gestational diabetes, the child’s risk of becoming obese is significantly reduced. In fact, children whose moms were treated for gestational diabetes had the same risk for becoming obese as children whose mothers had normal blood sugar levels.

Researchers at Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research (CHR) in Portland and Hawaii used the organization’s integrated databases to analyze medical records of 9,439 mother-child pairs. The subjects were members of the health plan in Oregon, Washington and Hawaii and gave birth between 1995 and 2000. The authors found that treating gestational diabetes lowers the child's risk of becoming obese during childhood to the same levels of those pregnant mothers with normal blood sugar levels.

Gestational diabetes, the condition in which pregnancy triggers insulin resistance and raises the woman’s blood glucose level (hyperglycemia), affects up to 8 percent of pregnant women each year in the United States. The rate of childhood obesity in this country more than doubled in the last two decades, so much so that it is now one the nation’s fastest growing health conditions. Nearly 7 million overweight and obese children in the United States today will grow up to become overweight or obese adults.

"Hyperglycemia during pregnancy is clearly playing a role in America's epidemic of childhood obesity," said Teresa Hillier, MD, MS, an endocrinologist and senior investigator at CHR Northwest and Hawaii, and the lead author of the study. "The key finding here is that the risk of overweight and obese children rises in step with higher levels of blood sugar during pregnancy. The good news for pregnant women is that by treating gestational diabetes, your children's risk of becoming overweight or obese drops considerably."

"My advice to pregnant women is three-fold: Discuss gestational diabetes screening with your doctor, usually between weeks 24 and 28 of pregnancy; if you have gestational diabetes, work with your physician to treat it, and stick with the treatment during your pregnancy. It's the best thing you can do to reduce your child's risk of obesity," said Dr. Hillier.

Funded by a grant from the American Diabetes Association, the study was made possible by Kaiser Permanente's interlinked, computerized databases. As the nation's largest and oldest integrated care delivery system, Kaiser Permanente researchers can anonymously review patient records dating back many years and look for connections with the patient's family members and other aspects of the members’ health.

The women in the study were screened during pregnancy for blood sugar level and gestational diabetes. The women's children were measured for weight between the ages of 5 and 7 – the so-called "adiposity rebound" period, a strong predictor of adult obesity. The relationship between maternal blood sugar and childhood obesity was then analyzed.

Children of mothers with high levels of blood sugar who were untreated were 89 percent more likely to be overweight and 82 percent more likely to be obese by the time they were 5 to 7 years of age, compared to children whose mothers had normal blood sugar levels during pregnancy.

“The obesity risk of children whose mothers had the highest blood sugar levels—and were treated for gestational diabetes—was not statistically different than children of mothers with normal blood sugar levels. This suggests that the 'metabolic imprinting' for childhood obesity that results from gestational diabetes in pregnant women may be reversible," Hillier said.

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UIC Studies Aspirin-Like Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes

August 27, 2007 (Newswise) — The University of Illinois at Chicago is one of 16 sites in the United States taking part in the first large-scale study to test a promising approach to lowering blood glucose levels in adults with type 2 diabetes.

The clinical trial will investigate whether a common anti-inflammatory drug known as salsalate, used to manage arthritis pain, can reduce blood glucose levels in people with type 2, or adult onset, diabetes. The study is funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

Nearly 21 million people in the United States have diabetes. Type 2 diabetes accounts for about 90 percent to 95 percent of diagnosed cases and is closely linked to obesity, cardiovascular disease, blindness, kidney disease and amputations. People with type 2 diabetes die at rates two to four times higher than those who do not have diabetes.

Recent research suggests that chronic inflammation may be involved in the development of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, says Theodore Mazzone, professor of medicine at UIC and principal investigator of the clinical trial at that site.

"By targeting the underlying cause, we hope to determine if reducing inflammation, and thereby lowering blood glucose levels, is a safe and cost-effective treatment for diabetes," Mazzone said. "If this drug treatment is successful, we may also be able to reduce a person's risk of developing associated health problems, such as elevated cholesterol levels and coronary artery disease."

Salsalate is chemically similar to aspirin and has been used for more than 40 years to treat pain associated with arthritis, according to the researchers.

About 800 adults with poorly controlled blood glucose levels are being sought to participate in the three-year, multi-center study.

Researchers are seeking adults ages 18 to 75 whose glucose levels are not well controlled and who do not take insulin. Eligible participants may use no medication or take up to two oral medications to control their diabetes.

During the study, participants will be randomized to receive either salsalate or a placebo and will receive all medication and treatments related to the study free of charge. Participants will also be compensated for time and travel. For more information about the study, call Felecia Gilet at (312) 355-4442.

For more information about UIC, visit http://www.uic.edu

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New Report Finds U.S. Obesity Epidemic Continues to Grow; Mississippi Tops List for Adults, D.C. for Youths

August 27, 2007 (Healthy Americans) – Adult obesity rates rose in 31 states last year, according to the fourth annual F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America, 2007 report from the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH). Twenty-two states experienced an increase for the second year in a row; no states decreased. A new public opinion survey featured in the report finds 85 percent of Americans believe that obesity is an epidemic.

Mississippi topped the list with the highest rate of adult obesity in the country for the third year in a row, and is the first state to reach a rate of over 30 percent (at 30.6 percent). Colorado was the leanest state again this year, however, its adult obesity rate increased over the past year (from 16.9 to 17.6 percent). Ten of the 15 states with the highest rates of adult obesity are located in the South. Rates of adult obesity now exceed 25 percent in 19 states, an increase from 14 states last year and 9 in 2005. In 1991, none of the states exceeded 20 percent.

The report also finds that rates of overweight children (ages 10 to 17) ranged from a high of 22.8 percent in Washington, D.C. to a low of 8.5 percent in Utah. Eight of the ten states with the highest rates of overweight children were in the South.

“There has been a breakthrough in terms of drawing attention to the obesity epidemic. Now, we need a breakthrough in terms of policies and results,” said Jeff Levi, PhD, Executive Director of TFAH. “Poor nutrition and physical inactivity are robbing America of our health and productivity.”
The F as in Fat report contains rankings of state obesity rates and a review of federal and state government policies aimed at reducing or preventing obesity.

Other Key Findings from F as in Fat 2007

• Twenty-two percent of American adults report that they do not engage in any physical activity. Mississippi has the highest rate of inactivity at 31.6 percent and Minnesota had the lowest rate of inactivity at 15.4 percent.

• Seventeen states require their school lunches, breakfasts and snacks to meet higher nutritional standards than the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requires (6 states enacted new laws in 2006-07).

• Twenty-two states have set nutritional standards for foods sold in vending machines, à la carte, in school stores, or in bake sales in schools (9 states enacted new laws in 2006-07), and 26 states limit when and where these foods may be sold on school property beyond federal requirements (6 states enacted new laws in 2006-07).

• While every state has school physical education requirements, many are limited in scope or are not enforced.

• Sixteen states screen students’ body mass index (BMI) or fitness status and confidentially provide information to parents or guardians (8 states enacted new laws in 2006-07).

Public Opinion Survey on Obesity

The report also contains a national opinion survey conducted for TFAH by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, Inc. from July 12-16, 2007 (with a +/-3.1 percent margin of error). Key findings about government’s role, school lunches, physical education and body measurement include:

• Eighty-one percent of Americans believe that the government should have a role in
addressing the obesity crisis. Majorities strongly support government working on proposals to expand education programs about healthy living, provide low-cost access to exercise programs, and reduce the marketing of unhealthy foods.

• Fifty-five percent of parents with children under 18 believe lunches provided in schools are not nutritious enough. Sixty-six percent of Americans rated proposals to establish higher nutrition in school lunches as very useful.

• More than two-thirds of Americans believe children do not participate in adequate amounts of physical activity during the school day or engage in enough physical activity outside of school. More than 70 percent of Americans rated proposals to increase physical education in schools as very useful.

• Sixty percent of Americans favor a proposal to measure students’ BMI annually and confidentially provide this information to parents or guardians.

Recommendations for Combating Obesity

TFAH recommends a comprehensive approach for helping individuals make healthy choices including support from families, communities, schools, employers, the food and beverage industries, health professionals, and government at all levels. Some key recommendations include:

• Think big. The federal government should develop and implement a National Strategy to Combat Obesity. This plan should involve every federal government agency, define clear roles and responsibilities for states and localities, and engage private industry and community groups.

• Make healthy choices easy choices. Federal, state , and local governments should develop and implement policies that give Americans the tools they need to make it easier to engage in the recommended levels of physical activity and choose healthy foods, ranging from improving food served and increasing opportunities for physical activity in schools to requiring restaurants and food companies to provide better and more readily accessible information about the nutritional content of their products to securing more safe, affordable recreation places for all Americans.

• Improve your bottom line. Federal, state, and local governments should work with private employers and insurers to ensure that every working American has access to a workplace wellness program.

• Escalate research on how to promote healthy choices. Public health officials have identified a number of strategies to help encourage people to make healthier decisions about nutrition and activity, however, much more research needs to be done about how to effectively promote healthier habits.

The full report with complete state rankings in all categories is available on TFAH’s Web site at www.healthyamericans.org. The report was supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

STATE-BY-STATE ADULT OBESITY RANKINGS

Note: 1 = Highest rate of adult obesity, 51 = lowest. Rankings are based on combining three years of data (2004-2006) from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Surveillance System to “stabilize” data for comparison purposes. States with statistically significant (p<0.05) increases for one year are noted with an asterisk (*), states with statistically significant increases for two years in a row are noted with two asterisks (**).

Additional information about methodologies and confidence intervals are available in the report.

Individuals with a body mass index (BMI) (a calculation based on weight and height ratios) of 30 or higher are considered obese.

1: Mississippi**; 2: West Virginia*; 3: Alabama; 4: Louisiana; 5 (tie): South Carolina**,
Tennessee*; 7: Kentucky**; 8: Arkansas; 9 (tie): Indiana, Michigan*, Oklahoma**; 12 (tie): Missouri**, Texas; 14: Georgia; 15: Ohio**; 16: Alaska; 17: North Carolina**; 18: Nebraska**; 19: North Dakota; 20 (tie): Iowa, South Dakota**; 22: Wisconsin**; 23 (tie): Pennsylvania, Virginia*; 25 (tie): Illinois, Maryland**; 27: Kansas*; 28: Minnesota; 29: Delaware**; 30: Oregon**; 31 (tie): Idaho, Washington**; 33: Maine*; 34: Florida**; 35: Wyoming**; 36: California; 37: Nevada*; 38 (tie): New Hampshire**, New York; 40 (tie): D.C., New Jersey**; 42: New Mexico**; 43: Arizona; 44: Utah; 45: Montana; 46: Rhode Island**; 47 (tie): Connecticut**, Hawaii*; 49: Vermont; 50: Massachusetts**; 51: Colorado*.

STATE-BY-STATE OVERWEIGHT CHILDREN AGES 10-17 RANKINGS

Note: 1 = Highest rate of childhood overweight, 51 = lowest. Rankings are based on the National Survey of Children’s Health, a phone survey of parents with children ages 10-17 conducted in 2003-04 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Additional information about methodologies and confidence intervals are available in the report. Children with a body mass index (BMI) (a calculation based on weight and height ratios) at or above the 95th percentile for their age are considered overweight.

1: D.C.; 2: West Virginia; 3: Kentucky; 4: Tennessee; 5: North Carolina; 6: Texas; 7: South Carolina; 8: Mississippi; 9: Louisiana; 10: New Mexico; 11: Alabama; 12 (tie): Arkansas, Georgia; 14: Illinois; 15 (tie) Indiana, Missouri; 17: Oklahoma; 18: New York; 19: Delaware; 20: Michigan; 21: Florida; 22: Ohio; 23: Oregon; 24: Kansas; 25: Virginia; 26: New Jersey; 27: Massachusetts; 28: Wisconsin; 29 (tie) Hawaii, Maryland, Pennsylvania; 32: California; 33: New Hampshire; 34: Maine; 35: Iowa; 36: Nevada; 37: Connecticut; 38: Arizona; 39 (tie): North Dakota, South Dakota; 41 (tie): Nebraska, Rhode Island; 43: Vermont; 44 (tie) Alaska, Montana; 46: Washington; 47 (tie): Idaho, Minnesota; 49: Colorado; 50: Wyoming; 51: Utah.

Trust for America’s Health is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make disease prevention a national priority. www.healthyamericans.org

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which supported this report, focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 35 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. Helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need—the Foundation expects to make a difference in our lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.

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Social Habits of Cells May Hold Key to Fighting Diseases

August 24, 2007 (EurekAlert) - Scientists in Manchester are working to change the social habits of living cells – an innovation that could bring about cleaner and greener fuel and help fight diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

As part of a new £18 million project spanning six countries, The Manchester Centre for Integrative Systems Biology at The University of Manchester will spearhead important new research into an emerging field of science and engineering known as Systems Biology*.

Scientists have recently discovered that networking in living cells may determine whether a cell causes diabetes or cancer or helps to maintain our health.

By adjusting and modifying the way cells network, researchers believe it’s possible to adjust the behaviour of living cells and reduce the chances of disease occurring.

Using this approach Manchester researchers working on the Systems Biology of Microorganisms (SysMO) research programme will also drive a project that looks at how the yeast used in the production of beer and bread can be turned into an efficient producer of bioethanol.

Other work to be carried out in Manchester includes the investigation of ‘lactobacilli’. Some of these occasionally turn into flesh-eating bacteria or cause human diseases such as strep throat and rashes, whereas others are completely safe and are used in the production of cheeses and yoghurts.

It’s hoped the work will lead not only to greater understanding of how ‘wrong’ networks lead to disease, but also to the production of drugs and other foods more efficiently and safely.

Academics will also look at ‘pseudomonads’ – soil bacteria that may make people ill but can also be used to degrade nasty compounds in the environment, or to create compounds now being made by chemical industries.

Researchers will also focus on ‘thermophilic’ organisms that live naturally in hot springs, and examine how their networks enable them to survive high and varying temperatures. It’s hoped that this research will reveal how to make any living organism cope better with extreme conditions. It may also lead to better performance of detergents and cosmetics.

All research will be carried out in the Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre (MIB) – a unique, purpose-built, £38m facility that brings together experts from a wide range of disciplines in order to tackle major challenges in quantitative, interdisciplinary bioscience.

Professor Douglas Kell, Director of the MCISB, said: “Manchester is a leading centre for Systems Biology research and it is very exciting that so many of the SysMO projects have a Manchester component. Our involvement in these projects will allow us to achieve much added value and to develop and show best practice across all of them.”

Professor Hans Westerhoff, AstraZeneca Professor of Systems Biology and Director of the Doctoral Training Centre on Systems Biology at The University of Manchester, said: “This is a unique opportunity to begin to understand how networking contributes to the functioning of living cells inside and outside our bodies.

“It enables us to integrate the best groups from six European countries and will address four concrete issues of energy, the disease-benefit balance, white biotechnology and robustness.”

Systems Biology combines molecular biology and mathematics, which have traditionally been seen as the equivalents of fire and water. This type of research is still viewed as controversial by some in the scientific community.

But researchers involved in SysMO believe this approach will allow them to obtain a very large set of mathematical equations that describe living cells. This may then allow those cells to be engineered in a number of ways, with numerous benefits in the field of medicine and in the commercial world.

Posted by dlifenews at 01:42 PM | Comments (0)

Onset of Diabetes Higher in Patients Who Have Had Heart Attacks

August 24, 2007 (EurekAlert) - People who have had heart attacks are at higher risk of developing both new-onset diabetes and the pre-diabetes condition impaired fasting glucose (IFG), conclude authors of an Article published in this week's edition of The Lancet.

Dr Dariush Mozaffarian, Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA, Dr Roberto Marchioli, Consorzio Mario Negri Sud, Italy and colleagues studied 8291 Italian patients who had had a heart attack within the previous three months, and were free of diabetes. Incidence of new-onset diabetes and IGF were measured at 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 years follow-up. Data for body-mass index, other risk factors, dietary habits, and medications were updated during the follow up, and a Mediterranean diet score was given to each patient based on their consumption of raw and cooked vegetables, fruit, fish and olive oil.

The researchers found one third of patients with a recent heart attack developed diabetes or IFG (blood glucose 6.1 mmol/L or more), during the 3.5 years of follow up; this rose to two-thirds when the lower IFG cut-off point of 5.6mmol/L or more blood glucose was used. Patients with a recent heart attack were up to four-and-a-half times more likely to develop diabetes (3.7%) compared with the general population (0.8-1.6%), and more than 15 times more likely to develop IFG (27.5% versus 1.5%).

Independent risk factors associated with new-onset diabetes or IFG included older age, high blood pressure, use of beta-blockers, lipid-lowering medications (protective), and diuretic use. Independent life-style risk factors included higher body mass index, (BMI), greater BMI gain during follow-up, current smoking (which increased risk by 60%), a lower Mediterranean dietary score, and wine consumption of more than one litre per day. Data for physical activity were unavailable, but people who could not perform exercise testing were at higher risk of both diabetes and IFG.

The authors conclude: "Our findings suggest that incidence of IFG and diabetes is high in the years after myocardial infarction, suggesting that acute myocardial infarction could be a pre-diabetes risk-equivalent. Our findings also suggest that smoking cessation, prevention of weight gain, and consumption of typical Mediterranean foods could substantially lower this risk, which has important implications for counseling patients soon after they have a myocardial infarction -- an opportune time to institute lifestyle changes in patients motivated by a life-changing event."

In an accompanying Comment, Dr Lionel Opie, Hatter Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa, says: "These findings further tie the knot between myocardial infarction and hyperglycaemia -- each causes the other." He adds that, of the lifestyle factors, "major interest lies in the potential protective effect of the Mediterranean diet."

Posted by dlifenews at 01:39 PM | Comments (0)

U.S. Ironman Jay Hewitt Competes to Defeat Diabetes

Hewitt, Captain of Team Joslin, will wear Joslin Diabetes Center's High Hopes Fund Logo During Competition

August 23, 2007 (Joslin) -- When Jay Hewitt was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 24, he chose to challenge himself by competing in one of the most challenging events in the sporting world -- the Ironman Triathlon. Not only has Hewitt achieved his goal of finishing an Ironman, but he has crossed the finish line 13 times, proving to people with diabetes everywhere that diabetes has not stopped him from achieving -- and surpassing -- his goals.

This Sunday, Aug. 26, Hewitt will compete in his 14th Ironman competition in Louisville, a 140.6-mile course that starts with a 2.4-mile swim in the Ohio River, followed by a 112-mile bike ride, and ends with a 26.2-mile run. Hewitt, who is the Captain of Team Joslin, will be sporting Joslin Diabetes Center's High Hopes Fund logo on his United States team jersey in support of Joslin's fight against diabetes. Hewitt will also give a motivational speech, sponsored by NutrisodaTM, for people with diabetes on Friday, Aug. 24 at 6:00 p.m. EDT at the Galt House Hotel & Suites in Louisville, KY.

"As the Captain of Team Joslin, I hope to inspire both children and adults with diabetes to look at life's obstacles as opportunities to challenge themselves -- mentally and physically -- and reach levels they never thought possible. Having diabetes has taught me that I can achieve any goal that I set because I am determined, and diabetes will not stop me" said Hewitt. The philanthropic efforts of Team Joslin benefit Joslin Diabetes Center's High Hopes Fund, which supports the Center's efforts to improve the lives of people with diabetes and to prevent and cure the disease.

Hewitt's role as the Captain of Team Joslin is to help spread awareness about Joslin's vision of a world without diabetes and the importance of overcoming obstacles to achieve one's goals. Hewitt ran on behalf of Team Joslin in this past year's Boston Marathon, and also trained kids with diabetes at Camp Joslin this past summer in a first annual swim/run biathlon. He competes around the world as an elite Ironman triathlete and as a member of the U.S. National Team for Long Course Triathlon. Hewitt is also an attorney practicing business litigation, as well as a motivational speaker both within and outside of the diabetes community.

Hewitt will also attend Joslin's "Newport Under the Stars" fundraising event with his new bride Miss United States 2005 Anna Hanks Hewitt on September 18 & 19, 2007, in scenic Newport, RI. For more information about the event, click here: http://www.newportunderthestars.com/.

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Determining Therapeutic Effects of Cinnamon Proves Elusive

August 23, 2007 (Newswise) — For most of us, cinnamon is associated with baked goods or hot apple cider. Few realize this spice, from a small evergreen tree native to Sri Lanka and Southern India, dates back to biblical times. Fewer still are aware that both common and cassia cinnamon have been observed to have pharmacological and clinical effects.

Based on pre-clinical and clinical data, common and cassia cinnamon are well known for their medicinal properties in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. In animal studies, both common and cassia cinnamon have been shown to reduce blood glucose following a glucose tolerance test, with cassia was found to be superior to common cinnamon. It has also been proposed that the antioxidant properties of common and cassia cinnamon may influence diabetic complications. In humans, three randomized controlled trials have been conducted on cassia and its effects on fasting glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin (HA1c) and lipid profile markers.

To further understand the activity of the spice, a team of naturopathic physicians and scientists decided to systematically review the scientific literature for evidence of safety, efficacy and pharmacological activity of common and cassia cinnamon. The researcher team is comprised of Jean-Jacques Dugoua ND, Dugald Seely, BSc, ND, Dan Perri, MD, Kieran Cooley, ND, Taryn Forelli, ND, Edward Mills, Ph.D., and Gideon Koren, MD, whose study is entitled “From Type 2 Diabetes to Antioxidant Activity, The Safety And Efficacy Of Common (Cinnamomum Verum, C. Zeylanicum) And Cassia (Cinnamomum Aromaticum) Cinnamon Bark – A Systematic Review.” Dr. Dugoua will discuss his team’s findings at the 22nd annual meting of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP; www.Naturopathic.org). The conference will be held at the Palm Springs Convention Center, Palm Springs, CA, August 22-25, 2007.

Methodology
The researcher team identified all existing relevant pre-clinical and clinical medical literature that provided information regarding the safety, efficacy and pharmacology of common and cassia cinnamon. The databases they reviewed included MedLine, Old Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), the Cochrane Data, Allied and Complementary Medicine (AMED), EMBASE, and AltHealthWatch. This was in addition to individual searchers of the relevant review papers and reference lists of original research publications that were conducted by the research team. To evaluate toxicology, adverse effects and pharmacology, animal and in vitro studies were also included in the search.

Results
The highlights of the findings included the following:
* Eight studies involving humans involving the therapeutic efficacy of common and cassia cinnamon were found. One pharmacological study on antioxidant activity and seven clinical studies on various medical conditions were reported in the scientific literature, including three studies involving type 2 diabetes, and one each addressing Helicobacter pylori infection, activation of the olfactory cortex of the brain, oral candidiasis (fungal infection) in HIV, and chronic salmonellosis (bacterial infection found in individuals with compromised immune systems).

* Common and cassia cinnamon had been investigated in animal studies for their anti-diabetic properties. Cassia cinnamon, however, had been the subject of three clinical trials while common cinnamon remained unstudied in humans.

* Based on strong scientific evidence from two of three randomized clinical trials reviewed, cassia cinnamon demonstrated a therapeutic effect in reducing fasting blood glucose by 10.3 percent; the third clinical trial did not observe this effect. Cassia cinnamon, however, did not have an effect at lowering glycosylated hemoglobin.

* One randomized clinical trial reported that cassia cinnamon lowered total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides; the other two trials, however, did not observe this effect. There was scientific evidence that at least one species of cinnamon was not effective at eradicating H. pylori infection. Common cinnamon showed weak to very weak evidence of efficacy in treating oral candidiasis in HIV patients and chronic salmonellosis.

Conclusions
According to Dr. Dugoua, the lead researcher, “The studies we reviewed offered mixed results with therapeutic efficacy being demonstrated in some research efforts and not in others. This literature review has given us a clear road map for further research regarding the healing effects of cinnamon, a spice that continues to have a reputation for providing flavor and medicinal treatments.”

Posted by dlifenews at 04:11 PM | Comments (1)

Soda Warning? New Study Supports Link Between Diabetes, High-Fructose Corn Syrup

August 23, 2007 (EurekAlert) — Researchers have found new evidence that soft drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may contribute to the development of diabetes, particularly in children. In a laboratory study of commonly consumed carbonated beverages, the scientists found that drinks containing the syrup had high levels of reactive compounds that have been shown by others to have the potential to trigger cell and tissue damage that could cause the disease, which is at epidemic levels. They reported here today at the 234th national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

HFCS is a sweetener found in many foods and beverages, including non-diet soda pop, baked goods, and condiments. It is has become the sweetener of choice for many food manufacturers because it is considered more economical, sweeter and more easy to blend into beverages than table sugar. Some researchers have suggested that high-fructose corn syrup may contribute to an increased risk of diabetes as well as obesity, a claim which the food industry disputes. Until now, little laboratory evidence has been available on the topic.

In the current study, Chi-Tang Ho, Ph.D., conducted chemical tests among 11 different carbonated soft drinks containing HFCS. He found ‘astonishingly high’ levels of reactive carbonyls in those beverages. These undesirable and highly-reactive compounds associated with “unbound” fructose and glucose molecules are believed to cause tissue damage, says Ho, a professor of food science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. By contrast, reactive carbonyls are not present in table sugar, whose fructose and glucose components are “bound” and chemically stable, the researcher notes.

Reactive carbonyls also are elevated in the blood of individuals with diabetes and linked to the complications of that disease. Based on the study data, Ho estimates that a single can of soda contains about five times the concentration of reactive carbonyls than the concentration found in the blood of an adult person with diabetes.

Ho and his associates also found that adding tea components to drinks containing HFCS may help lower the levels of reactive carbonyls. The scientists found that adding epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a compound in tea, significantly reduced the levels of reactive carbonyl species in a dose-dependent manner when added to the carbonated soft drinks studied. In some cases, the levels of reactive carbonyls were reduced by half, the researchers say.

“People consume too much high-fructose corn syrup in this country,” says Ho. “It’s in way too many food and drink products and there’s growing evidence that it’s bad for you.” The tea-derived supplement provides a promising way to counter its potentially toxic effects, especially in children who consume a lot of carbonated beverages, he says.

But eliminating or reducing consumption of HFCS is preferable, the researchers note. They are currently exploring the chemical mechanisms by which tea appears to neutralize the reactivity of the syrup.
Ho’s group is also probing the mechanisms by which carbonation increases the amount of reactive carbonyls formed in sodas containing HFCS. They note that non-carbonated fruit juices containing HFCS have one-third the amount of reactive carbonyl species found in carbonated sodas with HFCS, while non-carbonated tea beverages containing high-fructose corn syrup, which already contain EGCG, have only about one-sixth the levels of carbonyls found in regular soda.

In the future, food and drink manufacturers could reduce concerns about HFCS by adding more EGCG, using less HFCS, or replacing the syrup with alternatives such as regular table sugar, Ho and his associates say. Funding for this study was provided by the Center for Advanced Food Technology of Rutgers University. Other researchers involved in the study include Chih-Yu Lo, Ph.D.; Shiming Li, Ph.D.; Di Tan, Ph.D.; and Yu Wang, a doctoral student.

Posted by dlifenews at 04:05 PM | Comments (0)

Despite Overeating, Morbidly Obese Mice Gain Protection Against Diabetes

August 23, 2007 (EurekAlert) – The “world’s fattest mice” can overeat without developing insulin resistance or diabetes thanks to a glut of a key hormone, a dichotomy that helps explain why not all obese people are diabetic, a UT Southwestern Medical Center researcher has found.

Consuming excess calories usually spurs insulin resistance and diabetes. But in a multicenter study appearing online today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, scientists show how an abundance of adiponectin, a hormone that controls sensitivity to insulin, and a lack of leptin, a hormone that curbs appetite, enables mice to store excess calories in fat tissue instead of in liver, heart or muscle tissue – places where excess fat can lead to inflammation, diabetes and heart disease.

The mice get morbidly obese, but are insulin-sensitive with normal blood-glucose levels.

“The message isn’t that it’s good to be obese, but that expanded fat mass, when stored in the right places, can help prevent diabetes and reduce the risk of heart disease,” said Dr. Philipp Scherer, professor of internal medicine and the study’s senior author. “In fact, these are the first mice to directly show that fat-mass expansion has antidiabetic effects.” Dr. Scherer directs the Touchstone Center for Diabetes Research at UT Southwestern.

Fat tissue, which was largely perceived as a useless storage bin until the early 1990s, has been found to release hormones, including adiponectin, that play integral roles in metabolism and obesity. Adiponectin levels decline as a person accumulates more fat, making the levels a good predictor of future risk of developing diabetes, heart disease and cancer, said Dr. Scherer, who discovered the hormone in 1994.
But what would happen if, despite overeating, adiponection levels increased"

To find out, Dr. Scherer and other researchers in this study genetically engineered mice to produce an overabundance of adiponectin while lacking leptin. Without leptin’s signals to stop eating or burn energy, the mice continually consumed food and their weight ballooned.

The high levels of adiponectin, however, made the mice physiologically skinny, Dr. Scherer said.

“The continual firing of adiponectin generated a ‘starvation signal’ from fat that says it is ready to store more energy,” he said. “The mice became what may be the world’s fattest mice, but they have normal fasting glucose levels and glucose tolerance.

“This indicates that the inability to appropriately expand fat mass in times of overeating may be an underlying cause of insulin resistance, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”

This discovery also suggests that in people who have low adiponectin levels fat cells don’t send the signal that they’re ready to accept fat, Dr. Scherer said. Instead, the fat is stored in dangerous places – liver, heart and muscle tissues – where it can cause inflammation and pave the way for disease.

“More than 66 percent of American adults are overweight or obese, so most people have excess caloric intake. We need to find ways to deposit these calories in the least harmful places, because the fat has to go somewhere,” he said. “For instance, people with excess weight around their abdomen run a higher risk of heart disease and diabetes than those who have excess weight in the thighs.”

Dr. Scherer’s next goal is to investigate how to manipulate individual areas of fat to find ways to maximize the “good” fat areas and shrink the “bad” areas. Researchers also could try to develop new disease treatments that don’t require shedding fat.

“Until then, exercise and reduction of food intake are the best ways to stay healthy,” Dr. Scherer said.

Posted by dlifenews at 01:35 PM | Comments (0)

Discovery of 'Sugar Sensor' in Intestine Could Benefit Diabetes

Diabetes patients could benefit from new research at the University of Liverpool that has identified a molecule in the intestine that can 'taste' the sugar content of the diet

August 22, 2007 (EurekAlert) - Diabetes patients could benefit from new research at the University of Liverpool that has identified a molecule in the intestine that can ‘taste’ the sugar content of the diet.

Researchers found that the sweet taste receptor that senses sugar and artificial sweeteners is not only present in the tongue, but also in the intestine. The discovery will open new avenues for the treatment of diabetes and obesity, as well as suggest reasons for why artificially sweetened foods and beverages sometimes fail to result in weight loss.

Scientists have previously shown that the absorption of dietary sugars in the intestine is mediated by a protein – a sugar transporter – that varies in response to the sugar content of foods. The intestine uses a glucose sensing system to monitor these variations, but until now the nature of this system was unknown.

Professor Soraya Shirazi-Beechey, from the Faculty of Veterinary Science, said: “We found that the sweet taste receptor and the taste protein, gustducin, are present in the taste cells of the gut. These sweet sensing proteins allow humans and animals to detect glucose within the intestine. We discovered that mice missing the gene for either of these proteins were unable to process the production of the intestinal sugar and were therefore unable to regulate the intestinal capacity to absorb dietary sugars.

“Surprisingly we also found that the receptor was able to detect artificial sweeteners in foods and drinks resulting in increased capacity of the intestine to absorb dietary sugars, which would explain why these sweeteners are unsuccessful at helping people lose weight.

“We are now researching mechanisms in which these receptors can be adjusted to benefit those with diet-related disorders. Diabetes for example, is where the body’s blood sugar level is higher than normal; if we could use the taste receptor like a dimmer switch we could set it so that the appropriate amount of sugar is absorbed in the body.

“From a veterinary perspective, the discovery could also have implications for race horses. Horses need high levels of glucose to sustain them in long races; activating the receptor through dietary supplements, before and during the race, will increase intestinal absorption of glucose.”

Posted by dlifenews at 08:33 AM | Comments (0)

Common Virus May Contribute to Obesity in Some People, New Study Shows

August 20, 2007 (EurekAlert) — Scientists today reported new evidence that infection with a common virus may be a contributing factor to the obesity epidemic sweeping through the United States and other countries. In laboratory experiments they showed that infection with human adenovirus-36 (Ad-36), long recognized as a cause of respiratory and eye infections in humans, transforms adult stem cells obtained from fat tissue into fat cells. Stem cells not exposed to the virus, in contrast, were unchanged.

In addition, the study reported identification of a specific gene in the virus that appears to be involved in this obesity-promoting effect. The findings, which could lead to a vaccine or antiviral medication to help fight viral obesity in the future, were presented at the 234th national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

“We’re not saying that a virus is the only cause of obesity, but this study provides stronger evidence that some obesity cases may involve viral infections,” says study presenter Magdalena Pasarica, M.D., Ph.D., of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, a campus of the Louisiana State University system.

“Not all infected people will develop obesity,” she notes. “We would ultimately like to identify the underlying factors that predispose some obese people to develop this virus and eventually find a way to treat it.”

Pasarica was part of the original research group which demonstrated that the Ad-36 virus was capable of causing animals infected with the virus to accumulate fat. Led by Nikhil Dhurandhar, Ph.D., now an associate professor at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, the group also conducted a noted epidemiologic study — the first to associate a virus with human obesity — showing 30 percent of obese people were infected with the Ad-36 virus in comparison to 11 percent of lean individuals. But evidence that the virus could actually cause fat levels to increase in human cells was lacking until now, Pasarica says.

In the current study, Pasarica and her associates obtained adult stem cells from fatty tissue from a broad cross-section of patients who had undergone liposuction. Half of the stem cells were exposed to Ad-36 and the other half were not exposed to the virus.

After about a week of growth in tissue culture, most of the virus-infected adult stem cells developed into fat cells, whereas the non-infected stem cells did not, the researchers say.

Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Dhurandhar’s group recently identified a gene in the Ad-36 virus that appears to be involved in causing fat accumulation observed in infected animals. That gene, called E4Orfl, is now emerging as a promising target for future human therapies, such as vaccines and anti-viral medicines, aimed at preventing or inhibiting the obesity virus, she says.

The exact mechanism by which the virus might cause obesity in people is currently unknown, says Pasarica, who does not rule out the possibility that other human viruses may also contribute to obesity.

Researchers also do not know how long the virus remains in the body of obese individuals nor how long its fat-enhancing effect lasts once the virus is gone. However, Pasarica notes a recent study demonstrated that animals that developed the virus remained obese up to six months after their infection was gone. More studies are needed, especially in humans, she adds.

Pasarica and her associates are now in the process of trying to identify the factors that predispose some people with the virus to develop obesity while others do not, but results of this investigation are not yet available, they say.

About 97 million adults in the United States are overweight or obese, according to NIH, and face an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, and other health disorders. Obesity has many established causes that include over-eating, eating high-fat foods, lack of exercise, a genetic predisposition and certain medications.

Posted by dlifenews at 03:30 PM | Comments (1)

Ability to Cope with Stress Can Increase 'Good' Cholesterol in Older White Men, Study Finds

Same research finds no direct effect on 'bad' cholesterol

August 18, 2007 (EurekAlert) - Older white men who are better able to cope with stress experience higher levels of so-called “good cholesterol” than men who are more hostile or socially isolated, according to a study released at the 115th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association.

But that same coping ability had no effect on the subjects’ “bad cholesterol” levels, the research found.

Researchers gathered data from 716 men who participated in the Normative Aging Study to look at the complex interrelations among hostility, stress and coping processes and cholesterol levels. The average age in the sample was 65. Most of the men were white and were evenly split between white-collar and blue-collar occupations.

The subjects were given a questionnaire that asked them to rate how often they used 26 coping strategies. Individuals high in hostility were more likely to perceive problems as stressful and react with negative behavior, self-blame and social isolation. Men who were better able to cope could make a plan of
action and pursue it, for example. Following an overnight fast, the subjects’ blood was tested for high-density lipoproteins (good cholesterol), low-density lipoproteins (bad cholesterol) and triglycerides.

The authors had theorized that hostility would have an effect on all three lipoproteins, but what they found was a direct effect on HDL and triglycerides, but not on LDL. “It is interesting that the coping variables were most strongly associated with this protective factor,” they wrote. “The results of our study suggest that coping processes also might influence lipid fractions differently and may play a protective role through their influence on HDL.”

Loriena A. Yancura, PhD, the lead researcher, from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, said she and her colleagues were surprised that there were no associations between coping and the LDL levels. “One possible reason might be that measures of hostility, coping and lipids were taken at one point in time,” she said. “In other words, we asked people about their coping strategies in response to a problem in the past month and looked at a blood sample taken at the time we asked them. It is possible that changes in LDL might have been apparent in a lab setting or if we had looked at longitudinal relationships among hostility, coping and lipids.”

Another caveat they noted was that the sample was limited and it is likely that there are age, gender or ethnic differences in the relationship between coping mechanisms and lipoproteins.

Posted by dlifenews at 11:52 AM | Comments (0)

Diabetes During Pregnancy Linked To Pancreatic Cancer Later

August 17, 2007 (Science Daily) - Pregnancies in Jerusalem in the 1960s and 1970s may hold vital clues about how pancreatic cancer and diabetes are linked. According to research published in the online open access journal BMC Medicine, women with a history of gestational diabetes had a higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer later in life.

The research team drawn from the US and Israel and led by M. C. Perrin traced over 37,000 mothers who gave birth between 1964 and 1976 in Jerusalem as part of the Jerusalem Perinatal Study.

Birth records revealed 410 women were diagnosed with gestational diabetes in one or more of their pregnancies. Of the 410 women with gestational diabetes, five eventually developed pancreatic cancer. There were 54 cases of pancreatic cancer overall in the cohort; and none of the women with type 1 diabetes at the time they gave birth went on to develop pancreatic cancer.
Those with gestational diabetes often go on to develop type 2 diabetes mellitus. Medical debate surrounds the causal relationship between diabetes and pancreatic cancer. On the one hand, patients with newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer frequently have diabetes of recent onset and when the tumor is removed the symptoms of diabetes often improve.

On the other hand, individuals with long standing diabetes have also been shown to be at increased risk of pancreatic cancer. In this study the gestational diabetes clearly came first, between 14 and 35 years before the pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is particularly lethal because it is often diagnosed late in its development. The disease is the fourth most common cause of cancer death for women in the US.

Article: Gestational diabetes as a risk factor for pancreatic cancer: A prospective cohort study , M C Perrin, M B Terry, K Kleinhaus, L Deutsch, R Yanetz, E Tiram, R Calderon, Y Friedlander, O Paltiel and S Harlap , BMC Medicine (in press)

Posted by dlifenews at 02:51 PM | Comments (0)

Markers Shown to I.D. Diabetes in Still-Healthy People

August 17, 2007 (Newswise) - In the first large scale, multiethnic study of its kind, researchers at UCLA have confirmed the role played by three particular molecules known as cytokines as a cause of Type 2 diabetes, and further, have identified these molecules as early biological markers that may be used to more accurately predict future incidences of diabetes among apparently healthy individuals.

Reporting in the August 15 issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, Simin Liu, professor of epidemiology and medicine with a joint appointment in the School of Public Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and colleagues have identified three inflammatory cytokines (cytokines are messenger molecules) tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α); interleukin-6 (IL-6); and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) that may be one of the causes of type 2 diabetes which afflicts roughly seven percent of the U.S. population.

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes; about 90 to 95 percent of people who have diabetes have type 2. People with this condition produce insulin, but either their bodies don’t make enough of it, or can’t effectively use it.

Low-grade chronic inflammation of the body, which is reflected by elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines in the blood stream, may promote insulin resistance in the liver, muscles, and the vascular endothelium cells, the layer of thin, flat cells that lines the interior surface of blood vessels. Such inflammation can last for years before leading to type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or hypertension.

A blood test that looks for high levels of inflammatory cytokines could serve as an accurate predictor of diabetes in still-healthy people, years ahead of the traditional risk factors of obesity or insulin resistance. The finding also has implication for cancer research as well, said Liu, since people with diabetes are at greater risk of developing breast and colon cancers.

“This is a final confirmation of earlier studies about the underlying biology behind type 2 diabetes,” said Liu, who is also a member of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. But those studies, he said, were either very small or animal studies. By comparison, he said, their study was more extensive in scale and involved human study volunteers. “Our study identified 1,600 new cases of diabetes and measured the blood markers before they developed the disease.”

The researchers took advantage of the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study (WHIOS), an ongoing, long term study that was designed to examine the association between behavior, socioeconomic status, diet, and other factors and the effect on a woman’s health. Liu and colleagues took baseline level measurements of inflammatory cytokines in apparently healthy women without any signs of diabetes who were between the ages of 50 and 79 years-old, then tracked their health for the next six years. The WHIOS study involved some 82,000 postmenopausal women who cut across multiple ethnicities, including whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Asian/Pacific Islanders. At the time of follow-up, Liu and colleagues compared 1,584 women, now diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and matched them by age, ethnicity and other factors to 2,198 other women in the study who remained free of the disease.

While all three cytokines were found to be significantly related to an increased risk of clinical diabetes, hs-CRP appeared to be a more consistent predictor of increased risk in all four ethnic groups. These associations were independent of traditional risk factors such as obesity or elevated levels of glucose and insulin, previously reported by Liu and colleagues in the same multiethnic sample.

“The pro-inflammatory state is often linked to obesity,” said Liu, “which can lead to insulin resistance. So, identifying these markers by a simple blood test well before a disease begins not only can help improve mechanistic understanding of the disease, but also offer alternatives to lifestyle—hitting an optimal balance of nutrition, for example, and engaging in more exercise - relatively simple things that can prevent disease.”

The study involved 40 clinical centers nationwide, and 12 authors from several institutions including Liu’s former affiliation, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Liu was principal investigator of the study. Funding support came from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases from the National Institutes of Health.

The UCLA School of Public Health is dedicated to enhancing the public's health by conducting innovative research, training future leaders and health professionals, translating research into policy and practice, and serving local, national and international communities. For more information, see http://www.ph.ucla.edu/ .

Posted by dlifenews at 02:46 PM | Comments (0)

Fat on Chest and Upper Back Increases Risk of Insulin Resistance

August 17, 2007 (EurekAlert) - Upper trunk fat –– deposits of fat on the chest and back –– is associated with an increased risk of insulin resistance, a condition that is a precursor of type 2 diabetes, according to a study led by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC).

It is the first time such an association has been demonstrated, say the researchers.

The association was equally strong in both HIV infected subjects and HIV negative control subjects in the Study of Fat Redistribution and Metabolic Change in HIV Infection (FRAM), a national long-term longitudinal study of HIV infected people taking modern antiretroviral therapy and HIV negative controls.
The presence of visceral fat, which is located between and around the internal organs, was also associated with an increased risk of insulin resistance in both populations. The researchers found that each type of fat contributes independently to insulin resistance whether or not the other type is present.
The study appears in online Publish Ahead of Print section (http://www.jaids.com/pt/re/jaids/paptoc.htm) of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

“We knew about the insulin resistance risk associated with visceral fat, which has been shown in previous studies, but no one had ever looked at the contribution of upper trunk fat,” says lead author and FRAM principal investigator Carl Grunfeld, MD, PhD, chief of the metabolism and endocrine sections at SFVAMC. “Strikingly, there was very little difference between HIV infected people and controls. If you have fat up top, it’s bad for you.”

In insulin resistance, cells in the body become increasingly resistant to the action of insulin, a hormone that regulates blood glucose levels. The result is chronically high blood glucose, which has many adverse health effects.

The researchers measured visceral and subcutaneous fat deposits in the legs, arms, upper trunk, and lower trunk of 926 HIV infected subjects and 258 HIV negative controls. They divided each population into tertiles, or thirds, based on the amount of fat in each location. Among the HIV infected subjects in the highest tertile of upper trunk fat, 57 percent showed insulin resistance; of those, half lacked high visceral fat. Among the highest tertile of controls with upper trunk fat, 61 percent were insulin resistant. A third of that group did not have high visceral fat.

“So, basically, there are people who have a lot of fat in their upper trunk and not so much inside their belly, yet they are at risk for insulin resistance,” observes Grunfeld, who is also a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). “And there are people with a lot of visceral fat but not upper trunk fat who are in the same boat. But if you’ve got both, it’s a double whammy. Your risk of insulin resistance is quite high.”

Grunfeld says that the researchers looked at all regions of the body where fat is usually deposited in order to investigate abnormalities in fat distribution that have been reported in HIV infection, particularly the presence of so-called “buffalo hump,” a prominent fat deposit in the middle of the upper back. “But we found that fat in that area was present, and associated with the same risk for insulin resistance, in both HIV infected and control subjects,” he says.

Grunfeld explains the lack of difference in risk between HIV infected and HIV negative subjects by noting that two thirds of all Americans are overweight and one third are obese. “With the new, highly effective antiretroviral medications, Americans with HIV now have the same weight problems as everybody else,” he says. “No matter who you are, if you eat too much and you don’t exercise, you’re going to be at risk for insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease, and every other problem associated with being overweight.”

Posted by dlifenews at 11:42 AM | Comments (0)

Gender, Coupled with Diabetes, Affects Vascular Disease Development

August 16, 2007 (EurekAlert) - Diabetes is associated with the development of vascular (blood vessel) disease. As we age, vascular disease becomes more common. It has been thought that females may be more susceptible to the earlier development of vascular disease, as vascular changes are observed in females long before any significant development occurs in males. Now, a team of Georgetown University researchers has determined that the vascular activities in diabetic animals vary according to sex. This discovery may eventually have implications for the way males and females are treated medically in the future.

The Study

The study, entitled "Sex Differences in Response to Vasoactive Substances in Early Uncontrolled Diabetes," was conducted by Adam Mitchell, Adam Myers and Susan Mulroney, all of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Georgetown University, Washington, DC. Mr. Mitchell presented the status of the team¡¦s findings at the conference, Sex and Gender in Cardiovascular-Renal Physiology and Pathophysiology. The meeting, sponsored by the American Physiological Society (APS; www.The-APS.org), was held August 9-12, 2007 in Austin, TX.

The Study

The researchers examined the notion that very early changes in artery activity exists in diabetic animals and differ by sex. To test their hypothesis they divided adult male and female rats into three groups. The first group (control) received no treatment. The second group received streptozotocin (STZ) to induce diabetes. The third group received STZ plus growth hormone (GH), which is thought to exacerbate disease progression in diabetes.

After eight weeks, the vascular reactivity to phenylephrine, which increases blood pressure, and acetylcholine, which reduces blood pressure, was measured in the vessels from the animals. Vascular response to these substances was also observed during exposure to L-NAME (which blocks production of nitric oxide, a potent artery relaxer) and neuropeptide Y (which augments the restriction of blood vessels).

The investigators found that:

• in the early stage of the disease, both male and female diabetics experienced significant decreases in the reactivity (i.e., how responsive the vessel is to a drug) of their blood vessels when exposed to acetylcholine. This occurred independent of the GH injections.

• while female diabetic rats had an increased response to phenylephrine, there was no such change among their male counterparts.

• female controls had a larger change in phenyleprine reactivity in the presence of L-NAME than did diabetic females, indicating that the diabetic females had a reduced level of nitric oxide, which dilates the artery and increases blood flow.

• diabetic males had the opposite reaction of diabetic females when exposed to phenylephrine and L-NAME. The diabetic males also produced more nitric oxide than did their controls.

• all diabetic rats exposed to growth hormone showed an increase in nitric oxide, regardless of gender.

Conclusions

The findings support the researchers¡¦ hypothesis of the existence of sex-related changes in vascular activity in diabetic animals. While the production of NO is significantly altered in the diabetic rats, the results show that gender and the presence of GH greatly contribute to this vascular dysfunction. According to Mitchell, "These findings show the importance of sex differences to understanding development of vascular problems early in diabetes and has implications on potential sex-specific therapeutic intervention."

Posted by dlifenews at 08:41 AM | Comments (0)

New Joslin Research Identifies Sirtuin Protein Instrumental in Fat Production and Metabolism

Finding may lead to new drugs to combat obesity and reduce diabetes incidence

August 15, 2007 (Joslin) --A new Joslin Diabetes Center-led study has identified a protein found in fat cells that may play a major role in how fat is produced and stored, offering a new target for treatments to prevent obesity and reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes. This latest research appears in the August 2007 issue of Cell Metabolism.

The study examined the role of a protein called Sirt2, a member of the sirtuin family of seven cellular proteins. These proteins have recently been shown to be important in the control of aging and metabolism. Previous studies have focused on one member of this family, Sirt1, which is activated by high doses of resveratrol, a substance found in red grapes, which can prevent diabetes from developing and also prolong life. This finding generated tremendous attention, leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to begin developing drugs and supplements to harness this effect. Joslin researchers have focused on other sirtuin proteins to find out what role they might play in fat and glucose metabolism and fat development.

This led to the discovery that Sirt2 is the most abundant of the sirtuins in fat cells, expressed in quantities five to ten times higher than other sirtuin proteins. "We wanted to find out what would happen to the behavior of fat cells--in terms of metabolism or growth--if we changed the levels of Sirt2," said lead investigator C. Ronald Kahn, M.D., an internationally recognized researcher who is head of the Joslin section on Obesity and Hormone Action and the Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

When a person gains weight, cells in connective tissue known as pre-adipocytes differentiate and fill with fat and form adipocytes, which are able to store fat as a potential energy source when food is not available. However, too much fat storage leads to obesity and obesity-related diseases, including type 2 diabetes.

Using genetically altered cells from mice, the Joslin researchers were able to manipulate Sirt2 levels in adipocytes. They found that increasing Sirt2 levels in the cell would block the cell's ability to undergo differentiation and store fat, while reducing Sirt2 would promote adiopogenesis, or fat production. They then went on to pinpoint exactly how Sirt2 produced these effects by interacting with and modifying one of the key transcription factors, or molecular switches, regulating fat differentiation and function, a molecule called FoxO1. FoxO1 is also an important target of insulin action in fat where it helps control the aging process.

Thus, when Sirt2 levels in pre-adipocytes are low, more fat cells develop, while when Sirt2 levels are high, this process is blocked. "So, to reduce the amount of fat in the body and help people stay thin, we need to find an activator of Sirt2," said Kahn.

The discovery of Sirt2's role in fat production gives researchers a new avenue to pursue in preventing and treating obesity. "Since most of the diabetes epidemic is driven by obesity, Sirt2 may also play a role in preventing type 2 diabetes from developing and in treating people who have already developed the disease," said Kahn.

This is an important goal since more than 60 percent of Americans are now overweight or obese, and obesity is a major factor driving the current epidemic of type 2 diabetes, which now affects more than 20 million people in the U.S. alone.

The next step in the research process will be to create an animal model to validate the results. Once they are confirmed, biotechnology companies can try to develop drugs that would activate Sirt2 in fat cells and provide another tool for combating obesity and diabetes.

Funding for the study was provided by the National Institutes of Health.

Other researchers participating in this study include: Enxuan Jing, Ph.D., and Stephane Gesta, Ph.D., of the Joslin Diabetes Center.

Posted by dlifenews at 03:53 PM | Comments (0)

Manufacturers of Some Diabetes Drugs to Strengthen Warning on Heart Failure Risk

Companies Will Include Boxed Warning on Drug Label

August 15, 2007 (FDA) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced manufacturers of certain drugs approved to treat Type 2 diabetes have agreed to add a stronger warning on the risk of heart failure, a condition that occurs when the heart does not adequately pump blood. The information will be included in the form of a "boxed" warning—FDA's strongest form of a warning. The upgraded warning emphasizes that the drugs may cause or worsen heart failure in certain patients.

After a review of postmarketing adverse event reports, FDA determined that an updated label with a boxed warning on the risks of heart failure was needed for the entire thiazolidinedione class of antidiabetic drugs. This class includes Avandia (rosiglitazone), Actos (pioglitazone) Avandaryl (rosiglitazone and glimepiride), Avandamet (rosiglitazone and metformin), and Duetact (pioglitazone and glimepride). These drugs are used in conjunction with diet and exercise, to improve blood sugar control in adults with type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes. FDA had asked the drug's manufacturers, GlaxoSmithKline and Takeda, to address these concerns.

"Under FDA's postmarketing surveillance program, we carefully monitor new safety information for marketed drugs and take appropriate action when necessary to inform patients and health care providers of new information," said Steven Galson, M.D., M.P.H., director of FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "This new boxed warning addresses FDA's concerns that despite the warnings and information already listed in the drug labels, these drugs are still being prescribed to patients without careful monitoring for signs of heart failure."

FDA's review of adverse event reports found cases of significant weight gain and edema—warning signs of heart failure. In some reports, FDA noted, continuation of therapy has been associated with poor outcomes, including death.

The strengthened warning advises health care professionals to observe patients carefully for the signs and symptoms of heart failure, including excessive, rapid weight gain, shortness of breath, and edema after starting drug therapy. Patients with these symptoms who then develop heart failure should receive appropriate management of the heart failure and use of the drug should be reconsidered. People who have questions should contact their health care providers to discuss alternative treatments.
The warning also states that these drugs should not be used by people with serious or severe heart failure who have marked limits on their activity and who are comfortable only at rest or who are confined to bed or a chair.

FDA's review of Avandia and possible increased risk of heart attacks is ongoing. On July 30, 2007, FDA's Endocrine and Metabolic Advisory Committee and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee recommended that Avandia continue to be marketed, and further recommended that information be added to the labeling for risk of heart attacks (ischemic risks).

For more information, visit:
Rosiglitazone maleate (marketed as Avandia, Avandamet, and Avandaryl) Information
Pioglitazone HCl (marketed as Actos and Duetact) Information

Posted by dlifenews at 11:26 AM | Comments (1)

Diabetes Appears to Increase Risk of Death for Patients With Acute Coronary Syndromes

August 14, 2007 (JAMA) – Individuals with diabetes and acute coronary syndromes (ACS) such as a heart attack or unstable angina have an increased risk of death at 30 days and one year after ACS, compared with ACS patients without diabetes, according to a study in the August 15 issue of JAMA.

“The presence of elevated blood glucose levels, diabetes mellitus, or both contributes to more than 3 million cardiovascular deaths worldwide each year. With the increase in obesity, insulin resistance, and the metabolic syndrome, the worldwide prevalence of diabetes is expected to double by the year 2030,” the authors write. They add that more than 1.5 million adults in the U.S. were newly diagnosed with diabetes in 2005, and nearly 65 percent of individuals with diabetes die from cardiovascular disease in the U.S., establishing it as the leading cause of death among this growing segment of the population. The effect of diabetes on the risk of death following ACS is uncertain.

Sean M. Donahoe, M.D., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues evaluated the independent effect of diabetes on risk of death following ACS at 30 days and 1 year using a large clinical trial database that included ACS. The study consisted of an analysis of patients with diabetes enrolled in randomized controlled trials that evaluated ACS therapies. Patients with ACS in 11 independent Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) Study Group clinical trials from 1997 to 2006 were pooled, including 62,036 patients (46,577 with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction [STEMI; a certain pattern on an electrocardiogram following a heart attack] and 15,459 with unstable angina/non–STEMI [UA/NSTEMI]), of whom 10,613 (17.1 percent) had diabetes.

The researchers found that the rate of death was significantly higher among patients with diabetes than among patients without diabetes at 30 days following either UA/NSTEMI (2.1 percent vs. 1.1 percent) or STEMI (8.5 percent vs. 5.4 percent). After adjusting for baseline characteristics and features and management of the ACS event, diabetes was independently associated with a nearly 80 percent increased risk of death at 30-days after UA/NSTEMI, and 40 percent increased risk of death at 30-days after STEMI.

At 1 year, diabetes remained a significant independent factor associated with all-cause death for patients presenting with UA/NSTEMI (65 percent increased risk of death) or STEMI (22 percent increased risk of death). By 1 year following ACS, patients with diabetes presenting with UA/NSTEMI had a risk of death that approached patients without diabetes presenting with STEMI (7.2 percent vs. 8.1 percent).

“Despite modern therapies for ACS, diabetes conferred a significant independent excess mortality risk at 30 days and 1 year following ACS. Current strategies are insufficient to ameliorate the adverse impact of diabetes. Given the increasing burden of cardiovascular disease attributable to diabetes worldwide, our study highlights the need for a major research effort to identify aggressive new strategies to manage unstable ischemic heart disease among this high-risk population,” the authors conclude.
(JAMA. 2007;298(7):765-775. Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

Posted by dlifenews at 09:40 AM | Comments (0)

RAND Finds Cases of Undiagnosed Diabetes Drop Sharply

August 14, 2007 (EurekAlert) - The number of men in the United States with undiagnosed diabetes has declined sharply over the past 25 years, with Hispanics and African-Americans no longer more likely than whites to unknowingly have the disease, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.

Study author James P. Smith found that in 1999-2002 about 20 percent of American men who had diabetes did not know they had the disease, in contrast to 25 years ago when about half of the men with diabetes were undiagnosed.

Ethnic disparities among those with undiagnosed diabetes essentially disappeared during the same period, a sign that diabetes programs targeting minority groups have encouraged more people to get tested, according to the study appearing in the August edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“While undiagnosed diabetes remains a significant problem, we’ve done an excellent job of eliminating the disproportionate amount of undiagnosed disease among African-Americans and Hispanics,” said James P. Smith, the study’s sole author and corporate chair of labor market and demographic studies at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.

On a less positive note, Smith found that while disparities in undiagnosed diabetes disappeared over the past 25 years, new disparities have developed based upon education levels. Less educated American males are now less likely to have their diabetes diagnosed than those men with more schooling.

“If we only target disparities by race and ethnicity, we run the risk of missing other equally important health disparities that affect those least able to deal with them,” Smith said.

The study also found the rate of growth of diabetes prevalence is not as high or as dramatic as often projected. Smith found that during the period studied, the proportion of men diagnosed with diabetes jumped from about 3 percent to 7 percent -- a more than doubling of the prevalence rate. However, when undiagnosed cases were considered as well, diabetes prevalence rose overall from 6 percent to 9 percent -- an increase of only 50 percent.

“Diabetes is one of the major health challenges faced across the United States, but these findings suggest that the prevalence of the disease is not growing as rapidly as often claimed,” Smith said.

The study examined reasons for the rising rate of diabetes over time. The three most important reasons by far were increases in excessive weight, the transmission of diabetes from parents to children as the disease spreads, and the decline in undiagnosed diabetes. In contrast, rising levels of education actually served to reduce the prevalence of the disease.

Smith examined information from several waves of the federal National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys conducted periodically from 1976 to 2002. The survey collects information from a nationally representative sample of adults through personal interviews, physical exams and laboratory tests. Blood tests conducted as a part of the survey allow researchers to measure undiagnosed diabetes.

Among the men studied from 1999 to 2002, Smith found that 6 percent of those with a high school diploma or more education were diagnosed with diabetes, while nearly 10 percent of those who did not obtain a high school diploma were diagnosed with the disease.

Smith found that those in the lowest education group were more likely to be Latino or African-American, less likely to engage in vigorous physical exercise and more likely to be overweight or smoke cigarettes.

Even after diagnosis, people with less education had more difficulty successfully managing the complex regimes of medicines and making the lifestyle changes needed to reduce the consequences of the illness, according to the study.

Smith said one troubling finding from the study was that people who were obese were more likely to have undiagnosed diabetes, despite the fact that obesity is the second largest risk factor for the disease following family history.

It may be that since the link between obesity and diabetes has received wide attention only in recent years, it may take more time for physicians to routinely test the obese for the disease, Smith said.

Diabetes is a serious illness that occurs when the body cannot properly produce or regulate insulin, which controls the level of glucose in the blood. The disease can cause many severe problems, including heart and kidney disease, circulatory ailments and vision problems. The illness was the sixth leading cause of death in the United States in 2002.

Posted by dlifenews at 09:29 AM | Comments (1)

Even Low Levels of Weekly Exercise Drive Down Blood Pressure

Randomized controlled trial of home-based walking programs at and below current recommended levels of exercise in sedentary adults

August 14, 2007 (EurekAlert) - Even low levels of weekly exercise drive down blood pressure and boost overall fitness, suggests a small study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

To stave off ill health, adults are currently recommended to indulge in 30 minutes of moderately strenuous exercise on at least five days of the week.

But few people meet these recommendations, with lack of time cited as the most common reason for failing to do so.

The study authors invited 106 healthy but sedentary civil servants between the ages of 40 and 60 to take part in an exercise programme for 12 weeks.

Some 44 people were randomly assigned to 30 minutes of brisk walking on five days of the week.
A further 42 were given the same programme, but for three days of the week. And the remainder were not asked to change their current lifestyle.

Pedometers were used to help participants monitor their walking and every participant recorded how long they walked for.

Blood pressure, blood cholesterol, weight, hip and waist girth, and overall fitness (functional capacity) were all measured at the start and finish of the 12 week study.

Most people (89%) lasted the course.

There were no changes in any of the measures among the non-walkers. But systolic blood pressure and waist and hip girth fell significantly in both groups of walkers.

Overall fitness also increased in the walkers.

Falls of a few mm in blood pressure and shrinkage of a few centimetres in hip and waist circumference are enough to make a difference to an individual’s risk of dying from a cardiovascular disease, say the authors

Furthermore, the findings show that moderate intensity physical exercise below the recommended weekly levels still makes a difference to health, they add.

Posted by dlifenews at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)

Adverse Housing Conditions Contribute to Diabetes Risk

August 13, 2007 (EurekAlert) – Fair or poor housing conditions are associated with the risk of developing diabetes in urban, middle-aged African-Americans according to a study published in the Aug. 15 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology by a team of investigators from Indiana University School of Medicine, the Regenstrief Institute, Washington University in St. Louis and other institutions.

The researchers studied men and women in their homes (apartment or house) and environs in two St. Louis neighborhoods – one a poor, inner-city area and the other a less impoverished, suburban area that included several pockets of residents from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. Adjusting for previously recognized diabetes risk factors such as weight, smoking, exercise, alcohol use, marital status and education, the researchers found that housing conditions influenced the risk of developing diabetes, although there was no direct association with conditions in the neighborhoods immediately outside their homes.

“We found a strong link between housing and diabetes risk but it’s not clear exactly how housing conditions are exerting this influence,” says study senior author Douglas K. Miller, M.D., Richard M. Fairbanks Professor in Aging Research at IU School of Medicine and a Regenstrief Institute research scientist. “However, it is clear that it won’t be possible to reduce disparities in health status among subgroups in the population and thus improve health without understanding how a person’s environment can affect that person’s health.”

“We looked at several factors to see if they could clarify why housing conditions were contributing to the development of diabetes, but none of these factors seemed to explain the relationship at all,” explains Mario Schootman, Ph.D., lead author and chief of the Division of Health Behavior Research at Washington University. “However, there were several potential explanations such as environmental contaminants that we were unable to measure, so additional study is clearly indicated.”

Quality of housing was evaluated based on cleanliness inside of the building and the physical condition of the building’s interior and exterior, as well as the condition of the furnishings in the building.

Neighborhoods were rated based on noise, air quality and the conditions of houses, streets, yards and sidewalks. Broken windows, bad siding on homes, cracks in the sidewalks and nearby industrial sites or traffic noise lowered a neighborhood’s rating. Housing and neighborhood conditions were classified as fair, poor, good or excellent

This study is part of a larger health research project involving African-Americans. In the original project, researchers looked at several factors responsible for the higher incidence of health problems experienced by later middle-aged and older African-Americans living in St. Louis. That larger project gathered data from 998 African-Americans in the St. Louis area who were born between 1936 and 1950. When that project began, diabetes already was very common in this population. More than 25 percent had the disease at the time initial interviews were conducted. The new study found that over the next three years another 10 percent developed diabetes.

“The rate at which this African-American population is developing new onset diabetes is extremely important as well,” Dr. Miller notes. “At this rate, and combined with the group who had diabetes at baseline, more than one-half of the population will be diabetic after 10 years. With all the adverse health effects of diabetes, this is a hugely important issue for middle-aged African-Americans. Although we did not have the opportunity to conduct similar research in other cities with large numbers of urban African-Americans such as New York City, Los Angeles and Atlanta, we believe it is likely that the findings would be comparable in those cities as well.”

The researchers say that additional studies are needed to determine what specifically increased the risk of diabetes as a result of poor housing conditions, but many factors have already been ruled out. The current study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Posted by dlifenews at 04:41 PM | Comments (0)

Scientists Show that Mitochondrial DNA Variants are Linked to Risk Factors for Type 2 Diabetes

August 13, 2007 (EurekAlert) – Today, researchers report for the first time that genetic variants in mitochondria—energy-producing structures harboring DNA that are inherited only from the mother—are directly linked to metabolic markers for type 2 diabetes. The study, which highlights the role of mitochondrial genome variation in the pathogenesis of common diseases, is published online in Genome Research (www.genome.org).

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 7% of the U.S. population has diabetes, and 90-95% of those cases are classified as type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is caused by external factors such as diet and exercise, and is influenced by several genes. While most of the genes known to be involved in diabetes susceptibility are located in the nuclear genome, a recent study estimated that more than 20% of type 2 diabetes cases may involve mutations in the mitochondrial genome.
In the study published today, the scientists compared two different rat strains; the strains possessed virtually identical nuclear genomes but different mitochondrial genomes. This eliminated any complicating effects due to environmental factors or variation in the nuclear genome. Any differences observed between the two rat strains could be attributed to variation in the mitochondria.

When comparing the two rat strains, the researchers found that the two strains exhibited significant differences related to energy metabolism and storage. One rat strain exhibited impaired glucose tolerance, reduced muscle glycogen synthesis, decreased skeletal muscle ATP (energy) levels, and decreased activity of an energy-producing enzyme called cytochrome c oxidase, when compared to the second rat strain. These metabolic characteristics are typical of diabetic individuals.
The researchers then obtained DNA sequences from mitochondria of both rat strains, and found DNA variants in genes that encode for proteins involved in energy production. Thus, for the first time, they were able to directly link inherited variation in the mitochondrial genome to metabolic markers for type 2 diabetes.

“Our study highlights the role of mitochondrial DNA variation in common genetic diseases,” says Dr. Theodore Kurtz, the lead investigator on the project. “In addition, the animal models developed in this study will open the door for future studies in which the effects of mitochondrial genome variation can be investigated on fixed nuclear genetic backgrounds.”

Posted by dlifenews at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)

Abnormal Fat Metabolism Underlies Heart Problems in Diabetic Patients

August 10, 2007 (EurekAlert) — Heart disease hits people with diabetes twice as often as people without diabetes. In those with diabetes, cardiovascular complications occur at an earlier age and often result in premature death, making heart disease the major killer of diabetic people. But why is heart disease so prevalent among diabetics?

To help answer that question, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been analyzing the fat (lipid) composition of heart tissue from laboratory mice with diabetes. They have found that heart cells of diabetic mice lose an important lipid from cellular components that generate energy for the heart, and their latest research shows this happens at the very earliest stages of diabetes.

"Diabetic hearts run mostly on fats for fuel because glucose isn't readily available to them," says Richard Gross, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Division of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology and professor of medicine, of chemistry and of molecular biology and pharmacology. "Unfortunately, this change in metabolism distorts the lipid composition of cell membranes causing abnormal physical properties and cellular dysfunction."

The important lipid that the researchers found to be decreased in diabetes is cardiolipin. "Cardiolipin" literally means heart fat, and the term was coined because cardiolipin was first discovered in beef hearts and is one of the most abundant lipids in heart tissue. This lipid has unusual physical properties that are essential for the operation of the energy-producing cell structures called mitochondria.

When mitochondria lose a lot of their cardiolipin, they malfunction. Their malfunction not only interferes with the energy supply of heart muscle cells, it also increases the amount of damaging oxygen-containing substances in the cells, creating unhealthy conditions that can lead to heart problems.

Interestingly, a rare genetic disorder — Barth syndrome — held a key to identifying cardiolipin decrease in diabetic hearts. Children born with Barth syndrome have weak hearts and often die young from heart failure. These children have mutations that prevent cells from producing enough cardiolipin. The connection between cardiolipin and heart disease in Barth syndrome led the Washington University researchers to wonder if cardiolipin was also affected in diabetic hearts.

But in order to measure cardiolipin, the researchers needed a way to distinguish it from the numerous other lipids found in heart cells. Fortunately, Gross and his colleagues have been developing and refining a highly sophisticated set of techniques that allow them to separate and quantify thousands of different lipids based on their subtle structural differences. The set of techniques has been termed "shotgun lipidomics" because they very rapidly determine which lipids are in tissues and blood.

"Shotgun lipidomics provide a precise way to measure changes in heart lipid content," says first author Xianlin Han, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine. "We found a dramatic depletion of cardiolipin in heart muscle as early as five days after diabetes was induced in mice."

"These results suggest that cardiolipin alterations underlie heart dysfunction in diabetic heart disease and may be a useful biomarker for diagnosing cardiovascular disease in diabetes," Gross says. "Measuring alterations may be a way to tell the severity of heart disease and to evaluate how well therapies work. In addition, these findings suggest potential new therapeutic approaches."

Even though the research team found a depletion of an important type of lipid in diabetic heart tissue, diabetic heart muscle cells actually take in excess lipids. But as these lipids enter cells they activate lipid-digesting enzymes. In previous studies, Gross and colleagues identified a particular lipid-digesting enzyme that becomes more active in diabetic heart muscle and contributes to the breakdown of cardiolipin.

Recently, Gross and his colleague David Mancuso, Ph.D., member of the division, found that mice engineered to produce too much of this enzyme in their hearts developed defects in mitochondrial function which became worse when they were fasted — a condition that, like diabetes, causes the heart to use lipids for fuel. A 16-hour fast caused significant problems with the mouse hearts' ability to pump blood, again implicating altered lipid metabolism, cardiolipin scarcity and mitochondrial impairment in heart disease using lipid as predominant fuel.

Gross adds that in addition to the effects on mitochondria, many of the membranes in heart cells, which are built from fatty molecules, are also adversely affected by the diabetic heart's abnormal lipid metabolism. Furthermore, because fatty molecules are part of cells' signaling mechanisms, numerous aspects of cellular physiology become altered.

"The pieces of the puzzle of diabetic heart disease are now rapidly falling into place," Gross says. "By exploiting the novel technology of shotgun lipidomics, we have identified the increased activation of certain lipid-digesting enzymes and the decrease of cardiolipin as central aspects of this disorder. We hope that these kinds of studies will enable physicians to diagnose diabetic cardiovascular disease sooner and treat it earlier."

Posted by dlifenews at 12:05 PM | Comments (0)

“Female Advantage” in Kidney Disease Does Not Extend to Diabetic Women

August 8, 2007 (Newswise) — Women have a “female advantage” when it comes to chronic kidney disease. When compared to men, they have fewer and less severe episodes of this disorder throughout most of their lives. That advantage disappears, however, when the woman is diabetic. For reasons still unclear, diabetic women – regardless of age – are diagnosed with kidney and heart diseases almost as frequently as men.

What is it about diabetes that predisposes a woman to develop renal disease at levels generally associated with her male counterpart? Researchers at Georgetown University’s Center for the Study of Sex Differences in Health, Aging and Disease have been studying the phenomenon and have identified a novel observation to help explain why. The leader of this research team and the Center’s Director of Diabetes Research is Dr. Christine Maric. She will discuss the state of the team’s findings entitled, “Sex, Diabetes and Renal Injury,” at the upcoming conference, Sex and Gender in Cardiovascular-Renal Physiology and Pathophysiology. The meeting, sponsored by the American Physiological Society (APS; www.The-APS.org), is being held August 9-12, 2007 at the Hyatt Regency Austin on Town Lake, Austin, TX.

Background
Women are infrequently diagnosed with kidney or heart disease until they reach menopause. At menopause, when their sex hormone – estrogen – begins to disappear from their system, the rate of kidney disease begins to increase. As a result, estrogen is believed to have a protective effect against developing kidney and heart disease.

Unlike their non-diabetic counterparts of any age, women with diabetes are found to have similar rates of kidney and heart disease as males. Diabetic women are also known to have high rates of stillborn births, experience higher rates of menstrual difficulties, and have trouble conceiving.

Studies
In an effort to understand why women with diabetes are more likely to get kidney disease than their non-diabetic female counterparts, the Georgetown researchers conducted several studies in which they determined that:

* diabetes is associated with reduced estrogen (estradiol) levels, which may explain why the females lose the protective factor when it comes to diabetes

* estrogen and estrogen-like supplements protect the kidney in an animal model of diabetic renal disease, suggesting that restoring estrogen levels provides protection against kidney disease

* the absence of the hormone testosterone contributes to a more rapid progression of kidney disease when diabetes is present. More severe renal damage can be found when diabetes is present.

Conclusion
These findings suggest that sex hormones play a significant role in the development o