Diabetes

Up to 70 percent of North American adults will develop diabetes or pre-diabetes, usually from insulin resistance caused by excess fat in the liver and muscles. Exercise helps to empty fat from the liver and muscles, so exercise helps both to prevent and to treat diabetes. A study of 6,718 diabetics, average age 58, followed from 4-96 weeks, found that exercise reduced HBA1c (a blood test that measures cell damage from high blood sugar levels). The more a diabetic exercised, the greater the reduction in HBA1c.

Having a fatty liver is associated with a marked increase in heart attacks and liver damage, even in people who are not overweight (Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol, 2017 Oct;15(10):1604-1611). Getting both obese and normal weight people to lose weight helps them to get fat out of their livers and markedly reduce their chances of being diabetic.

Many studies have shown that metformin helps to treat the life-shortening diseases that are the leading causes of death in North America today — diabetes, heart disease, several types of cancers, kidney disease, liver disease, obesity and others (Front Endocrinol, August 4, 2021;12). A review of 53 studies found that metformin is associated with a reduction of the death rate from these diseases, but at this time, metformin cannot be prescribed to slow aging because we do not have studies to show that metformin helps to prevent aging, not just symptoms of specific diseases. The TAME trial wants to change this by investigating whether metformin can delay aging overall, instead of just treating specific age-related diseases individually.

A new position statement from the International Diabetes Federation says that a blood sugar level greater than 155 mg/dL (8.6 mmol/L) one hour after eating a meal means that a person should immediately be referred to a diabetes prevention center and instructed to follow all the lifestyle rules recommended for diabetics.

The Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study (DPPOS) followed 568 men with diabetes, pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome. Erectile dysfunction (ED), inability to achieve and maintain an erection, was reported by 37 percent of men with diabetes and 41 percent of those with pre-diabetes.

Statins may raise your blood sugar levels, but your doctor is still likely to recommended them if you have risk factors for heart attacks or strokes. Reviews of many studies show that statins can raise blood sugar levels, which increases risk for diabetes and cataracts, but they are so effective in helpi.ng to lower the bad LDL cholesterol and to prevent heart attacks that doctors should still prescribe them

Researchers from Harvard recently showed that aspirin could help to treat people with fatty liver disease (Meeting of American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, November 10, 2023). Eighty patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) were randomly assigned to receive either low doses of aspirin (81 mg/day) or placebo for six months. Compared to the placebo group, the 40 patients who took aspirin had reduced amounts of fat in their livers and improved markers of liver inflammation and scarring.

Diabetics who have lost teeth and cannot chew properly have significantly higher blood sugar levels than diabetics who can chew their food well. Correcting dental problems so a person can chew food adequately can help to lower high blood sugar levels. The treatment for both diabetes and general weight control should include eating lots of fiber-rich plants, chewing food properly, and correcting dental problems.

Morgan Freeman is an American actor, producer, and narrator who has Academy and Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Golden Globe Award, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2008, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2011, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2012, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2018. He missed part of his press tour for his upcoming TV series Special Ops: Lioness, in which he stars alongside Zoe Saldana and Nicole Kidman.

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a standard method for assessing body weight. BMI is calculated by dividing a person's weight by the square of his height. A study from Israel found that one third of more than 3000 normal-weight and normal-BMI individuals were still at high risk for diseases caused by obesity, such as diabetes, heart attacks, strokes and kidney damage.

High blood sugar and high blood pressure are major risk factors for dementia. A study from Johns Hopkins showed that the younger a person develops diabetes or pre-diabetes, the more likely they are to become demented. People who developed diabetes before age 60 were three times more likely to develop dementia than those who did not develop diabetes before age 60. Those who developed diabetes after age 70 were only 23 percent more likely to suffer from dementia, and those who developed diabetes in their 80s or 90s had no increased risk for developing dementia.

More than 80 million North Americans suffer from a fatty liver and many do not know that they have it because most people with a fatty liver have normal liver function blood tests in the early stages of the disease. The American Association of Clinical Endocrinology, supported by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, has issued guidelines for diagnosing and treating a fatty liver.

About 70 percent of North American adults will suffer from diabetes or prediabetes. The most common cause of diabetes is excess fat in the liver, which prevents your body from responding to insulin to cause high blood sugar levels. When you have high blood sugar, the sugar can stick to and damage the outer membranes of cells, to increase risk for heart attacks, strokes, certain cancers, and dementia.

Both exercise and calorie restriction reduced liver fat in overweight and obese adults, but only exercise had a dose-dependent effect in reducing liver fat and reducing belly fat. Storing fat in your belly is a stronger risk factor for diabetes than just being overweight, and is arguably the most common cause of Type II diabetes in North America today

A study from Australia found that middle-aged women who ate meat daily were significantly more likely to be diabetic and have uncontrolled high levels of blood sugar than those who ate a plant-based diet with little or no red meat. The authors conclude that plant-based diets reduce diabetes risk by increasing the body’s response to insulin and reducing body fat.

Most type II diabetics are overweight, but about 15 percent are not overweight. A study presented on September 23, 2022 at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting in Stockholm found that 70 percent of normal-weight type II diabetics went into remission when they lost 10 percent of their body weight.

A healthful plant-based diet can help to cure Type II diabetes if you already have it, or help to protect you from developing diabetes in the first place. People who eat the healthful plant-based foods -- vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts and other seeds --are far better protected than those who eat the "unhealthful" plant-derived foods, such as refined grains, fried potatoes and sugar-added foods

Sleeping with the lights on or a television set on for just one night raises blood sugar, heart rate and insulin resistance, all risk factors for diabetes. Five to ten percent of the light can actually get through a closed eyelid. An elevated nightly blood sugar, called the "dawn phenomenon," increases risk for heart disease and diabetes

Having excess fat in your liver is associated with increased risk for a heart attack. A review of 36 studies on 5,802,226 middle-aged individuals with 99,668 cases of heart attacks, in a median follow-up period of 6.5 years, found that those with fatty liver disease had 1.5 times the incidence of heart attacks as the general population.

One of the definitions of "pre-diabetes" is a high rise in blood sugar after meals, and people with pre-diabetes are at significantly increased risk for suffering a heart attack or stroke.

Type II Diabetes shortens lives by causing high blood pressure, strokes and heart attacks. Diabetics in the DIRECT study in Scotland, who followed a strict 800-calorie-per-day diet and lost a lot of weight, were also able to lower their high blood pressure.

One of the definitions of pre-diabetes is a high rise in blood sugar after meals, and a recent study suggests that many cases of dementia are linked to these high rises in blood sugar. This study of 3889 adults found that people who suffer from loss of mental function and dementia have much higher levels of Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGEs) in their skin.

A review of 28 studies found that risk for type II diabetes was increased by 36 percent for every 100 grams of meat from mammals or 50 grams of processed meat eaten each day. This increased risk was associated with higher blood levels of TMAO from the choline and lecithin in meat.

Two new studies show that you can help to prevent diabetes by following a regular exercise program and by eating a plant-based diet that avoids foods that cause a high rise in blood sugar.

Almost 50 percent of North Americans will eventually develop diabetes or pre-diabetes, because we eat too much and exercise too little. This is sad because you can prevent and treat most cases of type II diabetes (insulin-resistant diabetes) by getting fat out of your liver and muscles, and increasing the size of your muscles with resistance exercise.

A review of 129 studies found that tests for a high rise in blood sugar after meals were better than tests of fasting blood sugar levels as a predictor of coronary heart disease, strokes, or death from any cause.

U.S. government data shows that the number of newly diagnosed diabetics dropped from 1.7 million in 2009 to 1.3 million in 2017, but huge numbers of diabetics have not been diagnosed, so they do not know that they have the disease..

More than seventy percent of North Americans adults will become diabetic or prediabetic; diseases that are curable with lifestyle changes and not curable by drugs. Insulin insensitivity (failure to respond to insulin) causes the majority of all cases of type II diabetes and prediabetes.

Diabetes can be caused by repeatedly high levels of insulin from exposing the pancreas to too much fat. Insulin-resistant diabetes can come from eating too much fat as well as from too much sugar.

If you have excess fat in your liver, you can be at great risk for diabetes, even if you are not overweight. Most people you see with a large belly and small buttocks already have high blood sugar levels.