Category Archives: Diabetes

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Healthier lifestyles, including regular exercise and better eating habits are all goals most diabetes patients are striving for.

Kendra Robinson, a certified diabetes educator at Old Towne, believes these goals, plus learning from each other in a group setting is essential in managing the disease.

At Old Towne Medical Center, group medical visits are an option for patients with Type 2 diabetes a program that has been successful for the past eight years.

Robinson follows 400 diabetes patients, and said those who do group visitswhich include four to five patientshave better outcomes than those who are seen individually by doctors.

These patients tend to follow through more than patients we are seeing one on one, Robinson said.

During group visits, doctors and nurses give patients information about medications and nutrition, but the patients learn how to manage the disease from each other, Robinson added.

Ultimately, diabetes is a disease that is self-managed, Robinson said. Lifestyle modification is the number one treatment.

Type 2 diabetes, distinct from type 1 diabeteswhich is caused by genetic mutations or virusesoften develops from lifestyle factors, namely obesity.

March 28th marked the American Diabetes Association (ADA)s nation-wide Alert Day, in which it invites all Americans to take a diabetes risk test on its web site: http://www.diabetes.org/are-you-at-risk/diabetes-risk-test/?loc=alertday

According to the ADA, the biggest risk factor for diabetes is becoming overweight by overeating.

Not surprisingly, dietary changes are the biggest obstacle diabetics need to overcome, Robinson added. Access to healthy food is a challenge. Changing age-old eating habits is very difficult.

With that in mind, Old Towne also offers cooking classes and grocery store tours for diabetes patients.

During the classes, they make healthy meals, and then send everyone home with a bag of groceries and healthy recipes. They also go to the grocery stores where patients are most likely to shop.

We teach them how to get the most bang for buck; read a food label; use a coupon, Robinson said.

Its a big hit because at the end of the tour, everyone gets a little gift card to buy some things they learned about on the tour that they never tried before.

This spring Old Towne plans to launch an eat out program, which will target older men who are either widowed or single and tend to eat out a lot.

The idea is to go to the restaurants where they regularly eat and help them select healthy food items.

Old Towne also has a medications assistance program that provides diabetes medications for free, Robinson said, and the Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center provides discounted rates for diabetes-related testing.

This financial help is significant because diabetes can be an expensive disease to manage. At Old Towne 76 percent of patients are uninsureda number that is rising, according to Janis C.L. MacQueston, Old Towne Director of Development.

The patient population also tends to be fairly transient. Of the 400 diabetes patients that Robinson follows, between 250 and 300 come regularly, meaning every three to six months.

For those who stick around for a while, control is pretty good, Robinson said.

But the attrition rate is high, and they constantly get new patientsespecially young adults who were obese in childhood and carried that into adulthood, she continued.

According to the Virginia Atlas of Community Health, six percent of the population over age 19 in Williamsburg has type 2 diabetes, and 25 percent of the population between the ages of 14 and 19. In James City County, ten percent of the adult population has diabetes, and 37 percent of teenagers.

Many patients test for diabetesat one of Old Townes free walk-in clinicswhen they already have tell-tale signs of the disease, like blurry vision or frequent sweating, Robinson said.

We check their blood sugar, and its off the charts, she added.

Another program in Williamsburg at the Peninsula YMCA called the Diabetes Prevention Program tries to help people before they even get to that point. It enrolls people with prediabetes, which can morph into diabetes, usually within five years, if left untreated.

The program is nationwide, has beenimplemented in 252 YMCAs throughout the U.S., and follows CDC guidelines, saidMichael Bennett, the regional director of operations and chronic diseases at the Peninsula YMCA.

Bennett said theyve enrolled 32 people locally.

So far weve had really good stories, he said. The facilitator gives them tools, and the participants help each other out. They become a support system for each other.

The goal is for people to lose five to seven percent of their body weight, and engage in 150 minutes of physical activity each week.

The Williamsburg Health Foundation gave the YMCA a $45,000 grant to sign up 75 new people by the end of the year, Bennett said.

Were trying to encourage people to nip it in the bud, he said.

For more information on the YMCA program, people can call 757-342-5338, or visit the YMCA web site: http://www.peninsulaymca.org/diabetes/.

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Group medical visits key with managing diabetes - Williamsburg Yorktown Daily

Men's Health

Drink This to Stop a Drastic Blood Sugar Spike Men's Health The glucose builds up in your blood, which can lead to prediabetes or diabetes. But consuming the black tea polyphenols seems to reduce the blood sugar spike you'd normally experience after drinking something sugary. That may be because the black tea ... and more »

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Drink This to Stop a Drastic Blood Sugar Spike - Men's Health

April 1, 2017 11:04 PM By Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) Good news for some locals who suffer from a common chronic disease.

Diabetes patients can get free medicine and more care as part of a University of Minnesota research study.

Doctors are trying to figure out which medication combinations best fight Type 2 Diabetes.

Its called GRADE: Glycemia Reduction Approach to Diabetes: Effectiveness Study.

Participants meet with entire teams of experts monthly. Hugo resident Larry Bock is a participant of the program. He has lost 90 pounds since enrolling and has his blood sugar under control.

My journey with the GRADE study has been nothing short of amazing, Bock said. The study has not only taught me how to manage my diabetes, but has taught me to manage a life style living with diabetes. I hope the GRADE study will be embraced by others wanting to make a change.

Dr. Betsy Seaquist is behind the program.

Im very excited about this study because it will really change clinical practice, and it is wonderful seeing all of these people enrolling in this study losing weight, getting their blood sugars down to normal and remaining that way for years, Seaquist said. Its a very exciting thing to do.

Click here for more information on the GRADE study.

Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield never imagined she'd be in the Twin Cities, but this is exactly where she says she wants to be. She says in her travels as a journalist, one common denominator was that she always really liked the people she met from...

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'U' Needs Type 2 Diabetes Sufferers For GRADE Study - CBS Minnesota / WCCO

REIDSVILLE Since Fall 2015, the Cone Health Nutrition and Diabetes Management Center in Reidsville has been tackling diabetes head on as the first clinic of its kind in Rockingham County.

We provide education to patients that have diabetes and other medical problems, said Penny Crumpton, registered dietician and certified diabetes educator with the center. Our goal is to try to help provide knowledge and education to those who need assistance in helping improve their diabetes and reducing the complications that we know diabetes can cause.

According to Crumpton, diabetes is a serious issue in Rockingham County.

The rates of diabetes are extremely high in Rockingham County so the need is very great in terms of reaching out to those who are most in need, Crumpton said. While we educate patients with diabetes, we also try to reach out and address the epidemic of pre-diabetes that certainly puts patients at high risk for developing diabetes down the road.

Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to long time and irreversible problems, including damage to the eyes and kidneys, cardiovascular complications and peripheral vascular disease.

In the year and a half since the center opened, Crumpton and Gebre Nida, the centers endocrinologist, have been working with patients to help address those problems.

At the office, patients can come for one-on-one counseling sessions to discuss their situation or guests can attend free community education classes at 9 a.m. on the first and third Monday of the month at Annie Penn Hospital.

Yet with diabetes a prevalent problem in the area, Crumpton and Nida are pushing for awareness through the diabetes task force. This task force unites local health care providers and other community stakeholders around making a change.

Were working through the diabetes task force to try to increase the public awareness of the rates of diabetes and getting the resources more visible to the community and being able to connect patients with resources, Crumpton said.

For Norbert Hector, the center has already made a difference in his life after visiting the center for the first time in February.

According to Hector, he was diagnosed with diabetes about 20 years ago and has been on insulin for about 11 years.

About two months ago, my readings became very erratic, and so I called (my primary care provider) and tried to do some self-adjusting and really messed it up, he said.

His doctor referred him to Nida at the Cone Health Nutrition and Diabetes Management Center in Reidsville.

As a diabetic, I had been concerned about it, Hector said. I know its a progressive disease, and Ive watched other diabetics including my brother get progressively worse and my brother eventually died.

By following the directions given to him by Nida and Crumpton and with the support of his wife, Hector has already seen improvements in his condition.

I feel a lot more optimistic now than I did two months ago, he said.

As the center creates more stories like Hectors and the practice builds, they will consider adding another endocrinologist and diabetes educator to widen the centers impact and reach the growing population affected by diabetes.

For more information about the Cone Health Nutrition and Diabetes Management Center in Reidsville, call 336-951-6070 or visit the center at 1107 S. Main St., Reidsville.

You have nothing to lose and whole lot to gain, Hector said. Give it a shot.

Contact JustynMelrose at (336) 349 -4331, ext. 6140 and follow@jljmelrose on Twitter.

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Cone Health clinic fights diabetes in Rockingham County - Greensboro News & Record

Type 2 diabetes is a serious health concern in the United States and across the globe. New research shows that a high consumption of legumes significantly reduces the risk of developing the disease.

The legume family consists of plants such as alfalfa, clover, peas, peanuts, soybeans, chickpeas, lentils, and various types of beans.

As a food group, they are believed to be particularly nutritious and healthful. One of the reasons for this is that they contain a high level of B vitamins, which help the body to make energy and regulate its metabolism.

Additionally, legumes are high in fiber and contain minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium. They also comprise a variety of so-called phytochemicals - bioactive compounds that further improve the body's metabolism and have been suggested to protect against heart disease and diabetes.

Finally, legumes are also considered to be a "low glycemic index food," which means that blood sugar levels increase very slowly after they are consumed.

To make people aware of the many health benefits of legumes, the year 2016 has been declared the International Year of Pulses by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Pulses are a subgroup of legumes.

Because of their various health benefits, it has been suggested that legumes protect against the onset of type 2 diabetes - a serious illness that affects around 29 million people in the U.S. and more than 400 million adults worldwide. However, little research has been carried out to test this hypothesis.

Therefore, researchers from the Unit of Human Nutrition at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain, together with other investigators from the Prevencin con Dieta Mediterrnea (PREDIMED) study, set out to investigate the association between legume consumption and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in people at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

The study also analyzes the effects of substituting legumes with other foods rich in proteins and carbohydrates, and the findings were published in the journal Clinical Nutrition.

The team investigated 3,349 participants in the PREDIMED study who did not have type 2 diabetes at the beginning of the study. The researchers collected information on their diets at the start of the study and every year throughout the median follow-up period of 4.3 years.

Individuals with a lower cumulative consumption of legumes had approximately 1.5 weekly servings of 60 grams of raw legumes, or 12.73 grams per day. A higher legume consumption was defined as 28.75 daily grams of legumes, or the equivalent of 3.35 servings per week.

Using Cox regression models, the researchers analyzed the association between the incidence of type 2 diabetes and the average consumption of legumes such as lentils, chickpeas, dry beans, and fresh peas.

Overall, during the follow-up period, the team identified 266 new cases of type 2 diabetes.

The study revealed that those with a higher intake of legumes were 35 percent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than their counterparts who consumed a smaller amount of legumes. Of all the legumes studied, lentils had the strongest association with a low risk of type 2 diabetes.

In fact, individuals with a high consumption of lentils (defined as almost one weekly serving) were 33 percent less likely to develop diabetes compared with their low-consumption counterparts - that is, the participants who had less than half a serving per week.

Additionally, the researchers found that replacing half a serving per day of legumes with an equivalent portion of protein- and carbohydrate-rich foods including bread, eggs, rice, or potatoes also correlated with a reduced risk of diabetes.

The authors conclude that:

"A frequent consumption of legumes, particularly lentils, in the context of a Mediterranean diet, may provide benefits on type 2 diabetes prevention in older adults at high cardiovascular risk."

Learn how a healthful vegetarian diet could substantially reduce type 2 diabetes risk.

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Legumes may lower risk of type 2 diabetes - Medical News Today

Diabetes Product Solutions

A look at some of the latest diabetes product offerings.

While the business of providing diabetes products and services has seen its fair share of obstacles competitive bidding slashing Medicare funding, private payer cuts, audits, customer retention, and the problem of low-quality devices on the market it still serves a critical market need.

The population of adults living with diabetes has quadrupled since 1980, growing to 422 million people, according to a report from the World Health Organization. A separate study by the Health Care Cost Institute showed that spending for children with diabetes who are covered by employer-sponsored insurance grew faster than any other age group. Clearly, there is a need for the devices just based on how many people in the United States must have them.

So how do diabetic supply providers keep ahead of these market trends? Their best bet for fostering business growth is to stock a wide variety of diabetes-related products that help you serve patients spectrum of needs. Manufacturers are doing a great job of providing products that cater to every aspect of a diabetic persons life. Good examples of related products would be items such as compression socks or diabetic footwear.

In addition to stocking up a well-rounded group of products, be sure to educate consumers on what the latest offerings are and how they can help them manage their condition. Learn about the customer and find out what their top concerns and priorities are, then assist them in finding the product or products that works best for them.

Compact and highly productive urine chemistry analyzer

ARKRAY Inc. (877) 538-8872 http://www.arkrayusa.com

Smart Blood Sugar connects to mobile phone

Bewellconnect (800) 250-7170 http://www.bewell-connect.us

Tie-less athletic shoes ensure comfort, protection

Orthofeet Inc. (800) 524-2845 http://www.orthofeet.com

Reduced friction, risk of infection for diabetes patients

SIGVARIS Inc. (800) 322-7744 http://www.sigvarisusa.com

Color coded results helps users manage care

LifeScan, Inc. (800) 227-8862 http://www.lifescan.com

Glucometer syncs into smartphones using audio

GlucoMe 972-3-372-8168 http://www.glucome.com

This article originally appeared in the April 2017 issue of HME Business.

About the Author

Sydny Shepard is the Products Editor for HME Business and Mobility Management and can be reached via email at SShepard@1105media.com.

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Diabetes Product Solutions - HME Business (press release) (blog)

A diabetic woman has her blood sugar tested. (Photo by Marcelo Camargo, Agencia Brasil/Creative Commons)

Alton Villegas offered an unusual call to action on March 29 for an 11-year-old boy: Destroy the ice cream man.

Alton is a member of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, where nearly 10 percent of tribal members have Type 2 diabetes, including members of his family.

My mom and my grandma have diabetes. A lot of people in Salt River have diabetes, sadly, said Alton, who has been diagnosed as pre-diabetic. I think a lot of people have diabetes because they dont eat healthy and they dont exercise.

Thats what brought Alton to Washington on March 29, where he was the youngest of six witnesses urging the Senate Indian Affairs Committee to reauthorize theSpecial Diabetes Programfor Native Americans.

Alton Villegas, 11, is a member of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, which is plagued by diabetes. He charmed a Senate committee with his own story at a hearing on saving tribal diabetes funding. (Photo by Marisela Ramirez/Cronkite News)

The program grants$150 milliona year to about 300 programs that push diabetes prevention to tribes in 35 states, said Rear Adm. Chris Buchanan, acting director of the Indian Health Service. If not reauthorized, the program will end after September.

Since the program began in 1997, tribal obesity rates have remained stubbornly high, said Sen. John Hoeven, R-North Dakota. He said Native Americans still have a greater chance of being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes than any other group in America, and that diabetes is their fifth-leading cause of death.

But Hoeven, the committee chairman, also acknowledged atthe hearingthat the grants have helped lower diabetes and its complications, such as limb amputations, heart disease and kidney failure.

But theres still more work to be done, he added.

The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, like other grantees, uses the funds to educate families about the benefits of exercise and balanced diet, and to offer free family-oriented exercise classes and programs that promote healthy lifestyles.

After a 6-year-old on the reservation was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about three years ago, the tribal council began more screening at schools and found 52 percent of students were above the 95th percentile for weight.

When a screening showed that Alton was at risk for Type 2 diabetes, his family learned that he qualified for theYouth Wellness Campin Prescott. Grant money from the federal program lets the tribe send at-risk youth to the camp.

I wanted to be healthier, so I went to camp, Alton said. I wanted to be able to help my mom and my grandma be healthier.

The healthy eating and daily exercise at camp helped Alton lose almost 16 pounds. His mother, Felicia Jimerson, said that Altons new outlook on eating healthy and exercising is rubbing off on her three other kids.

Alton said that he tries to help his family and friends make healthier decisions, but they do not always listen.

I tell them all the time but not a lot of people care, cause that means they have to give up Hot Cheetos, said Alton, who has seen his friends buy at least four bags of the snack a day from the ice cream man.

We must destroy the ice cream man! Altontold the committee,to laughter.

Rachel Seepie, another member of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community who testified, credits some of her success against her Type 2 diabetes to educational programs funded by the grant program.

After initially managing her condition with medication, she decided to turn instead to exercise and eating well. That has helped her lose weight, lower her blood sugar, decrease her average heart rate and complete two Iron Man triathlons, Seepie said.

Now, she is a senior fitness specialist with the Diabetes Service Program and teaches group exercise classes on the reservation.

My vision is that the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and our members will learn how to become healthier, and they will have long full lives without Type 2 diabetes, Seepie told the committee.

After the hearing, Jimerson said that can only happen if the grant program is reauthorized.

I think if they can continue that funding, its definitely going to make a change, she said. If that funding goes away, were in huge trouble.

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Arizona youth joins tribal officials to push for continued diabetes program funding - Arizona Capitol Times

(Reuters Health) Diabetes can lead to blindness, but children and teens with diabetes may not receive recommended eye exams in the years following their diagnosis, a U.S. study suggests.

Researchers found that just 65 percent of youth with type 1 diabetes and 42 percent of those with type 2 diabetes had vision-loss screening within six years of their diabetes diagnosis.

More youth now than ever are being diagnosed with diabetes. By 2050, the prevalence with type 1 will triple and the prevalence with type 2 will quadruple, with the greatest increase in minority populations, said lead study author Dr. Sophia Wang of the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends screening for diabetic retinopathy five years after an initial diabetes diagnosis for youth with type 1 diabetes while the American Diabetes Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend screening within three to five years. For kids with type 2 diabetes, screening is recommended at diagnosis.

Diabetic retinopathy is a complication of diabetes that may not have symptoms in early stages but can progress to vision loss. The damage to the retina of the eye results from damage to tiny blood vessels that affects other parts of the body as well.

About half of people with retinopathy develop diabetic macular edema, a fluid build-up in the retina, or glaucoma.

Diabetic retinopathy is the number one cause of vision loss in ages 20-74, so screening is an important component of diabetes care, Wang told Reuters Health by email.

To see how many kids with diabetes are getting the recommended screening, Wang and colleagues analyzed data from a national managed care network, which included more than 5,400 youth under age 21 with type 1 diabetes and 7,200 with type 2 diabetes.

Overall, researchers found that about 4,000 kids, or 31 percent, had an eye exam.

Those with type 1 diabetes were more likely to have had an eye exam compared with those who had type 2 diabetes, the study team reports in JAMA Ophthalmology . White and Asian youth were more likely to have had exams than black and Latino youth. Those with a higher household net worth were also more likely to receive an eye exam compared with those in lower-income households.

Despite the fact that all the youth in our study possessed health insurance, we found disparities by race and family affluence, suggesting that they may be particularly at risk, Wang said.

In the study, 11 percent of black children and teens and 18 percent of Latino youth were less likely to undergo an eye exam compared to white kids. Younger patients were also less likely to receive an exam than older ones.

We must educate adolescents and caregivers on the importance of screening to improve care coordination between different medical specialists such as pediatricians, endocrinologists, ophthalmologists and optometrists, said study author Dr. Joshua Stein of the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center in Ann Arbor.

More research is needed on new technologies which might render ophthalmic screening more accessible, such as retinal photography performed in primary care physicians clinics, he told Reuters Health by email.

Diabetic retinopathy is considered the most common microvascular complication of diabetes and is projected to grow at an alarming rate, said Dr. Seema Garg of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who wrote a commentary accompanying the study.

Visual impairment is detrimental to patients personal independence, economic productivity, employment and overall quality of life, she told Reuters Health by email. The opportunity costs of a lifetime of blindness are enormous.

Socioeconomics, geographical barriers, delayed referrals from primary care doctors, language barriers and cultural barriers also play a part in the screening gap. Retina screening via telemedicine could help address the issue, especially for racial minorities and economically disadvantaged youth, Garg writes in the commentary.

Telemedicine is an emerging strategy for improving screening with remote expert interpretation, she writes. Telemedicine is effective in reaching underserved populations in remote, rural or urban settings where patients may be at risk for more advanced disease.

SOURCE: bit.ly/2nAJHv1 and bit.ly/2nQkjn2 JAMA Ophthalmology, online March 23, 2017.

A federal judge in Delaware on Friday struck down key patents held by Acorda Therapeutics Inc related to its multiple sclerosis drug Ampyra, causing the stock to tumble 24 percent before trading was halted.

A U.S. patent board on Friday ruled against Danish drugmaker Forward Pharma A/S, finding Biogen's patents on its blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera to be valid.

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Youth with diabetes need vision loss screening | Reuters - Reuters

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The incidence of type 1 diabetes, previously known as juvenile diabetes, has been steadily rising in the United States. Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease in which the body is destroying the cells in the pancreas that make insulin, and is often diagnosed in children and young adults. While the exact cause of type 1 diabetes is unknown, it most likely is triggered by a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental factors not diet or nutrition.

Diabetes is not an easy disease because it requires constant attention, its even more difficult for children to understand and to manage their own care properly. Most kids dont want to stand out among their peers or seem different and will minimize management of the disease at school or in front of their friends. It may take some time and adjustment, but advancements in the treatment of type 1 diabetes are allowing children who are diagnosed with the disease to live much more normal and high-quality lifestyles.

Signs of type 1 diabetes include weight loss, increased thirst and/or drinking, increased urination, increased appetite, and in some cases, vomiting, stomachaches, headaches and fatigue. These signs can often be mistaken for another illness, but if they persist, talk to your childs provider about testing their blood sugar levels. Everyone manages diabetes differently, and solutions that work for your child may not be the same as what works for someone else. The team of pediatric endocrinologists and medical support staff at Cone Health Pediatric Sub-Specialists of Greensboro is dedicated to educating children and families about diabetes and providing individualized treatment for children with the condition here in our community.

Spokesperson Background:

Dr. Ashley Jessup is a pediatric endocrinologist at Cone Health Pediatric Sub-Specialists of Greensboro and a member of Cone Health Medical Group. She received her Bachelor of Science in biology from North Carolina State University and completed medical school at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. Dr. Jessup completed her pediatric residency at nationwide Childrens Hospital in Columbus, Ohio and a pediatric endocrinology fellowship at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

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Diabetes: Kids and Type 1 Diabetes - myfox8.com

Men's Health

Eat 3 Servings Of This a Week to Cut Your Diabetes Risk By 35% Men's Health After analyzing the food consumption of 3,349 people at high risk of heart disease but without type 2 diabetes, they discovered that those who ate about 3 servings a week of lentils, chickpeas, beans, and peas were 35 percent less likely to develop ... Eat legumes to reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes by 35%Daily Mail Eat legumes to cut the risk of Type 2 diabetesHindustan Times Eating Legumes May Reduce Diabetes Risk by 35 Per CentNDTV Malay Mail Online -Diabetes.co.uk all 11 news articles »

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Eat 3 Servings Of This a Week to Cut Your Diabetes Risk By 35% - Men's Health