By Jim Morham

One region of the world has a diet with lots of variety that tastes delicious. Even better news, for adults, eating a healthy Mediterranean diet can help ward off the possibility of developing diabetes. Eating like a Greek is enjoyable, and research has proven that with the dependence on vegetables, fruits, nuts and a diet high in Omega 3 fish oils, it's a natural way for avoiding metabolic syndrome.

What is metabolic syndrome and how bad is it?

This syndrome is the precursor to adult onset diabetes according to the American Heart Association. The many symptoms are similar to juvenile onset diabetes with one main difference. In juvenile diabetes, the pancreas no longer has beta cells creating insulin. In adults the beta cells are still working but other characteristics of pre-diabetes are present. These markers include an HDL or good cholesterol level less than 40 mg/dl, a BMI, body mass index greater than 40 inches around the waist, or obesity, a fasting glucose or sugar level greater than 100mg/dl and high blood pressure as measured at 130/85 on a consistent basis. The World Health Organization states that metabolic syndrome also includes microalbuminuria of greater than 20. This is protein in the urine. All of these factors added up, make it more likely an individual will develop diabetes and the complications that come with the disease.

How does the Greek diet help?

Greeks have a diet that is heavy in wheat and barley as well as other ingredients that make for delicious and healthy meals. In addition, fruit and huge consumption of fish and products containing Omega 3 fatty acids that promote good cholesterol while fighting bad cholesterol make for very low levels of coronary heart disease amongst the population. Monounsaturated fats found in olive oil are another example of the healthy diet found in this part of the world. Greek dishes include olive oil in the preparation of many meals with vegetables and nuts. Other common foods include lentils that are low in LDL cholesterol. Heavy consumption of fish, vegetables, whole grain pasta and beans, while avoiding meals heavy in animal fats, contribute to lower levels of cardio vascular disease and cancer according to researchers at Harakopio University in Athens.

Conclusion

Make no mistake, diets high in Omega 3 fish oils and heavy on green vegetables will trump diets composed of rich sauces, creams, and animal fats every day. Those who are predisposed to metabolic syndrome, be it from genes, or from factors that are influenced by life style factors, should consider a lighter diet low in saturated fats and one more dependent on fatty acids found in fish, as well as eating more grains and vegetables. If you are a person who isn't a big fish eater, fish oil supplements can fulfill this important component of a good diet. Eat well, enjoy good health.

By Beverleigh H Piepers

Type 2 diabetes is a disease no one wants to find out they have. However, if there is a good thing about this illness is that it can be prevented long before it's ever diagnosed. So many people are walking around in a constant state of prediabetes and have absolutely no idea they are heading down a dark, potentially fatal road. If you have prediabetes or are overweight, you have an opportunity to turn your life around and improve your health.

Prediabetes is a medical condition that can be treated well in advance of turning into full-blown Type 2 diabetes...it is defined as having a fasting blood sugar reading of 100 to 125 mg/dL (5.5 to 6.9 mmol/L). This blood sugar level is not high enough to give you a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes, but it surely means if you do not intervene now, you are well and truly on your way.

Recently, the Diabetes Prevention Program study proved conclusively that people with prediabetes are able to prevent the development of the disease by making simple changes in their diet and increasing their level of physical activity. Many of these people are able to return their blood sugar levels back to a normal range.

Another part of the study showed that certain medications might help to delay the development of Type 2 diabetes, but exercise and diet actually worked better than the medications. Simply exercising 30 minutes a day at a moderate pace, paired with a 5 to 10% reduction in body weight equaled a 58% reduction in diabetes.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is working hard to help people grasp their risk of developing prediabetes. The idea is to try to "turn back the clock" so that people can know their risk early and prevent diabetes from ever becoming a problem at all.

Among some of the recommendations being made by the ADA are certain dietary suggestions. For instance, people with prediabetes should be eating:

* a lot of fruits and vegetables from every color of the rainbow
* they need to consume non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, green beans and spinach with meals
* another recommendation would be to add more whole-grain foods over processed grain products that you normally see in the interior section of your grocery store
* including more fish in the diet is also a recommendation along with choosing lean cuts of meat and non-fat dairy such as skim milk

Of course, there are many other tips and tricks that a prediabetic can use to avoid contracting the illness.

Stopping Type 2 diabetes in its tracks before it becomes a potentially life-threatening disease is so important as it is growing more and more prevalent in today's society. Fast food and on the go lifestyles are not helping people to understand that their Type 2 diabetes risk is growing daily.

By Carolyn Hansen

Diabetes is becoming more and more common with the increase of obesity and pure fatness. What many people do not realize is you can avoid, or at least manage, diabetes with what you consume. Now, this is not to say that Type-1 diabetes can be controlled in the same manner. There is a great big difference between diabetes that is genetic and Type-2 diabetes that is caused by a poor diet and unhealthy weight gain.

Your body needs glucose for energy. When you have Type-2 diabetes, this glucose builds up in the blood stream rather than being reasonably distributed, by insulin, to the cells throughout the body. When you consume too much sugar and/or gain too much weight, your body "forgets" how to produce the insulin needed to perform this function. Without this insulin, the sugars you eat build up in the blood stream causing even further complications.

Type-2 diabetes is a little more complicated than this, but this is the basic process. So, as you can see, it can be quite dangerous and very scary. Since this process can be controlled, monitored, and maintained, it is worth taking the steps to try to avoid this life-altering disease. One of the greatest things you can do for yourself is to start working out. Exercise is the absolute best medicine for many different ailments throughout the body; and will help to prevent many negative side effects of aging.

The next thing you need to do is watch what you eat. First things first, you should be consuming between 1800 and 2000 calories a day. Even if you are trying to lose weight you should never cut calories less than 1500 calories. Finding the right caloric intake for your body may take a few weeks; just make sure you do not overdo it.

Secondly, you need to start eating the right kind of foods; foods known as clean foods. Foods that can be found in nature like fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy products, and nuts and grains are exactly what you should be filling your body with. It is time to say goodbye to restaurant foods - fast or not - and processed foods; you know, the ones that line the most of the shelves in any supermarket.

On top of this you should make sure that you eat 5-6 times a day, or every few hours. See, eating in this manner will naturally help balance out your blood sugar levels. It also keeps your body functioning at optimal levels allowing it to continue to produce the hormones you need, which includes insulin production and performance.

So, whether you are worried about diabetes or not, you should be. This disease can kill you and will change your life. Rather than try to change your life after you contract the disease, change your life now. Make the right lifestyle choices, start eating right, and watch yourself become healthier as they days go by.

By Aurther Shoko

Falling into the same category as hypertension, heart disease and kidney disease, diabetes is a chronic illness which requires life long control and management through medications and lifestyle changes. The two types of diabetes type 1 and type 2 demand different approaches to treatment. Type 1 diabetes is typically treated by self injection of insulin into the bloodstream on a daily basis. On the other hand type 2 diabetes can be controlled using pharmaceutical drug medications. These drugs essentially aid a weak system in producing adequate insulin. Each of these drugs has its own problems;

Side Effects Of Meglitinides

Known by generic names repaglinide and nateglinide and brand names Prandin and Starlix meglitinides are type 2 diabetes drugs that essentially seek to drive the pancreas to create more insulin and act more quickly. This is a new drug for diabetes designed to produce insulin soon after your meals. It therefore gives diabetes patients greater freedom in how they take their meals. In fact it can be taken some 30 minutes to right before taking a meal. When no meal is taken it will not be necessary to take the drug. Here are some known problems;

1 Even though its rare, patients may suffer from low blood sugar levels
2 Weight gain

Side Effects Of Alpha-glucosidase Inhibitors

Known by generic name acarbose, miglitol and brand names Precose and Glyset these drugs are designed to keep your blood sugar within range after taking a meal. This is an attempt to artificially keep a normal level of glucose to facilitate the normal absorption of glucose into the bloodstream. By blocking the enzymes that do the work of digesting the starches that you eat the drug slows down the release of glucose into the bloodstream. Here are the problems;

1 Abdominal pain
2 Bloating
3 Diarrhea
4 Gas

Side Effects Of Diabetes Combo Drugs

The practice of taking combination drugs is not only limited to hypertension. It is also used in treating other chronic diseases including diabetes. Doctors may decide to make patients take a combination of already existing diabetes drugs. this may not necessarily mean taking all the lot of pills. Pharmaceutical companies sometimes combine different medications into a single pill which a patient may take. In terms of side effects it becomes possible to suffer from all side effects associated with the drugs in the combo. the following are some problems to expect;

1 Nausea
2 Low blood sugar
3 Weight gain
4 Rash
5 Diarrhea
6 Excess gas
7 Loss of appetite
8 Liver damage

By Aurther Shoko

Diabetes is a formidable chronic illness to be seriously considered. It sadly affects millions of people who move about without knowing it. If left unchecked diabetes can turn out to trigger to many other ailments which may include kidney failure, loss of sight and limbs. The condition itself is associated with problems with insulin which is essential for facilitating the absorption of blood glucose into the body. The disease is divided into two namely type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes.

There are a range of medications used to treat diabetes. To begin with these medications are also divided into two. Type 1 diabetes is usually treated using regular insulin injection. Type 2 diabetes can be treated using oral medications such as drugs.This can happen over a period of time for many years even. However it has been noted that individuals who suffer from type 2 diabetes and are on oral treatment may at a later stage require insulin injection as a result of oral drugs failing.

Just as many other medications, diabetes drugs vary and also carry some side effects. It is important for patients to known these side effects and report them immediately to the doctor when ever they occur;

Side Effects Of Sulfonylureas

One of the leading drugs for diabetes which has been in use in America for some a long time. Insulin is produced in the pancreas. When the pancreas fails to produce insulin glucose fills your blood stream leading to diabetes. These drugs are designed to force your pancreas into producing insulin. Sulfonylureas drugs are for patients with pancreas that is weak in producing insulin yet producing some. This is why it is for type 2 diabetes. Were there is absolutely no insulin this drug will be useless. Some side effects;

1 Nausea
2 Low blood sugar
3 Weight gain
4 Rash

Generic names of drugs under this medication include glipizide, glyburide. Brand name drugs include Amaryl, Glucotrol amd DiaBeta.

Side Effects Of Thiazolidinediones

Drugs that fall into this category again are for type 2 diabetes and work by facilitating the better usage of insulin by cells and also reducing glucose levels produced by your liver. The side effects;

1 Damage to patient's liver
2 Fluid retention
3 Nausea
4 Feeling tired/fatigue
5 Abdominal pain
6 Colored urine

As mentioned earlier, type 1 diabetes patients will need to rely on injected insulin considering that in this category of diabetes the pancreas is absolutely failing to produce any insulin. You will need to work with your doctor all the way to ensure effective control of a diabetic condition.

By Beverleigh H Piepers

Vitamin C or ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin that cannot be stored in the human body. And because it can never be stored, daily doses of vitamin C from the foods you eat is necessary. Vitamin C is a very important vitamin for many bodily functions and processes. It helps:

* in the growth and repair of tissues
* in the production of collagen... a protein needed for making healthy skin, tendons, cartilages and ligaments
* in wound healing, and
* maintenance of bone health

Aside from being an essential vitamin, vitamin C is also an important antioxidant. Antioxidants prevent free radicals from causing harm to the integrity of your individual cells.

Do you know vitamin C can also aid you in the management of Type 2 diabetes?

According to an article published by the Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients in December 2002, most diabetics have lower vitamin C levels circulating in their blood. This may be as a result of the increased urinary output by diabetics (vitamin C is water-soluble). However, by normalizing the levels of vitamin C with the help of supplementation, numerous health benefits may be observed:

1. Control blood sugar: According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, vitamin C may aid a diabetic to lower his blood sugar level. With improved blood sugar levels, acute and chronic complications associated with Type 2 diabetes can be prevented.

2. Control in the lipid level in diabetics: A study published by the Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, ascorbic acid supplementation may aid diabetics in the prevention of increased lipid levels in the blood, a common laboratory finding observed in Type 2 diabetics. However, the mechanism behind how ascorbic acid supplementation improves lipid levels is still unknown. Further studies are necessary to know the physiology that explains this finding.

3. Prevention of collagen abnormalities: Collagen abnormalities may be prevented with the supplementation of vitamin C according to a study published by Diabetes in March 1991. Diabetics tend to have a lower vitamin C level in their body and this deficiency may play an important role in the development of collagen problems. Researchers of this study explained that an increased blood sugar concentration leads to the decreased uptake of ascorbic acid by fibroblasts, the cells that form collagen tissue. However, more clinical trials are needed to establish this fact.

4. Improvement in leukocyte activity: Leukocytes or white blood cells are considered to be the defenders of the body. They eliminate disease, stopping microorganisms from causing problems and diseases. In diabetics, decreased vitamin C levels result in the depression of leukocyte activity; vitamin supplementation improves the activity of these important blood cells, thereby increasing the immunity of anyone with Type 2 diabetes.

By Robert S. Nelson

Diabetes is a dysfunction of your metabolism. The metabolic process is a collection of chemical operations that takes place in all living things so as to sustain life. Whenever we consume foods that consist of carbohydrates like cereal, bread, dairy foods, fruits, vegetables, etc., our bodies break down these food items into glucose, the major fuel resource for the human body.

The glucose enters into the blood in order to be consumed by our cells for energy. Should there be too much sugar in the bloodstream it moves into the liver where is gets saved as glycogen that your body can make use of at another time if necessary. But, for the cells to be able to take in the glucose the hormone insulin has to be available.

Insulin is actually a hormone made within the pancreas that enables the sugar within the blood to penetrate the cells in our bodies. After you have eaten, insulin is secreted from the pancreas in appropriate quantities to encourage the assimilation of blood sugar by our cells which lessens the level of glucose in the bloodstream.

Diabetes takes place when your pancreas ceases producing insulin, doesn't make enough or your body's cells can't effectively work with the insulin which is secreted. Consequently the body consists of an increased quantity of blood sugar. Despite the fact that your bloodstream has so much sugar, your cells are unable to process it and over time the sugar will exit from your body through your urine.

Diabetes Mellitus

Most of us have heard the word diabetes, so then what on earth is Diabetes Mellitus? Whenever anybody makes use of the word diabetes these individuals are talking about diabetes mellitus, the terms are interchangeable.

This particular medical lingo comes from a couple of completely different places. The term diabetes originates from the Greek term "diabainein" which means to move through. This in all likelihood was making reference to the increased urination that is usually connected to this disease.

The word "mellitus" originated from Thomas Willis a British physician who lived back in the 1600s. Despite the fact that it was widely known for hundreds of years that urine of individuals with diabetes is sweet, he applied the Latin term which meant "sweet as honey." Add them together and you'll wind up with a term that when translated stands for "excessive sweet urine."

There exists, however, an additional type of diabetes in which this is simply not the fact. "Diabetes Insipidus" features a number of the identical symptoms as diabetes does including being very thirsty and urinating often. In spite of this, in this instance you will not find extra blood glucose getting passed via the urine. In actuality the urine is watered down and tasteless therefore the word "insipidus" which happens to be Latin for devoid of taste.

Conclusion

Diabetes is actually a condition which affects almost twenty-six million individuals in the United States with millions more that are not even diagnosed. During this past year there were two million individuals above 20 years of age that were newly identified as having diabetes.

What you really need to know about diabetes is that it's a very dangerous illness that can cause additional complications such as nerve and eye damage, cardiovascular problems, kidney failure and stroke to mention a few. For these reasons early diagnosis and treatments are crucial to prevent truly serious as well as possibly fatal consequences.

By Lynn Woods

The International Diabetes Association (IDA) has taken the position that bariatric (weight loss) surgery should be considered early on as a cost-effective treatment option to avoid serious complications in type 2 diabetics who are moderately or severely obese.

The IDA 2011 position statement was released around the same time that the FDA expanded the approval of the Lap-Band Adjustable Gastric Banding System procedure for use in a wider range of obese patients, including diabetics.

The Lap-Band procedure was first approved by the FDA in 2001 for patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher, or for those with a BMI of 35 and at least one other serious obesity-related condition, such as diabetes mellitus or high blood pressure.

Lap-Band gastric banding is now approved for those with a BMI of 30 to 35. But bariatric surgery of any kind should only be used when conventional methods weight loss methods such as diet and exercise have failed. Any such surgery must be accompanied by long-term lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise to be successful.

Both gastric banding and sleeve gastrectomy are minimally invasive laparoscopic surgeries, performed through small incisions in the abdomen. In gastric banding surgery, an inflatable silicone device is place on the top portion of the stomach to create a small pouch.

This pouch will only hold about ½ cup of food, as opposed to the 6 cups a normal stomach will hold. The smaller stomach not only helps the patient eat less by making them feel full sooner, it also slows the passage of food into the rest of the stomach and the digestive tract. As the patient loses (or gains) weight, the band is adjusted to maintain comfort and effectiveness.

In a sleeve gastrectomy, the stomach is surgically reduced to about one-quarter of its normal size, leaving it the shape of a narrow "sleeve" or tube. The portion of the stomach that is removed secretes an appetite hormone called Ghrelin. Once removed, the patient's appetite is said to decrease. The procedure is irreversible.

A gastric bypass is a more complicated irreversible gastrointestinal surgery in which a pouch is created at the top of the stomach, and then connected directly to the middle of the small intestine, bypassing the rest of the stomach and the upper intestine, or duodenum. The part of the intestines that is bypassed is where vitamins and minerals are the most easily absorbed, meaning patients must guard against nutritional deficiencies following a gastric bypass.

Studies published in the Archives of Surgery comparing the newer laparoscopic gastric banding surgery and sleeve gastrectomy to the conventional gastric bypass surgery found that, while conventional bypass surgery resulted in higher weight loss, the less invasive Lap-Band procedure was "safer", with fewer complications.

Many bariatric surgery experts believe that surgery which bypasses the duodenum is the most effective for diabetes control because the duodenum plays a role in insulin resistance, and bypassing it reduces insulin resistance in patients with diabetes mellitus. A gastric bypass also results in the most weight loss. "It's very clear - bypass is better than band, period," states bariatric surgeon Dr. Guilherme M. Campos from the University of the Wisconsin School of Medicine, "And if you are diabetic with obesity, the best treatment is a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass."

By Lynn Woods

Diabetes and obesity are closely linked, and many diabetics struggle to follow their doctor's orders to lose weight. The biopharmaceutical company Vivus hopes to market an investigational new drug, Qnexa, as both a weight loss drug and a diabetes medication.

Qnexa is in phase 3 clinical trials to treat obesity, and in phase 2 clinical development for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and sleep apnea. The most recent clinical trial of Qnexa as a weight loss drug resulted in an average 10 percent weight loss in study participants.

Qnexa is a combination of the appetite suppressant phentermine, (best known as the "phen" in fen-phen, a controversial weight loss drug that was pulled off the market in 1997), and the anticonvulsant topiramate, prescribed to treat epilepsy and prevent migraine headaches.

Qnexa was denied approval in late 2010, when the FDA expressed concerns about a slightly increased risk of adverse psychiatric and cardiovascular events, and questioned the possibility of birth defects in pregnant women taking the drug.

More than 2400 patients took part in the latest study. Study participants were all clinically obese, and also suffered from two or more secondary medical conditions such as diabetes or heart disease. Patients also saw improvements in high blood pressure, cholesterol and A1C levels (glycated hemoglobin). High A1C levels indicate high levels of blood glucose in diabetics.

Shares of Vivus have increased up to sixteen percent in value since the latest study results were released. If approved, Qnexa would be the first new weight loss drug on the market in more than ten years. Currently, the only FDA approved prescription weight loss drug is orlistat (Zenical). Orlistat prevents the body from absorbing the fat in food, and is known for unpleasant side effects such as loose, oily stools, fecal incontinence and flatulence.

A second weight-loss drug manufacturer, Orexigen, is also struggling to get FDA approval for their new diet drug, Contrave. Contrave is a combination of bupropion (the antidepressant Wellbutrin, also marketed as the smoking cessation aid Zyban) and naltrexone, an opiate antagonist prescribed to treat narcotic and alcohol addiction. Contrave is designed to curb food cravings, and proved effective than Qnexa in terms of weight loss.

Contrave passed a major hurdle in late 2010 when an FDA advisory committee voted 13-7 for its approval, but the FDA disagreed in early 2011, asking for a new clinical trial evaluating the drug's cardiovascular risks.

Arena Pharmaceutical's Lorcaserin was the third diet drug to fail to win FDA approval in 2010, when the FDA deemed that safety concerns outweighed the drug's "marginal effectiveness".

By Kirsten Whittaker

As if you need one more reason to not smoke... or to avoid the effects of secondhand smoke, a groundbreaking study finds that cigarette smoke brings an increased risk of type II diabetes risk factors, for the smoker and for the non smokers around them. The risk goes up with the amount of secondhand smoke you're exposed to.

Researchers tell us that the risks of developing diabetes from secondhand smoke weren't known before, but that these findings reinforce the lesson that you need to limit your exposure.

Tobacco smoke has over 4,000 chemicals, and more than 60% of them are known to cause cancer.

Secondhand smoke is a combination of two forms of smoke that come from burning tobacco - sidestream smoke (from the end of the lighted cigarette, pipe or cigar) and mainstream smoke (exhaled from the smoker's mouth).

It's the sidestream smoke that has higher concentrations of the cancer causing substances than the smoke that comes from the smoker.

For the research experts examined the responses of over one hundred thousand women to questionnaires answered back in 1982.

The subjects were all female, all nurses taking part in a nationwide study known as the Nurses' Health Study that lasted several decades, supplied information on how much exposure they had to cigarette smoke.

Over the following two decades around one in 18 subjects was diagnosed with type II diabetes.

The team discovered that women smokers who smoked over two packets a day were most at risk of developing diabetes. This meant that for each 10,000 subjects in the study, around 30 of the women classed as heavy smokers were diagnosed with diabetes each year, in comparison with around 25 women who didn't smoke, and hadn't been exposed to others cigarette smoke.

The risks were increased for ex-smokers as well as women who were exposed to secondhand smoke. In both groups, around 40 out of 10,000 women were diagnosed with diabetes each year. Once the research team took factors like weight, age and family medical history into account, the women who used to smoke had a 12% increased risk of diabetes in comparison to those who were exposed to secondhand smoke on a regular basis.

No one is sure why secondhand smoke and type II diabetes might be connected, though inflammation might be a part of the picture.

Type 2 diabetes is the form that normally develops in adults, affecting both men and women equally, and is a chronic condition where the body can't process sugar properly. Sometimes patients can control their condition with diet and exercise, while more advanced disease calls for insulin. Diabetes that goes unmanaged, or poorly managed, brings the risks of many dangerous, life-altering complications.

The researchers believe there's no reason to think the findings would not apply to men because the diabetes risk factors are similar for men and women. Today the danger of the effects of secondhand smoke is well recognized, and federal, state and local authorities are enacting clean indoor air ordinances to protect nonsmokers from health problems, like type 2 diabetes, that may come from exposure to secondhand smoke.