For example, having type II diabetes might cause people to feel more depressed because they are sick. Likewise, having depression might cause people to not eat healthy or get any exercise and lead to diabetes. Many scientists, me included, feel that there are common lifestyle factors that lead to type II diabetes and depression at the same time. There are an abundance of studies implicating exercise (or lack of it) in the onset of both diseases. There are also many studies highlighting the role of nutrition in both diabetes and depression.

Now, a new study, published in the October 2007 edition of PLOS Biology, sheds more light on this relationship with a focus on insulin at the center. Anyone with diabetes is well versed in the importance of insulin. It is a primary hormone that controls blood sugar levels, which the body needs to maintain tight control over for survival.

Insulin has many jobs
Your pancreas releases insulin into your bloodstream whenever blood sugar levels rise. In type II diabetes two things go wrong. One, your pancreas becomes less responsive to making and releasing insulin; and two, cells throughout your body start to ignore the insulin that is released. Since insulin is important in so many different body functions, this becomes a serious problem.

The findings in the new study revolve around another role of insulin in the brain. The researchers discovered that dopamine activity in a part of the brain that promotes feelings of pleasure and reward are dependent upon insulin. In my opinion, this has a couple of far reaching implications.

Does insulin promote addiction?
The research suggests that diabetics, who lack the ability to produce insulin, will have a more difficult time feeling joy and pleasure because the brain circuits that control these feelings will be less active. This may be one link between the co-occurrences of type II diabetes and depression.

From a scientific perspective, this is a very interesting finding. But from a health perspective how does it help us prevent these diseases in the first place? The new research suggests that rises in insulin might boost the activity of pleasure and reward centers, the same ones that are stimulated by addictive drugs like amphetamine and cocaine.

When does your insulin go up? It goes up after a high sugar meal. It means that high sugar meals might stimulate addictive centers in the brain.

I've been touting the benefits of feeding yourself and your kids low-glycemic (essentially low sugar) meals for some time. This new research adds fuel to that argument by suggesting that sugar might actually be addictive. Maybe not in the same sense that elicit drugs are addictive, but that they have some degree of addictive tendencies themselves.

The irony is that eating high-glycemic meals actually makes you feel good in the short-term by increasing insulin and boosting activity of your brain's pleasure centers. But after years of eating sugar your pancreas will eventually burn out and lead to type II diabetes and possibly depression, leaving you with the opposite feelings that you ate the sugar for in the first place.

The take home message?
Get the high sugar cereals and other foods out of your house. Don't set yourself and your kids up for a lifetime of battling the cravings for these disease promoting foods.

Why does depression cause diabetes?
The diabetes disease can be brought on by depression. Cortisol, a stress hormone can increase if you get depressed. This hormone can reduce insulin sensitivity. Once insulin sensitivity is compromised the diabetes disease can begin to flourish in your body. This condition of depression is more prevalent in older people. Depression is often undiagnosed. Loss of a loved one may be characterized as grief, a temporary issue instead of depression.

In the four states of Pennsylvania, California, North Carolina and Maryland 4,681 men and women were tracked with an average age of 73. The Archives of Internal Medicine disclosed the following: In these three scenarios (single bouts of depression, chronic depression and depression that worsened over time) an increased risk of diabetes existed in all three cases when depression prevailed.

Some signs for possible depression problems can show up physically or emotionally. Check for some of these symptoms so you can put yourself on a healthier track for yourself. The sooner you recognize any of these issues the quicker you can right your ship.

You just don't care. Enjoying things is not on your priority list. Your sleep schedule has run amok. You have a hard time falling asleep or you often arise during the night. Quick weight gains or losses occur.

You feel tired most of the time.
Your self esteem has gone down hill. You feel like you cannot do anything right and you worry about being a burden to people. Mornings usually are the saddest time of the day for you.

You have suicidal thoughts or you think about different ways to harm yourself.
Should you have any of these symptoms you can be hurting yourself mentally but you may compound the issue by bringing on type 2 diabetes as well. Let's break the combination of diabetes and depression by seeing a doctor or joining a support group so you can voice your issues and improve your condition.

Recognizing these issues is the first step to gaining a healthier lifestyle. If you have any concerns about diabetes or potential diabetes issues then claim your free ecourse. It will help you deal with diabetes in a safe and natural way.

By Beverleigh H Piepers

According to a study performed by the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College of London, poor blood sugar control can be associated with depression. The results of the study were published in the journal Psychological Medicine in January 2011.

Earlier studies showed associations between high blood sugar and depression, but it was not clear whether the Type 2 diabetes causes the depression, or vice versa. Depression has been found to be twice as common in people with diabetes, and often the depression is much more severe and lasts longer than in non-diabetics. The London researchers looked at glycosylated hemoglobin percentages, (HbA1c), which is a "real" measure of how well blood sugar is controlled, and the mood of the volunteers two years later.

Four thousand three hundred and thirty-eight older adults were recruited for the study:

* symptoms of depression were assessed at the beginning of the project and again two years later
* the HbA1c percentage, fasting blood sugar levels, and behavior were assessed at the beginning of the study

After two years 11.5 per cent of the participants were diagnosed with depression. The number of diabetics with symptoms of depression increased as the HbA1c percentage increased. People with diabetes had more signs of depression than those with normal blood sugar levels. It was therefore concluded that diabetes and high blood sugar levels had increased the risk for depression two years later.

Your HbA1c level: If you do not know your HbA1c percentage, now would be a good time to find out. Normal values are below 7. If your level is above 7, then your blood sugar has been too high over the past three months.

There are two ways of improving your HbA1c level, and the best way is a combination of both.

1. Eating a healthful diet will help by switching to smart carbohydrates, emphasizing low-glycemic (low-GI) load foods. So think about the glycemic index of foods before choosing them. The glycemic index measures how much and how quickly a particular food will make your blood sugar rise. It is determined by the type of carbs and fiber contained in the food. High-GI foods, such as white bread and white rice, gives you a quick blood sugar boost that also fades quickly, leaving you hungry again. A GI of 50 or below is considered low. Fruits and vegetables tend to have low-glycemic indices, while highly processed foods with high carb content tend to have high indices. Ten large cherries, for instance, have a GI of 22. One deep-fried doughnut, on the other hand, has a GI of 75.

2. In conjunction with a healthy diet, physical activity will help to burn calories and help to increase insulin sensitivity. If you can't exercise for 30 minutes in one sitting, split it into three 10 minute smaller workouts. Ten minutes here and there adds up to health benefits for your body. Any way you can increase your physical activity during your day will help.

According to research at Washington University, Saint Louis, people with Type 2 diabetes also respond well to psychological counseling, anti-depressant medications, or a combination of both. Making special effort to lower your stress level through exercise, meditation, or other means, can also help.

Controlling blood sugar can also lead to improvements in depression.