Researchers from Sweden have identified a protein in blood that can indicate who is at risk of diabetes at an early stage, thereby reducing the chances of the disease to damage areas like blood vessels and eyes because of late diagnosis.

“We have shown that individuals who have above-average levels of a protein called SFRP4 in the blood are five times more likely to develop diabetes in the next few years than those with below-average levels,” Anders Rosengren, a researcher at the Lund University Diabetes Centre (LUDC), who led the work on the risk marker, said.

It is the first time a link has been established between the protein SFRP4, which plays a role in inflammatory processes in the body, and the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Studies at LUDC, in which donated insulin-producing beta cells from diabetic individuals and non-diabetic individuals have been compared, show that cells from diabetics have significantly higher levels of the protein.

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Asparagus, a popular vegetable, can keep diabetes at bay by helping blood sugar levels stay under control while boosting output of insulin, the hormone that helps the body absorb glucose, says a study.

Type two diabetes, which accounts for 90 percent of all diabetes cases, is emerging as a major health burden worldwide.

More than a million people are already affected by it in the UK alone but don’t realise they have it, perhaps because they do not recognise symptoms such as fatigue, thirst, frequent urination, recurrent thrush and wounds that are slow to heal, the British Journal of Nutrition reported.

Left untreated, type two diabetes can raise the risk of heart attacks, blindness and amputation. But if doctors catch it early, it can be well controlled with diet and medication, according to the Daily Mail.

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If you are under the impression that diabetes is an old man’s disease, you are wrong. More and more children are falling prey to this lifestyle disease and doctors say it is best to screen children too.

The theme of this year’s World Diabetes Day, being observed Wednesday, is: “Protect Our Future”.

“There has been an increase in the number of patients coming to clinics for diabetes screening in the last decade. The number of young people falling prey to the disease is also increasing,” said I.P.S. Kochar, paediatric and adolescent endocrinologist and diabetologist at Fortis Hospital here.

Type I diabetes, which is not lifestyle-induced, is more common among children. Doctors say the issue of concern, however, is the rising cases of Type II diabetes, which occurs due to lifestyle disorders.

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India will soon be the diabetes capital of the world. A lot of emphasis is being laid on right nutrition, exercise and a stress-free lifestyle to prevent diabetes.

On World Diabetes Day, we take a look at the benefits of eating a low glycemic index diet. Low GI foods can reduce the average blood glucose levels of diabetics. This is important in reducing the risk of developing diabetes-related complications.

Healthy low GI diets
• Help to fill you up and keep you feeling satisfied for longer — thereby avoiding over-eating or too much snacking.
• Lower your insulin levels — which makes fat easier to burn and less likely to be stored.
• Help you lose body fat and maintain lean muscle tissue.
• Reduce your triglycerides, total and ‘bad’ (LDL) cholesterol.
• Increase your levels of ‘good’ (HDL) cholesterol.
• Reduce your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
• Help to manage your blood glucose levels and reduce your risk of developing diabetes complications.
• Reduce your risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
• Reduce your risk of developing certain eye diseases.
• Improve your skin
• Sustain your energy levels longer, — which improves both mental and physical performance.

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People who drink black tea are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, say researchers.

A new analysis of data from 50 countries found that the nations who drank the most black tea also suffered the lowest levels of the metabolic syndrome.

Further the study, published in the British Medical Journal, found that high tea consumption was related to lower levels of obesity, the Daily Mail reported.

Scientists believe that the fermentation process, which turns green tea black, could also cause the production of complex health-giving ‘flavonoids.’

They analysed consumption of black tea and the prevalence of various diseases, including type-2 diabetes.

Ireland drank the most black tea, with each person consuming 2kg each a year, according to sales data. Britain and Turkey were close behind, with all three countries found to have lower levels of diabetes than others where consumption was low, including Brazil, Morocco and Mexico.

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Men who do weight training regularly-for example, for 30 minutes per day, five days per week-may be able to reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes by up to 34%, according to a new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and University of Southern Denmark researchers.

And if they combine weight training and aerobic exercise, such as brisk walking or running, they may be able to reduce their risk even further-up to 59%.

This is the first study to examine the role of weight training in the prevention of type 2 diabetes.

The results suggest that, because weight training appears to confer significant benefits independent of aerobic exercise, it can be a valuable alternative for people who have difficulty with the latter.

How can Indians prevent diabetes

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Obese people with excess visceral fat (abdominal fat that surrounds the body’s internal organs) have an increased risk for the development of Type 2 diabetes, a new study has revealed.

According to the study by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center, persons with excess abdominal subcutaneous fat (fat underneath the skin) were not at higher risk for the onset of diabetes.

The study is one of the largest of its kind to assess a multiethnic population of obese people in the US, using extensive imaging of adipose tissue.

“Among obese individuals, it is not necessarily how much fat a person has, but rather where the fat is located on a person that leads to diabetes,” the paper’s senior author, Dr. James de Lemos, professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern, said.

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Twenty minutes of vigorous exercise daily over just three months, can reduce a child’s risk of diabetes as well as his total body fat – including dangerous, deep abdominal fat, researchers have said.

“If exercise is good for you, then more exercise ought to be better for you and that is what we found for most of our outcomes,” Dr. Catherine Davis, clinical health psychologist at the Institute of Public and Preventive Health at Georgia Health Sciences University, Twenty minutes.

Pediatric and adult studies have shown the metabolic benefits of aerobic activity, but had yet to dissect differences in the dose response, or the amount of activity needed to elicit a given benefit.

The study looked at 222 overweight, previously inactive 7 to 11-year olds in the Augusta, Georgia, area and found more is better.

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Experts say post-menopausal women who have Type 2 diabetes may be at greater risk of developing breast cancer.

An international team examined 40 separate studies looking at the potential link between breast cancer and diabetes. These studies involved more than 56,000 women with breast cancer.

Being obese or overweight has been linked to both conditions. But cancer experts say there may be a direct connection between the two.

The researchers found that post-menopausal women with Type 2 diabetes had a 27 percent increased risk of breast cancer. But there was no link for pre-menopausal women or those with Type 1 diabetes.

Writing in the British Journal of Cancer, the researchers have suggested that a high body mass index (BMI), which is often associated with diabetes, may be an underlying contributing factor.

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Lifestyle change is the key to tackling diabetes among lower socio-economic groups in the society, say researchers who found that excess weight is the most important single contributing factor for developing the condition among these disadvantaged groups.

The burden of type 2 diabetes disproportionally affects these groups. Lifestyle related risk factors are thought to play a key role, but previous studies have tended to underestimate their effect.

So an international team of researchers set out to measure the contribution of several major risk factors for type 2 diabetes to socio-economic differences across society.

They assessed health behaviours (smoking, alcohol consumption, diet and physical activity), body mass index, and biological risk markers (blood pressure and lipid levels) in 7,237 middle-aged adults without diabetes, measuring these risk factors repeatedly over an average of 14 years.

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