That's Fit

Last week, Diabetes Alert Day was celebrated on March 25th. According to popular diabetes website dLife.com, this awareness campaign is aimed at people becoming more aware of type 2 diabetes and taking a few minutes to assess their own diagnosis potential.

But, what about type 1 diabetes?

Wait a second ... did you even know there were two types of diabetes? If not, you're not alone, as it seems that there are many people who also lack awareness of this difference. Unlike people with type 2 diabetes, people with type 1 are usually diagnosed when they are children after their pancreatic beta cells stop producing insulin. This cessation has nothing to do with weight, diet, or even blood sugar fluctuations at its onset. It simply happens, and it does so for reasons unknown.

Many feel that the differences between type 1 and type 2 are so stark that they should not both fall under the umbrella category of "diabetes." Pointing to the fact that various types of cancer have their own respective names (as opposed to merely being labeled Cancer 1, Cancer 2, and so forth), many feel that type 1 should be renamed entirely, as doing so will help raise awareness of this much lesser known (and incurable) version of the disease.

To that end, Monday, April 14th has officially been designated Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Day. Though the name of the disease remains the same, the level of awareness will surely be raised through this campaign. To help spread the word about the "Raise Your Voice: Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Day" campaign, be sure to pass this information along to as many people as you can!!

When we think of diabetes, we tend to assume that it affects either those who were diagnosed with it in childhood or those who are severely overweight. But guess what? Normal weight people can have diabetes too, and even if you don't notice the symptoms--fatigue, thirst, excessive urination--doesn't mean they're not there in a milder form.

This article from The Daily Mail talks about Diabetes in depth and even looks at the blood sugar levels of a handful of average adults. The results are surprising -- some seemingly healthy adults have blood sugar levels that should be investigated.

Does this mean that if you're tired, you have diabetes? No, but it does mean that you should be careful -- don't ignore your symptoms, and let your doctor know if something seems off.

I've done the walks for the past three years. In fact, I've done a few of them each year -- in Rhode Island, in D.C., and in Connecticut. I do what I can to help raise money and awareness in support of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the one organization designed to help the estimated 1 million people in the U.S. living with type 1 diabetes. People like NBA star Adam Morrison. People like actress Mary Tyler Moore. People like my fiance.

This is why I felt incredibly disheartened by a story that appeared in yesterday's New York Times about the alleged misappropriation of funds by the JDRF. An internal audit led to the dismissal of two high-level employees with the organization after it was discovered that hundreds of thousands of dollars were unaccounted for. It appears as though these two employees created a scheme involving the use of fake receipts to justify phantom expenses.

Will this absence of funds bring the JDRF organization to its knees? That's extremely unlikely, considering the JDRF raises hundreds of millions of dollars annually to fund diabetes research. What it may do, however, is make people think twice about donating, or sponsoring a walker at an event, or even lending credibility to an organization that now walks the streets with a very big black eye. When it comes to raising money for a charity, people give with their hearts, not their minds. Thinking twice means thinking too much, and thinking too much all too often means thinking about other ways to part with money. And with the heart removed from their decision, a person who at one time may have been willing to help becomes just what I have: disheartened.

Scientists from the biotechnology company Novocell reported yesterday that they were able to regulate diabetes in mice by harnessing human embryonic stem cells. This research moves us a step closer to the possibility of one day using embryonic cells to treat the disease in people.

To effectuate these results, scientists changed stem cells into insulin-producing cells in mice, and those cells continued to keep blood sugar stable after the mice's own insulin-producing cells were destroyed.

In an interview with New York Times reporters, Dr. Camillo Ricordi, director of the Diabetes Research Institute at the University of Miami (but not involved in the study), stated "For those who say there is not much evidence that embryonic stem cells can cure diabetes, there you go,"

However, there are still some significant hurdles for the researchers to overcome before any human trials could take place. For one, a small number of the mice developed tumors. And, many experts feel that the cells might not be well-characterized enough for use in people. So, it may be quite some time before we hear more about this research. Nevertheless, it is great to know that such significant strides in the battle against diabetes are being made.

The babies of women who had diabetes during pregnancy -- be it gestational or type 1 or type 2 -- may have less of an ability to form early memories than children of non-diabetic women, say scientists from the University of California Davis. This could be due to the effect that fluctuating glucose levels have on iron levels in mothers, therefore also leading to an iron deficiency in the fetus -- which can reduce the blood's capacity to carry oxygen.

When oxygen and iron deficiencies occur prenatally, the development of memory may be altered. This belief is supported by studies held by the researchers from UC Davis, wherein it was shown that babies of diabetic mothers could recall two fewer objects (out of a series of nine objects in three levels of difficulty) than those babies of non-diabetic mothers. This applied for the older group of babies, as well as with infants of 12 months.

Green tea is a potent antioxidant, thanks to its primary active ingredient: Catechins.

In addition to helping to fight against free radical damage, green tea also shows promise in helping people with diabetes.

In a randomized crossover trial, published recently in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Japanese researchers discovered that when people with elevated blood glucose levels consumed a green tea extract, containing 456mg of catechins, daily for two months, they experienced a significant reduction in their hemoglobin A1C levels.

The results of a 25-year study show alarming racial difference between children with diabetes -- in fact, twice as many black children with diabetes died than white children throughout the last two and a half decades. And with diabetes on the rise, particularly type 2, researchers are hoping that the gap doesn't increase.

It's thought that these differences are a result of access to healthcare and health information; More specifically, black communities tend to have more limited healthcare and educational resources. And resources are the key -- without treatment, diabetes can lead to blindness, kidney failure and death.