August 31, 2016 · 4:22 AM

Ghee is making a comeback, at least in India

Also known as clarified butter, ghee is a traditional food in India. I’ve been reading about it for several years but I haven’t tried it yet.

From Times of India:

“Clarified butter remained India’s culinary star for centuries till it was sidelined in the 1980s by vegetable oils because of its high saturated fat. The new oils were aggressively marketed as superior and heart-healthy. Of late, research has shown that saturated fats have no link to obesity, heart disease or early death. In January 2015, the US dietary guidelines declared for the first time that total dietary fat and cholesterol intake are not a concern for healthy people. Now, on the back of some recent studies which maintain that it reduces fat and lower cholesterol, ghee too is making a big comeback in India. It is also making a splash abroad in alternative health circuits.”

Source: Ghee with glee – Times of India

You can make your own ghee. Alton Brown has a recipe, as does Michelle Tam.

If you still think saturated fat is bad, here’s the research proving otherwise.

Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: If you fear saturated fat, rest assured there’s none in my books.

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August 27, 2016 · 1:00 PM

Mediterranean Diet Linked to Better Sex For Diabetics

“The current study is the first long-term dietary trial demonstrating that the Mediterranean diet conferred benefit on both prevention (56% relative risk reduction) and deterioration of sexual dysfunction in both men and women with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. In adults with type 2 diabetes, a Mediterranean-style dietary pattern may improve the inflammatory milieu and cardiovascular risk, both these effects being beneficial to achieving improvement of sexual dysfunction in people with diabetes.”

Source: Primary Prevention of Sexual Dysfunction With Mediterranean Diet in Type 2 Diabetes: The MÈDITA Randomized Trial | Diabetes Care

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August 27, 2016 · 2:00 AM

Youth-Onset Type 2 Diabetes Consensus Report: Current Status, Challenges, and Priorities

A snippet:

“Type 2 diabetes in youth clearly differs from type 1 diabetes and more closely resembles the pathophysiology in adults: insulin resistance and nonautoimmune β-cell failure. However, youth-onset type 2 diabetes displays unique aspects, such as rapidly progressive β-cell decline and accelerated development of diabetes complications. Treatment options for youth-onset type 2 diabetes are inadequate, limited to two approved drugs (insulin and metformin) and the promotion of healthy lifestyles. Comprehensive, coordinated, and innovative strategies for the investigation, prevention, and treatment of youth-onset type 2 diabetes are urgently needed.”

Source: Youth-Onset Type 2 Diabetes Consensus Report: Current Status, Challenges, and Priorities | Diabetes Care

How about trying low-carb diet?

 

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August 26, 2016 · 4:22 PM

Diabetes-related vision loss growing worldwide 

Photo of the retina at the back of the eyeball

Photo of the retina at the back of the eyeball

After near-sightedness, diabetes affecting the eyes (aka diabetic retinopathy) is the leading cause of impaired vision in adults. The key to preventing retinopathy is strict control of blood sugars, especially early in the course of diabetes. Controlling blood pressure and not smoking are of secondary importance.

MNT has the details on the global increase in retinopathy:

“The worldwide burden of diabetes-related vision loss is growing alarmingly. Over 2 decades from 1990-2010, the number of people worldwide with diabetes-related blindness or visual impairment rose by an alarming 27 percent and 64 percent, respectively. In 2010, 1 in every 52 people had vision loss and 1 in every 39 people were blind due to diabetic retinopathy – where the retina is damaged by diabetes.

The researchers suggest poor control of blood glucose and inadequate access to eye health services in many parts of the world are contributing to the growing global burden of diabetes-related vision loss.

These figures are the result of an analysis by a global consortium, who recently published their work online in the journal Diabetes Care.

As the number of people living with diabetes worldwide grows, so does the chance that more people will develop diabetic retinopathy and suffer subsequent vision loss, especially if they do not receive or adhere to the care they need.Diabetic retinopathy is a disease of the retina that damages sight as a result of chronic high blood sugar in diabetes. The high sugar damages the delicate blood vessels in the retina – the light-sensitive layer of tissue that lines the back of the eye.”

Source: Diabetes-related vision loss growing worldwide – Medical News Today

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August 26, 2016 · 7:35 AM

Debate: Is the Paleo Diet the Best for Diabetes?

Amy Tenderich and HealthLine enter the fray:

“The Paleo Diet, otherwise known as the “Caveman Diet,”  is hugely popular at the moment. And lots of folks want to know how it plays with diabetes…

The DiabetesMine Team has taken a deep dive here into what this eating plan entails, and what nutrition experts and research have to say about it.”

Source: The Paleo (Caveman) Diet and Diabetes

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August 26, 2016 · 7:11 AM

R.D. Dikeman on the Terrible Diet Advice Given to Type 1 Diabetics

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August 23, 2016 · 5:17 PM

In Ontario, the Prevalence of Diabetes for South Asian Men Doubled in the Last Decade

…according to a study published in BMJ Open. This has to be mostly type 2 diabetes. The prevalence of diabetes in South Asian men living in Ontario, Canada, increased from 7 to 15% from 2001 to 2012. The increase may reflect adverse effects of a Western diet.

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August 22, 2016 · 7:40 PM

Can we target cancer with ketogenic diets? Can you help? 

Richard David Feinman is raising money for ground-breaking research that may help cure cancer. I think it’s a worthy cause.

Dr. Feinman writes:

“We have a good deal of enthusiasm in the keto/paleo/low-carb community. We have the real sense that we can we use carbohydrate restriction to take advantage of the characteristic metabolic features of cancer — inflexible reliance on glucose. Enthusiasm may have outstripped the data and several groups are trying to fill the gap. The barrier rests with the difficulty for anybody to obtain funding from NIH or other government or private agencies and the long-standing resistance to low-carbohydrate diets makes it particularly difficult.We have some good experiments and a dedicated technician and we can efficiently use limited funds. Your backing can help. A $ 15 donation gets us several days of supplies for the in vitro experiments that provide the biochemical underpinnings for attacking cancer in the clinic. Our project at experiment.com provides background, a place for discussion and reports from the lab.

The current metabolic point of view in cancer — emphasizing flexibility of fuel choices —  derives from renewed interest in the Warburg effect. Warburg saw that many cancer cells were producing lactic acid, the product of glycolysis. In other words, the tumors were not using the more efficient aerobic metabolism even when oxygen was present in the environment. The tumor cell’s requirement for glucose suggests the possibility of giving the host an advantage by restricting carbohydrate and offering ketone bodies as an alternative fuel.”

Click the link below for a little more info and to make a donation:

Source: Can we target cancer with ketogenic diets? Can you help? | Richard David Feinman

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August 21, 2016 · 3:53 PM

Fight Aging With Fish-Derived Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Cold-water fatty fish loaded with omega-3 fatty acids include salmon, trout, sardines, herring, and mackerel

Cold-water fatty fish loaded with omega-3 fatty acids include salmon, trout, sardines, herring, and mackerel

A daily fish oil supplement for six months improved muscle size and strength in a group of elderly folks.

Admittedly it was a small study but it was randomized and the only intervention applied was for the experimental group to take 1.86 grams of EPA and 1.5 grams of DHA daily for six months. The control group was given corn oil. Study participants were 60–85 years old. The specific form of the fish-derived fatty acids was a proprietary product called Lovaza.

Improved strength during aging should help with maintenance of independent daily activities and prevention of falls. In other words, these fatty acids are anti-aging. I’d like to see the study replicated with more study participants.

I don’t know if the study was paid for by Lovaza’s manufacturer, nor whether that would influence results.

This study supports my recommendation of cold-water fatty fish (great sources of omega-3 fatty acids) in all my diets:

Steve Parker, M.D.

 

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August 19, 2016 · 2:03 PM

Diabetes Drugs: SGLT2 Inhibitor May Improve Kidney Health

I’m not sure I believe this, but here ya go:

“A new class of diabetes drugs can protect kidney health in addition to lowering blood sugar levels, study results suggest.

The findings, published August 18 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, investigated the renal effects of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, specifically canagliflozin, which reduce blood sugar by augmenting the excretion of glucose into urine.

“Since glycemic control is only modestly different between canagliflozin and glimepiride, our results suggest that potential kidney protective effects of canagliflozin may be unrelated to glycemic control,” the lead study author, Hiddo Lambers Heerspink, PhD, of the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands, said in a statement.”

Source: New Diabetes Drugs May Also Improve Kidney Health | Medpage Today

PS: Even if these results are reproducible, remember that they may not apply to all drugs in the SGLT2 inhibitor class.

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