diabetes

Eating Whole Fresh fruits lowers risk of diabetes, drinking juice raises it

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Eating more whole fresh fruit, especially blueberries, grapes, apples and pears, is linked to a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes, but drinking more fruit juice has the opposite effect, says a study. British, US and Singaporean researchers pored over data from three big health investigations that took place in the United States, spanning a … Read more

New ‘Smart’ Nanotherapeutics Can Deliver Drugs Directly to the Pancreas

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ScienceDaily (Jan. 12, 2012) — A research collaboration between the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and Children’s Hospital Boston has developed “smart” injectable nanotherapeutics that can be programmed to selectively deliver drugs to the cells of the pancreas. Although this nanotechnology will need significant additional testing and development before being ready for clinical use, it could potentially improve treatment for Type I diabetes by increasing therapeutic efficacy and reducing side effects.

The approach was found to increase drug efficacy by 200-fold in in vitro studies based on the ability of these nanomaterials to both protect the drug from degradation and concentrate it at key target sites, such as regions of the pancreas that contain the insulin-producing cells. The dramatic increase in efficacy also means that much smaller amounts of drugs would be needed for treatment, opening the possibility of significantly reduced toxic side effects, as well as lower treatment costs.

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Drug prevents Type 2 Diabetes in Majority of High-Risk Individuals

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A pill taken once a day in the morning prevented type 2 diabetes in more than 70 percent of individuals whose obesity, ethnicity and other markers put them at highest risk for the disease, U.S. scientists report.

The team also noted a 31 percent decrease in the rate of thickening of the carotid artery, the major vessel that supplies blood to the brain. The study, which enrolled 602 participants through The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio and seven collaborating centers, is described in the New England Journal of Medicine and has direct implications for the care of 40 million Americans who are pre-diabetic.

“It’s a blockbuster study,” said senior author Ralph DeFronzo, M.D., professor in the School of Medicine and chief of the diabetes division at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio. “The 72 percent reduction is the largest decrease in the conversion rate of pre-diabetes to diabetes that has ever been demonstrated by any intervention, be it diet, exercise or medication.”

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