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  • Latest research findings on glucagon link to obesity from UT Southwest

    UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have identified a crucial link between high levels of insulin and pathways that lead to obesity, a finding that may have important implications when treating diabetes.

    Researchers with the UT Southwestern’s Touchstone Center for Diabetes found that giving mice high levels of insulin, which is typically done to counter the effects of diabetes or insulin resistance in Type 2 diabetes, also fosters processes that lead to obesity.

    The discovery was made by studying mice engineered to lack receptors for a hormone called glucagon.
    Glucagon spurs the liver’s production of glucose into the bloodstream and thus maintains the fuel supply for the brain. Insulin blocks the secretion of glucagon, opposes glucagon action on the liver, and instructs the body to take up glucose from the blood. Type 2 diabetics cannot respond properly to insulin and have uncontrolled glucagon production, thereby causing their livers to overproduce glucose, contributing to high blood-sugar levels. Insulin is often given to people with type 2 diabetes to try to overcome insulin-resistance and lower the levels of glucose in the bloodstream.

    But insulin also signals the body to produce fat, so when given the high levels of insulin needed to control excess glucose, mice become fat, explained corresponding author Dr. Michael Roth, Professor of Biochemistry at UT Southwestern and a member of the Touchstone Diabetes Center.
    “We found that mice lacking the receptor for glucagon cannot get fat unless they are given the high levels of insulin found in mice (and humans) that have type 2 diabetes,” said Dr. Roth, who holds the Diane and Hal Brierley Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Research. “This result suggests that the high levels of insulin found in those who develop insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes are a contributor to obesity and its complications.”
    Dr. Roth cautioned that if this response also happens in humans, then treating patients with type 2 diabetes with higher than normal amounts of insulin could contribute to the development of obesity.

    The findings suggest that physicians may need to reconsider use of intensive insulin therapy to control hyperglycemia (high blood-sugar levels) in obese, diabetic patients with hyperinsulinemia (overproduction of insulin). In addition, the findings suggest that suppressing glucagon action could prevent hyperinsulinemia, without causing diabetes. The research team found that suppressing glucagon in obese, insulin-resistant, type 2 diabetic mice reduced blood glucose back to normal levels.
    Glucagon and insulin normally counteract each other as part of an ongoing effort to stabilize blood-sugar levels. The glucagon hormone is produced and released by the pancreas in response to low concentrations of insulin and, conversely, glucagon release is suppressed by high levels of insulin in the bloodstream. The balance between the two hormones is disrupted in type 2 diabetics by the insulin that is given to control high glucose levels. This excess insulin, in turn, causes the body to produce excess fat. The new findings lead the authors to suggest that the high insulin levels actually aggravate diabetes. The optimal therapy, they propose, should be diet restriction and reducing glucagon levels.
    According to estimates of the World Health Organization (WHO), 347 million people worldwide have diabetes, 90 percent of whom are affected by type 2 diabetes. Although previously only seen in adults, type 2 diabetes is now occurring in children, and can include complications such as an increased risk of heart disease and stroke, nerve damage, and eye disease.
    The work, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, builds upon original research by Nobel laureates and Regental Professors Dr. Michael Brown, Director of the Jonsson Center for Molecular Genetics, and Dr. Joseph Goldstein, Chairman of Molecular Genetics, who showed that insulin increases lipogenesis, the production of fat, and demonstrated the role of insulin in the activity of SREBP family of transcription factors.

  • Shortage of Doctors Who Treat Diabetes, Surplus of People with Diabetes

    Shortage of Doctors Who Treat Diabetes 

    FRIDAY, June 20, 2014 (HealthDay News) — According to the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism,  (June 18, 2014) a growing shortage of endocrinologists in the United States means that patients may have to wait longer to see one of these specialists, a new study suggests.  Endocrinologists treat conditions related to hormones, including diabetes, thyroid disorders, obesity, osteoporosis and adrenal diseases.

    Currently, there is a shortage of about 1,500 endocrinologists who treat adults and 100 endocrinologists who treat children. The demand for endocrinologists who treat children is expected to be met by 2016, but the shortage of endocrinologists for adults is expected to remain the same or become worse.

    As the U.S. population ages, the number of older people who develop diabetes or other endocrine disorders is likely to climb, while a large number of current endocrinologists are expected to retire, according to the study released online June 18 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

    “There already is a significant shortage of adult endocrinologists. Without a concerted effort to recruit more endocrinologists, the gap between the number of endocrinologists and the demand for their care will increase even further and patients will struggle to get the care they need,” Dr. Robert Vigersky, past president of the Endocrine Society and one of the study’s authors, said in a journal news release.

    “The analysis found the number of new entrants to the workforce must grow at a rate of 14 percent a year to close the gap in five years,” he said.

    Income is one reason for the endocrinologist shortage, according to the study. Endocrinologists tend to earn less than specialists in fields.

    “Improved reimbursement rates that reflect the true value of endocrinologists’ care are required to encourage more physicians to choose endocrinology as a specialty,” noted Vigersky.  In 2012, the average wait time for adults who made a non-urgent appointment with an endocrinologist was 37 days. That wait time was the same as in 1999, despite a 52 percent increase in the number of endocrinologists who treat adults.

     

  • Yikes! Another life saved, by a Grandma.

    My name is Ainsley Faith. I’ve been diabetic since I was 18 months old.   I’m almost 5 now, so that means I’ve had this disease a lot longer in my life than I haven’t had it.  I don’t remember life before at all.  Even though my mommy and daddy know it’s rough dealing with a kid with diabetes, they figure it’s probably a lot worse dealing with a kid who already knows what it’s like to eat and drink without a care in the world.

    At my diagnosis, the doctors said that it was a miracle that I was being diagnosed before diabetic ketoacidosis, DKA.  Most toddlers become unconscious and fall into a coma.  That’s the parents’ first clue something is wrong.   Mama says that God told her something was going on,  because she said she knew I had diabetes before I even had symptoms.  Really. My grandmama is a type 2 diabetic and mama wanted to use her meter to test my blood sugar a couple of weeks before I was hospitalized. Grandmama said that she was NOT gonna make the baby (AKA me!) bleed because my mama was neurotic. That’s a big word for crazy.

    Then, I started getting sick to my stomach.  I turned REALLY crabby. I cried a lot and always finished my drinks as soon as they were handed to me.   One night, Grandma was babysitting me and she called my Mama to say I’d wet my pants and gotten urine on my jeans. Mama insisted that Grandma check my blood sugar. The meter didn’t have a number on it, though. It just said, “HI.” Grandmama said she didn’t know what that meant. Mama said it meant she was right and I DID have diabetes. We went to the Children’s Hospital that night,  and everything in my life changed. My blood sugar was 587. I was given 1 unit of NPH  insulin and 1 unit of Humalog insulin.   I dropped to 43. Less than 2 drops of insulin did that. Talk about scary.

    It was a Friday and they kept me until Sunday morning, teaching mama and daddy about insulin.   I slept a lot, but then, Saturday afternoon, when my blood sugar was more normal I woke up and wanted to play. Our Children’s Hospital is pretty cool—it has wagons and scooters to ride in the hallways in case the patients get bored.

    Mama didn’t like the NPH a whole lot so she fought with the doctors over the next couple of months. See, they said that you couldn’t have an insulin pump until you were 6. Mama said that was silly. I started pumping in February of 2009, just before I turned 2. I’m still one of the youngest kids in my state to pump. A new endocrinologist moved here and she’s cool about pumping. I hope a lot more kids get to pump because it made a big difference.  And, not to brag or anything, but I also have a CGM so that mama and daddy can see my numbers as they happen. That helps a lot, too–especially since I have a bit of a sweet tooth.

    So, that’s my story so far. I started kindergarten last year.  When I get a little bigger, I can type all of this myself. Right now, all I can really say about diabetes is that it stinks.

     

  • Reduce carbs and increase protein when making your favorite recipes

    How about making your favorite dishes even more appealing by making them healthier and giving them more flavor at the same time?

    Add vanilla whey proteinpowder to all baked goods to boost the protein.  It’s vanilla flavored so I leave out the vanilla if the recipe calls for it. One scoop is 25 grams of protein and 8 grams of carbs.  

    For every cup of flour substitute  1/4 soy flour and 3/4 cups of regular flour.  Soy flour is 10 grams of protein for 1/4 cup.  I frequently add an extra egg to my baked goods too, but this can make them more “Cakey” or dry, so add 1T of olive oil or water to compensate.

    Adding wheat germ for a fiber boost works pretty well for the quick breads/muffins  (banana, carrot, pear, apple etc)  

    You can experiment with adding powdered eggs to up the protein too but I’ve had mixed results.  Powered eggs work best in recipes with cheese or cream.

    When bake cookies don’t add the whey, just switch out with half soy and half regular flour.  Almond flour adds a neat taste to baked goods but it’s way more expensive than soy flour.    

    When cooking a non meat meal it usually has black or pinto  beans in it with a rice or other whole grain source.  The two combine to make a complete protein, and you can add some cheese to it as well.  Try a soy based food called tofu: add 1-2T to most sauces (it’s creamy and blends well with cheese)