Should People With Type 2 Diabetes Get Hepatitis B Vaccine?

December 30, 2011 

written by Michael O’Leary

Adults 23 to 59 with type 2 diabetes are about twice as likely to develop hepatitis B, compared to people without diabetes.

Citing that result from an accumulation of data monitored by the Centers for Disease Control’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the agency issued a recommendation that all unvaccinated adults under 60 with diabetes should get vaccinated for hepatitis B.

As reported by MedPage Today the CDC published its findings and recommendation in the Dec. 23, issue ofMorbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. (Link to published site)

Thirty Minutes of Exercise Per Week May Help Type 2 Diabetes

December 20, 2011 

Jonathan Little

written by Michael O’Leary

Can’t do 150 minutes of exercise per week? Maybe 30 minutes of intense training each week can help control your type 2 diabetes.

If you have type 2 diabetes and find it hard to fit in the 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise a week recommended by the American Diabetes Association, there may be a way to get as much benefit from 30 minutes a week, a small new study suggests.

Led by Jonathan Little, of the Departments of Kinesiology and of Pediatrics and Medicine at McMaster University, Ontario, the researchers found that six high-intensity training sessions totaling only 30 minutes per week for two weeks rapidly reduced high blood sugar and increased the capacity of skeletal muscles to use oxygen. (Link to published site)

Dapagliflozin maintains HbA1c control as companies seek to bolster case for approval

December 19, 2011

written by Michael O’Leary

Dr. Krzysztof Strojek

Adding dapagliflozin to glimepiride (Amaryl®) maintained reductions of blood sugar levels over nearly six months, in an extension of a study that had already shown that the combination of type-2 diabetes drugs was better than either drug alone.

The Polish study, extended to add data to the case for FDA approval of dapagliflozin by AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb, was presented at the Diabetes Federation World Diabetes Congress in Dubai, United Arab Emirates this past week. (Link to published site)

Omega-3 margarine may reduce second heart attack risk for type 2 diabetes

December 16, 2011 

written by Michael O’Leary

If you have diabetes, the margarine you use may reduce your risk of a heart attack, a Dutch study shows.

A group of men diagnosed with diabetes who added margarine with Omega-3 fatty acids to their diets after having heart attacks experienced an 84 percent reduction in abnormal heart rhythms after their heart attacks compared to similar patients who did not add the fortified margarine to their diets. (Link to published site)

GOOOOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!!!!!! Interim Results Promising for Lixisenatide

December 7, 2011

written by Michael O’Leary

More people with type 2 diabetes using insulin and metformin who have trouble keeping their blood glucose below 8 percent are able to reach their goal if they take lixisenatide with insulin and metformin.

That’s the interim result of the GetGoal Duo 1 study announced today in a press release by Sanofi Aventis, which has the marketing rights to the drug made by Zealand Pharma. (Link to published site)

Type 2 Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease? Don’t Let Your HbA1c Get Too Low

December 6, 2011

written by Michael O’Leary

If you have type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease, lowering your HbA1c too much may be as bad as not lowering it enough. That’s the conclusion of another study of people who have diabetes and stage 3 or 4 kidney disease. The study appears in this month’s Archives of Internal Medicine.

There were 23,296 patients in this study, all had been hospitalized in Alberta, Canada with stage 3 or 4 chronic kidney disease and type 1 or 2 diabetes. The researchers led by Dr. Marcello Tonnelli, of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, analyzed their medical records and categorized them by blood glucose control based on the first HbA1c measurement taken during the study period. They then tracked subsequent hospitalizations, heart attacks and other heart-related events as well as progression of the kidney disease. (Link to published site)

Low-calorie diet boosts heart function in type 2 diabetes patients

December 2nd, 2011 by Ryan Luce No Comments

written by Michael O’Leary

Dr. Sebastiaan Hammer

Severely restricting calorie intake eliminated the need for insulin and resulted in improved heart function in obese patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a study presented yesterday at the annual meeting of theRadiological Society of North America being held in Chicago this week.

Before going on a crash diet, however, the researchers, led by Dr. Sebastiaan Hammer of the Department of Radiology at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, warn that not all type 2 diabetes patients should opt for this type of therapy, and should consult their doctors before starting such a diet.