Not all people with type 2 diabetes benefit from exercise

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DIABETES DIGEST – Nov. 20, 2014 – If you have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and exercise regularly but see no improvement in your blood sugar control, you are not alone. 

A study in the current issue of the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism shows that as many as 20 percent of people with type 2 diabetes do not see any improvement in blood sugar management even when they take part in supervised exercise.

Study shows burning brown fat could be key to weight-loss

Copyright: maridav 

123RF Stock Photo

DIABETES DIGEST – Nov. 17, 2014 – If you want to lose weight, you might try exercising in the cold. More research is out this week showing that the key to weight-loss is burning what is called brown fat, or more technically, brown adipocytes.

When you are cold the nervous system activates receptors on the surface of brown fat cells to stimulate glucose uptake from the bloodstream. Brown fat tissue is able to take up large amounts of glucose from the bloodstream to use as fuel to generate body heat. 

Coffee component that may reduce type 2 diabetes risk identified

Photo courtesy: Julius Schorzman

DIABETES DIGEST – Nov. 11, 2014 – Researchers have identified the chemical compound in coffee that may prevent the harmful effects of obesity. 

Previous research has shown that coffee may lower the risk of some chronic diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. Consequently researchers are looking at the chemicals found in coffee to see which of them may be providing the beneficial effect.

Weight loss surgery may substantially reduce risk of type 2 diabetes

DIABETES DIGEST – Nov. 10, 2014 – With many studies showing that weight-loss surgery in obese patients can cure them of type 2 diabetes, many researchers are now looking to see if the surgery for overweight and obese people can prevent type 2 diabetes.

Noting that more than 80 percent of adults with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese, British researchers led by Martin Gulliford, professor of Public Health at King's College, London, used medical records to see if people

Metformin still formidable first line treatment for type 2 diabetes

Generic metformin 500-mg tablets, 

as sold in the United Kingdom
– Wikipedia

DIABETES DIGEST – Oct. 31, 2014 – A new study in JAMA Internal Medicine found once again that metformin should be the first line treatment for type 2 diabetes, which isn’t really the news. The study also found that despite the guidelines recommending metformin first, only 57.8 percent of newly diagnosed patients began treatment with metformin.

FDA grants first US approval for SGLT2/metformin combination

DIABETES DIGEST – Oct. 30, 2014 – The FDA today, has approved once-daily XIGDUO™XR for the treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes.

The dual action drug combines the complementary mechanis of dapagliflozin (trade name in the US, FARXIGA™), which blocks a sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2), with extended-release metformin, which reduces the amount of sugar produced by liver cells. SGLT2 inhibitors are a relatively new class of medicines that remove glucose from the body via the kidneys.

Liver fat may be key to type 2 diabetes

Victor Shengkan Jin says it is important to find a drug for 

type 2 diabetes that attacks the root cause of the disease 

and not just symptoms. – Photo: Nick Romanenko 

Rutgers University

DIABETES DIGEST – Oct. 17, 2014 – Obesity is associated with the rise in type 2 diabetes, but new research suggests that it is not just overall fat that causes insulin resistance, but liver fat.

Dr. Victor Shengkan Jin, an associate professor of pharmacology at Rutgers University Robert Wood Johnson Medical School notes that excess fat in the liver is not just a condition of the obese; people of normal weight can also develop fatty livers and type 2 diabetes.