Category: Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome

Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome

Higher protein diet plus resistance exercise aids weight and fat loss in type 2 diabetics

Where weight and fat loss is concerned, I favour a relatively low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet on the basis that such diets generally outperform low-fat, carb-rich diets traditionally advocated for weight loss. A lower-carb diet I think may have particular advantages for diabetics because, well, they have difficulty handling carbohydrate as a result of impaired insulin function […]

February 16, 2010· 4 min read

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Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome

More evidence links pedometer use with increased activity and potential benefits for health

I came across this on-line news story. It concerns a study done in individuals with ‘impaired glucose tolerance’ (essentially, individuals who do not handle glucose well in the body but are not impaired enough to be classed a diabetic. The report (and other reports) say the study was published today (4th January) in the journal […]

January 5, 2010· 3 min read

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Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome

Editorial reminds us of the importance of looking to our nutritional past to improve our future health

My last post here detailed just a few relatively easy-to-apply lifestyle changes that might make good New Year resolutions. One of them, was to eat a ‘primal’ diet ” essentially a diet based on the foods we’ve been eating the longest in terms of our time on this planet. The record suggests that for the […]

January 1, 2010· 3 min read

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Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome

Cinnamon shows promise as blood sugar-lowering agent

As a general rule, those seeking to achieve long-lasting health and vitality would do well to ensure that blood sugar levels do not rise too high. One reason for this is that high blood sugar levels increase ‘glycation’ in the body, when sugar binds to proteins to damage them. The complications of glycation can be […]

December 3, 2009· 3 min read

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Brain and Behaviour

Abdominal obesity again linked with increased risk of dementia

Most of us have an ambition of living to a ripe old age. At the same time, many of fear the loss of our mental faculties as we age. For at least some of us, the spectre of dementia looms large in our minds. One potential modifiable risk factor for dementia concerns derangement in blood […]

November 27, 2009· 2 min read

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Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome

Is there such as thing as a ‘metabolic advantage’?

Last Friday my blog focused on a study which found that fat intake (total fat, as well as levels of, saturated, unsaturated and polyunsaturated fat) appeared to have no impact on change in body weight over a period of several years. Partly in an attempt to explain how this can be so, I outlined the […]

October 19, 2009· 8 min read

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Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome

Vitamin D supplementation found to improve insulin sensitivity

In a recent post I highlighted a study which has found that higher vitamin D levels are associated with a reduced risk of death. This evidence actually comes on the back of other studies showing the same thing, and while therefore strengthens the association between vitamin D and death risk, cannot be used to claim […]

October 12, 2009· 2 min read

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Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome

Fructose found to rapidly raise blood pressure and induce metabolic syndrome in men

Last month, one of my blogs focused on a paper from the American Heart Association which warned of the hazards of eating sugar on cardiovascular health. It put at least some focus on the sugar fructose, which makes up half of table sugar (sucrose), as well as being found in fruit and vegetables, honey and […]

September 25, 2009· 3 min read

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Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome

High glycaemic load diets associated with insulin resistance

When carbohydrate is eaten, blood sugar (glucose) levels usually rise. The speed and extent to which blood sugar releases into the bloodstream has important implications for health. For example, the greater the level of blood sugar disruption, the more insulin will tend to be secreted by a functioning pancreas in response. High levels of this […]

September 22, 2009· 3 min read

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Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome

Can wheat cause diabetes?

The obvious answer to this question is ‘yes’, seeing as many wheat-based foods are very disruptive to blood sugar (they have high glycaemic index), particularly when eaten in quantity (meaning they have high glycaemic load too). As a result, the pancreas will generally need to pump out plenty of insulin. This, in time, can lead […]

September 16, 2009· 4 min read

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