Diabetes Treatment and Prevention News
How drinking milk could protect you from diabetes
Drinking milk may help prevent type 2 diabetes – the disease linked to obesity.
Contrary to the popular perception of dairy products as unhealthy, regular consumption could actually reduce the risk of developing the condition by up to 60 per cent, according to a study.
The ingredient responsible is trans-palmitoleic acid, a fatty acid found in the dairy fat of milk, cheese, yoghurt and butter.
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in the United States say it can combat type 2 diabetes, which affects more than 2.3million Britons.
In the study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, more than 3,700 participants were followed for 20 years by researchers.
They took measurements including blood glucose, insulin and levels of fatty acids.
They found that higher levels of trans-palmitoleic acid were associated with healthier levels of blood cholesterol and insulin.
Overall, those with the highest levels of trans-palmitoleic acid had about a 60 per cent reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Lead researcher Dariush Mozaffarian said: ‘The magnitude of this association is striking.
‘This represents an almost three-fold difference in risk of developing diabetes among individuals with the highest blood levels of this fatty acid.’
The study also appears to confirm previous research showing that a diet rich in dairy foods is linked to lower risk of type 2 diabetes and related metabolic abnormalities.
A review of 324 studies of milk consumption and effects on health last year suggested the health benefits of milk outweigh any dangers that lie in its consumption, cutting deaths from common diseases by 15-20 per cent.
As little as one-third of a pint a day shows benefits in some studies while others involve regular consumption of almost a pint a day.
Dr Mozaffarian said: ‘There has been no clear biologic explanation for the lower risk of diabetes seen with higher dairy consumption in prior studies. This is the first time that the relationship of trans-palmitoleic acid with diabetes risk has been evaluated.
‘We wonder whether this naturally occurring trans fatty acid in dairy fats may partly mimic the normal biologic role of its cis counterpart, cis-palmitoleic acid, a fatty acid that is produced in the body.
‘In animal experiments, cis-palmitoleic acid protects against diabetes.’
Professor Gokhan Hotamisligil, senior author on the study, said this latest research had strong findings, but needed to be confirmed by a trial which set out to prove how it worked.
He said: ‘This is an extremely strong protective effect, stronger than other things we know can be beneficial against diabetes.
‘The next step is to move forward with an intervention trial to see if there is therapeutic value in people.’
Death Toll Estimate from French Diabetes Drug Climbs Over 2,000
The French Health Ministry has launched an investigation into the deaths of possibly more than 2,000 people who took the type 2 diabetes drug and appetite suppressant Mediator, and developed heart valve problems. When the French daily Le Figaro broke the story last month, 500 people were thought to have died. Mediator had been on the market since 1976, and was only pulled off in 2009. More than 5 million French people took the drug during that time. The privately-owned Servier, which makes it, is France’s second largest pharmaceutical company after Sanofi-aventis. It reported “consolidated” revenues of $5 billion in 2009-2010.
The case is reminiscent of GlaxoSmithKline’s diabetes drug Avandia. This past September, the FDA significantly restricted its use and the European Medicines Agency suspended it altogether, after cardiologist Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic pointed the heightened risk of heart attack and stroke. From 1999 to 2009, more than 47,000 people on Avandia suffered heart attack, stroke, heart failure or death. The New York Times noted the often conflicting advice FDA staffers gave on its safety.
It is still unclear as to who knew what and when in Mediator’s case. But Le Figaro got hold of a letter which reveals that in 1998, three doctors with France’s Securite Sociale—which oversees health insurance, warned the French drug regulatory agency that Mediator could damage heart valves. Their warning was apparently ignored. They pointed that the medication was chemically similar to another Servier appetite suppressant that had been banned in 1997. Remember Fen Phen? In 1997, the FDA forced then American Home Products to withdraw its appetite suppressants Redux and Pondimin, after those drugs combined with another diet pill phentermine, cause heart valve lesions in overweight patients. Looks like those drugs might be related to Mediator, and if so, the health risks are well documented.
The French hope to find out what happened by January 15. Meanwhile Servier’s 88-year-old founder, Jacques Servier, told Le Monde that he is “shocked and stunned.” He would like to know “where these 500 dead people are”.
MOH clears way for pig cell diabetes research
Mon, 20 Dec 2010 6:37p.m.
By Rachel Morton
The Ministry of Health has cleared the way for more research to be done on how pig-cells affect type one diabetes sufferers.
Russia has just registered the New Zealand drug diabecell which was first tested on a patient here 14 years ago.
Researchers hope it won’t be long until it’s registered here too.
Fourteen years ago Michael Helyer put himself forward as a guinea pig for a treatment for type 1 diabetes; he was injected in the abdomen with pig cells.
Fourteen years on and he’s still experiencing the benefits.
The cells have mimicked his natural insulin production, meaning he doesn’t need to inject himself as often.
“This is a world first therapy and New Zealand is the first to have a product that has phased through trials and we’re certainly on the map around the world,” says Susanne Clay of Living Cell Technologies.
On the map because finally there have been two significant developments; the drug diabecell has been registered for use in Russia and the New Zealand phase of testing has progressed, the Ministry of Health has approved two more patients.
That means within a year the drug could be registered here too.
“The final trials that will allow us to apply for approval in New Zealand,” Susanne Clay says.
The drug is currently only being tested on people with unstable type 1 diabetes, meaning they have unexpected extreme highs and lows of blood sugar.
But if the drug successfully treats those patients, it could eventually become available for all sufferers of type 1 diabetes like Mr Helyer.
Mr Helyer says he is disappointed New Zealand wasn’t the first to register the drug, the testing was halted here for 10 years after fears pig viruses could be transmitted to people.
But Mr Helyer says the results speak for themselves and it will be a major medical breakthrough when diabecell is available for all type 1 diabetes sufferers here.