When her grandfather died in 1992 from a sudden heart attack, Joyce Malaskovitz went through the expected sadness and grief.

We skipped yesterday’s prompt on Diabetes Blog Week for our regular weekly advice column, so today we bring you two treats: Now, there’s a reality show we in the Diabetes Community could really get into! As always, we appreciate the talent of cartoonist Terry Keelan , a fellow type 1 living in Southern California who is very active with the … (more)

Got questions about navigating life with diabetes? Welcome to our weekly advice column, Ask D’Mine – the place to get some colorful answers from veteran type 1, diabetes This week, Wil takes a look at the perennial question of a “diabetes conspiracy”: does Big Pharma really have our best interests in mind as it goes about the business of selling … (more)

Dr Zanariah Hussein… Knowing that early detection of symptoms can significantly reduce the risk of developing complications from diabetes, it is important to provide diabetes prevention education initiatives.

If there’s one enduring thing associated with marijuana use, it’s the phenomenon referred to as “the munchies.” In fact, this was the first real medical use approved for cannabis – the drug could be used to fight appetite suppression in those made nauseous from chemotherapy.

According to an article in the journal ACS Nano , injectable nanoparticles developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology may someday eliminate the need for patients with type 1 diabetes to constantly monitor their blood-sugar levels and inject themselves with insulin.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the associations between changes in body composition and fitness after exercise training and changes in hemoglobin A_1c (HbA_1c) in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Participants (n = 201) were randomized to aerobic, resistance, or combined training for 9 months. HbA_1c, waist circumference, total and trunk fat mass, appendicular fat mass, lean body mass, isokinetic leg muscle strength, peak O₂ uptake, and estimated METs were assessed at baseline and follow-up. Change in HbA_1c was evaluated across quartiles of change in body composition and fitness.

RESULTS

Change in HbA_1c was associated with changes in body weight (r = 0.13, P = 0.052), waist circumference (r = 0.17, P = 0.013), trunk fat mass (r = 0.19, P = 0.005), and estimated METs (r = –0.16, P = 0.023). There was a trend in change in HbA_1c across quartiles of waist circumference (P = 0.011), trunk fat mass (P = 0.020), and estimated METs (P = 0.011). Participants with increased estimated METs and reduced trunk fat mass had greater odds of having reduced HbA_1c after training (3.48, 1.46–8.31). Finally, participants with increased estimated METs and reduced waist circumference were 2.81 (1.13–6.98) times more likely to have reduced HbA_1c and type 2 diabetes medication use than those who without improved fitness and central adiposity.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with type 2 diabetes, a reduction in central adiposity and increase in fitness were the most prominent predictors of the change in HbA_1c in response to exercise training.