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Tag: endocrine system disorders

  • Refined carbs and red meat driving global rise in type 2 diabetes, study says | CNN

    Refined carbs and red meat driving global rise in type 2 diabetes, study says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Gobbling up too many refined wheat and rice products, along with eating too few whole grains, is fueling the growth of new cases of type 2 diabetes worldwide, according to a new study that models data through 2018.

    “Our study suggests poor carbohydrate quality is a leading driver of diet-attributable type 2 diabetes globally,” says senior author Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a professor of nutrition at Tufts University and professor of medicine at Tufts School of Medicine in Boston, in a statement.

    Another key factor: People are eating far too much red and processed meats, such as bacon, sausage, salami and the like, the study said. Those three factors — eating too few whole grains and too many processed grains and meats — were the primary drivers of over 14 million new cases of type 2 diabetes in 2018, according to the study, which was published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.

    In fact, the study estimated 7 out of 10 cases of type 2 diabetes worldwide in 2018 were linked to poor food choices.

    “These new findings reveal critical areas for national and global focus to improve nutrition and reduce devastating burdens of diabetes,” said Mozaffarian, who is also the editor in chief of the Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter.

    Mozaffarian and his team developed a research model of dietary intake between 1990 and 2018 and applied it to 184 countries. Compared with 1990, there were 8.6 million more cases of type 2 diabetes due to poor diet in 2018, the study found.

    Researchers found eating too many unhealthy foods was more of a driver of type 2 diabetes on a global level than a lack of eating wholesome foods, especially for men compared with women, younger compared to older adults, and in urban versus rural residents.

    Over 60% of the total global diet-attributable cases of the disease were due to excess intake of just six harmful dietary habits: eating too much refined rice, wheat and potatoes; too many processed and unprocessed red meats; and drinking too many sugar-sweetened beverages and fruit juice.

    Inadequate intake of five protective dietary factors — fruits, nonstarchy vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains and yogurt — was responsible for just over 39% of the new cases.

    People in Poland and Russia, where diets tend to focus on potatoes and red and processed meat, and other countries in Eastern and Central Europe as well as Central Asia, had the highest percentage of new type 2 diabetes cases linked to diet.

    Colombia, Mexico and other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean also had high numbers of new cases, which researchers said could be due to a reliance on sugary drinks and processed meat, as well as a low intake of whole grains.

    “Our modeling approach does not prove causation, and our findings should be considered as estimates of risk,” the authors wrote.

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  • WHO advisers to consider whether obesity medication should be added to Essential Medicines List | CNN

    WHO advisers to consider whether obesity medication should be added to Essential Medicines List | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Advisers to the World Health Organization will consider next month whether to add liraglutide, the active ingredient in certain diabetes and obesity medications, to its list of essential medicines.

    The list, which is updated every two years, includes medicines “that satisfy the priority health needs of the population,” WHO says. “They are intended to be available within the context of function health systems at all times, in adequate amounts in the appropriate dosage forms, of assured quality and at prices that individuals and the community can afford.”

    The list is “a guide for the development and updating of national and institutional essential medicine lists to support the procurement and supply of medicines in the public sector, medicines reimbursement schemes, medicine donations, and local medicine production.”

    The WHO Expert Committee on the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines is scheduled to meet April 24-28 to discuss revisions and updates involving dozens of medications. The request to add GLP-1 receptor agonists such as liraglutide came from four researchers at US institutions including Yale University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

    These drugs mimic the effects of an appetite-regulating hormone, GLP-1, and stimulate the release of insulin. This helps lower blood sugar and slows the passage of food through the gut. Liraglutide was developed to treat diabetes but approved in the US as a weight-loss treatment in 2014; its more potent cousin, semaglutide, has been approved for diabetes since 2017 and as an obesity treatment in 2021.

    The latter use has become well-known thanks to promotions from celebrities and on social media. It’s sold under the name Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for weight loss. Studies suggest that semaglutide may help people lose an average of 10% to 15% of their starting weight – significantly more than with other medications. But because of this high demand, some versions of the medication have been in shortage in the US since the middle of last year.

    The US patent on liraglutide is set to expire this year, and drugmaker Novo Nordisk says generic versions could be available in June 2024.

    The company has not been involved in the application to WHO, it said in a statement, but “we welcome the WHO review and look forward to the readout and decision.”

    “At present, there are no medications included in the [Essential Medicines List] that specifically target weight loss for the global burden of obesity,” the researchers wrote in their request to WHO. “At this time, the EML includes mineral supplements for nutritional deficiencies yet it is also described that most of the population live in ‘countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight.’ “

    WHO’s advisers will make recommendations on which drugs should be included in this year’s list, expected to come in September.

    “This particular drug has a certain history, but the use of it probably has not been long enough to be able to see it on the Essential Medicines List,” Dr. Francesco Blanca, WHO director for nutrition and food safety, said at a briefing Wednesday. “There’s also issues related to the cost of the treatment. At the same time, WHO is looking at the use of drugs to reduce weight excess in the context of a systematic review for guidelines for children and adolescents. So we believe that it is a work in progress, but we’ll see what the Essential Medicines List committee is going to conclude.”

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  • Sleeping with light pollution linked to diabetes, study says | CNN

    Sleeping with light pollution linked to diabetes, study says | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: Sign up for CNN’s Sleep, But Better newsletter series. Our seven-part guide has helpful hints to achieve better sleep.



    CNN
     — 

    Sleeping in a room exposed to outdoor artificial light at night may increase the risk of developing diabetes, according to a study of nearly 100,000 Chinese adults.

    People who lived in areas of China with high light pollution at night were about 28% more likely to develop diabetes than people who lived in the least polluted areas, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal Diabetologia.

    Ultimately, more than 9 million cases of diabetes in Chinese adults age 18 years and older may be due to outdoor light pollution at night, the authors said, adding the number is likely to increase as more people moved to cities.

    However, a lack of darkness affects more than urban areas. Urban light pollution is so widespread that it can affect suburbs and forest parks that may be tens, even hundreds, of miles from the light source, the authors said.

    “The study confirms prior research of the potential detrimental effects of light at night on metabolic function and risk for diabetes,” said Dr. Phyllis Zee, director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, who was not involved in the study

    Prior research has shown an association between artificial light at night and weight gain and obesity, disruptions in metabolic function, insulin secretion and the development of diabetes, and cardiovascular risk factors.

    A study published earlier this year by Zee and her team examined the role of light in sleep for healthy adults in their 20s. Sleeping for only one night with a dim light, such as a TV set with the sound off, raised the blood sugar and heart rate of the young people during the sleep lab experiment.

    An elevated heart rate at night has been shown in prior studies to be a risk factor for future heart disease and early death, while higher blood sugar levels are a sign of insulin resistance, which can ultimately lead to type 2 diabetes.

    “Healthy sleep is hugely important in preventing the development of diabetes,” said Dr. Gareth Nye, a senior lecturer of physiology at the University of Chester in the United Kingdom. He was not involved in the Diabetologia study.

    “Studies have suggested that inconsistent sleep patterns have been linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes,” he said in a statement.

    The new study used data from the 2010 China Noncommunicable Disease Surveillance Study, which asked representative samples of the Chinese population about social demographics, lifestyle factors and medical and family health histories. Blood samples were collected and compared with satellite imagery of light levels in the area of China in which each person lived.

    The analysis found chronic exposure to light pollution at night raised blood glucose levels and led to a higher risk of insulin resistance and diabetes.

    Any direct link between diabetes and nighttime light pollution is still unclear, however, because living in an urban area is itself a known contributor to the development of diabetes, Nye explained.

    “It has been known for a long time now that living in (an) urbanised area increases your risk of obesity through increased access to high fat and convenience food, less physical activity levels due to transport links and less social activities,” Nye wrote.

    Strategies for reducing light levels at night include positioning your bed away from windows and using light-blocking window shades. If low levels of light persist, try a sleep mask to shelter your eyes.

    Be aware of the type of light you have in your bedroom and ban any lights in the blue spectrum, such as those emitted by electronic devices like televisions, smartphones, tablets and laptops — blue light is the most stimulating type of light, Zee said.

    “If you have to have a light on for safety reasons change the color. You want to choose lights that have more reddish or brownish tones,” she said. If a night light is needed, keep it dim and at floor level, so that it’s more reflected rather than next to your eye at bed level, she suggested.

    Avoid sleeping with the television on — if you tend to fall asleep while it’s still on, put it on a timer, Zee suggested.

    Dim ambient lights in the evening at least two to three hours before bedtime, and if you “absolutely have to use computer or other light-emitting screens, change screen light wavelength to longer ones of orange-amber,” Zee said. “Importantly, get light during the day — daylight is healthy!”

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