The CDiabetes News Brief: August 17 to 23, 2014
Compiled and edited by Elizabeth Klein, MPhil
Smoking while pregnant could cause children to have diabetes
Smoking is bad for your health for many reasons, and could also cause problems for your baby if you smoke while pregnant. This is why researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health recently tested people whose mothers had smoked while pregnant with them, to see if they had type 2 diabetes. It was found that mothers who smoked during the first 3 months of pregnancy had children with a higher chance of getting diabetes. However, this could also be because the children were overweight at the time of the test.
Too much exercise could trigger heart attacks in survivors
If you’ve had a heart attack, your healthcare provider will probably tell you to exercise more to avoid having another. But new research shows that if you already get enough physical activity, doing more could be bad for your health. In a new study, people who had suffered heart attacks were asked how much running or walking they did every week. Running up to 30 miles each week lowered the chances of another heart attack by 65%. But, more than that doubled the chances, compared to running less. This shows how important it is not to overdo exercise, especially if you’ve had a heart attack before.
Good sleep is important for healthy eating
Good sleep is a big part of staying healthy in a lot of different ways. New research shows that it might even affect the food you choose to eat. When overweight adults who didn’t usually get enough sleep were able to take an extra 92 minutes, their appetite went down and their taste for salty or sugary food dropped as much as 62%. People in the study said they usually slept less than 6.5 hours per night, and that even an extra 30 minutes made a lot of difference in the foods they craved.
Being overweight could raise your risk of some cancers
A news study has shown that adults who are overweight have a much higher chance of getting some common types of cancer. These include uterus, gall bladder, and kidney cancer. However, the reason for this isn’t clear. And, being a little overweight might actually lower your risk for other cancers, like prostate or breast cancer. This shows that not all cancers are the same, and that they can be affected by many different things.
New implant could save lives of people with type 1 diabetes
For people with type 1 diabetes, coping with the disease can be hard at times. So, it’s great news when a new medicine or device is created to make caring for diabetes easier. A new treatment was created recently that could save lives, especially in people who have trouble managing their diabetes. It’s a special implant that controls how much glucose is in your blood, which can be a serious problem when there’s not enough insulin in the body. It tricks the body into using up more glucose than it normally would until blood glucose is back to healthy amounts.
People with thyroid conditions could be at risk of kidney problems
Complications are common for people with diabetes. New research shows that people who have problems with their thyroid gland, but don’t actually have thyroid disease (called “sub-clinical hypothyroidism”), have a much higher risk of serious kidney problems. This is because it makes the damage that diabetes already does to the kidneys worse. It might also raise your risk for high blood pressure by as much as 4.5 times.
People who use Metformin might live longer than those without diabetes
If you have diabetes, there are a lot of different health problems you will have to think about. However, it’s not all bad news. New research shows that a certain diabetes medicine might actually help you live longer than people without the disease. Metformin, one of the most popular diabetes medicines, seemed to help people with diabetes survive longer than people who did not have the disease. Though the difference was small, researchers say it was still an important difference.
Healthy eating habits start young
You may not think that what your children eat every day is very important, but a new study shows that healthy eating actually begins at a very young age. Researchers recently found that children whose parents got them to eat well when they were toddlers were healthier overall when they were older. They had a lower chance of being overweight or obese, and of having type 2 diabetes. As obesity in children is becoming a bigger problem, finding new ways to stop it can be very important.
Educating people about diabetes shows big health improvements
If you have diabetes, you might already know how important it is to learn all about the disease. Healthcare providers also know that educating people about diabetes can be a great way to improve their health. This can be even more important for poor people, who might have a hard time staying healthy in other ways or affording good treatment. New classes aimed at low-income communities helped people improve their blood pressure, blood glucose, and cholesterol levels, which will lower their risk of diabetes and heart disease.
Lots of salt might be connected with high risk of heart attacks
Healthcare providers will often tell you to be careful when eating food that has a lot of sugar or salt in it. Eating too much of these foods is connected to serious health problems, like heart disease and diabetes. A new study showed that people who ate a lot of salt in their food had a higher chance of dying from heart attacks. People who had died from heart problems were, on average, found to eat at least 5 grams of salt each day. But the researchers said that they aren’t sure if salt was the cause, as they can’t tell if lowering the salt amount lowered the risk.