Category: Diabetes 101

Researchers Look To Our Ancestors For Diabetic Genetic Connection: Throughout history, the root causes of complex diseases like obesity and type 2 diabetes have been very hard to identify. In recent years, the diseases happen where genes and the environment collide making it very hard to see the genetic culprit behind them. But now, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified genetic discrepancies in a hormone involved in the secretion of insulin, a molecule that occurs in more humans than others and is known to control blood sugars.

The human populations that share this new discrepancy were thought to have appeared in history 2,000 to 12,000 years ago. They had higher fasting levels of blood glucose then the traditional gene that is found today. When a body has high blood glucose levels that are connected with diabetes, the body is unable to produce or respond to insulin.

With this new study, scientists may be able to understand human metabolism, which occurred between the transitions from human hunters/gatherers to a more agriculturally based civilization. It could also help doctors track diabetes in patients to allow them to see which individuals are more likely to develop diabetes and can help provide an early development in treatment and therapies alike.

Sheau Yu “Teddy” Hsu, PhD, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and one of the senior author behind this study had this to say,”These studies are fascinating because it shows how much the selection process has affected human energy-balance regulation in just a few thousand years and how complex it could be for the future practice of personalized medicine.”

Hsu and his colleagues at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan and Texas A&M University first identified 207 genetic regions, which have been connected with obesity and diabetes. These genetic regions were then looked into further to see which ones had started to increase when humans departed from Africa more than 60,000 years ago. Fifty-nine genetic regions became of great interest that occurred in 30 percent of people associated with the HapMap Project. The HapMap Project is a worldwide survey of the genetic differences in mixed populations.

Five genes with different genetics occurred more frequently in Asians and Europeans. “We thought GIP was the most interesting because the newly selected form occurs in about 50 percent of people from Europe or Asia, but in only about 5 percent of Africans. That indicates this gene is highly adaptable to new environments,” said Hsu.

Hsu and his team identified 3 separate changes in the region of GIP, the DNA neighbor to the GIP gene, which affects when and how it is decoded into protein, which reduces the levels of the hormone itself. The three separate changes also appeared with another alteration in the coding region causing the result of a different form of protein, which is degraded slowly in human blood.

Hsu said. “So now we know there are two different forms of the protein, which allowed one form to be selected in one population, and the other in a different population, but we still needed to show that these variants led to phenotypic differences in modern humans.”

Hsu and his colleagues next focused their study on pregnant women. Out of 123 East Asian pregnant women, those who held two copies of the newly developed alternate had considerably lower levels of GIP circulating in their blood. They were also at a considerably increased risk to have fasting blood glucose levels that surpassed the suggested amount of 140 mg/dL. The finding many help doctors in determining which pregnant women may be at more risk of developing gestational diabetes. It may also shine some light on how our ancestors adapted to the changing world.

“Like other humans at the time, the Eurasian population really had to fight for survival.” Now we’re starting to pinpoint how they did that on a molecular level. These gene variants, and the resulting higher blood sugar levels it fostered, may have helped women maintain successful pregnancies in the face of the inevitable famines that occur in an agriculturally based society. Now, in a more food-secure environment, variations in GIP could contribute to the development of diabetes or obesity.” said Hsu.

Popular Social Networking Websites And Diabetes: As the internet continues to grow, so does the need for social networking sites. Just under a half of U.S. adults who use the internet, use it to access social networking sites. Many social networking websites are focused on health but some are not as safe as they claim to be. Researchers at the Children’s Hospital Boston Informatics Program took a closer look through their evaluation of ten diabetic websites.

What they found was shocking, only 50 percent of the ten sites were current with content that was consistent with clinical practice and diabetic science. Few websites offered patient privacy and even less provided scientific accuracy. Seven out of the ten websites did not allow their members to restrict visibility on their profiles while three out of the ten websites advertised unsupported cures.

Elissa Weitzman, ScD, MSc, lead author of the study commented, “We saw that people are sharing incredible amounts of personal health information on these sites, including highly identifiable information. They are eager to accelerate their understanding of the disease, obtain support, find treatments and see if their experience is common or different.”  Assistant professor in the laboratory, Kenneth Mandl, MD, MPH added, “They are eager to accelerate their understanding of the disease, obtain support, find treatments and see if their experience is common or different.”

The ten websites evaluated were the ones that appeared more over others in Google searches and ones that allowed their members to construct profiles and relate to one another.

While evaluating, researchers looked for four factors:

• Current content that reflected diabetes science and clinical practice
• Concise and clean privacy policies
• The limitations of sharing personal information
• Ability to review content clearly

Averagely, most websites had a little over 6,700 members and activity showed up to 100 new posts daily down to 5 posts daily, depending on the day and topics.

Many of the sites did not include a disclaimer, which is meant to share with their members, the importance of discussing with their doctors about their health. Websites are not doctors. Therefore they do not have all the answers that one needs. A doctor should still be seen.  Many websites skipped out on the topic of important diabetic information as well.

When it comes to online social networks supporting health issues, diabetes is among the many that are out there. Researchers decided to evaluate diabetes social networking sites because they were among the first and have continued to remain active, while many other sites have closed down. Researchers are continuing to study these sites to find out how they are used, how people interact with them and how they share important medical information.

Mandl and Weitzman created a program last year called TuDiabetes. TuDiabetes allows users to submit their A1c levels so that it is displayed on a world-wide map. TuDiabetes is meant to encourage the management of diabetes and to encourage research as well.

“Social networking activity is clearly replacing or adding value that is missing in the standard health care system,” Mandl says. Later Weitzman added, “We sought to jump start a conversation about how to balance patients’ safety with their autonomy, as we’re in an era where terrific levels of health care communication are happening outside of the usual channels.”

Diabetes Affects Patients’ Spouses: Diabetes is a hard disease to manage and so many people are being diagnosed with the disease that it is becoming even harder and for far too many, depression sets in. The thing about depression is that it never just hurts the one who is depressed. According to research from Purdue University, spouses are finding themselves highly impacted as well.

“Responsibilities and anxieties can differ for patients with diabetes and their spouses, but each may experience stress, frustration and sadness at times related to the demands of living with this disease. We know spouses often support their partners, but in our work we want to know what form their involvement takes and how the disease and its management affect both the patient and spouse.” said Melissa M. Franks, an assistant professor of child development and family studies.

The research showed that the impact spouses were feeling was highly similar to what patients were feeling. For example, many spouses and diabetic patients would feel saddened or irritable. Depression during diabetes comes from the impact of having to live with the disease itself. The researchers found that men who were diagnosed with diabetes had an increase in their mood when they were confronted about management of their diabetes, while women went unchanged by the same scenario.

Franks commented. “This gender difference is consistent with prior work showing that male patients who are not managing their disease well tend to experience greater depressive symptoms. And while we saw this difference between male and female patients, we did not see the same pattern of distress between their respective spouses. This is surprising, because one might assume that the spouse would be as worried, or, according to family roles, that wives might worry more. However, more research, especially long-term observations, is needed.”

The study was based on 185 couples who were over the age of 50. Each couple completed their own survey, which measured the depression that was related to diabetes. To find out the gender differences, the responses were measured individually. There were 67 female patients and 118 male patients and each couple was medically screened to ensure only one person within the couple had diabetes.

“Because spouses’ distress is not always directly linked to feelings of their partner, it tells us that we need to pay more attention to the spouse as well as the patient. Understanding the triggers for depressive symptoms can help practitioners and experts better care for patients and spouses as individuals and as a unit. We also found that many people reported some depressive symptoms, and some reported levels indicative of risk for clinical depression. It’s important to consider depressive symptoms because they may signal concerns and problems that could be alleviated with treatment.” Franks said.

Diabetes is a very powerful disease and affects so many people’s lives, not just the people who are diagnosed. Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in America. While many people can help their diabetes with exercise and diet, others are forced to give themselves shots of insulin to keep their blood sugar levels stable. Amazingly, one in five American’s over the age of 60 are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

Why Do Some Diabetics Never Encounter Complications: Through research, professionals have been trying to figure out why some patients develop diabetic complications and why some do not.

Professionals believe that through a study known as PROLONG, (Protective Genes in Diabetes and Longevity) they might find the answer. From the Lund University Diabetes Centre, Valeriya Lyssenko and Peter Nilsson, who lead the PROLONG had this to say about the statistics of patients with and without diabetes, “”The majority of diabetics will over time develop severe or fatal complications, but 10-15 per cent never do. They are the ones we are interested in the PROLONG study.”

Typically, an individual suffering from diabetes will have some form of diabetic complications later in life. Sometimes, retinopathy (eye damage) is an complication, sometimes neuropathy (kidney disease)can be an complication; neuropathy (nerve damage) is also a complication that many diabetic suffer from. Other times, a diabetic patient might suffer from a stroke, heart attack or require an amputation, when an ulcer will not heal. It is not yet possible to treat blood vessels that become damaged through high glucose levels. Therefore, far too many people suffer from all of these complications that derive because of it.  However, while many people go through their diabetic life with one complication after another, some diabetic patients never encounter a complication at all.

One of the diabetic complications that many diabetics encounter is cardiovascular disease. In fact, the risk of dying from said disease is two to three times higher in those who have diabetes than those who do not.  This is all due to blood vessel damage, which in turn affects everything else, almost like a domino chain. According the statistics, 70 percent of individuals suffering from diabetes will have some sort of kidney damage that could result in kidney failure. Through retinopathy, many will suffer severe visual impairment and 2 percent of diabetic patients will eventually become blind. Peter Nilsson commented while talking about complications, “The blood vessels and other organs of the body become sugar coated and stiff. It is reminiscent of premature biological ageing.”

The PROLONG investigation looked at many theories and here are some things that were found.

In Sweden, there are 12,000 people who have been diagnosed with diabetes for at least 30 years, 1,600 have has diabetes for over 50 years. “About half of these diabetic veterans do not have major complications. Two thirds of those who have had diabetes for more than 50 years have escaped complications. Clearly they are different and we want to find out what it is that protects them,” stated Valeriya Lyssenko.

The PROLONG study is moving around investigating different parts of the world, it is not taken a pilot study in Skane for patients who have has diabetes for more than 30 years. In having diabetes for more than 30 years, the chance for complications increases. The patients will say in health care centres and hospitals where they will be compared with patients who have has diabetes for 15 years and who have severe complications. A 30-year gap has been chosen for the study because researchers believe that after a patient has had diabetes for 30 years and has not suffered any kind of complication, they are less likely to, down the road.

These patients will be asked about any diseases they have encountered, about their lifestyle, about family and relatives diseases.  Blood samples and genetic tests will be analyzed and close relatives will also be able to take part in the PROLONG investigation.

Valeriya Lyssenko states, “If we can identify factors protecting these veterans from devastating complications, then it might be possible to develop drugs that can do the same thing. I have dreamt of performing a study like this for a long time,” adds Peter Nilsson.

Controlling Blood Sugar Levels Through Protein: While many breakthroughs have found some pretty wonderful evidence to help those struggling from diabetes, many professionals and scientists alike believe that in controlling the blood sugars alone, diabetes will become obsolete.

According to a new study, that just might have happened. Scientists at the University of Leicester have found the newest way to control the levels of blood sugar after food has been consumed. A particular protein is helping in the effort to control blood sugar levels.

This study comes from the University of Leicester, where a team led by Professor of Cell Biology and Welcome Trust Senior Research Fellow, Andrew Tobin who said,”The work, which was done wholly at the University of Leicester, is focused on the mechanisms by which our bodies control the level of sugar in our blood following a meal. “We found that in order to maintain the correct levels of sugar, a protein present on the cells that release insulin in the pancreas has to be active. This protein, called the M3-muscarinic receptor, is not only active but also needs to undergo a specific change. This change triggers insulin release and the control of blood sugar levels.”

Later he added, “Without the change in the M3-muscarinic receptor protein sugar levels go up in the same way that we see in diabetes. We are of course testing if the mechanism of controlling sugar levels we have discovered is one of the mechanisms disrupted in diabetes. If this were the case then our studies would have important implications in diabetes.”

MircoRNAS: Increased Risk of Amputations: Diabetes is more common in today’s society than it was years ago. More than 24 million people have been diagnosed with diabetes, while there are millions of others who have it, yet have not been diagnosed and another million people will be diagnosed, just this year. Through research and major advances in medical science, there have been some really great strides in trying to find a cure. However, through a new study, researchers have found a cause for the need of so many amputations.

A person who has diabetes throughout most of their life, could have an amputation, mainly due to an ulcer that will not heal, due to the lack of blood flow to a general area. Through new studies, researchers have found that one of the diminutive entities within the human genome called Mirco-RNA’s could be the contributing factor to limb amputation in diabetic patients who have poor circulation.

This study was completed by Dr. Andrea Caporali and other colleagues in Professor Costanza Emanueli’s research group in the Regenerative Medicine Section of the School of Clinical Sciences at the University of Bristol. This study was funded by the Medical Research Council. The researchers showed an experimental cell study in which conditions the mocking of diabetes and a lack of blood supply to a tissue increased specific miRNA called, MiRNA-503 and also impaired that ability of endothelial cells. Endothelial cells line the inner shell of a blood vessel. Mirco-RNAS are diminutive sectors of ribonucleic acid (RNA) that can obstruct numerous genes. Through this study, researchers tried slowing the miRNA-503, which helped to increase the ability of endothelial cells. They began to replicate and form into systems of small blood vessels. Through the study of miRNA-503, researchers established that cell growth was decreased and a prevention of configuration of blood cells by straight binding and an inhibition of cyclin E1 and Cdc25 mRNA.

Here is what Constanza Emanueli stated about the research, “Because each miRNA can regulate many genes, they represent an exciting new target to correct diseases that have complex underlying mechanisms, like diabetes, rather than trying to target one specific gene. Our study is the first to provide evidence for a role of miRNAs in diabetes-induced defects in reparative angiogenesis.”

For the study, a team investigated miRNA-503 and targeted gene expression in muscular specimens from the amputated ischaemic legs of diabetic patients. Severed calf biopsies of non-diabetic and non-ischemic patients enduring vein shredding were used. Researchers noticed that miR-503 illustration had increased, and plasma miR-503 levels were also increased as well. Through the use of mouse models that have diabetes and limb ischaemia, researchers found the inhibition of the miRNA-503 by using a decoy miRNA could help restore post-ischaemic blood flow mending.

Individuals diagnosed with diabetes face the hardship of damaged blood vessels via high blood glucose levels, early on. This leads to lack of blood flow (ischaemia) and causes many complications down the road such as disease and even sometimes, death in individuals with diabetes. Usually, an ulcer will appear on a diabetic limb, usually one that will not heal, it is followed by the ischaemic disease, which starts a domino effect. Typically, the only way to provide treatment and healing is use limb amputation. With this new found study, maybe there is new hope for those suffering from lack of blood flow. Perhaps, a new treatment can be provided and amputations will become a thing of the past.

New Study Shows Coffee Protects Against Diabetes: Coffee is a great way to wake up in the morning. In fact, millions of people surveyed say, that they are not themselves until they have at least had one cup of Joe in the morning. It is the jump-start many people need in the morning, but researchers find that it is having quite a different effect, on personal health.

Through years, coffee has been studied and placed under the scientific microscope quite a few times to see just how healthy it really is and while some findings found that coffee was healthy for the colon and could even reduce blood pressure, skeptics focused on why coffee was not healthy, such reasons were based on its caffeine count. However, a new study tested countless times shows that coffee may protect against type 2 diabetes, but there is no clear evidence as to why.

There are nearly 24 million children and adults within the United States who have been diagnosed with diabetes, that’s 8 percent of American’s nationwide. While there are a couple different types of diabetes out there such as type 1 diabetes and gestational diabetes, type 2 diabetes is the most common one among them all. Typically, 90 to 95 percent of diabetes cases are type 2 diabetic.

Researchers at ULCA have discovered through a study that possible molecular process is behind coffee’s defense against type 2 diabetes. It’s a protein called sex hormone-binding globulin, shortly known as SHBG, it regulates the biological activity of a person’s sex hormones, estrogen and testosterone, which have all been hypothesized of a link in the development of type 2 diabetes. Coffee is known to heighten plasma levels of SHBG.

Through studies, a person who drank coffee found that they had less of a risk of diabetes than those who did not drink coffee. The more coffee in which was consumed, the less risk of person has of diabetes. During the studies, researchers believed that the coffee was improving the body’s acceptance to glucose through escalating its acceptance to insulin.

Through a large mass of clinical studies, an important link was shown between the progress sexual hormones and the progress of diabetes. SHBG not only helps to regulate sexual hormones, which are biologically active, it also ties to receptors in various cells, signaling straight to sexual hormones.

Dr. Simin Liu, a professor at ULCA School of Public Health, has this to say about the research, “It seems that SHBG in the blood does reflect a genetic susceptibility to developing type 2 diabetes. But we now further show that this protein can be influenced by dietary factors such as coffee intake in affecting diabetes risk — the lower the levels of SHBG, the greater the risk beyond any known diabetes risk factors.”

This study was completed on 40,000 women, which was originally designed to evaluate the pros and cons of the use of low-dose aspirin and Vitamin E to prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer. Within the study, researchers found that women who drank four cups of caffeinated coffee each day had higher levels of SHBG, than women who did not drink coffee. Also, women who drank coffee daily had a 56 percent less likely risk of type 2 diabetes.

However, decaffeinated coffee does not seem to have the same effects according to Atsushi Goto, a UCLA doctoral student who reported, “Consumption of decaffeinated coffee was not significantly associated with SHBG levels, nor diabetes risk. So you probably have to go for the octane!”

PhysioLab® Platform and Biomarkers: Researchers at the La Jolla Institute have discovered how to use a computer model to mark the biomarkers in the onset of type 1 diabetes.

Millions of people worldwide suffer from type 1 diabetes, which can lead to severe complications such as renal disease, cardiovascular disease, blindness, coma or death. Researchers believe that the cause of type 1 diabetes comes from the destruction of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Researchers highly believe if they mark the initial start of type 1 diabetes, they can find a cure for it.

There have been quite a few great advances when it comes to science and medicine. Since the 1920’s when insulin was first discovered, there has been a study created to find a cure for life-long sufferers of type 1 diabetes. From breakthroughs to cures, it seems it has been done once more. A type 1 diabetes researcher from the La Jolla Institute named Matthias von Herrath, M.D. has confirmed the usefulness of a newly established computer model in calculating crucial evidence about nasal insulin management procedures in type 1 diabetes.

This new breakthrough is a very important research tool in type 1 diabetes; the software called Type 1 Diabetes PhysioLab® Platform was developed by Entelos Inc. and it gives researchers the ability to perform lab research faster to evaluate therapeutic strategies for a cure that will work in human patients. It has shown promising results in predicting various data from published type 1 diabetes experiments. The PhysioLab® Platform is an extensive calculated model of disease pathogenesis based on non-obese diabetic mice. It was developed over two years ago and it encourages autoimmune procedures and successive damage of pancreatic beta cells from birth through the onset of diabetes. It was funded by a grant program of the American Diabetes Association.

Dr. Herrath had stated that the model was able to accurately identify the exact timeframe that they key type 1 diabetes information, also known as “biomarkers” surfaced. He explains the biomarkers as proteins or cell types that tell researchers if a therapeutic option is working and when it is time to start a treatment process. When it comes to the La Jolla study, the model showed the ability to positively predict the inception of biomarkers, which revealed beta cell production in a non-obese diabetic mouse. Herrath also stated that the positive results add credibility to the acceptance of assessing computer models to investigate beneficial healing abilities within human diseases.

While interviewing Dr. Herrah he also stated, “Since laboratory studies can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and early stage human clinical trials can cost $10 million dollars or more, predicting the right conditions to try is important. We’ve found that using this in silico (computer analysis) prediction platform can quicken the pace and effectiveness of type 1 diabetes research. By allowing us to pre-test our theories in computer models, we can ensure that the more time-intensive and costly process of laboratory testing is focused on the most promising therapeutic strategies, with the greatest chance of success. The model accurately predicted that implementing a low frequency nasal insulin dosing regimen in animal models was more beneficial in controlling type 1 diabetes than a high frequency regimen, noting that the software’s prediction of the biomarkers was key in this process.

“These results confirmed our hypotheses on the benefits of low-frequency nasal insulin dosing. But even more importantly, the advantage of applying computer modeling in optimizing the therapeutic efficacy of nasal insulin immunotherapy was confirmed.”

Body Temperature and Insulin Linked: Diabetes is becoming a very powerful disease. It has taken over the bodies of 23 million people in the U.S. and 171 million people globally. It is also expected to overtake the bodies of one million more people just by the end of this year. While many great advances have been made when it comes to diabetes, no cure has been found, though scientists and researchers are very hopeful that they will. However, there is always something new popping up in science and research that helps link one experiment to another and the next advance might be the link needed.

Diabetes mellitus is a disease that is caused by the lack insulin in one’s body. There are several types of diabetes such as Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes and gestational (pregnancy) diabetes. Insulin comes from pancreas cells which can sometimes produce less secretion than the body needs, as a result, glucose levels are raised, which in turn causes different disorders like neuropathy, retinopathy, heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and erectile dysfunction over time. Diabetes can lead to amputation, coma and death if not treated correctly.

Insulin is important for the body to function correctly. It is a hormone that is important in regulating fat metabolism, carbohydrates and maintains normal blood sugar levels in the body. Insulin causes muscle, fat and liver tissue to take glucose from the blood and store it as a glycogen in the muscle and the liver. Without insulin, glucose cannot be taken by the body cells. Therefore, the body starts to use fat as its energy source, making individuals feel tired and their body begins to act differently.

In Japan, at the National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Professor Makoto Tominaga and Dr. Kunitoshi Uchida believe they have found a connection between core body temperature and insulin secretion. They believe that the TRPM2 ion channel in pancreatic beta-cells is a very important factor in the insulin secretion stimulated by glucose and gastrointestinal hormone that is secreted after food is consumed.

Insulin has been researched since it was first discovered in the 1920’s. In 2009, insulin was found to be linked with temperature regulation by a team led scientists at The Scripps Research Institute. Scientists were able to inject mice with insulin and watch as their core body temperature rose, their metabolism increase and fatty tissue released heat. The more insulin that was injected, the higher the metabolism increased.

Within the body, the TRPM2, also known as Transient Receptor Potential Cation Channel, is a temperature-sensitive Ca2+- permeable channel, a protein found in humans that can be found in pancreatic beta-cells. When this theory was tested on mice, both the professor and doctor found that the TRPM2-deficient mice were showing higher levels of glucose levels with reduced insulin secretion over that of uninhabited mice. TRPM2-defienct pancreatic beta-cells also showed smaller intracellular Ca2+ increase and a reduction of insulin secretion motivated by glucose and incretin.

Professor Makoto Tominaga and Dr. Kunitoshi Uchida reported that, “TRPM2 may control insulin secretion levels mainly by modulating intracellular Ca2+ concentrations. Finding the substance which stimulates TRPM2 effectively could lead to the development of a new therapy for diabetes mellitus.”

They believe that if the body temperature can be controlled, than perhaps the insulin can as well, which will produce a cure for diabetes and help many people in the world.

Dairy Products – Lowering the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: Diabetes is a growing risk around the world. There are more than 23 million women, men and children in American who have been diagnosed and sadly another million will be diagnosed by the end of this year. Many people are learning to control their diabetes through exercise and diet, while other people struggle throughout their whole life. Thanks to research and steady studies, there are more cures on the way every year and this bit of information might just be the small relief, we’ve all be waiting for.

Scientists and other colleagues from various institutions of Harvard have found that trans-palmitoleic acid (fatty acid), a compound found in dairy products like butter, cheese, milk and yogurt could lower the risk of type 2 diabetes considerably. Palmitoleic acid is produced in small amounts by the body, though for a person to consume trans-palmatileic acid, a dairy diet is needed. Health professionals in the past have advised against the diet of dairy foods, though now it is suggested to do just the opposite.

Investigators led by Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard, Dariush Mozaffarian and Gökhan S. Hotamisligil, a Professor of Genetics and Metabolism at Harvard found that trans-palmitoleic acid may justify the epidemiological evidence from recent years, that dairy foods can be lower the risk of type 2 diabetes. The study also showed that individuals with higher fatty acid levels in their blood could lessen the chance of diabetes 62 percent over those who showed lower levels.

However, trans-palmitoleic acid is helpful in many other ways as well. Studies showed that over 3,700 applicants that in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-funded Cardiovascular Health Study showed that those who had higher circulating levels of trans-palmitoleic also showed lower levels of cholesterol, insulin levels and other risk factors that typically lead to diabetes.

Typically, trans-palmitoleic acid can be found in vegetable oils, but these oils are advised against since they can lead to more heart issues along with heart disease. It is highly advised to diet with the trans-palmitoleic acid that comes from both dairy and meat products, which show to have a lower risk on the heart.

Whole milk is the best place to find trans-palmitoleic acid, it has more than two percent, one percent and skim milk does. Although, low fat dairy foods are suggested by both doctors and other professionals, dairy foods themselves can be very high in fat which tends to lead to other health concerns. Along with a low fat dairy diet, low sugar and salt portions are recommended, along with an increase in fruit and vegetables. It is not recommended for individuals with diabetes to increase their intake of just one food and relinquish others to prevent their risk of type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes is a powerful disease that is hurting many people, but with new advances in both science and technology, researchers are positive that a cure will be found.