A man en route to Sydney, Australia, collapsed mid-flight during a 25-hour trip from Norway to Australia. The man, an engineer whose home is in Sydney, has diabetes and was prevented from bringing his medical supplies on board the plane. Can you believe it? It was all due to new airline security rules requiring that people with diabetes carry documentation along with their medications. The passenger arrived at the airport with a supply of insulin, but was forced to leave it behind because he did not have the required letter from his doctor. He was very sick on arrival in Sydney and had to be rushed to hospital in an ambulance.

Don't risk your life to get from A to B. That's the moral of this story. Okay, maybe the security rules go a bit overboard. Yes, it's a shame we live in an age where such rules are deemed necessary etc etc. Bottom line: if you plan on taking anything even slightly unusual on board a flight, do yourself a favor and find out in advance if there are any applicable restrictions. Assume anything unusual could be a problem. Assume airline/airport security staff don't know about diabetes and don't particularly care about your personal well-being. If you have web access, the info you need is probably just a few clicks away. I don't know what the circumstances were, but if that were me, I would not have boarded the plane.

The website YubaNet is running a report on a traditional Chinese medicine that some believe could treat Type 2 diabetes. The medicine is called berberine. It is derived from the roots and bark of various plants (including Goldenseal, pictured) and has traditionally been used in China to treat a number of health complaints, including diarrhea. Claims have also been made in the past that berberine lowers blood glucose. Well, it turns out there may be something to this claim: a research project conducted by researchers at Sydney's Garvan Institute, involving scientists from China, Korea and Australia, suggests berberine could be effective in this capacity. Lab experiments found that berberine activates an enzyme that is found in the muscle and liver. This enzyme is known to improve the body's sensitivity to insulin, thereby helping to lower blood sugar levels.

Why would anyone have a need for berberine? Well, I was interested to learn that many Type 2 diabetics cannot tolerate metformin, the drug often prescribed as a blood sugar lowering medicine. In addition, another common group of drugs, known as TZDs, can cause weight gain. Therefore, the hunt is very much on for alternative meds that lower blood sugar. Berberine may fit the bill because it's known to have few side effects.

Good news for devotees of the glycemic index, a technique used for assessing the carbohydrates contained in meals: a study has confirmed that it works. Not only that, the glycemic index has also been found to be effective at predicting blood sugar levels after meals.

The study was carried out by researchers at the University of Toronto and results have been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The researchers got together a small bunch of willing participants in Sydney and Toronto for the study, had them eat several test meals, and then measured their post-meal blood sugar levels. The results showed a close correlation between carb content, glycemic index and variations in blood sugar levels.

Says Dr. Thomas M. S. Wolever, an author of the study, "The good news is that the glycemic index works. For sensible people it makes a lot of sense."