It's free, it covers 70% of the Earth's surface, and it's a remedy for all living things. So why do physicians rarely promote the curative properties of water?

Every plant needs it to survive. Every living thing on Earth requires water - even the cacti of the Sahara Desert. We are no different. Mike Adams, of News Target, was one of the last people to interview the late Dr. Batmanghelidj. The things he learned about "The Healing Power of Water" left him in awe. The conversation revealed which ailments and "diseases" are actually caused by dehydration, why the general population is chronically dehydrated and henceforth labeled diseased, what ingredients deplete the body's water reserves, why thirst is not a reliable indicator of dehydration, the dynamics of cholesterol and how water keeps it in balance, how dehydration impairs mental functioning and potentially causes depression, in addition to recognizing signs that your body is starting to dehydrate.

It's a world of answers to an often overlooked question. The premise of the interview is this one thing: the human body manifests dehydration by producing pain, and pain is a sign of water shortage in the body, and water shortage is actually the background to most of the health problems in our society. If the aforementioned interests you in the least - I strongly encourage you to follow the river of curiosity to its source. Who knows? Maybe we're all dying of thirst.

The Chicago-Sun Times just ran a piece about area dentists who are doing their bit for type 2 diabetes prevention. These docs are screening all patients with gum disease for high blood sugar. They hope this will help with early detection, since gum disease is a risk factor for diabetes. (In fact, gum disease is a risk factor for tons of health issues, running the gamut from minor to life-threatening.)

The paper profiles, among others, dentist Dr. Ronald Schefdore. Whenever Schefdore gets patients coming in with gum disease, he automatically gives them blood tests that measure cholesterol and blood sugar levels, as well as inflammation. Schefdore describes a success story involving one patient who, thanks to the tests, got an early diagnosis of pre-diabetic symptoms and now, with the help of his PCP, has his blood sugar back under control.

Schfdore has also trained about five hundred other dentists (wow) how to collect blood samples using the finger-prick method. "If every dentist practiced this way," he comments, "we could improve the health of the world overnight."

This is preventive care in action. People like this are raising the bar for everyone. Cheers!

A new report says physical activity is critical for kids with type 1 diabetes because it helps prevent heart trouble later in life. The German and Austrian researchers behind the study reached this conclusion after crunching the numbers for more than 23,000 kids between ages three and eighteen, comparing their health with activity levels. As you would expect, the most active kids had the healthiest hearts and lower levels of cholesterol and triglycerides. By comparison, thirty-six percent of children who were active only once or twice a week had high cholesterol and triglycerides.

For type 1 kids, activity levels relate to HbA1c levels: fit children had lower HbA1c levels. High HbA1c levels in childhood practically guarantee your child will experience heart problems down the road. Says lead researcher Antje Herbst: "Clearly, getting off the couch and out of doors, where they can be more physically active, is good for all kids. But for children with type 1 diabetes, the need to stay physically active is even greater due to the increased risk for heart disease."

Parents: you don't have to sign your little ones up for triathlon training, boot camp or anything like that. Vigorous exercise is not necessary to reap the benefits. Regular periods of normal play are adequate. Even half an hour a day can make a difference, the researchers say. Common sense, however, suggests this is a case where more is definitely better.

The results of this study appear in the latest Diabetes Care (August 2007).

There's good news to be had in the world of diabetes, says researcher Dr. Deborah Burnet from the University of Chicago: fewer diabetic men are dying of heart disease than was the case three decades ago. The bad news is that the disease is killing more and more female diabetics. Specifically? Women with diabetes are four times more likely to suffer fatal heart attacks than are non-diabetics. This can be contrasted with diabetic men, who have double the risk.

Check out a new report published in today's Chicago Tribune for details on this disturbing trend. According to the Trib, there are multiple causes at work here, including the fact that women are getting heavier and more sedentary, making them more prone to both Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, while at the same time older women are making up a greater percentage of the overall population. Dr. Larry Deeb, president of the American Diabetes Association, says that the persistent perception of heart disease as a condition that affects men also continues to be harmful. For one thing, the perception may make women slower to seek treatment for heart problems. Once diagnosed with heart disease, says Dr. Deeb, women may also receive less intensive treatment than their male counterparts.

Worth repeating here are Dr. Deeb's awesome words of advice for women with diabetes: the onus is on you. "Don't accept that your blood sugar is 10 or 15 percent too high. Don't accept that your blood pressure is almost controlled. Don't accept that your cholesterol is almost low enough. You want your numbers to be as good as they can get." Wise words, doctor. And yet...women afflicted with the double whammy of diabetes and heart disease can't do it all alone. Social services, public education and attentive medical care are going to be critically important if we're going to reduce these horrible mortality rates.

Looks like 'shrooms might become a swanky and healthy thing to do! The fungi is affectionately called the Maitake mushroom, and literally means "dancing mushroom. Research has found it lowers blood pressure, abdominal obesity, and lipids in the blood.

Maitake Products plans to target the maitake (grifola frondosa) mushroom to treat metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a common precondition for both coronary disease and type 2 diabetes. The condition is characterized by a group of metabolic risk factors including: abdominal obesity, atherogenic dyslipidemia, high blood pressure and insulin resistance. With the growing number of people affected by these conditions, Maitake claims there is significant market potential for its drug, SX-Fraction.

A preliminary clinical study was conducted among 19 patients with type 2 diabetes. Patients taking 9 tablets of SX-Fraction (per day) for 2 months found that it significantly reduced fasting blood glucose, triglycerides, and body weight. The possibility of maitake mushroom as a safe, natural agent for treatment of type 2 diabetes, Syndrome X and insulin resistance has been examined for the past several years and will soon prove to be a therapeutic dancing mushroom in days to come. Yeah man.

If you've been around the diabetes online community you've certainly heard of Amy Tenderich. Her award-winning site is touted as one of the most influential diabetes sites out there. If you're looking for a gold mine of straight talk and encouragement -- Diabetes Mine is your destination. And now is your chance to speak to the celebrity herself! Amy will be chatting live on Tuesday, May 22, 9pm EST on Diabetes Talkfest.

Her charm comes through, loud and clear, in her cynically optimistic view of the trials of living with diabetes. Her journalistic flair derives from the heart and covers topics like breaking news and inside looks at diabetes research, as well as daily life with diabetes and uncovering the diabetics' deepest hopes and fears. Her all inclusive panache, along with her comedic nuances, make every moment of reading worth it.

Diabetes Mine has been featured in the Wall St. Journal, the UK Guardian, TechCrunch, NPR's Future Tense, and a number of other publications. The most recent feather in Amy's cap was added when she collaborated with Dr. Richard Jackson, a leading physician from Joslin Diabetes Center, to co-author the book Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes. True to form, the book is hailed as the first-ever straightforward guidebook providing a clear strategy for living well with diabetes and avoiding the long-term health damage it can cause. I look forward to the opportunity of chatting with Amy. Hope you all can join us!

Researchers defined a link between high insulin levels and defective lipid metabolism but the cause may not be exactly what you think. According to a study published in June, 2005 -- this could be due to their choice in blood sugar lowering medication.

The conclusion of the study identified obese insulin-resistant subjects taking metformin (brand names Glucophage, Diabex, Diaformin, Fortamet, Riomet, Glumetza) and rosiglitazone both improve insulin sensitivity (increase insulin production) but DO NOT improve lipid metabolism. Rosiglitazone (brand name Avandia) may have a detrimental effect on chylomicron metabolism

Blood vessels of insulin-resistant rats build up a substance called chylomicron cholesterol following a high fat meal. Because the rats are insulin-resistant, more insulin (in the form of an anti-diabetes pill) is required to clear sugars and fats from their bloodstream. Higher insulin levels reduced the rate of chylomicron removal from the blood stream following a meal. This slower clearing rate increased the chylomicron particles sticking around the blood vessels, leading to arterial plaque build up and heart disease.

Knowing that high levels of insulin are associated with elevated levels of chylomicron cholesterol, researchers will use this information to try to figure out how this happens.

Why would they do that? The answer was already explained in June, 2005. Oh it must be because arterial plaque builds differently in Australian's on anti-diabetic pills than it does in American's on anti-diabetic pills. We should all thank the good folks at GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer and Merck. Without their medicine -- how would anybody ever know about this stuff? First you're on an anti-diabetic pill, then you're on cholesterol lowing pill, what's next? Of course -- the blood pressure!!

How many people are Gold Star type 2 diabetic patients?

Damage to the retina that sometimes comes with diabetes is associated with an increased risk of having a stroke.

A study involving 1,617 middle-aged people with diabetes led researchers to this conclusion, linking retinopathy and stroke risk. At the start of the study, 197 participants had moderate retinopathy and 44 had severe retinopathy. During an average follow-up of almost 8 years, 75 strokes occurred in the group as a whole. Considering all exacerbating factors -- such as blood pressure, insulin treatment and cholesterol levels -- having diabetic retinopathy more than doubled the likelihood of having a stroke.

Dr. Tien Y. Wong advised Reuters Health, "Diabetes can exert its effects on multiple organs in the body, and damage in the blood vessels seen in the eye -- retinopathy -- is a marker of probably unseen damage occurring elsewhere." Detecting blood vessel damage in the eye is linked to blood vessel damage in the brain, which could result in a stroke. He advises all eye care professionals to perform a more comprehensive assessment of stroke risk if they detect retinopathy in a patient.

A diet rich in black soya beans (UK) or soybeans (US) could help control weight and even prevent diabetes. The laboratory research on rats found the beans could also lower cholesterol levels.

Four groups of 32 male rats consumed a fatty diet for 28 days. Each group was given different amounts of black soya beans, with one group receiving none and acting as a control. The rats eating 10% of their energy from black soya beans gained about half as much weight as those in the control group. Total blood cholesterol also fell by 25% and LDL levels ("bad" cholesterol) fell by 60%. Soya protein may have an effect on fat metabolism in the liver and adipose tissue, reducing synthesis of new fatty acids and cholesterol. It is this metabolic effect that may explain the traditional Asian use of black soya in the treatment of diabetes. 'The key problem in type 2 diabetes is impairment of insulin action due to excess abdominal fat tissue. Any loss of weight often improves glycaemic control.

The research is preliminary but the popularity of soya foods has been increasing over the past few years. You've got to cook something for dinner tonight. Why not give black soya beans a try? Cooks.com offers a few recipes to put your soya beans to good use. Anybody up for soya bean burgers or baked soya beans? The Diabetic soya bean cookies caught my attention. Watch-out, Betty Crocker!!

Remember the A-Game suggestions I dangled for Eli Lilly to tap for performance enhancement? Well here it comes. I called Eli Lilly headquarters to speak with the Chairman and CEO, Mr. Sidney Taurel but I was directed to their idea submission form (which consequently didn't work). Oh boy, Sid. I'm a little disappointed. So here goes - my idea is going free for all when you could've had it, first. Let's call this new and improved product Beta Juice. It delivers the essential functions of a fully operational beta cell. It produces: insulin, amylin and c-peptide. Here's why insulin should always come equipped with the other two...

Insulin brings sugar to the cells to keep our energy levels sufficient for life, homeostasis and (if we're lucky) some energy for the gym. Amylin is a controlling agent for appetite, gastric emptying and tells the liver to dispatch glucose. It is also shown to have an impact on lipolysis --- the metabolism of stored fat. Until recently C-peptide was nothing more than a number used to decipher if you were a type 1 or a type 2 diabetic. However, recent scientific studies have shown C-peptide protects small vessels from the complications associated with diabetes. The Reuters Health article is titled C-Peptide Replacement Improves Early Diabetic Neuropathy.

The American Diabetes Association promotes the ABC's of Diabetes Care in an effort to educate diabetics on controlling their disease. The ABC's of diabetes care refer to a patient's Hemoglobin A1c, blood pressure, and cholesterol. A diabetic must maintain a hemoglobin A1c less than 7%, their blood pressure must remain below 130/80 and their good and bad cholesterol must be kept in range. The ABCs of Diabetes Care were established in order to reduces the chances of developing diabetic complications like neuropathy (nerve damage), nephropathy (kidney damage) and retinopathy (eye damage).

Here comes the perfect Insulin (code name Beta Juice) -a laboratory engineered balance of insulin, amylin, and C-peptide. Insulin to balance the blood sugar level, amylin to regulate fat and cholesterol levels and C-peptide to control the damage inflicted upon the micro vessels throughout the body. This is a GREAT IDEA!! Not just because it is MY idea, but because this is a huge opportunity to mitigate the complications that insulin by itself can impose, without the checks and balances of the other beta cell hormones. What do you say, Eli Lilly? You're halfway there!! You've already partnered with Amylin Pharmaceuticals. They have one third of this patent pie. Now hop on the horn and join forces with the C-peptide patent holder and ride your stock price to the moon. The diabetic girl has spoken. I know you care, Eli Lilly. Now put your money where your mouth is and make this new and improved insulin a light at the end of the diabetes tunnel.

If I was Goldilocks (stay with me here), eating the 3 Bears' porridge wouldn't have been an issue. Why? Because: 1) I'm smart enough not to eat food that belongs to an animal that can rip me to shreds (let alone 3 of them), and 2) I really don't like the taste of porridge/oatmeal. The downside of that distaste is that I miss out on a great deal of health benefits offered by whole oats. The solution I came up with is to mix the oats with my morning protein shake, which helps me choke it down. But, it turns out that there is a very easy and tasty alternative to cholesterol-reducing oatmeal, and the best part is that it's much more tasty. Cheerios.

Classic Cheerios (not the Honey Nut kind) has more fiber (4 grams) than a packet of oatmeal (3 grams). And, just like oatmeal, whole-oat cold cereals chip away at your LDL cholesterol because they contain beta-glucans. You should also find the effects on blood sugar to be comparable to those produced by eating a bowl of oatmeal.

The way I see it, it's a Win-Win situation. Of course, if you like oatmeal, making the switch may not be necessary -- although I would still advise it if it can prevent you from becoming the target of 3 hungry bears.

A study suggests problems with cholesterol regulation in the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas may be responsible for the development of Type 2 diabetes.

A thesis paper written by a graduate student, Dr. Liam Brunham, addressed the fact that a dysfunction in cholesterol regulation is found in beta cells in the pancreas. A thought-provoking connection to this thesis was the fact that beta cells are the cells responsible for producing insulin. A beta cell expert decided to see what would happen if researchers genetically engineered mice without the ABCA1 gene. The ABCA1 gene is the gene responsible for cholesterol regulation in beta cells. Dr. Brunham appears to be the first to identify the role of cholesterol dysfunction resulting in the beta cells inability to properly secrete insulin.

This new research is promising and obviously raises questions in other researcher's minds. One is - what happens when amylin, a hormone produced by the beta cells, builds up to excess amounts? Does this, in fact, impair the beta cells' ability to function properly? Could this be another thesis that trumps Dr. Brunham's hunch for the cause of type 2 diabetes? Some researchers believe that the over-production of amylin and cholesterol may be due to a yet unidentified problem. Of course that is always an option. Science labs across the world could come to a screeching halt if doctor's stopped hypothesizing. As research continues, we will anxiously await the next best thesis paper, courtesy of our promising Graduate Students. Be cool - stay in school!

Realizing how influential carbohydrates can be on blood sugars, I swore myself to celibacy from baked goods long ago. However, my closed-door policy underwent peace talks after I had the pleasure of speaking with Ramsey Makar, founder of Miracle Muffins. Miracle Muffins are diabetic friendly premium muffin mixes with a plethora of wholesome goodness. Fresh baked, every time -- all you have to do is add water!

Miracle is a strong word. However, when you see the impact these muffins have on blood sugar -- you'll agree it's miraculous. Ramsey wanted to create a muffin that his diabetic mother could enjoy without the rise in her sugar. He concocted a recipe that contains generous amounts of fiber, healthy soy protein, low-glycemic sweeteners, and is very low in fat. Another fact for good measure -- the muffins fit comfortably into the diet programs of Weight Watchers, Atkins, South Beach, LA Weight Loss, Nutra System and Zone.

I saved the best part for last -- the flavors! Each muffin is fresh-baked so you spare nothing on taste. The flavors available are: banana, blueberry, black cherry, chai spiced black tea, cinnamon green tea, chocolate black cherry and gingerbread. The muffin mixes have two versions based on the sweeteners used -- Spnenda or Xylitol. It says something profound about a product that actually helped an Olympic athlete lose weight! When you visit the Miracle Muffin site, take a peek at the You Tube video, read the mesmerizing nutrition details, and indulge yourself in the Miracle Muffin experience. You'll be a believer, too!

A study suggests that a bile acid may be used for the treatment of obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes. This discovery was made when researchers found colestimide, a resin that eliminates bile acids, as a cholesterol-lowering treatment.

The study was based on the fact that abnormal lipids lead to high mortality in type 2 diabetics. The researchers investigated the effects of colestimide on blood glucose levels in mice that develop a disease akin to type 2 diabetes. Colestimide treatment prevented diet-induced obesity and high blood sugar, and corrected diet-induced obesity in mice. It also showed a significant decrease in levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol without affecting "good" HDL cholesterol levels.

How about that? The unlikely path of colestimide could detour us from hitting the dead end consequences of high blood fats and obesity. All these discoveries on mice eventually will prove something remarkable for us humans. Won't they?

Pomegranate juice was shown to reduce the risk of arthrosclerosis in diabetics who participated in a study conducted over three months. The pomegranate juice also appeared to slow the absorption of unhealthy LDL cholesterol by immune cells.

People with diabetes have increased risk for atherosclerosis, contributing to coronary heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, and other circulation problems. The results of this study suggest that the antioxidants found in pomegranate juice may be beneficial in reducing these heart-related risks associated with diabetes. The sugars in pomegranate juice are attached to unique antioxidants, which actually make these sugars protective against atherosclerosis. Researchers examined the effects of drinking a concentrated pomegranate juice that is the equivalent to about a 6-ounce glass of freshly squeezed pomegranate juice for three months in 10 healthy adults and 10 adults with type 2 diabetes (who were not dependent on insulin therapy). Drinking pomegranate juice did not affect overall cholesterol levels, but researchers found it reduced the uptake of LDL (bad) cholesterol by immune cells, which is a major contributing factor to atherosclerosis.

Albeit a little tart, the reputation of the pomegranate falls heavily on the sweet side. One pomegranate delivers 40% of an adult's daily vitamin C requirement. Food manufacturers' favor using pomegranate extracts instead of the juice because it contains no sugar, calories, or additives. Factor in the folic acid, the free-radical destroying antioxidants, and the overall health benefits of the Chinese apple and ask your arteries if it's worth a 6 ounce glass. I'm guessing the answer is yes.