You've heard about the sports stars and the rock stars who succeed in life despite suffering from diabetes. Now, here's something a little more unusual: a circus acrobat! Dolly Jacobs is Circus Sarasota's "Queen of the Air." She recently gave an interview to the Bradenton Herald about her life in the circus.

Trim and petite like a dancer, Jacobs was diagnosed ten years ago. How did it happen? She had the warning signs most type 1s experience: weight loss and a killer thirst she just could not quench. Her mom already had type 1, so during a routine office visit, Jacobs asked the doc to check her blood sugar too. Whoa. It was 260 - way, way above normal. Jacobs was diagnosed not with type 1, but with a rarer form sometimes dubbed "type 1.5" or Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of the Adult (LADA). LADA is basically the same as type 1 diabetes, but develops later in life.

So how does one deal with diabetes when your job involves flying through the air with the greatest of ease? Low blood sugar is easy, says Jacobs. Correct it with a soda or juice. High blood sugar is tougher. She says she can go as high as 500 or 600 just from adrenaline. So, just like any other athlete, she depends on testing several times daily and she wears an insulin pump - but not when she's performing. Eating healthy - lean meats, fruits and veg - are important too, she says.

Click here to read more. Kudos, by the way, to the journalist who wrote this article, Roberta C. Nelson, for taking time out to identify the different forms of diabetes and to explain the dangers associated with high vs. low blood sugar. Great!

In my previous post, I looked at a RAND Corporation study of undiagnosed diabetes - something that continues to be a big problem. Now I want to zero in on one aspect of that study that really caught my eye. According to the sole author, James P. Smith, talk of a type 2 diabetes epidemic is over-exaggerated.

Hang on a minute. Aren't we always hearing about the so-called epidemic proportions of diabetes' spread in the US and globally? And aren't cities like New York taking steps to track the spread of diabetes, keeping tabs on its growth just as you'd do with a contagious epidemic outbreak of, say, tuberculosis? Well, yes. But Smith isn't buying it.

During the twenty-five-year period included in the study, Smith says diagnosis of men with diabetes more than doubled. However, it's a tricky thing to take diagnosis rates and translate them into prevalence rates. That is, more people being diagnosed with a disease may simply mean we're getting better at diagnosing the problem. We may think we're seeing astronomical growth rates in diabetes when in fact it's probably a combination of increased diabetes and more efficient diagnosis.

Which is not to say Smith is denying that the spread of type 2 diabetes is a serious issue: "Diabetes is one of the major health challenges faced across the United States," he says, "but these finding suggest that the prevalence of the disease is not growing as rapidly as often claimed."

James P. Smith is RAND's corporate chair of labor market and demographic studies. RAND is a nonprofit research organization.

According to a RAND Corporation study, fewer and fewer diabetics are going undiagnosed these days. Specifically, the gap has closed dramatically over the last twenty-five years. So much so that Hispanics and African Americans are now no more likely than whites to be undiagnosed. Good news, to be sure.

And the news is especially good for men. James P. Smith, who authored the study, says that twenty-five years ago about fifty percent of men with diabetes did not even know they had the disease. Jump forward to 1999-2002, however, and the number drops to about twenty percent.

Smith concludes that even though ethnic and gender disparities remain, we are certainly doing a lot better at getting people diagnosed and into treatment. Diabetes programs that target minorities can take a lot of the credit for this shift, Smith believes.

On the down side, the less-educated people among us are much more likely to go undiagnosed and, when diagnosed, are less likely to successfully incorporate lifestyle changes required to manage the disease. Also of concern, Smith says, is the fact that even though obese people are at a high risk for diabetes, they nevertheless are more likely to have undiagnosed diabetes than are slimmer people.

Eight-year-old Sam Murray of Massachusetts has become an official face of type 1 diabetes for the Joslin Diabetes Center. Sam and one other child will appear on billboards throughout his home state. The billboards promote diabetes awareness and that ever-critical (yet never-ending!) task, fundraising.

The ad campaign is a year-long endeavor by Joslin, paid for using $500,000-worth of billboard space donated by ClearChannel. In one of the designs, Sam poses with a glucose monitor in his outstretched hand, a chalkboard in the background, with the slogan "Let's erase diabetes from his future."

Sam Murray was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes only last year. His parents say the diagnosis might have taken longer to secure if not for the fact that another local boy had been diagnosed with the disease not so long before, so Sam's mom and dad were already somewhat familiar with the symptoms.

And, no, he's not shy about taking such a public role: "I thought it would be pretty cool to have my picture all over the place," remarks Sam. Says dad Dan, "Sammy from the get-go has really adapted to this much better than we could have possibly imagined. He's kind of taken on this role as ambassador."

Click here to see a Boston Globe photo of the billboard image.

A report published in Diabetes Care says C-peptide improves sensory nerve function in type 1 diabetic patients with early-stage diabetic neuropathy. Thanks to Scott Strumello's comment, earlier today, I couldn't help but query the world wide web for more information on this C-peptide revelation. If I forget to mention it - thanks a million, Scott!

C-peptide was shown to be a significant factor in the maintenance of microvascular function. In a 6 month study of type 1 diabetes patients receiving replacement C-peptide, their nerve functions improved remarkably. A randomized study of 139 patients received one of 3 daily treatments: 1.5 mg of C-peptide, 4.5 mg of C-peptide, or placebo. At the beginning of the study, the sensory and motor nerve conduction velocities were significantly reduced compared with normal. After 6 months of treatment, peak sensory nerve conduction velocities improved in the groups treated with low-dose or high-dose C-peptide, but not significantly compared with the control group. The study showed a significant advantage in nerve functions for those treated with C-peptide (37%) verses those in the control group (19%). Overall, there were no adverse drug reactions reported from treatment of C-peptide.

At this time, there is strong evidence supporting the belief that C-peptide may be beneficial not only for nerve function, but also for the treatment and prevention of other long-term complications caused by type 1 diabetes such as nephropathy and perhaps retinopathy. Phase II clinical studies are ongoing at this time to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of C-peptide replacement therapy for the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. I can hear the trumpets playing already. I'll be right there with pen-in-hand ready to sign the dotted line for such a study. Thank you, Scott and thank you, Creative Peptides.

You know how Dunkin' Donuts says America runs on Dunkin? As if you needed justification for your caffeine fix -- here's another one: researchers found that middle-aged adults who drank four or more cups of coffee a day had a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who rarely had a cup.

The researchers based their findings on data from 12,204 middle-aged U.S. adults who were followed from 1987 to 1999 -- all of who were free of diabetes at the outset. Participants completed detailed questionnaires on their diets, including how often they drank coffee. They also reported on their exercise levels, smoking habits, alcohol intake and other lifestyle factors. Even with these other factors considered, coffee drinkers showed a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Those who downed four or more cups a day were about one-third less likely to report a diabetes diagnosis over the study period.

The reason is not fully clear, but one possibility is that certain coffee components -- such as magnesium or chlorogenic acid -- improve the body's regulation of blood sugar. Some research also suggests that caffeinated coffee spurs a prolonged spike in metabolism that may help control body weight. The findings of this study are not a green light to start an intravenous line of java. Although the findings show a positive effect on reducing risk of developing type 2 diabetes, excessive caffeine consumption is related to other risks like elevated blood pressure. All things considered, I think type 2 diabetes might be a trigger for high blood pressure just the same. So if you had to choose: tons of coffee, elevated blood pressure with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes or no coffee, stable blood pressure and increased likelihood of type 2 diabetes-what would you prefer? I'll take mine light and sweet, please.