Researchers are finding evidence that chiropractic adjustments could enhance diabetes control.

The study focused on the positive response chiropractic adjustments contributed in the care of a patient with adult onset diabetes. The chiropractic care was directed toward correcting misalignments in the spine, called vertebral subluxations. Vertebral subluxation is a chiropractic term to describe a myriad of symptoms thought to occur as a result of a misaligned spinal segment. However, specifically for this patient, it was the vertebral relationship governing his nervous system and endocrine organs. After one month of being on the program, the patient's glucose levels had normalized in both the blood and urine. His medical doctor, who monitored his progress, said the patient would not need insulin if the condition remained stable.

The study was one of several projects exploring the impact of vertebral subluxations on human health and well-being. For more than 100 years, chiropractors have maintained that what they do affects organ system function and general health. Case studies like this demonstrate the urgency for more research on chiropractic and its effects beyond neck and back pain.

Okay, so it's not just an immune blunder anymore. Canadian-led research suggests immune cells aren't the only culprits in developing type 1 diabetes - the nervous system also plays a pivotal role.

With Type 1 diabetes, the destruction of the islet cells in the pancreas leaves the body without insulin to regulate the metabolism of blood glucose, or sugar. In studies of laboratory mice specially bred to make them susceptible to Type 1 diabetes, researchers discovered that a control circuit exists between insulin-producing cells and their associated sensory, or pain-related, nerves. It turns out that this control circuit is necessary to retain the health and normal function of islet cells. Researchers have found that the immune system is under much closer control by the nervous system than previously thought.

In other words, a dysfunctional immune response is not the only thing needed to get diabetes - the nerve cells are also critical. The researchers also found that injecting a substance into mice whose islet cells were inflamed and on the way to being destroyed not only eliminated the inflammation but actually reversed it. "The blood glucose normalizes overnight and it stays low for weeks to months - this is with a single shot," enthused one researcher. "We now have four-month-old mice that are non-diabetic that used to be diabetic" - a period equivalent to six to eight years in humans. Heck, I'll take a 6 to 8 year vacation from 10 finger sticks a day, 3 SYMLIIN injections a day, and a bi-weekly pump change. O Canada!

The New York Times is running a feature on the link between Type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. It basically sums up all the mounting evidence that there is a connection between the two diseases and explains why this connection may exist. The basis of the article is the presentation yesterday of new findings on the subject at a Madrid conference on Alzheimer's.

In a nutshell, here's what's known at this point: people with Type 2 diabetes are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. Researchers think maybe cardio problems related to having diabetes might inhibit blood flow to the brain, thereby contributing to dementia. More recently, researchers have found that both diabetes and Alzheimer's sufferers have a buildup of a certain protein in their bodies, giving rise to suspicions that the two diseases are somehow related in other ways. Some have even speculated that Alzheimer's might in fact be a type of diabetes - one that affects the nervous system.

Bottom line? It's a concern because it means that soaring rates of diabetes in the US will also mean a corresponding increase in Alzheimer's. Worst case scenario: "Alzheimer's is going to swamp the health care system" says Dr. John C. Morris, a professor at Washington University, in St. Louis, MO.

The article also touches on the possibility that diabetes control and prevention measures could, in theory, lower the risk of dementia also. I guess that's the silver lining to this cloud.