French researchers say a slender waistline can pay big dividends for your health. Specifically, weight loss that whittles the waist lowers the risk of metabolic syndrome, which in turn decreases your chances of developing Type 2 diabetes, not to mention heart disease.

Even if you are otherwise healthy with a normal body mass index, having a wider-than-average waist automatically puts you at higher risk for metabolic syndrome. So says Beverley Balkau, the study's lead author, in an interview with Reuters. Balkau and her colleagues found that men and women whose waistlines grew by three or more inches over a period of nine years experienced a measurably greater risk for metabolic syndrome.

The good news is that losing just a little weight can help a lot. Women who lost even an inch or more around the waist during the study period ended up with a reduced risk for metabolic syndrome, unlike those whose waist measurements stayed the same. In addition, many women who began the study already diagnosed with metabolic syndrome but who managed to lose an inch or more from their waists during its course ended up free of symptoms.

The study has been published in Diabetes Care (July 2007).

Each year the American Diabetic Association sponsors an informational campaign to promote healthy eating by providing practical nutrition guidance that focuses on the importance of developing sound eating and exercise habits. The theme for this year is 100 percent "Fad Free." The campaign features learning how to identify a food fad which is a food or diet fad that claims unreasonable or exaggerated benefits. If a diet or product advertises eating only specific foods, nutrient supplements or combinations of foods that may cure disease or offer quick weight loss, it is a fad. Diet fads come and go.

A balanced diet and physical activity are essential to a healthy lifestyle over the long term of your life. Develop an eating plan for the lifelong health. Choose foods sensibly by looking at the big picture because a single food or meal will not make or break a healthy diet. Find your balance between food and physical activity. Exercise does not have to be strenuous to be beneficial.

The FDA has approved sitagliptin phosphate tablets to improve blood glucose levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. The drug, named Januvia, is proudly presented to the diabetic community by Merck and Co.

JANUVIA, a once-daily pill, enhances your body's natural ability to balance blood sugar levels. Your body sends important messages to your pancreas to try to balance high blood sugar. In response, your pancreas makes more insulin and signals the liver to make less sugar. But a substance in your body called DPP-4 blocks some of these important messages. JANUVIA works by blocking DPP-4, so more of the important messages get through. It also helps your pancreas make more insulin and signal your liver to make less sugar. Another feature of this new drug is the ability to prevent your sugar from going too low. JANUVIA works only when your blood sugar levels are high, or out of balance. When your blood sugar levels are at a healthy balance, JANUVIA doesn't have an effect. Because JANUVIA stops working before your blood sugar gets too low, it is not likely to lower your blood sugar to a potentially dangerous level (hypoglycemia). One more bonus to JANUVIA is the fact that this drug did not show weight gain in most patients during clinical trials.

Could this be the answer for your diabetes dilemma? Next time you swing by your doctor's office, mention that new drug Merck released. I'm sure your doctor will be as thrilled to see your numbers controlled as you'll be to see your natural ability to control them restored. Best of luck to those who find their diabetic solution in JANUVIA!

Chromium picolinate is one of the most widely debated supplements in diabetes health. A study has shown that it improves glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes not adequately controlled while taking sulfonylurea, a drug that increases insulin release from the beta cells in the pancreas.

A 40-week study was designed to examine the effect of adding daily chromium picolinate supplementation to an antidiabetic medication, sulfonylurea. A commonly prescribed treatment for type 2 diabetes was given to 29 subjects for 24 weeks, in conjunction with either chromium picolinate or a placebo. Blood sugar levels of study participants taking chromium picolinate dropped significantly compared to the placebo group. In addition, insulin sensitivity for participants taking the chromium picolinate was increased when compared to those in the placebo group. Study participants taking chromium picolinate also experienced significantly lower abdominal body fat accumulation than the placebo group, and experienced less overall weight gain.

This study demonstrates that chromium picolinate supplementation for type 2 diabetes who are taking sulfonylurea agents significantly improves insulin sensitivity and glucose control. In addition, chromium picolinate was shown to reduce weight gain and fat accumulation compared with the placebo group. The results of this study were first published in August 2006 - but knowing about chromium picolinate today leaves you with ample time to adjust for greater insulin sensitivity and less fattening days to come!

Research has confirmed modern blood-pressure treatments are less likely to be associated with new cases of diabetes than older medicines.

Historically, beta-blockers and diuretics have been associated with reducing glucose-tolerance and triggering the onset of diabetes. The results of past clinical trials found the danger was less with angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) and angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors (ACE). The study was based on a systematic review of 22 clinical trials involving 143,000 patients who did not have diabetes when they were started on the different medicines.

An individual's risk of getting diabetes while taking diuretics and beta blockers depends on a number of factors, including but not limited to, your weight, your family history of diabetes, whether or not you have recently gained weight and the extent you remain on the prescribed medication. I'd hate to think the only treatment to lower your blood pressure subsequently raised your blood sugar. With the risk of diabetes lurking around every corner -- we have little space for drugs that are exclusively curable in one respect and haphazardly injurious in another.

Eli Lilly has agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle 18,000 lawsuits from people who claimed they had developed diabetes or other diseases after taking Zyprexa. The drug is intended to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Zyprexa is the brand name for olanzapine, a potent chemical that binds to receptors in the brain to reduce psychotic hallucinations and delusions. Clinical trials show that in many patients, Zyprexa also causes severe weight gain and increases in cholesterol and blood sugar. 16% of people taking Zyprexa gained more than 66 pounds after a year on the drug, a far higher figure than the company disclosed to doctors. In 2004, a panel of the American Diabetes Association found that Zyprexa caused diabetes more than other widely used antipsychotic drugs, in part because it tends to cause much more weight gain. In 2003, the FDA added a warning to the label of Zyprexa about its tendency to cause high blood sugar.

That's a shame. A drug used to treat mental illness characterized by significant social dysfunction actually causes severe weight gain, increases cholesterol and raises blood sugar. I see how Zyprexa works. It helps patients' delusions of being overweight and unhealthy a reality.

Being overweight, if not obese, is an issue that has long been associated with type 2 diabetes. That's not to say that carrying an excessive amount of weight should not be of concern to those with type 1, but the risk factors associated with obesity were never as clearly defined as they now may be.

According to a study, conducted by researchers at the University of Washington and published in the January Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, obesity may be a risk factor for the development of diabetic kidney disease in people living with type 1.

After analyzing data collected from the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) on almost 1,300 patients with type 1, the researchers involved in this new study were able to determine that central obesity -- measured in terms waist circumference -- had an affect on he risk of kidney disease. Specifically, the researchers found that those individuals with type 1 and central obesity had greater chances of developing microalbuminuria (small amounts of the protein albumin) in their urine, which is the first sign of diabetic kidney failure. Further, it seems as though the larger the person's waist, the greater the risk of running into kidney problems. In fact, this risk was quantified by the researchers; for each 4 inches above what is considered a healthy waistline, a person's risk of developing microalbuminuria is increased by 34%. This association remained constant after other risk factors were controlled for, including intense insulin therapy.

A simple test may be able to provide Indian (people that are either from, or decendants of people from, the country India) with a fairly accurate assesment as to their chances of developing diabetes and heart disease.

All it requires is a tape measure.

If you are an Indian woman with a waist of over 32 inches or an Indian man with a waist of 35 inches or more, your odds of developing diabetes or heart disease are incredibly high.

Based on numerous studies, Indian men develop heart disease more than any other group, regardless of where in the world they live. In India, the percentage of heart disease his risen by 300 percent over the past thirty years, while it has steadily decreased by about 60 percent here in the U.S. As for diabetes, the risk is also very great for Indian men and women, particularly those who have expanded wasitlines. The belly fat is more dangerous than fat in, say, the legs or buttocks because it "produces biological and active molecules and hormones that lead to the develoment of diabetes and cardiovascular disease."

It also appears as though age does not play as big a factor as one might anticipate. The information also posited that Indian children as young as 8 years old demonstrated a greater risk for diabetes and heart disease as their waistlines grew. In fact, the propensity to develop these two diseases is twice as high in Indian children than in white children "because of the different distribution of abdominal obesity and general obesity."

Baltimore researchers from Johns Hopkins University have concluded a study indicating that being short -- specifically having short legs and a low leg length-to-height ratio -- is linked to an increased type 2 diabetes and obesity risk in middle age. It all goes back to childhood nutrition, as short leg length translates into the lack of proper nutrition during the formative years of physical growth.

According to the researchers, "Insofar as adult stature is an indicator of development and growth during early life, the risk of obesity and diabetes in adulthood might begin to accrue before puberty." They recommend early intervention to improve childhood nutrition in diabetes prevention.

This is observational on my part, and not the result of any study, but I do not believe this will apply to type 1 diabetes. My father-in-law was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and he reached an adult height of 6-foot 4-inches. My sister-in-law was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and she reached an adult height of 6-foot. 

Richard Kahn, Chief Scientific & Medical Officer for the American Diabetes Association, is blogging the American Diabetes Association's 66th Annual Scientific Sessions. From June 9 - 13, the annual convention brings together leading scientists and health professionals to present the latest study findings and to discuss the current and future progress in the field of diabetes prevention and care.

So far, some of Kahn's posts have covered such topics as: insulin and longevity; endocannabinoids, oral insulin, the new A1C test, who is responsible for optimal diabetes care; the worm study; and you are what your mother ate during her pregnancy. The posting is written in a light and easy manner, not requiring the average person to being a textbook of medical definitions to make sense out of what is being said. I assume Kahn will continue blogging through June 13. You can read Richard's D.C. Diary here.

More good news from Australian researchers. In forwarding the advancements in scientific discovery or innovative solutions to life-long problems for diabetics worldwide, these researchers seem to be gaining impressive ground lately. At the beginning of the month, we posted about a new device that might go a long way in eliminating the ouch factor when testing blood sugar levels.

Now, it is being reported that Australian scientists have discovered a gene responsible for Type 2 diabetes. While Type 2 diabetes is most related to older persons from a lifetime of not getting enough exercise and following a nutritious diet and managing a healthy weight, the PSARL gene appears to play a role in who develops Type 2 diabetes and who doesn't develop the same disease -- given the same life-long lifestyle practices. According to Geelong-based ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals researchers, they got to the finish line first -- ahead of the other scientists -- in making this discovery. I'd say this discovery is sufficient enough reason to strut their scientific feathers.

As a mother who has sat at the breakfast table with her sons and silently prayed on more than one occasion that her sons did not inherit Grandpa's genetic makeup that led to his being diagnosed with diabetes while still a child, I will personally throw a parade for the scientists who not only discover the exact genes that lead to Type 1 diabetes but how to block the genetic progression that leads to Type 1 diabetes. That would be the ultimate scientific peacock moment.