Beinglatino.us: 04/16/2012 By Cristopher Rubio
I live in the fattest part of the country.
No really, a Gallup poll recently declared the Rio Grande Valley (Texas) as the most obese Metropolitan area in the United States of America, with nearly 40 percent of its residents classified as obese.
You’ve probably heard and read plenty about the obesity epidemicin the United States, the country where even the majority ofhousehold pets are overweight. You probably also know that obesity leads to high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, and even a lighter wallet.
But, hopefully you are also aware that obesity, even moderate obesity, dramatically increases the risk of type II diabetes. If this alone isn’t enough to sound an alarm in your head, consider that Latinos are 1.6 times more likely to die of diabetes than non-Hispanic whites. Read More
Latinalista.com: Marisa | April 16, 2012
Diabetes, whether Type 1 or Type 2, is a serous health issue, especially for Latinos. Of all Latinos, Mexican Americans suffer the most from the disease that can rob a person of their limbs, their eyesight and eventually their life. On top of the dismal odds of Mexican Americans being diagnosed most often with the disease, more Latinas suffer from diabetes than Latinos, white men or white women.
Living with diabetes does not make anyone’s life easier and can pose challenges for both the diabetic and their family but no one knows what the life of a diabetic is like unless they know someone. Joanna Puello created the video of her life with diabetes to illustrate how she handles her disease on a day-to-day basis and how she hasn’t let her stop her from living her life. Read More
The American Council on Exercise (ACE), San Diego, Calif., reports that its Native American Diabetes Prevention Program is off to a successful start in educating tribes about the benefits of exercise and helping them to set up community fitness programs. Type 2 diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death among Native Americans.
ACE’s first Native Fitness Leader Training session was held last November, with 16 people from 12 American Indian and Native Alaskan tribes attending. The three-day training covered the basics of teaching group fitness. The training sessions place special emphasis on topics of concern to Native American communities, including working with special populations (especially those with type 2 diabetes), adherence, motivation and how to set up a fitness program. Additional trainings have occurred or will occur with the Warm Springs tribe in Warm Springs, Ore., the Sandia and Santa Ana Pueblos in New Mexico, the White Mountain Apache tribe in Whiteriver, Ariz., and the Eastern Shoshone tribe in Wyoming. Read More
Minorityhealth.hhs.gov: National Partnership for Action, Posted on 4/11/2012 by Irena McClain.
Irena McClain is the Associate Director at the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi (DFM). She joined the staff in 1994 and is active in the Minority Health Initiative and “Sweet Subject” School Diabetes Education programs at the DFM. She received an AB in Biology from Smith College and an MPH from University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
We know that type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity are problems in our state. All of us living in Mississippi have seen the headlines- “Mississippi is the Heaviest State!” or “Mississippi is in Top Three for Diabetes!” It’s not a case of Mississippians ignoring their health. We find that people are thirsty for knowledge and want to do right by themselves and their families. We live in the information age, but sometimes making sense of all of the information online, in the paper or coming over the airwaves is difficult. And finding the time to do something proactive for our health seems almost impossible.
Too many in our state don’t understand the connection between obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease, much less how to prevent complications from diabetes if they are already diagnosed. The Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi, through its partnership with the Institute for the Improvement of Minority Health and Health Disparities in the Delta Region (DRI), works actively in high-risk communities to reduce health disparities and improve lives through our educational and screening programs. We go to health fairs in minority and rural churches and communities, conducting blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol screenings, and discussing the results to help people stay healthy. We sponsor a statewide Diabetes Super Conference to educate the lay public, as well as an annual Continuing Medical Education (CME) meeting to ensure our health professionals have the knowledge they need to care of their patients with diabetes. Read More
Arch Surg. Published online April 16, 2012. doi:10.1001/archsurg.2012.222
Objective To compare the effect of sleeve gastrectomy vs medical therapy on type 2 diabetes mellitus and other obesity-related comorbidities (obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, hypertension, and dyslipidemia) in prospectively enrolled and matched obese patients with type 2 diabetes.
Design A prospective cohort study. Morbidly obese patients with type 2 diabetes who either underwent sleeve gastrectomy or conventional therapy were followed up and assessed for their diabetic state and other comorbidities every 3 months for 18 months.
Setting Centre for the Surgical-Medical Treatment of Morbid Obesity, Policlinico “Umberto I,” University of Rome “Sapienza,” Italy.
Patients A total of 30 morbidly obese patients with type 2 diabetes who underwent sleeve gastrectomy (group A) and a total of 30 morbidly obese patients with type 2 diabetes who underwent conventional therapy (group B). Read More
American Diabetes Association: April 9, 2012.
Did you know that April is Limb Loss Awareness Month?
People with diabetes can develop many different foot problems, and even seemingly simple ones can lead to serious complications. The reason? Many people with diabetes have artery disease, which reduces blood flow to the feet. Many also have nerve disease, called neuropathy, which reduces sensation, making it harder to tell when something’s wrong.
Together, these problems make it easy to get ulcers and infections that may lead to amputation. In fact, more than 60 percent of nontraumatic lower-limb amputations occur in people with diabetes.
The good news is that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), amputations have declined significantly among U.S. adults with diabetes in recent years. This is largely due to better foot care and overall diabetes management—proving that taking care of yourself and your feet can go a long way.
Most people can prevent serious foot troubles by following some simple steps. So here are the do’s and don’ts of foot care: Read More
A major study conducted by researchers affiliated with the UC Davis MIND Institute has found strong links between maternal diabetes and obesity and the likelihood of having a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or another developmental disorder.
Prweb.com: Sacramento, CA (PRWEB) April 08, 2012
A major study conducted by researchers affiliated with the UC Davis MIND Institute has found strong links between maternal diabetes and obesity and the likelihood of having a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or another developmental disorder.
The study, which investigated the relationships between maternal metabolic conditions and the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, found that mothers who were obese were 67 percent more likely to have a child with ASD than normal-weight mothers without diabetes or hypertension, and were more than twice as likely to have a child with another developmental disorder.
Mothers with diabetes were found to have nearly 67 percent more likely to have a child with developmental delays as healthy mothers. However, the proportion of mothers with diabetes who had a child with ASD was higher than in healthy moms but did not reach statistical significance. Read More
The
South Texas Diabetes Initiative, a program of the Minority Diabetes Coalition,
is sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche Diagnostics
and Eli Lilly.
(CDC), amputations have declined significantly among U.S. adults with diabetes in recent years. This is largely due to better foot care and overall diabetes management—proving that taking care of yourself and your feet can go a long way.
