Monday, February 26, 2007

Coffee May Help To Keep Diabetes At Bay

Do you aware that coffee may be... Read on the article below ....

Coffee has been a drink that people consume everyday, especially during breakfast.
There are many negative reports on consuming coffee mainly due to its caffeine. A study reported in the Archives of Internal medicine that there is a link between drinking coffee and a reduced risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Nevertheless, it is still not clear that whether the protective effect is due caffeine or other ingredients presented in coffee.

Diabetes has been considered a risk factor of heart disease, and Type 2 diabetes develops when pancreas does not make enough insulin or when insulin cannot be used by the body properly. Insulin is a hormone that converts sugars into energy. This form of diabetes is commonly found among people aged 40 and above, especially those overweight and physically inactive.

The study, conducted by the University of Minnesota, examined over 28,000 postmenopausal women over a period of 11 years (1986 -1997). Women who drank more than 6 cups of coffee per day were less likely to be diagnosed with diabetes. Those who drank decaffeinated coffee showed a further reduced risk.

Questions were answered by these women about risk factors for diabetes, and details given about their lifestyle and beverage consumption (including regular and decaffeinated coffee). After adjusting the data for other risk factors for diabetes, it was found that women who drank more than 6 cups of any type of coffee daily were 22 percent less likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than non-coffee drinkers. Those who drank more than 6 cups of decaffeinated coffee per day had a 33-percent reduced risk.

The overall intake of caffeine did not appear to be related to diabetes risk, suggesting that another ingredient in coffee might have contributed to the effect. The researchers suggested that magnesium, and other minerals and nutrients found in coffee bean such as polyphenols and antioxidants, may be responsible for this beneficial effect. However, further studies are required to ascertain this.

Other experts expressed some concerns about this study. Firstly, the participants were only limited to postmenopausal women and so are not representative of the population. Secondly, there is no objective measure to ensure that the reported diet or incidence of diabetes were accurate because data were collected from self-administrative questionnaires. Thirdly, there are many kinds of foods containing hundreds of different phytochemicals and antioxidants. It may not be appropriate to simply rely on any single food to obtain these nutrients. Finally, taking too much coffee can cause side effects. More than 3 cups of coffee a day can cause nervousness, stomach distress, insomnia, and for some people, irregular heartbeat.

While awaiting further research confirmation about the beneficial effect of drinking coffee, people with diabetes, however, still need to maintain healthy eating habits, regular physical activity, and more importantly, maintain a healthy body weight.

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Source of article : http://freearticle.name/

Sunday, February 25, 2007

10 Common Symptoms Of Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes is a condition of Hyperglycemia ( Increase level of Glucose in Blood). Most of the times Diabetes is asymptomatic, however It is very important to diagnose diabetes as early as possible to prevent early and late complications of Diabetes. This is only possible, if you have some knowledge about common symptoms (often misspelled as "symtoms") of Diabetes Mellitus.

Glucose is an important source of energy for cells of our body. Glucose enters the cells and metabolized to provide energy. How does glucose enter in cells? It enters the cells with help of Insulin. Insulin is a hormone produced by Pancreas. Suppose there is no insulin, or insulin production is decreased. Obviously, Glucose level in blood will increase and we will have a condition what we call as Diabetes Mellitus.

There are many symptoms of diabetes but we will focus here on most common symptoms of Diabetes.Here is list of these symptoms.

Increase Thurst
Frequent urination
Fatigue and weakness
Blurred vision
Abdominal pains
Nausea and vomiting
Weight loss or gain
Skin infections like abscess, pimples
Impotence
Fluid retention (especially in legs and feet)
Chronic itching
Poor healing of skin wounds
Decreased tolerance to cold
Increase heart rate
Dry scaly skin
Numbness of fingers and toes
Extreme hunger pangs
Hot and sweaty with clammy perspiration
Heart tremors and palpitations
Apprehensive with no obvious reason
Nervousness
Disoriented, confused, inability to concentrate
Frequent headaches, dizziness
Mood changes

How will we relate these symptoms with Diabetes. Remember, most of symptoms are directly related to higher levels of Glucose in Blood.

Increase Thurst and Urination:
Two symptoms that occur in many people with the disease are increased thirst and frequent urination.Increase level of glucose in blood leads to increase excretion of glucose by Kidneys. Glucose will take more and more water with it, so diabetic patient will have frequent urination which will lead to increase thurst. To quench your thirst, you drink a lot of water and other beverages, and that leads to more frequent urination. There is another condition Diabetes Insipidus, disease of pituitary gland in brain, where we also see increase thurst and urination.

Extreme hunger, fatigue and weight loss Extreme hunger:
Fatigue and weight loss are also related with hyperglycemia. Without insulin like Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus, or Decrease Insulin like Type 2 diabetes, Glucose can not enter in cells which is main sourse of energy for cells, so cells will lake this energy and patient will have weight loss and fatigue.

Headaches, dizziness, irritability:
Brain needs a constant supply of energy, if brain cells don't receive enough energy, we become tired; most tired people tend to be less tolerant and more irritable!

Dry itchy skin:
Normal skin cells require gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) which our body makes via a complex metabolic process. In older people and diabetics, this process is impaired and not enough GLA is produced; this results is chronic, severely dry and itchy skin and condition is aggravated by soaps, hot baths, detergents, environmental conditions; it is usually worse during the winter months and most commonly affects legs, feet, and hands but can affect other areas of the body aswell.

Blurred vision Blurred vision:
Well, Diabetes can also affect your eyes aswell. Again cause is High Glucose Level. High glucose in blood vessels increase process of atherosclerosis resulting in thickening of blood vessels. chronically high levels of glucose damage blood vessels in different organs of the body, usually starting with the retina of the eye and the kidneys and heart; eventually some blood vessels are lost and remaining ones become leaky which allow blood and fat to seep out of damaged blood vessels. This makes the retina bleed and swell which causes blurred vision. Over a period of years, however, diabetes can also cause new blood vessels to form in your retina of eye, as well as damage old vessels. For most people this causes only mild vision problems. But for others, the effects may be much more serious. In some cases, diabetes can also lead to blindness.

Tingling/burning pain in the feet:
Another important symptom of Diabetes. It may be the first symptom of diabetes. Our hands and feet are supplied by Neurons, as we said earlier that due to diabetes blood vessels become thick, similary is the case with neurons, blood supply to these neurons decreases due to thickening of blood vessels which leads to degeneration of peripheral nerve fibers (Neurons) throughout the body which commonly leads to a lack of feeling in the feet, advances up the legs and then the hands and is the most common reason for lower limb amputations. It can also be very painful. If there is Loss of motor nerve fibers it leads to muscular weakness. If there is loss of sensory nerve fibers leads to loss of feeling and numbness in hands and feet. Loss of autonomic fibers cause the loss of functions not normally under conscious control like digestion, heartbeat, blood pressure, and sweating. Neuropathy symptoms tingling, burning, aching, prickling, sharp jabs of needlelike pain can also be caused by nerves that are damaged or are healing.

Slow-healing sores or frequent infections:
Bacteria love high glucose, Diabetes affects your body's ability to heal and fight infection. Urinary track infections and vaginal infections can be a particular problem for women.

Diagnose your diabetes as early as possible to keep yourself away from complex complications of diabetes Mellitus.

Source of article : http://freearticle.name/

Monday, January 29, 2007

General Symptoms of Diabetes


Very often, diabetes goes undiagnosed due to many of its symptoms seem harmless. A study indicates that early detection of diabetes symptoms and treatment can reduce the probability of developing the complications of diabetes.

In general, some of the common diabetes symptoms include:

  • Frequent urination
  • Excessive thirst
  • Extreme hunger
  • Unusual weight loss
  • Increased fatigue
  • Irritability
  • Blurry vision
If you have one or more of the above diabetes symptoms, consult doctor immediately.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Diabetes

Many people don't realize the signs of illness and get serious about it before it really strike him/her. In fact, very sadly, through one of the survey conducted for the diabetes patients in a hospital, as high as 83.5 % of the patients in the interview do not know of the symptoms of diabetes and do not even seriously find out more until they realized that they have diabetes.

It is not surprising as many of us have been racing against the fame, money and power and have been neglected our most valuable asset--health.

In view of that, I would like to set up this blog to let every reader have a understanding of diabetes a little more.