Showing posts with label Guest Article. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guest Article. Show all posts

Friday, April 16, 2010

Reader Article: Controlling Glucose Level to Prevent Diabetes

 Here's something I have been wishing for ... a guest article authored by one of my readers.  If you have something that you would want me to publish in this blog, by all means, please send it and if I think it has technical merit and seems appropriate, I shall publish it.  


This article is written by Kristina Ridley who writes for the diabetes blood glucose  blog. (http://www.diabetesmeters.org/)This is her personal hobby-blog that focuses on healthy eating and tips to measure blood glucose levels at home to help people understand early diabetes symptoms.  

This article may have bearing on remote monitoring technology for diabetes in the what people consume has likely impact on glucose and insulin levels.  I know that heart failure patients (whom I understand are often diabetic) can remotely report to caregivers their weight, blood pressures, etc.  I would seem reasonable that diabetics could report their food and fluids intake for remote monitoring by their caregivers. 

I am particularly interested in Kristina's last section, "Too Much Control."  My experience in cardiac rhythm management suggest close monitoring and control are strong positives.  I hope that Kristina or someone else could write a rejoinder to this section.


Here is Kristina's unedited article:

Here’s a Quick Way to Control Glucose Level to Prevent Diabetes
 

Our pancreas is affected by diabetes – specifically, Type 2.Our body contains glucose found in the blood stream, which it gets from the sugar in food. Our body uses the glucose, but only when it goes into our blood cells and the insulin released by our pancreas converts it. Insulin production and utilization is difficult for someone who lives with Type 2 diabetes. There is a lot of glucose in the body, but your cells cannot locate them.

The American Diabetes Association has become very important when it comes to gathering critical information about this medical condition. With approximately 23.6 million citizens living with diabetes, America is an extremely unhealthy country. Over 90% of all patients with diabetes have Type 2.Most diabetics tend to be overweight and have relatives with the same condition. Too much glucose can cause serious, irreparable damage to internal organs and to the overall nervous system.

Diabetes and Your Life

If you have Type 2 diabetes, you need to live in a healthy manner. Living healthy and engaging in healthy practices will affect you tremendously. Two common examples of healthy routines include exercising and consuming healthy foods. Making sure that your glucose levels stay in the recommended range translates into being able to avoid complications in your health. A finger prick test is a common and reliable way to monitor your body’s blood glucose levels. 
 
This test, according to physicians, is sufficient enough for glucose monitoring like the HbA1c test. The amount of glycated hemoglobin in your blood is determined by this HbA1c test, aside from it alerting you if you reach a high glucose level. Results of these A1c tests show that people with diabetes are at a seven percent level. The CDC reports that if one maintains their a1c levels at seven percent, they could reduce the possibility of risks as high up as forty percent.

Too Much Control 

Recently, there have been medical studies that seem to indicate that maintaining A1c levels below 7% may be a bad idea after all. One of these studies, conducted at the Lancet and Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, has found that people who have median levels may be at a far greater risk of death, especially for those taking insulin. However, other tests have indicated that A1c levels of 7 percent is still perfectly healthy. Matt Davies, An accredited Endocrinologist, has stated that maintaining a 7% A1c level is healthy according to recent studies, but that physicians should always take the individual patient's history into account prior to planning treatment.
 

Kristina provides diabetic recipes in here blog.  In addition, I have provided a link to Amazon that will initiate a search for diabetic cookbooks.
Search Amazon.com for diabetic cookbook