Did You Know

Regular Coffee, Decaf and Tea All Associated with Reduced Risk for Diabetes: Individuals who drink more coffee (regular or decaffeinated) or tea appear to have a lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, according to an analysis of previous studies reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 14-Dec-2009. See this week’s …

Reducing TV Time Helps Adults Burn More Calories: Adults who used an electronic lock-out system to reduce their television time by half did not change their calorie intake but did expend more energy over a three-week period, according to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 14-Dec-2009.  

Dark Chocolate Eases Emotional Stress: The “chocolate cure” for emotional stress is getting new support from a clinical trial. The study found that eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced levels of stress hormones in the bodies of people feeling highly stressed. …

Prevalence of High LDL Cholesterol Levels Decreases in U.S.: Between 1999 and 2006, the prevalence of adults in the U.S. with high levels of LDL cholesterol, the “bad” cholesterol, decreased by about one-third, according to a study. But a high percentage of adults still are not screened or treated for …

The Yearly Cost for a Patient with Diabetes Complications is $30,000: According to UnitedHealthcare studies, the average annual cost for treating diabetes patients and pre-diabetes patients is: $5,000 for pre-diabetes patients; $12,000 for undiagnosed people with diabetes; $10,000 for a diabetes patient without complications; and $30,000 for a diabetes patient …

Sixty Percent of Those with Diabetes Don’t Do It! Sixty percent of diabetes patients do not follow their physician’s advice on how to manage their disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This suggests that there is significant opportunity for improvement in the quality of life and …

Walking Backward More Beneficial than Walking Forward.  A few small studies have shown that walking backward increases the heart rate when compared to walking forward at the same speed. The most recent peer-reviewed study concluded that it increased the heart rate by 17% to 20%. This would suggest that walking …

Ninety-five percent of Diabetes Diagnoses in India Happen at Advanced Stage. India is becoming the diabetes capital of the world with over 50 million people affected by the lifestyle disease that is all too often discovered only in the advanced stages. A new study conducted by doctors at the Artemis Health …

First Ever Guidelines Issued for Management of Diabetes in Pregnancy: Also the first ever guidelines on the use of self-monitoring of blood glucose for Type 2 patients not on insulin. Learn more in this week’s Item #2.

Processed Food Increases Risk of Depression: This report is based on data from a long-running cohort study of middle-aged civil servants. An analysis found that eating processed foods was associated with depression five years later, even after other social and health factors were taken into account. What were the basic results? …