Category Archives: Diabetes

Diabetics fleeing Sudan struggle to keep their insulin safe in 40C heat

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With makeshift coolbags and an endless quest for ice, refugees are desperately struggling to protect their precious medication – if they can access any at all

Bags of ice and wet towels have become the emergency lifelines for Sudanese diabetics struggling to keep their insulin cool while waiting in extreme heat as they try to escape the recent violence.

A vital medication for many diabetics, insulin must be kept cool to remain effective, But since fighting broke out between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces last month, hospitals and pharmacies have forced to close and there has been damage to cold-storage facilities.

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Inaction on diabetes has plunged the the UK into a wholly avoidable crisis

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Government sleepwalking, junk food and rising inactivity have created a health emergency that has been warned of for decades

The warnings about a looming, large and potentially lethal diabetes crisis in the UK have been sounded for years. Tragically, there is no longer any need for warnings.

Diabetes UK’s grim report confirms the worst: 5 million people are now living with diabetes, a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation.

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UK in ‘rapidly escalating’ diabetes crisis as cases top 5m, report says

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Diabetes UK study also expresses concern about growing number of younger people with type 2

The UK is experiencing a “rapidly escalating” diabetes crisis, with cases topping five million for the first time and under-40s increasingly affected, a report has revealed.

About 90% of diabetes patients have type 2, a condition much more likely to develop if people are overweight. About two-thirds of adults in the UK are overweight or obese.

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Caffeine may reduce body fat and risk of type 2 diabetes, study suggests

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Findings could lead to use of calorie-free caffeinated drinks to cut obesity and type 2 diabetes – but more research needed

Having high levels of caffeine in your blood may lower the amount of body fat you carry and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, research suggests.

The findings could lead to calorie-free caffeinated drinks being used to reduce obesity and type 2 diabetes, though further research is required, the researchers wrote in the BMJ Medicine journal.

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Drugmaker Eli Lilly says it will cut insulin prices by 70%

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Move comes amid criticism of healthcare companies over rising costs of insulin, as CEO says cuts ‘should be the new standard’

Eli Lilly will cut list prices by 70% for its most commonly prescribed forms of insulin, Humalog and Humulin, beginning from the fourth quarter of this year, the drugmaker said on Wednesday.

The move comes amid criticism of healthcare companies by US lawmakers over rising costs of insulin, with Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act including a $35 cap on insulin for those enrolled in Medicare health insurance plans.

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Cohabiting adults have lower blood sugar levels, study finds

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Researchers say couples need not get along to benefit, and social isolation may increase type 2 diabetes risk

People who cohabit with a partner have lower blood sugar levels, even if they do not get along with them, according to a study that warns social isolation may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes.

The researchers believe that living with someone is an important source of social support for adults in mid to later life, according to the study published in the British Medical Journal’s diabetes journal. They found the effects were the same regardless of whether the relationship was harmonious or acrimonious.

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Sunak faces backlash over delay to junk food pre-watershed ads ban

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Scrapping of adverts for foods high in fat, salt and sugar before 9pm will not now take effect until 2025

Rishi Sunak faces a furious backlash from health experts after his government yet again delayed plans for a ban on pre-watershed TV advertising for junk food.

A ban on adverts for foods high in fat, salt and sugar before 9pm was due to come into force from January 2023, as well as a ban on “buy one get one free” deals on junk food. However, in May, it was delayed for a year by the then prime minister Boris Johnson.

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More than a million Americans ration insulin due to the high cost of the drug

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Unable to afford the drug, an increasing number of uninsured and Black Americans ration diabetes drugs, putting their lives at risk

Insulin rights activists and those who live with diabetes are calling for meaningful action to address the high costs of insulin in the United States as a new study shows the widespread habit of rationing the life-saving medicine.

Diabetes is currently the seventh-leading cause of death in the US, though a 2017 study suggests the number of Americans dying from diabetes is much higher due to diabetes frequently being overlooked in causes of death. Humans require insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas to regulate glucose in the blood, to live.

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‘Alarming’ rise in type 2 diabetes among UK under-40s

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Figures underline growing prevalence of conditions related to obesity in younger demographic, says head of Diabetes UK

The number of people under 40 in the UK being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is rising at a faster pace than the over-40s, according to “shocking” and “incredibly troubling” data that experts say exposes the impact of soaring obesity levels.

The UK ranks among the worst in Europe with the most overweight and obese adults, according to the World Health Organization. On obesity rates alone, the UK is third after Turkey and Malta.

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Common drugs could fight obesity and diabetes, say scientists

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Researchers identify medications that could be repurposed, including treatments for heart conditions and stomach ulcers

Scientists have pinpointed a range of commonly used medicines that could be repurposed to treat people suffering from obesity and diabetes.

The medicines – to be outlined at the International Congress on Obesity in Melbourne this weekend – include treatments for stomach ulcers and heart rhythm disorders and were identified using sophisticated computer programs.

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‘Humanitarian crime’: fighting cuts off insulin supply in Tigray

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International Diabetic Federation decries reports ongoing war has led to shortages of life-saving drug at Ethiopian region’s biggest hospital

Doctors at the biggest hospital in Tigray say they have just days supply left of insulin, as the resumption of fighting between rebels and Ethiopian government troops once again cuts off supplies to the region.

In what the head of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has branded “a humanitarian crime,” medics at Ayder specialist referral hospital warn they have already run out of one kind of the life-saving medicine and have only a week’s supply of another.

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Facing the uncomfortable possibility that healthcare is discriminatory

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When Covid struck and BAME patients died disproportionately, students of heath inequalities were not surprised

As the first Covid wave hit, it quickly became clear that people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds were dying in disproportionate numbers.

The immediacy and visibility of these deaths was shocking and revealed a disparity so clear-cut that some wondered if the explanation could be genetic. But those who have spent a lifetime studying health inequalities were less surprised. People from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds do worse across a wide range of health outcomes.

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Shortage of diabetes medication Ozempic after TikTok users promote drug for weight loss

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TGA urges GPs to limit prescriptions to approved use for diabetes management amid surge in off-label demand

GPs are being asked to prioritise the diabetes medication Ozempic for people with the condition, after TikTok users began touting it as a weight loss treatment.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration earlier this month issued a joint statement with several medical bodies confirming a shortage of the injectable semaglutide medication, manufactured by Dutch pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, due to “unexpected increase in consumer demand”.

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Lessons from Covid can start a health revolution, says lab chief

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Director of network that processed millions of tests says smart diagnostics could tackle other major diseases

Two years of mass Covid testing have paved the way for a revolution in how we diagnose other diseases, the founding director of the Lighthouse labs network has said.

In his first interview since the pandemic began, Prof Chris Molloy said that people’s familiarity with using swabs for Covid tests meant that they could also discover and monitor their risk of other conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease.

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Hundreds fitted with artificial pancreas in NHS type 1 diabetes trial

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Adults and children wear device that monitors glucose level and adjusts amount of insulin delivered

Hundreds of adults and children with type 1 diabetes in England have been fitted with an artificial pancreas that experts say could become the “holy grail” for managing the disease, in a world-first trial on the NHS.

The groundbreaking device uses an algorithm to determine the amount of insulin that should be administered and reads blood sugar levels to keep them steady. The NHS trial has so far found the technology more effective at managing diabetes than current devices and that it requires far less input from patients.

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People with type 1 diabetes in England to be given skin sensor to monitor blood sugar

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Nice says wearable tech reduces need for finger-prick testing by up to 50%

Hundreds of thousands of people with type 1 diabetes in England are to be offered a hi-tech skin sensor to monitor their blood sugar levels in seconds.

The device, the size of a £2 coin, sits on a patient’s arm and constantly checks their glucose levels. It comes with an app that tells them whethertheir blood sugar levels are at an appropriate level.

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Sleeping with light on linked to higher risk of heart disease and diabetes

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Exposure to artificial light at night worsens glucose and cardiovascular regulation, research suggests

Sleeping with the light on might scare away monsters under the bed, but it could be linked to an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, research suggests.

Light is an important signal by which the body’s internal clock, which governs a host of biological processes from temperature to hormone release, is synchronised to the external cycle of day and night.

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Muscle strengthening lowers risk of death from all causes, study shows

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Half an hour a week of activities such as gardening, sit-ups or yoga could help reduce the risk of dying from any cause by a fifth

Half an hour of muscle strengthening activity such as lifting weights, push-ups or heavy gardening each week could help reduce the risk of dying from any cause by as much as a fifth, according to a new global analysis of studies conducted over three decades.

Health guidelines recommend muscle strengthening activities, primarily because of the benefits for musculoskeletal health. Previous research has indicated a link to a lower risk of death, but until now experts did not know what the optimal “dose” might be.

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Blood pressure drugs could prevent type 2 diabetes, study finds

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Lowering high blood pressure may slash the risk of the disease in millions of people in future

Blood pressure drugs could prevent millions of people worldwide from developing type 2 diabetes, a large study suggests.

Lowering high blood pressure is an effective way to slash the risk of the disease in the future, according to the research published in the Lancet.

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Global heating ‘may lead to epidemic of kidney disease’

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Deadly side-effect of heat stress is threat to rising numbers of workers in hot climates, doctors warn

Chronic kidney disease linked to heat stress could become a major health epidemic for millions of workers around the world as global temperatures increase over the coming decades, doctors have warned.

More research into the links between heat and CKDu – chronic kidney disease of uncertain cause – is urgently needed to assess the potential scale of the problem, they have said.

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