Diabetes Pharmacist Blog : Focus Express Mail Pharmacy : Insulin Pumps, Diabetes Supplies and Information

Insulin, a  hormone that is produced by the pancreas in the body, helps the body utilize glucose properly. Proper amounts of insulin prevent  hyperglycemia and the complications of diabetes.

However, new research has shown that high amounts of insulin may be harmful. Researchers  have found that women with the highest levels of insulin were 50 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than women who had the lowest insulin levels.
 

Among these women, the influence of insulin on breast cancer risk was quite high," says lead author Marc Gunter, Ph.D. of the Albert Einstein School of Medicine at Yeshiva University, New York City and assistant professor of epidemiology and population health. "Women with the highest insulin levels in their blood were more than two times more likely to develop breast cancer than women with the lowest insulin levels." Moreover, "when we controlled for insulin, the association between obesity and breast cancer became much weaker," Dr. Gunter says. "This means that a large component of that obesity-cancer relationship may be mediated by insulin levels

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A new European study suggests that intensive insulin therapy may reduce the risk of death, infection and the length of intensive care stays for seriously ill children,

Abnormally high blood sugar (hyperglycemia) often occurs in critically ill infants and children, and increases their risk of secondary infections and death.

"Targeting of blood glucose concentrations to age-adjusted normal fasting concentrations improved short-term outcome of patients in pediatric intensive care units. The effect on long-term survival, morbidity, and neurocognitive development needs to be investigated,"Dr. Greet Van den Berghe, of University Hospital Gasthuisberg and Catholic University Leuven, Belgium, and colleagues wrote in a journal news release.

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A study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, followed 3,277 newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetes patients who were asked to tightly manage their blood sugar either through diet restrictions or drugs.

The results show that the group taking insulin had a 15 percent lower risk of heart attack and a 13 percent lower risk of death compared with the group who used diet. The early, intensive approach to blood sugar control amounted to a head start. The researchers call this the "Legacy Effect."

 "These results emphasize the importance of detecting and treating diabetes at the earliest opportunity and the major benefits that can be obtained with good blood glucose control."  said Professor Rury Holman, of Oxford University, who led the study.

Intensive and not-so-intensive approaches to blood pressure were also compared among the diabetes patients in the study. When the study ended, the patients who took the intensive approach were less likely to have died from diabetes, had a stroke or developed diabetes-related complications.

It's not news that controlling blood sugar and blood pressure are musts for managing type 2 diabetes. But the new findings show that doing so promptly and intensively will lead to a lower likelihood of a heart attack as well as a healthier cardiovascular system.

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In a study by Chinese scientists, treating Type 2 diabetes early and aggressively with insulin therapy was able to push the disease into remission.The premise behind the therapy is that by giving the failing beta cells of the pancreas a chance to rest, one might interrupt a cycle of decline and allow for some recovery. The beta cells produce the insulin the body needs to keep blood sugar levels in check; it is the inability of those cells to meet the body's insulin needs that triggers Type 2 diabetes

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 Natreon Inc., a nutraceutical industry’s leading supplier of botanical extract ingredients announced today the incorporation of Puredel Ltd., (Puredel), a company aimed at developing 
Ossulin™, an oral insulin which has shown promising results in preliminary animal and human studies.. More...

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As seen on MedGadget. com, the European Space Agency is reporting that technology originally developed for its space program has now been used to create the insulin pump of the future: one that you can wear on your wrist!.German student Nicole Schmiedel has come up with a design for a fashionable looking "wristwatch" that contains an innovative ultra-light insulin pump to help people with type 1 diabetes. For more, click here...

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