Dogs Being Trained to Sniff Out Diabetes

A canine's hyper-sensitive nose can detect tiny changes in blood sugar

AYLESBURY, England - Dogs are being trained in Britain as potential life-savers to warn diabetic owners when their blood sugar levels fall to dangerously low levels.

Man's best friend already has been shown capable of sniffing out certain cancer cells, and dogs have long been put to work in the hunt for illegal drugs and explosives.

Their new front-line role in diabetes care follows recent evidence suggesting a dog's hyper-sensitive nose can detect tiny changes that occur when a person is about to have a hypoglycemic attack.

A survey last December by researchers at Queen's University Belfast found 65 percent of 212 people with insulin-dependent diabetes reported that when they had a hypoglycemic episode their pets had reacted by whining, barking, licking or some other display.

At the Cancer and Bio-Detection Dogs research center in Aylesbury, southern England, animal trainers are putting that finding into practice and honing dogs' innate skills.

The charity has 17 rescue dogs at various stages of training that will be paired up with diabetic owners, many of them children.

"Dogs have been trained to detect certain odors down to parts per trillion, so we are talking tiny, tiny amounts. Their world is really very different to ours," Chief Executive Claire Guest told Reuters TV.

The center was started five years ago by orthopedic surgeon Dr John Hunt, who wanted to investigate curious anecdotes about dogs pestering their owners repeatedly on parts of their body that were later found to be cancerous.

At around the same time, the first hard evidence was being gathered by researchers down the road at Amersham Hospital that dogs could identify bladder cancer from chemicals in urine.

The move into diabetes followed the case of Paul Jackson, who told Guest and her team about his dog Tinker who warns him when his sugar levels get too low and he is in danger of collapsing.

"It's generally licking my face, panting beside me. It depends how far I have gone before he realizes," Jackson said.

Tinker has now been trained by the Aylesbury center and is a fully qualified Diabetic Hypo-Alert dog, complete with red jacket to announce himself as a working assistance animal.

Source: Just One More Pet

Posted: True Health Is True Wealth

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How To Win The Battle Over Cholesterol

Back a few years ago, some cracks started forming in the giant shield wielded against cholesterol, which we were told was our mortal enemy, and had to be stopped at any cost. Just to give you an idea of how big that shield is, let me tell you that anti- cholesterol agents, or statins, bring in around 20+ billion dollars a year. Two examples of those type of drugs are Lipitor, or Crestor. There are many others, and 16 miilion Americans now take statins.

The drug companies would like to see that number go up to around 34 million, and one of the ways they are pushing to do that is by making fat kids take cholesterol medication. They have other ideas too, but this one is way out of line.

Here's an example of a typical anti-cholesterol campaign, which was adopted by the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, and the Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute:

"If you eat fat rich, cholesterol rich foods, like beef, butter, and egg yolks, you're digging your own grave...one forkful at a time."

Now let's give kudos to the copywriter who came up with that slogan. He or she did their job extremely well. And the ill informed media told this story over and over and over for decades. The only problem was...it just wasn't true.

A number of recently published books demonstrate clearly that the scientific evidence for these claims has never been particularly convincing.

The advice that we have been spoon fed over the years, that cutting out all foods high in saturated fat and cholesterol (and embracing no fat, low fat diet foods), has actually made our heart disease problem worse.

An endocrinologist and endowed professor of lipid research at the University of Washington in Seattle, Dr. Robert Knopp, says this: "Cholesterol in the diet is a minor player in heart disease."

Bring on the bacon! (Just kidding!)

Dr. Mark Hyman, the Medical Director of the UltraWellness Center in Lennox, Massachusetts, and a well known author of several books, says out loud what I have said to a small audience for years, "Cholesterol is not the real enemy...
inflammation is."

And the underlying cause of inflammation is not dietary cholesterol or saturated fats, but trans fats, sugar, refined carbohydrates and a sedentary lifestyle, or by the presence of an infection, or other irritation in the body.

So whaddaya do?

Eat less sugar and flour.

Eat more vegetables, fruits, and whole foods, easy on the red meat.

Prioritize quality fats over junk fats.

Make a friend of fiber.

Get off your kiester.

Use a proven Omega Oil inflammation fighter.

And when your doctor says you need to take a cholesterol lowering drug, ask him, or her, to explain exactly why you need it. Make sure they tell both sides of the story, and ask whether he, or she, would take it themselves. Many doctors won't take statins themselves. There has to be a reason why.

Dr. Bill - nom de guerre of William Thomas Stillwell, M.D., FACS, FICS, FAAOS, FAANAOS, FAAPGS

Posted: Ask Marion - True Health Is True Wealth

Teeth Health and Blood Sugar

People with diabetes often have chronic gum disease, which may affect blood sugar levels. You should have your teeth professionally cleaned at least twice a year because you have a much higher risk of developing gum disease than people without diabetes.

Gum disease results from the formation of plaque underneath the gum line after eating. Plaque hardens into tartar, which irritates the gums and gradually erodes the underlying bone that holds the teeth in place. Thus, gum disease can lead to the need for dentures. Daily dental care can prevent gum disease from starting. Brush your teeth at least twice a day with a soft-bristle brush and floss daily. Flossing removes food from between the teeth and plaque from the gum line.

Reprinted from What to Expect When You Have Diabetes. Copyright by Good Books

Halloween Is Coming... With Sugary Goodies Galore

Halloween is coming...

In the U.S., we spend $1 billion dollars on Halloween candy (we load up on 20 million pounds of candy corn alone!).

And for what?

To help the visiting ghosts and goblins (and ourselves and our own kids) experience more of sugar’s spooky fallout: obesity, diabetes, tooth decay, accelerated aging, and a host of other health concerns.

It’s not your fault. Marketing of sugary products is very intentional and very slick. In fact, the food industry spends millions upon millions of dollars each year to advertise products loaded with sugar to a public that just can’t seem to get enough.

As children, most of us loved Halloween and all things sweet. Now, in a perfect world, I would advise you to forget about eating sugar and just stick with healthy foods. And that's still the best policy to follow most of the time.

But it's not always practical — or realistic. Especially on holidays such as Halloween, when you don’t want to disappoint those trick-or-treaters… or your own children.

So, maybe it’s time to…explore some options and be creative:

Homemade snacks for people you know

sugarless candy

give out quarters

energy or nutrition bars

candy with dark chocolate and coconut (at least a bit healthier)

coupons

designer pensils

A Kid Favorite That’s Good for Blood Sugar

There’s something sweet and creamy that kids love -- and it may actually be good for your blood sugar. 

It’s not chocolate pudding. It’s peanut butter. Adults in a recent study who ate this childhood fave at least five times a week reduced their risk of type 2 diabetes by 27 percent. 

Go Nutty
Researchers speculate that the unsaturated fats in nuts -- and nut butters -- may partly explain the big dip in diabetes risk. These healthy fats may somehow improve insulin sensitivity and keep your blood sugar stable. The fiber and magnesium in nuts may also decrease insulin demand and resistance. (Better than takeout: Satisfy your cravings for Chinese food with these deliciously healthy Spicy Peanut Noodles.) 

**However, one thing to be aware of is mold in peanuts. And believe it or not, the safest source is generally the cheap garden variety Jif, Skippy or the like...because they buy their peanuts fresh, put them through an effective cooking and homogenization process, and then seal them in air tight jars.  The mold buildup on those will be much lower than your typical "fresh" or natural peanut butters.

Source:  RealAge