USC Westside Center for Diabetes | December 2001 Newsletter

INSIDE THIS ISSUE


		The Results Are In: Therapies to prevent type 2 diabetes compared.

		Pump Update: Minimed Paradigm release postponed, and Disetronic introduces a new infusion set.

		Sugar: Have your fruitcake and eat it too.

		Kids with Diabetes: Care at school is critical to a healthy life, now and later.

		Changing Rules: FAA issues guidelines for flying with diabetes supplies.

		Prevention: USC physician seeks causes and ways to head off diabetes.

Points of Interest


		Handling stress

		Cholesterol-lowering drugs

		Concern Over Atkins Diet

		Thyroid Hormone Replacement Therapy

		Diabetes... an Aspirin a Day

Download Newsletter (pdf)


	Stopping Diabetes Before it Starts - By Thomas Buchanan, MD Diabetes and its associated complications —blindness, kidney failure, foot amputations and heart disease—are affecting more and more Hispanic Americans at younger and younger ages. Methods to both identify who will get diabetes and initiate treatments to prevent the disease are desperately needed. At USC, we have been studying the cause of diabetes in young Hispanic women who develop a mild form of the disease, called gestational diabetes, during pregnancy. The research has shown that half of these young women will have diabetes before age 40, and many at even younger ages. They appear to get diabetes this way: At first, their tissues respond normally to insulin, the hormone that is supposed to drive sugar from the bloodstream into cells. But in time, tissues can fail to respond to insulin, primarily because of obesity. As a result, the pancreas, which makes insulin, is placed under a high workload to make extra insulin the body needs to drive sugar into cells. Year after year of extra work causes the pancreas to wear out. It makes less insulin, while the body needs more of it. Without enough insulin, the body cannot move sugar from blood to cells. Blood sugar rises and the woman gets diabetes. To counter this, we tested a medication that makes tissues respond better to insulin. When women took the medication, the pancreas did not have to work so hard, so it did not wear out—and women were protected from getting diabetes. Similar effects are possible if overweight people shed pounds and exercise regularly. Thus, diabetes can be prevented through healthy eating, exercise and, in some cases, medications. In another area, we're also studying why diabetes runs in families. Our research indicates that the pancreas's tendency to wear out when overworked is inherited. That is, brothers and sisters seem to have the same degree of that tendency. This means that there may be genes passed from one generation to the next that cause some people to get diabetes, while others do not. Our group now is conducting a study in more than 2,000 family members of Hispanic women with gestational diabetes. The hope: to find the gene or genes that cause diabetes.
	Photos By Mark Harmel ©2001/2002 USC. All Rights Reserved

- Westside Team
- Downtown Team
- Eastside Team

- Westside Center
- Downtown Center
- Eastside Center