Two easy ways to help reduce the risk for diabetes

A lot of people know that a low glycemic index diet and exercise is important when it comes to reducing the risk for type 2 diabetes.

The research reviewed here documented two other factors also affecting the risk of diabetes that most people are probably not aware of. One of these studies evaluated if sleep could have a relationship to diabetes (Cappuccio FP, et al. 2010).

The research included 107,756 participants both females and males included in 10 studies. The researchers concluded that both quantity and quality of sleep consistently and significantly predict the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

The other study investigated if vitamin D is involved in the development of type 2 diabetes (Liu E, et al. 2010).

It was found that individuals in the highest tertile of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, the most common way of measuring vitamin D levels, had a 40% lower incidence of type 2 diabetes when compared with individuals in the lowest tertile.

Get enough good quality sleep, some sunshine and take between 1000-2000 IU of vitamin D3 daily.

To read more about the many benefits of vitamin D, click here.

To read the original abstract, click on the references below.



Reference:

Cappuccio FP, D'Elia L, Strazzullo P, Miller MA. Quantity and quality of sleep and incidence of type 2 diabetes: a systematicreview and meta-analysis. Diabetes Care. 2010 Feb;33(2):414-20. Epub 2009 Nov 12.

Liu E, Meigs JB, Pittas AG, Economos CD, McKeown NM, Booth SL, Jacques PF. Predicted 25-hydroxyvitamin D score and incident type 2 diabetes in the Framingham Offspring Study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Jun;91(6):1627-33. Epub 2010 Apr 14.

Amazing new benefit documented from taking glucosamine.

Numerous studies have documented the benefits of glucosamine sulfate when it comes to supporting the cartilage and decreasing pain from osteoarthritis.

Researchers at the University of Washington recently evaluated if glucosamine and chondroitin as well as a number of other supplements were associated with total mortality (Pocobelli G, et al. 2010).

This was a large study looking at the intake of the supplements for an average of 10 years in people aged 50-76 years which included 387,801 person-years of follow up.

The researchers concluded that for most of the supplements examined there was no association with total mortality. However there were some exceptions that was very interesting, the use of glucosamine and chondroitin were each associated with decreased total mortality.

There was also a suggestion of a decreased risk of total mortality with high intake of fish oil supplements, but the evidence was not as strong as for the glucosamine and chondroitin.

To learn more about the benefits of glucosamine sulfate the most researched form of glucosamine, read what is written about the BMJ formula.

The BMJ also provides several other important nutrients as well for added benefits.

To read the original abstract, click on the reference below.



Reference:

Pocobelli G, Kristal AR, Patterson RE, Potter JD, Lampe JW, Kolar A, Evans I, White E. Total mortality risk in relation to use of less-common dietary supplements. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Jun;91(6):1791-800. Epub 2010 Apr 21.

The impact of processed meat on your health

The research reviewed here included several studies with specific inclusion criteria and a total of 1,218,380 individuals (Micha R, et al. 2010).

This was a very large study and not only did it include processed meat, but also the relationship of red unprocessed meat and total meat consumption with the incident of cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes.

It was documented that red meat intake was not associated with cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Processed meat intake however was associated a 42% higher risk of cardiovascular disease and 19% higher risk of diabetes per 50 grams serving per day.

The researchers did not find any association to stroke, but that may be because very few studies evaluated these relationships.

Processed meat includes cold cuts, salami, sausage and hot dogs. It is meat that has been prepared in some form and is not a plain piece of raw meat.

If you want to know more about foods relationship to health and disease, read the book, "The Food Connection," which also includes a lot of easy to make recipes.

To read the original abstract, click on the reference below.



Reference:

Micha R, Wallace SK, Mozaffarian D. Red and processed meat consumption and risk of incident coronary heart disease, stroke, and diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Circulation. 2010 Jun 1;121(21):2271-83. Epub 2010 May 17.

Sleep longer, but not too long and live longer.

We all know that sleep is important, but you may not know how important it is. Something as common as sleep may affect how long you live.

The study reviewed here investigated the relationship between duration of sleep and all-cause mortality (Cappuccio FP, et al. 2010). It was a large study including 1,382,999 male and female participants and the follow up range was from 4 to 25 years.

It is interesting that both short duration and long duration of sleep was associated with a greater risk of death. Short duration of sleep was less than 6 hours and long duration of sleep was more than 9 hours.

7-8 hours would be what most healthy people would need to function their best.

To read the original abstract, click on the reference below.



Reference:

Cappuccio FP, D'Elia L, Strazzullo P, Miller MA. Sleep duration and all-cause mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies. Sleep. 2010 May 1;33(5):585-92.