Health Q&A

I am a Doctor, like to heal, and answer questions regarding health. Feel free to ask anything. gethealednow.wordpress.com/ Health reblogs and taking your questions

[nprglobalhealth]

The Comeback Of Polio Is A Public Health Emergency

It is, says the World Health Organization, “an extraordinary event.” Polio is spreading to a degree that constitutes a public health emergency.

The global drive to wipe out the virus had driven the number of polio cases down from 300,000 in the late 1980s to just 417 cases last year. The World Health Organization has set a goal of wiping out polio by 2018.

But this year, polio has been reported in 10 countries, and there are fears the number could rise. Bruce Aylward, the head of WHO’s polio program, says if the international spread isn’t halted, the virus could easily re-establish itself, particularly in conflict-torn countries like the Central African Republic and South Sudan. The unrest makes it difficult to sustain vaccination efforts, and poor sanitary conditions cause the disease to spread.

Although polio mainly afflicts children under 6, a WHO emergency committee has stated that adults are to blame. The committee noted that there is “increasing evidence that adult travelers [from Pakistan, Syria and Cameroon] contributed” to the polio surge.

As a result, the World Health Organization has taken the unusual step of ordering these three countries to vaccinate any resident who travels internationally. In addition, WHO is calling for the three countries to continue efforts to inoculate their children. The mandate was issued by the director-general’s Emergency Committee on International Health Regulations.

Aylward says this focus on travelers is critical to stem the virus, which causes paralysis and can be fatal

Continue reading.

Photo: A health worker administers polio vaccine drops to a child at Karachi International Airport in Pakistan. The country’s government has set up immunization points at airports to help stop its polio outbreak from spreading abroad. (Rizwan Tabassum/AFP/Getty Images)

[pulitzercenter]

We hadn’t planned on going undercover, but clearly we looked the part. Me — the 60-year-old expat gone soft around the edges; she — the pretty, 20-something local girlfriend.

When we asked the rickshaw driver to take us to Jakarta’s Raden Saleh Street, his head swiveled and he gave me a knowing wink. Raden Saleh is where girls in trouble go. A slightly seedy strip of down-market hotels and a jumble of small shops did not suggest anything out of the ordinary about this street. I was not even aware that we had reached our destination until the driver slowed to a crawl and young men began crowding around, thrusting their faces inside our little three-wheeled vehicle. "You need help, miss?" "You need clinic?" My “girlfriend,” Ulma Haryanto, is actually a 28-year-old journalist who was working with me as an interpreter and fixer. She is happily married to a financial consultant and they are the proud parents of a 7-month-old son. To the most persistent of the touts, Ulma indicated that, yes, we were looking for a clinic. He hopped on his motorbike and beckoned our driver to follow. “We’ll let this play out,” I whispered to Ulma. A right turn, a left turn, down a few blocks and we were there, in front of a walled residential compound in a leafy neighborhood. The neatly-painted shingle indicated that we had arrived at the office of a fully-licensed OB-GYN specialist, not the back-alley shack I was half expecting. A vaguely menacing young man stood guard at the entrance. He gave me the same knowing nod the driver had, and unbolted the front gate. We crossed a small, shaded courtyard and went into the reception room. It was sparse but clean. A very pleasant young woman behind the reception desk wearing a hijab invited us to take a seat. There was another couple sitting in the corner, waiting their turn. From their age and appearance, Ulma judged them to be college students, well-off. The young man seemed to be trying to lighten the mood; she looked stricken. When a nurse summoned them into the examination room, the receptionist turned her attention to Ulma — routine questions about health and medical history, but each time warmly addressing Ulma as “dear.” Ulma had questions of her own: Would the doctor himself be performing the procedure? Yes. Would there be an anesthetic? Yes. How long would the procedure take? Varies, but probably no longer than 30 minutes. How much will it cost? Varies, but probably around $400 — not an insignificant sum in a country with an annual per-capita GDP of $2, 500. Meanwhile, I made a mental note of the medical diplomas on the wall. When the receptionist told Ulma that the doctor was ready to see her for the initial consultation and ultrasound, Ulma finally confessed that it wasn’t she who was pregnant, but that she had come on behalf of a “friend” to make sure that this clinic was clean and safe. The receptionist did not seem surprised or in any way put out by our minor deception. She told us that, of course, we would have to bring our friend to the office. She gave us the doctor’s card and told us to call for an appointment. Outside the compound, our driver was waiting. He told me that he’s made the trip to Raden Salah Street many times. “At least one every day,” he said. Turning to Ulma, he tried to be reassuring: “Don’t be afraid, miss. They just suck it out of you and it’s done.” Welcome to Indonesia’s abortion underground. Read more from Pulitzer Center Senior Editor Tom Hundley in his project: Indonesia and the Philippines: Gender, Health and Faith

[nprglobalhealth]

Here’s The Scoop On Jackfruit, A Ginormous Fruit To Feed The World

It’s not every fruit that gets its own international symposium.

Then again, the jackfruit is not your typical fruit. It’s got a distinctive, musky smell, and a flavor that some describe as like Juicy Fruit gum.

It is the largest tree fruit in the world, capable of reaching 100 pounds. And it grows on the branches — and the trunks — of trees that can reach 30, 40, 50 feet. (Trunk-growing is a good thing because it reduces the odds of a jackfruit bopping you on the head.)

Jackfruits are also a nutritional bonanza: high in protein, potassium and vitamin B. And, with about 95 calories in about a half a cup, they aren’t quite as high-carb or caloric as staples like rice or corn.

Yet the jackfruit is “an underutilized crop” in the tropical-to-subtropical climate where it thrives, says Nyree Zerega, director of the graduate program in plant biology and conservation at Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Garden. In countries like India and Bangladesh, where the jackfruit was once widely cultivated, it has fallen out of favor.

So in mid-May, the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore, India, will devote two days to revving up production and marketing of the jackfruit as well as its cousin, the breadfruit.

For parts of the world facing food insecurity — the buzz phrase for the struggle to provide enough nutritious food — the jackfruit could be manna from a tree. The tree itself requires “relatively little care once it’s been established,” says Zerega. By contrast, popular crops like wheat, rice and corn need lots of irrigation and pesticides. And the jackfruit is a perennial so it doesn’t require constant replanting.

There won’t be an instant payoff for new farmers. A tree takes five to seven years to bear fruit. Eventually, a yearly yield might be in the 150- to 200-fruit range, says Jonathan Crane, a tropical fruit crop specialist at the University of Florida.

Continue reading.

Photo: Jackfruits grow on the branches and trunks of tall trees. You don’t wait to harvest until they drop of their own accord — by that time, they’d be overripe. (Mikhail Esteves/Flickr)

[nprglobalhealth]

New Virus Related To Smallpox Is Found In Republic Of Georgia

Two herdsmen in the country of Georgia have been infected with a brand-new virus, scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

The newly identified virus is a second cousin to smallpox. And, like smallpox, it causes painful blisters on the hands and arms‎. Other symptoms include a fever, swollen lymph nodes and overall weakness, CDC scientists reported at a meeting in Atlanta.

"We consider this family of viruses very important because smallpox could be used as a bioterrorism agent," says disease detective Neil Vora, who led the team that made the discovery.

The virus doesn’t yet have a name, Vora says, because so little is known about it.

We haven’t found any evidence of human-to-human transmission, so far,” Vora tells Shots. “But how many people are getting sick? Are animals getting sick? We don’t know … We don’t know if it has caused any deaths.”

Both of the men who caught the virus fully recovered. But related viruses, such as cowpox, can be deadly for people with suppressed immune systems. And smallpox had a fatality rate of about 30 percent before the illness was eradicated in 1980.

Continue reading.

Photo: Disease detective Neil Vora of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looks for the new smallpox-like virus in Georgian cattle. (Darin Caroll/CDC)

[healthqna]

Reproductive health app wins health-and-fitness Webby

Glow, a reproductive health service, was announced Monday as the Webby Award winner for best health and fitness mobile application.

The free app, available for iOS and Android operating systems, aims to help women take full control over their reproductive health and calculate when they are most fertile http://bit.ly/1fqI2lb. Users begin by indicating whether or not they are trying to conceive, before adding personal health information, including weight, height, activity level, average menstrual cycle and body temperature.

"Glow is an ambitious enterprise where for the first time ever, our emerging ability to crunch and analyze vast quantities of data will be used to empower women (and couples) to take control of their reproductive health," according to glowing.com. Paypal co-founder Max Levchin and former Google executive Mike Huang launched Glow in 2013.

"We're beyond thrilled, to be a young startup and to win in this new category," said Jennifer Tye, Glow's head of marketing. During its first six months, Tye said Glow helped more than 10,000 women across the globe to become pregnant. This marks the first year heath and fitness apps were given their own category.

The four other nominees: Win the Hour from Nike http://swoo.sh/1k6fCZG; Charity Miles, an effort helping athletes raise funds for charity http://bit.ly/1fKKe1I; Touchfit: GSP http://bit.ly/1nXdbwq from Zolmo; and Walgreens http://bit.ly/QVZB16, the official customer service app allowing users to chat with pharmacists and refill prescriptions.

Charity Miles was announced as the People's Voice Award winner for best health and fitness mobile app. A ceremony will be held May 20 at Cipriani Wall Street, and it will be hosted by actor and comedian Patton Oswalt. It will be streamed at webbyawards.com.

In addition, 11 other apps ranging from personal wellness journals to allergen and symptom trackers received honorable mentions.

WebMD, available for iOS and Android mobile operating systems, provides a symptom checker allowing users to indicate pain or symptom levels to learn about potential conditions or issues http://bit.ly/1tHoL2U. "We are thrilled," said David Ziegler, director of mobile product management. "In addition to improving the look and feel of the entire app and our popular symptom checker utility, we wanted to offer users the ability to read about healthy living-related content on a daily basis."

My Wellness Journal is a personal health record app created by California-based Project Tiki http://bit.ly/1f7Rjyy. For $2.99, the app allows users to store their own and their family's medical information through an iPhone or iPad. "It allows you to take all your information with you and store it easily and safely, even email it," said John Hobson, founder and C.E.O. "App stores are tough, but we saw a need that would be valuable to consumers, and went after it."

The American Red Cross is honored for First Aid, a multi-platform app integrated with EMS http://rdcrss.org/1rpPheZ. It provides safety tips for emergencies, including severe winter weather, tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes. Other diagrams and videos are designed to teach users basic first aid, including treatments for burns, choking and heat stroke.

"Everybody has the need to know what to do in case an emergency happens, and they need accurately information," said Dom Tolli, vice president of product management with the American Red Cross. Tolli said First Aid has been downloaded more than 2 million times.

Zyrtec's Allergycast with a symptom tracker boasts it is "the first pollen app that learns what you're allergic to, teaches you exactly why you're sneezing and lets you log your symptoms to unlock prizes and charms." With the app, for both iOS and Android, users may log symptoms, such as an itchy nose or throat, and learn about Zyrtec products http://bit.ly/1f7RDgS.

Diabetes HealthMate from GlaxoSmithKline helps users track their blood sugar readings over time, and chart how they relate to factors such as mood, activity level and diet http://bit.ly/1fuK3qY.

My Pregnancy Today from BabyCenter is designed to help expectant parents learn about their baby's development http://bit.ly/1idtJQr.

Also honored were apps from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs http://1.usa.gov/QCaOnx, CVS Pharmacy http://bit.ly/1mEqYrv, FitStar http://bit.ly/1hqcevA, Sharecare http://bit.ly/1fbnX1V and PingMD http://bit.ly/1gUBeY8.

"There is a lot of promise for health and fitness apps, and I think we are really just at the beginning of what we will see and how important some of these experiences will become in our daily lives," David-Michel Davies, executive director of the awards, said in a statement.

Established in 1996, the Webby Awards are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, an organization made up of more than 1,000 technology experts and artists

[healthqna]

High-protein breakfasts can help women maintain glucose control

A University of Missouri researcher has found that when women consumed high-protein breakfasts, they maintained better glucose and insulin control than they did with lower-protein or no-protein meals.”For women, eating more protein in the morning can beneficially affect their glucose and insulin levels,” Heather Leidy, an assistant professor of nutrition and exercise physiology said.”If you eat healthy now and consume foods that help you control your glucose levels, you may be protecting yoursel

A University of Missouri researcher has found that when women consumed high-protein breakfasts, they maintained better glucose and insulin control than they did with lower-protein or no-protein meals.”For women, eating more protein in the morning can beneficially affect their glucose and insulin levels,” Heather Leidy, an assistant professor of nutrition and exercise physiology said.”If you eat healthy now and consume foods that help you control your glucose levels, you may be protecting yourself from developing diabetes in the future,” she said.Kevin Maki, of Biofortis Clinical Research, completed the study in collaboration with Leidy. They studied women aged 18-55 years old who consumed one of three different meals or only water on four consecutive days. The tested meals were less than 300 calories per serving and had similar fat and fiber contents.However, the meals varied in amount of protein: a pancake meal with three grams of protein; a sausage and egg breakfast skillet with 30 grams of protein; or a sausage and egg breakfast skillet with 39 grams protein. Researchers monitored the amount of glucose and insulin in the participants’ blood for four hours after they ate breakfast.”Both protein-rich breakfasts led to lower spikes in glucose and insulin after meals compared to the low-protein, high-carb breakfast,” Maki said.”Additionally, the higher-protein breakfast containing 39 grams of protein led to lower post-meal spikes compared to the high-protein breakfast with 30 grams of protein,” he said.These findings suggest that, for healthy women, the consumption of protein-rich breakfasts leads to better glucose control throughout the morning than the consumption of low-protein options, Leidy said.

[healthqna]

The World Health Organisation warning on superbugs

The World Health Organisation warning on superbugs

The World Health Organisation has warned antibiotic resistance has created superbugs which threaten us all; possibly creating a time where antibiotics will no longer work and simple illnesses will again kill.

The WHO has released its first report into the issue and says the resistance poses a serious threat to global health.

The report blames doctors overprescribing antibiotics and their misuse as causing the growth of superbugs.

Dr Peter Collignon from the Australian National University’s School of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology says bugs resistant to antibiotics is something that’s been building up for years.

"It’s been getting much worse over the last ten years."

"If you look at data from India for instance, half their common infections, the e-coli bug that is a common cause of urinary tract infections and blood stream infections, is for practical purposes untreatable."

Dr Collignon says that while there are often a number of other things that can be done to treat people with serious infections, sometimes patients are untreatable.

"The reality is for a lot of these we have less and less options for antibiotics and in some cases no options."

"Speaking as a clinician I get a thrill out of having people who I can fix who are very sick."

"We give them an antibiotic and within a few days they’re much better."

Dr Collignon says not being able to treat patients with life threatening infections that were curable until recently is distressing.

[ucsdhealthsciences-deactivated2]

Damage Control: Recovering From Radiation and Chemotherapy Protein discovery could boost efficacy of bone marrow replacement treatments

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that a protein called beta-catenin plays a critical, and previously unappreciated, role in promoting recovery of stricken hematopoietic stem cells after radiation exposure.

The findings, published in the May 1 issue of Genes and Development, provide a new understanding of how radiation impacts cellular and molecular processes, but perhaps more importantly, they suggest new possibilities for improving hematopoietic stem cell regeneration in the bone marrow following cancer radiation treatment.

Ionizing radiation exposure – accidental or deliberate – can be fatal due to widespread destruction of hematopoietic stem cells, the cells in the bone marrow that give rise to all blood cells. A number of cancer treatments involve irradiating malignancies, essentially destroying all exposed blood cells, followed by transplantation of replacement stem cells to rebuild blood stores. The effectiveness of these treatments depends upon how well the replacement hematopoietic stem cells do their job.

In their new paper, principal investigator Tannishtha Reya, PhD, professor in the department of pharmacology, and colleagues used mouse models to show that radiation exposure triggers activation of a fundamental cellular signaling pathway called Wnt in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells.

“The Wnt pathway and its key mediator, beta catenin, are critical for embryonic development and establishment of the body plan,” said Reya, who also works at the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine. “In addition, the Wnt pathway is activated in stem cells from many tissues and is needed for their continued maintenance.”

The researchers found that mice deficient in beta-catenin lacked the ability to activate canonical Wnt signaling and suffered from impaired hematopoietic stem cell regeneration and bone marrow recovery after radiation. Specifically, mouse hematopoietic stem cells without beta-catenin could not suppress the production of oxidative stress molecules that damage cell structures. As a result, they could not recover effectively after radiation or chemotherapy.

More here

Pictured: The continuous, necessary production of blood cells, including these red blood cells captured in a scanning micrograph by Thomas Deerinck, is the responsibility of hematopoietic stem cells found in bone marrow.

[aiririin]

[thelifeofamedstudent]

[currentsinbiology]

We Kill Germs at Our Peril (NY Times Review)

You never get something for nothing, especially not in health care. Every test, every incision, every little pill brings benefits and risks.

Nowhere is that balance tilting more ominously in the wrong direction than in the once halcyon realm of infectious diseases, that big success story of the 20th century. We have had antibiotics since the mid-1940s — just about as long as we have had the atomic bomb, as Dr. Martin J. Blaser points out — and our big mistake was failing long ago to appreciate the parallels between the two.

[healthqna]

Lately, while I sleep, I've felt my right leg go numb. Not all of it but on the side of my thigh. Whether I sleep on it or not it gets a bit numb. Not every night. Now, for two morning's I've woken up with my left upper arm in numbness and that I am not sure if I've slept on it. In the middle of all that I've had extreme back pain. Lower and upper back pain but the upper back pain gives me cramps. I had an injury when I was a child as you already know. Could all be related?

The symptoms such as back pain,numbness suggest L4,L5 disc prolapse,or spinal column narrowing.i suggest you to consult a orthopedician...thanks

[ucsdhealthsciences-deactivated2]

Prostate Cancer and Blood Lipids Share Genetic Links Based on analyses of genome-wide association studies using novel analytical methods

Numerous studies have suggested a relationship between cardiovascular disease risk factors and prostate cancer. A new study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in Norway, significantly refines the association, highlighting genetic risk factors associated with low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and triglycerides as key players and identifying 17 related gene loci that make risk contributions to levels of these blood lipids and to prostate cancer.

The findings, published in the April 30, 2014 online issue of the International Journal of Epidemiology, provide new insights into the pathobiology of prostate cancer and may point to novel therapies to lower blood lipid levels that might help prevent prostate cancer – the second most common cause of cancer death among American men.

The research team, headed by senior authors Anders M. Dale, PhD, professor in the departments of radiology, neurosciences and psychiatry at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, and Ole Andreassen, professor of psychiatry at Oslo University, applied a genetic epidemiology method to assess statistics from multiple genome-wide association studies, looking for genetic overlap between the phenotypes for prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. In the case of the latter, they specifically investigated triglycerides, LDL and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, body mass index, waist-hip ratio and type 2 diabetes.

The researchers also examined enrichment of single nucleotide polymorphisms – bits of DNA that vary among individuals – associated with prostate cancer and CVD risk.

LDL cholesterol and triglycerides displayed a strong association with prostate cancer.

“It’s fair to say that risk relationships of various sorts have been proposed between prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease, although not comorbidity per se,” said co-author Ian G. Mills, PhD, of the University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital in Norway. “There is a lack of consistency across cohorts, however, in size and direction of effects, depending on cardiovascular risk factor considered. The significant risk association with LDL cholesterol and triglycerides versus the other traits at a genetic level was novel and unexpected.”

Mills said the identification of 17 pleiotropic loci – specific sites in the genome which may affect the expression of a number of genes and influence a range of biological pathways, in this case affecting both prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease risk – was a key finding. He said the loci provide clues to the common regulatory elements that affect expression of disease-related genes. They may be incorporated into future disease risk test panels. And they might, ultimately, help shape “genetically stratified dietary or chemoprevention studies repurposing clinically approved drugs that regulate blood lipid levels” to alter the risk of developing prostate cancer, he said.

The current findings were made possible through use of a novel analytical approach developed by researchers at UC San Diego and University of Oslo, which previously had been shown to increase the statistical power for gene discovery in other diseases, including hypertension, neurological diseases, psychiatric disorders and immune-mediated diseases.

Pictured above: Micrograph of normal prostatic glands and those with prostate adenocarcinoma (upper right portion of image). Wiki-Commons.

[healthqna]

Stool can come in a variety of colors. What is considered a normal stool color is unique to each person, and often includes a spectrum, rather than just one color. Stool color is affected not only by the digestive process, but also by the food that you eat. As it moves through the digestive tract, food changes from green to yellow-orange to brown. The final brown color is due to the bile and bacteria in the stool.

Foods That Cause Orange Stool

There are several common and benign reasons for passing orange stools. Supplements and medications that can cause orange-colored stools include those containing beta-carotene (sometimes found in vitamin A) and aluminum hydroxide (which can be found in antacids).

Foods that can cause orange stool include: •Any food with artificial yellow or orange coloring •Carrots •Cilantro •Collard greens •Fresh thyme •Kale •Sweet potatoes •Spinach •Turnip greens •Winter squash

Digestive Problems That Cause Orange Stool

If stool is still orange when it is eliminated, it could mean that it is not being exposed to, or absorbing enough, bile salt. Bile is yellowish green, and when it reacts with enzymes in the bowel, it turns stool brown.

One reason that stool may not be absorbing enough bile is that the stool is moving through the body too quickly. This could be caused by a variety of reasons, including diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, or short bowel syndrome. A second cause is a lack of bile, which could mean that the body is not making enough bile, or that the bile ducts are blocked. A blockage in the bile ducts can be caused by gallstones, inflammation, cysts or tumors.

If you can not attribute the color of your stool to a dietary reason, or if you have other symptoms (such as diarrhea, constipation, weakness, or dizziness), consult your physician.

Abdominal discomfort can be due to, Diverticulitis Appendicitis Irritable bowel syndrome Ascites

Hope this information helps,if it is a single episode of orange stool ,it can be mainly due to diet.if its chronic you need to investigate

[purplecalla]

Good morning.

[okkultmotionpictures]

EXCERPTS >|< Life History of a Mosquito (1928)

 | Hosted at: Internet Archive  | From: Wellcome Library  | Download: Ogg | 512Kb MPEG4 | MPEG4  | Digital Copy: attribution-non commercial 3.0 US

A series of Animated GIFs excerpted from Life History of a Mosquito, a video showing life cycle of Aedes Aegypti: microphotography of eggs; larva, pupa and then adult mosquito emerging; female and male breeding. Made in 1928 by Kodak Research Laboratories, in co-operation with the Dept. of Bacteriology of the Medical School, University of Rochester.

We invite you to watch the full video HERE

Excerpts by OKKULT Motion Pictures: a collection of GIFs excerpted from out-of-copyright/unknown/rare/controversial moving images. A digital curation project for the diffusion of open knowledge.

>|<

[nprglobalhealth]

Makes you realize how important it is to remove all standing water when it comes to controlling mosquitoes. 

[ucsdhealthsciences-deactivated2]

Majority of participants in randomized trial lost weight and reduced medication use

Weight loss and control of blood sugar can reduce the risk of complications in patients with diabetes but this is difficult for many to achieve. A University of California, San Diego School of Medicine randomized controlled trial of obese adults with type 2 diabetes suggests that participants enrolled in a community-based structured weight loss program are able to shed more pounds, improve blood sugar control and reduce or eliminate insulin use and other medications compared to a control group.

“Support and a tailored lifestyle intervention have been shown to reduce cardiovascular disease risk factors and adverse outcomes in people with diabetes,” said Cheryl L. Rock, PhD, RD, professor of Family and Preventive Medicine and principal investigator of the study. “However, most overweight individuals with type 2 diabetes do not receive this degree of support for changes in diet and physical activity to promote weight loss in their clinical care, due in part to constraints of time and training for most health care providers and clinicians.”

The results of the study, published in the April 23, 2014 online issue of Diabetes Care, found that 72 percent of participants on the weight loss program that included portion-controlled foods and personalized counseling were able to change their insulin use compared to eight percent of the control group. Similarly, other diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure drugs were decreased or discontinued more often among the weight loss program enrollees.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 35 percent of adults in the United States are obese and eight percent of adults are affected by diabetes.

“Weight loss is a primary strategy for successful management of type 2 diabetes due to its impact on glycemic control and improvements in cardiovascular disease risk factors,” said Rock. “These study results suggest that patients not only lose weight on structured commercial weight loss programs that include behavioral modification and individual support, but that this weight loss translates to significant improvements in diabetes control and cardio-metabolic parameters.”

More here