A new service has been launched on the Diabetes UK website to help people with diabetes get involved in research. By participating in a clinical study or trial, volunteers can play an important part in helping to prevent diabetes, develop new and better treatments, or even one day in finding a cure. There is now a dedicated page on the Diabetes UK website listing opportunities for people to volunteer for specific research trials.  Diabetes UK is hoping this new resource on the Diabetes UK website will help people find out about...

Raise up your asparagus spear and fight!  Diabetes UK is funding research into foods such as garlic, chicory, asparagus and artichokes, according to a report in Telegraph.  These foods, known as fermentable carbohydrates, are thought to activate the release of gut hormones that reduce appetite.  It is believed such fermentable carbohydrates also enhance sensitivity to insulin, potentially leading to better glucose control. If the findings of this study, led by Nicola Guess, a dietitian at Imperial College, London, prove...

The cost and number of drugs prescribed to treat diabetes in England has risen by more than 40 percent in the last five years, according to a new National Health Service (NHS) report released today. According to Diabetes UK the NHS Information Centre has found that just over 35.5 million prescription items were dispensed in primary care units across England in 2009/10 at a cost of nearly £650 million. This is in comparison to 24.8 million items in 2004/5 at a cost of £458.6 million. This large rise in diabetes drug prescriptions...

Diabetes UK reports that a group of over 100 diabetes experts from across Scotland and the UK has called for legislative action to ban all forms of advertising of unhealthy foods to children in order to reduce increasing obesity levels and risk of  type 2 diabetes. The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) convened a UK-wide meeting of diabetes experts in order to reach a consensus on how best to tackle this major threat to the nation’s health. After considering the evidence, and in addition to making a number...

Telegraph reports 8 in 10 men and nearly 7 in 10 women in the UK will be overweight or obese by 2020.  According to a new study, an update of the Government-commissioned Foresight report, released in 2007, there is no basis for hope that the obesity crisis is easing.  Moreover, the study predicts that cases of diabetes related to obesity will rise by 98 percent by 2050.  Cathy Moulton, from Diabetes UK, said: “This new report paints a gloomy picture of the future state of the UK’s health. If left undiagnosed or...

Diabetes UK reports more than 3,000 emergency hospital admissions a year for children with diabetes. The latest figures show that last year there were more than 3,300 cases of children in England admitted to accident and emergency departments with Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Children and youth under the age of 18 accounted for around a quarter of the 13,465 emergency admissions for DKA during the period from April 2008 to March 2009.  Additonaly, the numbers of DKA hospital admissions have risen steadily in recent years, with an...

Diabetes UK reported about a horror film called Sugar Drop, written by University of Derby lecturer Tom Craig.  Sugar Drop successfully premiered at the QUAD Centre in Derby’s Market Square last week, with all profits being donated to Diabetes UK. Sugar Drop is the first of the Bitter Sweet Trilogy of films by Craig, 35, who has taken real medical issues faced by people with diabetes and given them a fictional, horrifying twist. The 20 minute film is about a type 1 diabetic like Mr. Craig himself, who miscalculates his insulin...

Diabetes UK announced that it would be dedicating almost £750,000 ($1,200,000) to four new research projects looking to understand the causes of diabetes, help with its day-to-day management and protect against its complications. “We are delighted to be supporting this new research and hope that it will bring benefit and improvements for people living with diabetes,” said Dr Iain Frame, Director of Research at Diabetes UK. The Projects funded are: A study of the benefits of dietary fiber on Type 2 diabetics, conducted...

According to Diabetes UK the European Commission has approved Sitagliptin ,known as Januvia, as an add-on to insulin (with or without metformin) for people with type 2 diabetes. Most type 2 diabetics can control their condition with a combination of diet, physical activity and conventional medication. Januvia was approved by the FDA in 2006 and has shown good results in type 2 diabetics. Januvia is an oral medication for management of type 2 diabetes only. It’s the first in a class of drugs called DPP-4 inhibitors. Januvia...

Richard Lane, president of Diabetes UK, has type 1 diabetes and was one of the first people in the UK to receive islet cell transplants.  He was the first person in the UK with type 1 diabetes to come off insulin altogether. Richard received the first of three transplants in March 2005 after a long history of diabetes-related complications, comas and severe hypos. The transplants transformed Richard’s life.  He took the time to tell A Sweet Life about it.  Thank you, Richard! ASweetLife (ASL): When were you diagnosed with diabetes? Richard...