Leo Brown

Leo Brown is a writer and the founder of newfoodculture.com, a blog that generates ideas and strategies that lead to healthy, sustainable living. After graduating from Williams College, he taught English at a university in Novosibirsk, Russia through the Fulbright program. Leo lives in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Leo is a violinist and runner, and he tweets at @newfoodculture and @leoebrown.

Building Beta Cells: An Interview with Dr. Timothy Kieffer

The benefit of making mature beta cells entirely in the dish is that they may be a useful resource for research aimed at understanding the causes of diabetes (both Type 1 and Type 2) as well as developing new therapeutic strategies for diabetes. Moreover, ultimately, mature beta cells may prove to be better than pancreatic progenitor cells for transplant into patients with diabetes.

Why We Don’t Need A Soda Ban

Convincing the public to drink less soda has already proven effective. Consumption of soda has declined precipitously over the last nine years. It’s no wonder the beverage industry fought the New York City soda ban so vigorously.

Are People With Diabetes Prone to Violence?

Hallucinations and aggressive violence are not part of everyone’s reaction to a dangerously low blood sugar. I, for example, tend to fall mute and still, paralyzed by confusion. Anyone who has experienced severe hypoglycemia knows the powerful effects of the condition. But is severe hypoglycemia the only cause of aggressive behavior related to diabetes?

Azurite: Attempting to Develop a Noninvasive Continuous Glucose Monitor

Azurite’s idea is based on the fact that an electromagnetic signal, depending on its wavelength, can bounce off a surface and return to its source with a particular pattern reflective of the surface it encountered. Glucose molecules, like any material, reflect a unique electromagnetic signal based on their inherent electrical properties. So Azurite hopes to bounce an electromagnetic signal off the glucose in your blood,

Getting Insulin from Gut Cells: Diabetes Cure Research

“If we really want to have an effective therapy for diabetes, we need something that works as well as a beta cell,” Dr. Stanger explains, adding that cell therapy, rather than insulin or drug therapy, “actually gives cells back to people to replace the ones that are no longer working or have been destroyed.”

Diabetes in Fiction: Good Like This by Peter Arpesella

My superpower is to be healthy and constantly in touch with myself. Diabetes is a built-in mechanism that requires me to be honest with myself. I can’t be in denial. I can make mistakes, of course, because I am a human being. But I cannot be in denial.

Patient Partner: Choosing a Way to Better Health

Akhila Satish, a public health advocate who has earned a master’s degree in biotechnology and built a company before hitting her quarter-life crisis, sees a way to a healthier society. She has built Patient Partner, a mobile app based on a series of multiple-choice questions. It’s structured like a choose your own adventure game.

Databetes: A Data-Driven Approach to Diabetes Management

Doug Kanter is now building a company, Databetes, that aims to make this level of tracking and analysis more broadly accessible. In a Databetes world, we can all be data geeks with really excellent A1Cs.

The Uninvited Guest: Making Peace With Diabetes

Diabetes has become a part of my identity. This disease is more than an inconvenience, or a burden, or an adversary. Diabetes has opened my eyes to the incredibly, beautifully direct relationship between what I do and how my body responds. That’s a lesson tough learned, but an important one.

A Touch Less Insulin for Diabetes Awareness Month

If our health care providers won’t direct us to restrict our carbohydrate intake and minimize our reliance on insulin, we can do it on our own. You don’t have to go on an extreme diet to reduce carbohydrates. If you’re not comfortable with the ketogenic route, there’s always the option of avoiding bagels. Or having a piece of dark chocolate instead of a Twix bar.

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