Gestational diabetes: A diabetes predictor in fathers

Gestational diabetes, a type of diabetes that occurs during pregnancy, affects between three and 20 per cent of pregnant women. Those who develop gestational diabetes are 7 times as likely to eventually develop type 2 diabetes in the years following pregnancy. Now, in a large study analyzing 20 years of data from Quebec, a team from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) has demonstrated that gestational diabetes signals future diabetes risk not only in mothers, but also in fathers. The study was recently published in Diabetes Care.

"We observed that the incident of diabetes was 33% greater in men whose partner has gestational diabetes compared with men whose partners did not have gestational diabetes," says the lead author of the study, Dr. Kaberi Dasgupta, endocrinologist at the MUHC and an associate professor of Medicine at McGill University. "This is the first study to demonstrate a link between gestational diabetes in mothers and diabetes incidence in fathers."
Prior studies have shown partners to be similar in their weight and physical activity. Moreover, Dr. Dasgupta's team has shown evidence in a study conducted in 2014 that spousal diabetes was a diabetes risk factor. Then the researchers hypothesized that gestational diabetes in mothers signals a possible diabetes incidence in fathers. Gestational diabetes occurs when couples are in young to middle adulthood. Diabetes risk factors in these years are of high importance as they offer an opportunity for long term prevention.
The researchers randomly selected singleton live births from 1990 to 2007 with a positive diagnosis for gestational diabetes in mothers and matched controls without gestational diabetes from health administrative, birth and death registry data from the province of Quebec. Then, they identified fathers with type 2 diabetes from the time of the mother's post-delivery discharge from the hospital to the father's departure from Quebec, death or end of the study period (March 31, 2012). Overall, 70,890 fathers were evaluated (half with partners with gestational diabetes).
"Our analysis suggests that couples share risk partly because of their shared social and cultural environment, which may contribute to health behaviours and attitudes," explains Dr. Dasgupta. "The study reinforces the findings of our previous study on shared risk for diabetes in spouses, and prior studies indicating that less healthy eating habits and low physical activity could be shared within a household. Our data suggest that gestational diabetes could be leveraged as a tool to enhance diabetes detection and prevention in fathers.''

source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150813123428.htm

Potential biomarker for pre-diabetes discovered

Virginia Tech researchers have identified a biomarker in pre-diabetic individuals that could help prevent them from developing Type II diabetes.

Publishing in Clinical Epigenetics, the researchers discovered that pre-diabetic people who were considered to be insulin resistant -- unable to respond to the hormone insulin effectively -- also had altered mitochondrial DNA.
Researchers made the connection by analyzing blood samples taken from 40 participants enrolled in the diaBEAT-it program, a long-term study run by multiple researchers in the Fralin Translational Obesity Research Center and funded by a grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).
Participants did not have diabetes or cardiovascular disease, but were pre-diabetic and showed signs of insulin resistance.
Blood samples revealed participants had lower amounts of mitochondrial DNA with a higher amount of methylation -- a process that can change the expression of genes and mitochondrial copy numbers in cells -- than healthy people.
Mitochondrion is responsible for converting chemical energy from food into energy that cells can use.
"If the body is insulin resistant, or unable to respond properly to insulin, it could affect a person's mitochondrial function and overall energy levels," said Zhiyong Cheng, an assistant professor of human, nutrition, foods, and exercise in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and a Fralin Life Science Institute affiliate. "Mitochondrial alterations have previously been observed in obese individuals, but this is the first time we've made the molecular link between insulin resistance and mitochondrial DNA changes."
Cheng and collaborator Fabio Almeida, an assistant professor of human nutrition, foods and exercise in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and a Fralin Life Science Institute affiliate, think this link could be important for treating pre-diabetic individuals to prevent Type 2 Diabetes.
According to the NIDDK, more than 2 out of 3 adults are considered overweight and more than 1 out of 3 adults are considered obese. The growing epidemic of obesity is largely attributed to energy overconsumption -- taking in more food calories than the body burns through physical activity.
"There is no known cure for Type 2 diabetes, and early diagnosis and intervention is critical to prevent this disease," said Almeida. "Discovery of the biomarker in obese, pre-diabetic individuals advances our understanding of how diabetes develops and provides evidence important for future diagnosis and intervention."

source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150820125408.htm

Air pollution linked to children low academic achievement

A University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) study on children's health has found that fourth and fifth graders who are exposed to toxic air pollutants at home are more likely to have lower GPAs.

UTEP researchers analyzed academic performance and sociodemographic data for 1,895 fourth and fifth grade children living in El Paso, Texas that were attending the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD).

They used the Environmental Protection Agency's National Air Toxics Assessment to estimate children's exposure to toxic air pollutants, such as diesel exhaust, around the location of their homes.

Children who were exposed to high levels of motor vehicle emissions from cars, trucks and buses on roads and highways were found to have significantly lower GPAs, even when accounting for other factors known to influence school performance. The results of the study were published in the academic journal Population and Environment.

Reference :

1. Stephanie E. Clark-Reyna, Sara E. Grineski, Timothy W. Collins. Residential exposure to air toxics is linked to lower grade point averages among school children in El Paso, Texas, USA. Population and Environment, 2015; DOI: 10.1007/s11111-015-0241-8

cocoa could help prevent obesity, diabetes

Improved thinking. Decreased appetite. Lowered blood pressure. The potential health benefits ofcocoa keep piling up, and scientists are now homing in on what ingredients in cocoa might help prevent obesity, as well as type-2 diabetes. They found that one particular type of antioxidant in cocoa prevented laboratory mice from gaining excess weight and lowered their blood sugar levels. The report appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry.

Andrew P. Neilson and colleagues explain that cocoa, is one of the most flavanol-rich foods around. That's good for chocolate lovers because previous research has shown that flavanols in other foods such as grapes and tea can help fight weight gain and type-2 diabetes. But not all flavanols, which are a type of antioxidant, are created equal. Cocoa has several different kinds of these compounds, so Neilson's team decided to tease them apart and test each individually for health benefits.

The scientists fed groups of mice different diets, including high-fat and low-fat diets, and high-fat diets supplemented with different kinds of flavanols. They found that adding one particular set of these compounds, known as oligomeric procyanidins (PCs), to the food made the biggest difference in keeping the mice's weight down if they were on high-fat diets. They also improved glucose tolerance, which could potentially help prevent type-2 diabetes. "Oligomeric PCs appear to possess the greatest antiobesity and antidiabetic bioactivities of the flavanols in cocoa, particularly at the low doses employed for the present study," the researchers state.

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Journal Reference:

1. Melanie R. Dorenkott, Laura E. Griffin, Katheryn M. Goodrich, Katherine A. Thompson-Witrick, Gabrielle Fundaro, Liyun Ye, Joseph R. Stevens, Mostafa Ali, Sean F. O’Keefe, Matthew W. Hulver, Andrew P. Neilson. Oligomeric Cocoa Procyanidins Possess Enhanced Bioactivity Compared to Monomeric and Polymeric Cocoa Procyanidins for Preventing the Development of Obesity, Insulin Resistance, and Impaired Glucose Tolerance during High-Fat Feeding. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2014; 62 (10): 2216 DOI: 10.1021/jf500333y

PURE COCOA POWDER VS CHOCOLATE

Unlike processed dark chocolate, antioxidants are preserved in raw cocoa. Benefits from keeping organic chocolate unheated include; much higher levels of the famous chocolate antioxidants (oligomeric procynanidins, resveratrol and the polyphenols: catechin and epicatechin) as well as the preservation of vitamin C, phenethylamine (PEA, the feel good neurotransmitter responsible for the feeling of love!), Omega 6 fatty acids (which when heated become rancid and cause inflammation), tryptophan (a commonly deficient amino acid in those who consume a diet of mostly cooked food) and serotonin. The cool facts about chocolate in this article reveal how this fun and amazing superfood is actually healthy for you!

It turns out that all the bad things commonly attributed to non-raw chocolate bars, such as cavities, weight gain and diabetes, are actually caused by the dairy, sugar and others fillers added to the dark chocolate. Health benefits of chocolate when it is in the form of raw cacao beans, butter, nibs and/or the powder include; weight loss (because of its high chromium and coumarin content), prevention of cavities (theobromine actually kills streptococci mutans one of the strains of bacteria that cause tooth decay) and regulation of blood sugar which is beneficial for diabetes (chromium can naturally regulate blood sugar). Also raw cocoa benefits the heart and the entire cardiovascular system as a whole.

Cocoa is the highest whole food source of magnesium, which also happens to be the most deficient mineral in the diet of modern cultures. Magnesium relaxes muscles, improves peristalsis in the bowels and relaxes the heart and cardiovascular system. The dark chocolate antioxidants have been clinically proven to literally dissolve plaque built up in the arteries which helps in reversing heart disease and causes naturally lower blood pressure. Also, various other vitamins and minerals in raw cocoa benefits the cardiovascular system. 

The antioxidant content of raw cocoa benefits the cardiovascular and general whole body health. In processed dark chocolate, antioxidants such as epichatehins, chatechins, resveratrol and procyanidins can be present, but are in much lower levels than in unheated raw chocolate nibs as an example. Out of all the whole foods that contain antioxidants, raw chocolate is the highest in the world. It dwarfs the popular foods and beverages commonly touted as being antioxidant rich foods such as red wine, green tea and blueberries by a factor of 10x or more! There are certain herbs and spices, such as the chaga mushroom and cinnamon, which have higher levels of antioxidants in them but generally you won't be consuming enough volume of them to get as much antioxidant value from them as you would from a normal dose of raw cocoa.

Benefits from consuming antioxidants come when a range of different types of foods high in them are in your diet, since different coloured foods have different antioxidant compounds which target different parts of the body.

The phytochemical analysis of cocoa beans reveal that raw chocolate is perhaps the most chemically complex food on Earth. There are compounds yet to be discovered in this most amazing of live superfoods. Phytochemicals usually degrade in the cooking process, so the raw forms of them should be abundant in every diet for longevity.

~Anandamide (the only food that contains this neurotransmitter responsible for the feeling of "bliss")
~ N-linoleoylethanolamine (prevents the re-uptake of anandamide)
~Phenethylamine (PEA, a neurotransmitter known as the "love molecule")
~Seratonin (a neurotransmitter that acts as a "stress defense shield" by making you feel good)
~Dopamine (a neurotransmitter that boosts motivation and pleasure)
~MAO Inhibitors (prevents the re-uptake of serotonin and dopamine)
~Coumarin (has appetite suppressant, blood thinner and anti-tumor properties)
~Theobromine (controversial but actually quite beneficial for humans, see last section)
~Asparaginase (an enzyme that has anti-leukemia properties)
~Ergosterol (a precursor to vitamin D)
~Sitosterol (decreases LDL cholesterol)

The nutrient density of raw cocoa benefits every function of the body. One of the many cool facts about chocolate is that it is the highest source of magnesium and chromium of any food! Magnesium is the most deficient mineral in the average human. All of the compounds found in raw cocoa benefits longevity in humans.
~Vitamin A
~Vitamin B (1, 2, 3, 5 and 6)
~Vitamin C
~Vitamin E
~Magnesium
~Copper
~Calcium
~Manganese
~Zinc
~Sulphur
~Iron
~Chromium
~Phosphorus
~Omega 6 Fatty Acids
~Saturated Fats
~Amino Acids
~Carbohydrates
~Soluble Fiber (which is the type people need more of)
~Enzymes (including catalase, lipase and amylase)
~Other Beneficial Phytonutrients (such as the antioxidants already mentioned in this article)

LOETUE PURE COCOA POWDER IS 100% CONCENTRATE OF COCOA WITH ALL THE ABOVE BENEFITS AND MUCH MORE. It is available in 400g package.

PRICE: 400g   ₦1000

TO ORDER: Call ADENIJI on 08033949820

BUKOLA on 07052632396 to place your order.

NB: DISTRIBUTORS WANTED NATION WIDE.