Heart Beat

June 11 – Aggressive treatment of people on the path to developing diabetes can prevent it happening, researchers have reported. The findings, from a US study, came on the eve of Diabetes Week in the UK. Doctors have increasingly been seeking to treat people with raised blood sugar levels, a condition called pre-diabetes. This includes [...]

December 7 – Nurses who work on rotating night shifts face a massively increased risk of developing diabetes, researchers warned today. A woman who spends more than 20 years doing shift work faces a 60 per cent increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to findings reported in PLoS Medicine. And if she spends [...]

October 27 – Britain continues to face a growing problem from diabetes, according to figures published today. Some 130,000 were added to the total of those diagnosed with the condition last year – bringing it to some 2.9 million. In 2005 the first figures collected from GPs were published and stood at just two million. [...]

  Parents were being urged today to keep an eye on their children’s weight as they head back to school. The NHS Choices service offered parents a helping hand – while issuing a warning about rising obesity rates. It said 30 per cent of British children are currently overweight or obese. It advises parents to [...]

August 25 – The NHS is facing a massively increasing bill for drugs for diabetes, new figures showed yesterday. The increase reflects increased diagnosis of the condition and increased prevalence caused by rising levels of obesity – as well as the development of popular new drugs.

August 13 – Eating processed red meat could increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, US researchers have claimed. A new study by Harvard School of Public Health found a strong association between the consumption of red meat—particularly processed meat – and the condition. But replacing red meat with healthier proteins, such as low-fat [...]

June 29 – Diabetes in England and Wales is a “time bomb” waiting to happen, according to figures published today. Up to 300,000 children and adults up to the age of 55 now have such high blood sugar levels that they risk life-threatening complications such as kidney failure and stroke, according to the National Diabetes [...]

May 23 – Campaigners yesterday condemned cutbacks in the number of specialist diabetes nurses in the NHS. As many as 200 posts for these nurses are now unfilled, according to Diabetes UK. The figure has doubled in the last two years – and reflects concerns that NHS trusts are economising on the cost of specialist [...]

Patients with diabetes should be given a special passport to ensure they carry details of the insulin they use, a medical watchdog said yesterday. And patients in hospital should be allowed to administer their own insulin if possible – to help ensure it was given at the right times. The new advice has been given [...]

March 19 – Efforts to thwart tuberculosis are being hampered by increased rates in drug resistance and other risk factors such as smoking and diabetes, experts warned yesterday. Writing in The Lancet, Professor Alimuddin Zumla, of University College London Medical School, UK, and Dr Stephen Lawn, from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, point [...]