Diabetic Women More At Stroke Risk Than Men

A new study suggests that women who are diabetic are more at a risk for stroke than men.
"All women, especially those over 55 years old (should) get their risk factors for heart disease screened and aggressively treated," said Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of women and heart disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
Dr. Steinbaum said that previous studies have found that women with diabetes are at a higher stroke risk when compared to men with diabetes.
"As women go through menopause, the loss of protective estrogen allows for the risk factors of cardiovascular disease- such as diabetes- to wreak havoc on the arteries," said Steinbaum, who is not affiliated with the new study.
Information from the study says that women living in developed countries are more likely to die from a stroke than men. In the United States, women account for 60 percent of deaths from strokes in 2010, the study authors said.
The study, published on February 24 in Diabetologia, was led by Dr. Gang Hu of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and involved analyzing data from 11,000 men and 19,000 women. During the average follow-up time of almost seven years, almost 3,000 cases of strokes occurred among the participants.
Depending on blood sugar control, women with diabetes were 19 to 42 percent more likely to suffer a stroke than those who do not have the disease. Researchers found that among women 55 and older, the risk was much higher when compared to younger women.
No association between diabetes and stroke risk was found in men.
"Diabetes poses a substantially greater increase in the risk of stroke among women than among men, which merits further investigation," the researchers concluded.
So why doesn't diabetes increase men's risk for stroke? Dr. Steinbaum believes the key lies in treatment.
"Men tend to receive more preventative care and medications to protect the arteries, such as aspirin and statins," she said. "The lack of continuity (in care) between the genders could be the reason for the discrepancy."
Steinbaum also believes that women with diabetes in general have more affiliated conditions, such as high cholesterol levels or high blood pressure.
"The best way to manage stroke is through prevention," she said. "For women, especially, where the link between elevated sugars and stroke is so clearly defined, and worse outcomes are more often seen, the emphasis needs to be on treating the risk factors and certainly implementing lifestyle options" to keep blood sugar under control.
The study authors agree that is a beneficial way of keeping the risk at bay. "More aggressive blood sugar treatments and better control of other risk factor levels in women with diabetes are likely to substantially reduce risk in this subgroup," Hu said in a press release.
Reference: WOWKTV
If you are a diabetic and do not currently see a podiatrist, call our Glastonbury or Middletown office to make an appointment.
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Connecticut Foot Care Centers
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Diabetic Recipe Of the Week: Parmesan Pesto Pita Wedges

Makes: 16 triangles
Serving Size: 6 triangles
Ingredients
1/4 cup prepared pesto sauce
6 6-inch whole-wheat pita breads, split
2 Tbsp. freshly grated real Parmesan cheese
Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spread 1 tsp. pesto sauce on the smooth outer side of each pita half. Sprinkle each with 1/2 tsp. Parmesan cheese. Cut each pita half into 8 equal wedges. Place in a single layer on large, rimmed baking sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until crisp and golden. Serve immediately, or store in an airtight container until ready to serve.
This recipe is from Diabetes Forecast
If you are a diabetic and do not currently see a podiatrist, call our Glastonbury or Middletown office to make an appointment.
Ayman M. Latif, DPM
Connecticut Foot Care Centers
Diabetic Foot Doctor in CT
Podiatrist in Glastonbury and Middletown, CT
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Exercises For Peripheral Neuropathy: Hip Extensions

Hold chair or table with one hand, then one fingertip, then no hands, then do exercise with eyes closed, if steady. Stand 12 to 18 inches from chair or table. Bend at hip; hold onto chair or table. Slowly lift one leg straight backwards. Hold position for 5-10 seconds. Slowly lower leg and repeat with other leg.
Hold: 5-10 seconds
Repeat: 2 repetitions on each leg/2 times a day
If you are a diabetic and do not currently see a podiatrist, call our Glastonbury or Middletown office to make an appointment.
Ayman M. Latif, DPM
Connecticut Foot Care Centers
Diabetic Foot Doctor in CT
Podiatrist in Glastonbury and Middletown, CT
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Diabetic Recipe of the Week: Plum and Nectarine Upside-Down Cake

Makes: 9 servings
Serving Size: 1/9 of cake
Preparation Time: 45 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
2 tsp. nonhydrogenated margarine (e.g. Smart Balance), melted
1/4 cup Splenda brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. lemon zest
2 1/2 cups combination sliced plums and nectarines
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup Splenda
1/4 cup canola oil
1 large egg
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup fat-free milk
Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place the melted margarine in the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan, and sprinkle with brown sugar and lemon zest. Top with the nectarines and plums, arranged in concentric circles. Set aside.
3. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cups and level off. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.
4. Beat Splenda and canola oil at medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well. Add the flour mixture in parts to the egg mixture, alternating with the milk, and ending with the flour mixture. Spoon batter over the fruit.
5. Bake for 45 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges of the cake with a knife. Place a plate upside down on the cake pan and invert the cake onto the plate. Cool before serving.
This recipe is from Diabetes Forecast.
If you are a diabetic and do not currently see a podiatrist, call our Glastonbury or Middletown office to make an appointment.
Ayman M. Latif, DPM
Connecticut Foot Care Centers
Diabetic Foot Doctor in CT
Podiatrist in Glastonbury and Middletown, CT
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Rob Kardashian Concerned About Diabetes Risk

Last week's episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians brought serious medical news to one of its stars.
Rob Kardashian, who has been battling weight gain for the past year, was told by a doctor that he is at high risk for developing diabetes and eventually organ failure.
His momager Kris Jenner gave her son a stern warning after they learned the results of the blood tests.
"Your liver is shutting down," she said to her 26 year old son. "This is life-threatening at this point. You can only sustain this level of being unhealthy for so long."
She then said to the cameras, "It's time for me to help Rob out, gain a little control, and get him a nutritionist and some help, so he can get his health back together."
This news was the shot in the arm Kardashian needed and he agreed he needs to make changes fast.
"It's a shock to me. I was at my best health at 26, and now I have numbers that are freaking my whole family out," Rob said. His father, Robert Kardashian, died of esophageal cancer in 2003 at the age of 59.
"My dad passed away super early, so my sisters could never handle that again... that's what everybody is super concerned about."
The first thing he tackles are his stretch marks, so he goes with mom Kris and sister Kim to see a doctor. But in the exam room, he's reluctant to take off his shirt.
"I don't want to be filmed with my shirt off," he says to his family.
Kris says, "What's wrong, Rob? Don't cry."
A depressed and tearful Rob replies, "I don't even want to sit down because of how fat I am. I don't know what to do."
Always proactive, Kris decides to get her son on the right path, refusing to give up on him.
"I'm worried about Rob," she confesses to E! cameras. "I'm not going to sit by and watch him give up."
Later in the show, nutritionists and trainers are brought in to clean out his kitchen, and begin his journey to get back in shape.
Kardashian personal trainer Gunnar Peterson works with Rob and praises him for his hard work.
In a previous episode Rob admitted that his weight gain made him depressed.
"I've never felt so down and depressed in my life. I'm trying to be in the fashion industry and I'm not going to be taken seriously when I'm fifty pounds overweight," he told sister Khloe.
"It's embarrassing to the family."
Reference: Life and Style Magazine
If you are a diabetic and do not currently see a podiatrist, call our Glastonbury or Middletown office to make an appointment.
Ayman M. Latif, DPM
Connecticut Foot Care Centers
Diabetic Foot Doctor in CT
Podiatrist in Glastonbury and Middletown, CT
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Diabetic Recipe Of the Week: Vegetable Lo Mein

Makes: 4 servings
Serving Size: 1 cup
Preparation Time: 35 minutes
Cooking Time: 16 minutes, plus 10 minutes for the noodles
Ingredients
2 tsp. canola oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 scallions, minced
1 Tbsp. grated ginger
2 carrots, diagonally sliced
3 stalks celery, diagonally sliced
1 cup shitake mushrooms, cleaned, stemmed, and sliced
1 cup reduced-sodium vegetable broth, divided
1 cup broccoli florets
3 Tbsp. tamari soy sauce
2 Tbsp. dry sherry
2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
1/2 tsp. chili puree
1 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1 Tbsp. arrowroot
2 cups cooked soba or udon noodles (spaghetti can be used if other noodles are unavailable)
Preparation
1. In a wok over high heat, heat the oil. Add the garlic, scallions, and ginger and stir fry for 30 seconds. Add the carrots and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the celery and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the broccoli and 1/2 cup of the broth. Cover and let steam until the broccoli is bright green, about 3 to 4 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a measuring cup add remaining broth, soy sauce, sherry, hoisin sauce, chili puree, sesame oil, and arrowroot. Mix well. Add to the vegetables. Add the noodles and mix well. Cook for 1 minute until the sauce has thickened.
This recipe is from Diabetes Forecast
If you are a diabetic and do not currently see a podiatrist, call our Glastonbury or Middletown office to make an appointment.
Ayman M. Latif, DPM
Connecticut Foot Care Centers
Diabetic Foot Doctor in CT
Podiatrist in Glastonbury and Middletown, CT
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Will Traditional Chinese Medicine Reduce Diabetes Risk

New research published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Medicine shows that Chinese herbal medicine may have potential solutions for someone with prediabetes.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) focuses on keeping balance in the body in order to treat disease, according to study author Dr. Chun-Su Yuan, director of the Tang Center for Herbal Medicine Research at the University of Chicago.
"It's a more holistic approach, using medicine to change the overall body function instead of very specifically on symptoms and organs [like Western medicine]," said Yuan, who is also the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Chinese Medicine.
In this particular study, researchers used TCM's principles with modern medicine by selecting herbs that have a proven track record of helping those with diabetes.
In the double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study, 389 participants with impaired glucose tolerance, a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes, were tested every three months to monitor the development (or no development) of the disease.
Half of the participants received a Chinese herbal mixture called Tianqi, a capsule containing 10 Chinese herbal medicines, including Astragali Radix and Coptidis Rhizoma, which may improve glucose levels. All subjects received dietary education and were told to keep their physical fitness routines the same.
The researchers found that Tianqi appeared to reduce the risk of diabetes among participants by 32.1 percent, compared to the placebo group. By the end of the study, 125 participants in the Tianqi group had achieved normal glucose tolerance, compared to 89 in the placebo group. Of those who went on to develop diabetes, 56 subjects in the placebo had diabetes compared to 36 in the Tianqi group.
There were no reports of severe side effects from the Tianqi.
"We are very excited about this," Yuan said. "It's an advantage that we did not observe bad side effects."
Researchers believe that Chinese medicine may be just as effective at treating diabetes as Western medicine.
"The data from our study showed that Chinese medicine has comparable effects [to Western drugs]," Yuan said.
However, since this study was first conducted in China, it is important that the study's effectiveness be seen in other countries. Further research would be needed to focus quality control issues surrounding the use of herbal medicines.
"It's not easy to do controlled trials of herbal medicine and this study did it and showed promising effects," Yuan said. "But we need to do more studies with the possibility that in five to seven years TCM has better utility in [the US]."
Reference: Fox News
If you are a diabetic and do not currently see a podiatrist, call our Glastonbury or Middletown office to make an appointment.
Ayman M. Latif, DPM
Connecticut Foot Care Centers
Diabetic Foot Doctor in CT
Podiatrist in Glastonbury and Middletown, CT
Visit our website, like our page on Facebook, and follow my tweets on Twitter.

Diabetic Recipe of the Week: Creole Red Snapper

Makes: 4 servings
Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray
1/4 cup frozen chopped onion
1/4 cup frozen chopped green pepper
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 tsp. Worchestershire sauce
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. basil
4 red snapper fillets (4 oz. each)
Preparation
1. Spray a large skillet with nonstick cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat until hot. Add onion, green pepper, and garlic. Saute until tender, stirring frequently.
2. Add tomatoes with juice, Worchestershire sauce, vinegar, and basil. Bring to a boil. Add fish fillets, spooning tomato mixture over the fish to make sure each fillet is coated.
3. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 10 to 12 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.
This recipe is from Diabetes Forecast.
If you are a diabetic and do not currently see a podiatrist, call our Glastonbury or Middletown office to make an appointment.
Ayman M. Latif, DPM
Connecticut Foot Care Centers
Diabetic Foot Doctor in CT
Podiatrist in Glastonbury and Middletown, CT
Visit our website, like our page on Facebook, and follow my tweets on Twitter.

Common Diabetes Drug Reduces Cancer Risk In Women

Those with type 2 diabetes are more likely to develop cancer and cancer recurrence than those without the disease. However, according to Sangeeta R. Kashyap, MD, certain diabetes medications can lower a woman's risk.
"Cancer is a very big health risk for patients with diabetes," Kashyap told Endocrine Today. "Patients need to be aware that diabetes drugs can be used in certain ways to have favorable results on lowering cancer risk. Physicians also need to be actively involved with managing cancer risk in patients with diabetes because drugs that we use to lower glucose levels can either have favorable or unfavorable consequences."
Kashyap is an endocrinologist and associate professor of medicine at Cleveland's Clinic Endocrinology and Metabolism Institute. She and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of the electronic health records-based Cleveland Clinic Diabetes Registry and compared it to the histology-based tumor registry during an eight year period to investigate the potential association between cancer incidence and commonly prescribed diabetes medication.
"What we found was that there were over 800 incident cancer cases in this group, confirmed by tissue diagnosis. We also found that the most common cancer was prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women; that diabetes drugs in men did not influence cancer risk for development. However, in women, the use of TZDs in contrast to sulfonylureas were associated with 30% less cancer risk," Kashyap said.
They also identified 892 cases of cancer, including prostate (14.5%) and breast (11.7%) malignancies. In women, TZDs were associated with a 32% decreased cancer risk compared with sulfonylureas.
"In general, what we found is that drugs that lower insulin levels have better effects on lowering cancer risk. Lowering insulin levels can lower or cut cancer risks in women in particular," said Kashyap.
Reference: Healio
If you are a diabetic and do not currently see a podiatrist, call our Glastonbury or Middletown office to make an appointment.
Ayman M. Latif, DPM
Connecticut Foot Care Centers
Diabetic Foot Doctor in CT
Podiatrist in Glastonbury and Middletown, CT
Visit our website, like our page on Facebook, and follow my tweets on Twitter.