Making clever use of simple tools

Editor-in-chief's editorial

Gambling with addiction: dangerous beliefs about smoking and diabetes

Smoking among people with diabetes parallels that of the general population. However, compared to non-smokers with diabetes, people with diabetes who smoke have twice the risk of premature death. The risk of complications associated with tobacco use and diabetes in combination are nearly 14 times higher than the risk

Blood fats: a toxic meal-time tide

Eating is a pleasant necessity for most of us. We eat our food, the gastro-intestinal tract (gut) directs nutrients to the blood stream, and excess energy is stored for later use. Much of what is known about the mechanisms that regulate these processes has been learned from diabetes research. Because diabetes has always been regarded as a disease of glucose metabolism, the research has been focussed on the intake and processing of glucose. Jacqueline Dekker looks at the role of fats (lipids) in the processes that give rise to diabetes-related risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Time to stop - for good

Editor-in-chief's editorial

Learning to do the right thing

President's editorial

Foods and their effects on blood sugar

Until the discovery of insulin in the 1920’s, dietary modification offered the only means of reducing raised blood sugar levels in people with diabetes. Now a wide variety of sophisticated insulin regimes are available; and for people with Type 2 diabetes, there is a range of oral medication. However, there is increasing appreciation that appropriate food selection remains a cornerstone of diabetes management. While it is important to remember that the way in which



Designer insulins and meal-time blood glucose control

After the discovery of insulin in the 1920´s, available insulin was from natural sources (animal pancreas) until human insulin was made available in the early 1980s. None of these insulins was ideal for injection under the skin. Now, new

The nutrition transition and the global shift towards obesity


Meal-time glucose control: the role of oral drugs

As a species, our condition has changed: from prolonged periods of fasting and occasional gorging, to nearly constant feeding with rarely occurring periods of fasting. The constant availability of ‘grazing opportunities’ has contributed to a change in the body build of humans towards increasing body weight, overweight, and obesity. With this change has come a massive increase in the number of people with diabetes and diabetes- and- obesity-related health problems.