[MarkMunday]

I have often wondered why T2s seem to have a much worse time with complications than T1s, often in spite maintaining good HBA1c results. According to this speech transcript from Dr Mercola's site http://www.mercola.com/2001/jul/14/insulin.htm# , it is because T2s are insulin resistant and the damage done by excessively high insulin levels. It is a good read.

Cheers,

Mark

[Harold]

Sorry Mark, I don't believe everything I read. While just about everything under the sun in to much quantity becomes toxic I have no doubt there is a toxic level for insulin. However I have never heard of a T2 baby.

Insulin sensitivity starts to be determined the moment the sperm combines with the egg. If a pregnant woman eats a high-carbohydrate diet, which turns into sugar, animal studies have shown that the fetus will become more insulin resistant.

Worse yet, researchers have used sophisticated measurements and found that if that fetus happens to be a female, the eggs of that fetus are more insulin resistant. Does that mean it is genetic? No, you can be born with something and it doesn't mean that it is genetic. Diabetes is not a genetic disease as such. You can have a genetic predisposition, but it should be an extremely rare disease.

[MarkMunday]

Harold,

I have never heard of a T2 baby either. And the quote doesn't suggest that this happens. We all know that, typically, insulin resistance precedes the onset of T2 by many years. As insulin resistance intensifies, the pancreas produces more insulin. And blood sugars stay in the normal range. Until eventually the pancreas can't keep up with the increasing insulin requirement. The bsl rises above the diabetic threshold and you have the onset of T2 diabetes. But that can be 20, 30, 40 years after insulin resistance started.

The quote suggests that this process starts very early, even in the womb. That is not incomprehensible to me. Especially since childhood onset of T2 is becoming quite common.


Cheers,

Mark

[KLD]

Not exactly on topic, but of interest nevertheless:

SOURCE: New England Journal of Medicine, November 18, 2004.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...betes_babies_dc

Preemies Seen Prone to 'Pre-Diabetes'

Thu Nov 18, 1:21 PM ET
By Megan Rauscher

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children who were born prematurely, regardless of their actual birth weight, have a reduction in insulin sensitivity -- a pre-diabetic condition that can lead to full-blown diabetes.

The finding is similar to that seen in children and adults who were born at term but who had a low birth weight.

"There is increasing evidence that this latter group has a marked increased risk of insulin resistance-related diseases," Dr. Paul L. Hofman from the University of Auckland in New Zealand told Reuters Health.

Disorders associated with insulin resistance, or reduced insulin sensitivity, include type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and adult-onset obesity

"Therefore it is likely that if this reduced insulin sensitivity tracks with age, then prematurely born infants will also be at risk of these adult diseases," Hofman added.

Hofman and his co-investigators measured insulin sensitivity -- that is, how efficiently insulin processes glucose -- in 72 healthy children 4 to 10 years of age.

Of the 50 who were born before 32 weeks, 38 had a birth weight appropriate for gestational age and 12 were small for gestational age. Of the 22 children born at term, 13 were small for gestational age.

Children born prematurely at any birth weight had an approximately 30 percent reduction in insulin sensitivity compared with children of normal birth weight born at term, the team reports in Thursday's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

At age 4 to 10 years, children born prematurely had a "compensatory increase in acute insulin release" -- that is they produced more insulin at meal times to overcome the insulin resistance.

While the reason why prematurity leads to reduced insulin sensitivity is not known, this study supports the idea that "what happens in fetal life and early childhood appears to permanently modify your risks of later adult diseases," Hofman said.

"However, with ongoing exercise, avoidance of obesity and of lifestyles that cause insulin resistance, these later problems can be avoided," he emphasized. "By identifying these risks in children it leaves a large window where interventions can be put in place to prevent these complications."

Karen

[TvBabe]

hmmm Interesting Karen...I was a month premature .....it took me only 48 years to develop diabetes tho

[rzrbks]

HOLY CARP


I'm doubly cursed.

I was a premie and got my spleen stolen too. No wonder I'm here with all you sickies.

[Sinner]

Originally posted by rzrbks

I was a premie and got my spleen stolen too.

STOLEN?!?!?! Did you wake up in a bathtub full of ice after it happened?

[Harold]

Rzr someone stole your spleen! No wonder your LADA!

Mark the Quote says fetus "will become more insulin resistant," and I was assuming it would be carried to birth and be a baby "more insulin resistant." It also says that baby if a female would have eggs that are that are also "more insulin resistant." Which implies they would make a fetus that are "more insulin resistant." I suppose the phrase "more insulin resistant" was left unquantified on purpose due to over simplification. Would be interesting if some organization could do a follow up to see if this would corelate to the alarming cases of younger and younger T2's. Know of anyone screening newborns for insulin resistance. It may someday redefine what's normal if it gets out of hand.

[Andrea]

I think that probably the most likely reason for people with type 2 to develop complications more than people with type 1 is that they can live with type 2 diabetes for years and years and not know it. Often type 2 diabetes is diagnosed when complications have already started to show up.

In the case of type 1, we are all diagnosed within months of the time when our blood glucose levels start to rise above the "norm".

Andrea

[may]

It often seems to me that type 11 have more difficulity also.
I wonder if it is the public has been lead to believe its not as serious as type 1, and we are more careless about our eating??
I know my Dr. (and I am a type 11) now has me on Humalog and Lantus. I am getting concerned about that because I have beta cells still functioning after nearly 20 years as a type 2. He believes insulin helps preserve them. However it seems as if the theory of "a surge of sugar and you take a surge of insulin", makes me think I am getting more and more insulin resistant.

Any thoughts welcome!