Diabetes Study: Fasting Restores Pancreas Function

A study recently published in the journal Cell revealed a potential breakthrough in diabetes treatment. According to researchers, a type of fasting diet may help trigger the pancreas to regenerate. People with diabetes should not modify their diet or treatment without talking to their health care providers.

In animal studies, subjects were given a fast-mimicking dietlow-calorie, low-protein, low-carbohydrate diet that is high in unsaturated-fat diet, similar to a vegan diet with soups and nutsfor five days, followed by 25 days of unlimited eating, mimicking periods of famine and feast. The research showed this type of diet helped regenerate special cells in the pancreas called beta cells.

Normally, beta cells detect blood sugar levels and release the hormone insulin if glucose levels get too high. In type 1 and type 2 diabetes, however, these cells do not function properly. More research is needed to determine if this type of diet can be used to effectively and safely treat diabetes.

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A recent study showed a connection between high blood glucose levelshyperglycemiaand Alzheimers disease risk. Researchers in Australia discovered a molecular link between glucose and Alzheimersspecifically that high blood sugar can damage an important enzyme involved in brain inflammation in the early stages of Alzheimers disease.

Hyperglycemia is characteristic of both diabetes and obesity. Earlier research proved that people with diabetes are at increased risk for Alzheimers diseasea condition in which abnormal proteins accumulate in the brain and form plaques and tanglesand that blood glucose and its byproducts damage cell proteins through a process known as glycation.

In this recent study, scientists determined that glycation damages macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) enzymes in early Alzheimers. According to researchers, we now have yet another reason to limit the amount of sugar in our diets.

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Living in an area with plenty of trees, bushes, and birdswhether in a rural, suburban, or urban neighborhoodcan be good for your mental health and well-being, according to a recent study. Researchers in Great Britain found that people who can watch birds from their homes have a lower risk for depression, stress, and anxiety than those who live in areas with limited bird activity. The study also showed that people report higher levels of depression and anxiety when they have to spend more time than usual indoors over a given period of time.

Specifically, researchers determined that the more birds people could watch during the afternoon hours, the less stressed they were likely to be. The study, which included many types of birdsincluding robins, crows, and othersand didnt show a correlation between bird species and mental health.

The benefits of bird watching were consistenteven when the researchers controlled for other factors like household income, age, and other socio-demographic factors. In general, watching birds was shown to help people relax and feel more connected to nature.

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Sourced from: ScienceDaily

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Diabetes Study: Fasting Restores Pancreas Function - HealthCentral.com

Only current Planning Board member Patrick Gannon said he supports the proposal to narrow a portion of Fruitville Road downtown and add roundabouts to three of its intersections.

SARASOTA Most of the candidates running for the Sarasota City Commission do not support a "road diet" plan that would narrow Fruitville Road and add three roundabouts to its intersections downtown.

The proposal will be submitted to the commission for review in April and has been the subject of several contentious public hearings over the past year, including one that erupted into shouting and cursing last week.

Of the eight candidates running for the two at-large commission seats next month, nearly all said they disagree with the plan at a forum Monday night hosted by STOP!, the ad-hoc group of neighborhood leaders advocating for changes to city development and improved pedestrian safety.

The so-called diet would eliminate two of Fruitville Road's four lanes from Lemon Avenue to Cocoanut Avenue, adding roundabouts at each of those intersections and at Central Avenue. City planners argue the idea would vastly improve the streetscape and pedestrian safety without worsening, and potentially marginally alleviating, traffic congestion there.

One by one, though, the candidates cited repeated concerns about traffic, commuters and the road's availability as an evacuation route in the event of a storm as pitfalls of the plan.

Only current Planning Board member Patrick Gannon, who lives on the bayfront and leads the Downtown Sarasota Condominium Association, spoke in support of the proposal as a way to safely and attractively bridge downtown and the booming Rosemary District.

"Do you want your commission making decisions based on fear or facts?" Gannon said. "If you come to the workshops or actually read the studies, some were actually done to include worst-case (traffic) figures.

"If you leave it alone its only going to get worse," he continued. "This is not for developers development is already underway. There are 12 projects being developed in the (Rosemary) district. Those are the facts were grappling with."

Incumbent Commissioner Susan Chapman argued instead the proposal highlights the limits of the Andres Duany-inspired downtown master plan. Fruitville is a major traffic artery and evacuation route that is not part of a larger, more elaborate traffic network, she said.

"One assumption about a road diet is you have a transportation grid, so there are alternatives to use in the event this road is on a diet," Chapman said. "There are no alternatives, thats the problem."

Businessman and frequent Chapman opponent Martin Hyde even agreed with her, noting as much to laughs in the audience several times throughout the night, and simply concluded: "Are you serious?"

"The ship has sailed, cmon," Hyde said. "This argument about traffic is fallacious. The reality about is traffic is ... these people are coming from elsewhere to here. No matter what you do here, unless you nuke them on the way here, theres nothing you can do."

STOP! co-founder Jennifer Ahearn-Koch, former Mayor Fredd Atkins, attorney Hagen Brody and St. Armands businessman Mikael Sandstrom all essentially echoed those same comments. Longtime city critic Matt Sperling, the eighth candidate in the race, was not present and has chided the STOP! group at previous forums.

The rest of the forum focused largely on development issues central to the STOP! campaign to reign in an existing administrative review process that can allow downtown projects to be approved without public hearings.

The candidates have discussed the issue at length before and split evenly on whether formal public hearings should be needed for major projects or whether the concerns STOP! has highlighted should be addressed in the zoning code.

Ahearn-Koch, Atkins, Chapman and Sandstrom all argue for formal hearings before the Planning Board and/or City Commission. Brody, Gannon, Hyde and Sperling have all argued against, with the former two specifically arguing the zoning code is the key.

"Changing the process does not address the substantive problem," Brody said. "We can talk about it 'til were blue in the face, but you have to address it in the zoning code. Thats the only way youre going to change the way buildings are built."

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February 27, 2017 11:58 PM By Greg Argos

DENVER (CBS) Bend over, heads down. Jump, jump. Jump!

Its the last thing youd ever want to hear while flying, but in flight emergencies happen.

Since 2010, the Federal Aviation Administration recorded more than five dozen unplanned evacuations.

We yell and scream to the best of our ability to leave everything and get out of the aircraft, saidStefanie Coppedge, in-flight training manager withFrontier Airlines.

What you do the moment you board a flight could make the difference between life and death, if youre ever forced to get off and get off quickly.

Frontier Airlines allowed CBS 3 unprecedented access to their 21-day flight attendant training facility in Denver.

And though passenger comfort is important, Coppedge says most of the three-week program focuses on passenger safety.

The public has the conception that its Coke or diet Coke, Coppedge says. Well, were first aid responders. We have to know CPR. We have to be able to know every part of the aircraft because if something happens to the wing, in the cockpit, they dont have that visual, right? They cant look to see whats going on in the wing.

And perhaps most importantly, flight instructors have to know how to get passengers off planes.

In flight instructor Michelle Knudson says the FAA requires airlines to evacuate all passengers in just a minute and a half.

And accomplishing that means using emergency evacuation slides.

If a passenger went into negative panic, wed give them a little gentle push to start that jump process,Coppedge says.

Though Frontier also uses training simulators and mock ups of partial plane cabin, a real emergency is often much more chaotic.

We want to shout positive commands to tell them what to do cause we dont know how our passengers are going to react in an emergency, said Knudson. So telling them what to do will help guide them to get out safely.

In a commercial airliner crash, experts say there is often the threat of fire, so flight attendants are also trained as firefighters.

Fire is a huge threat on board the aircraft in flight, says Knudson. You know we cant just leave, run. So we need to fight that fire immediately, get to the source of it and there is a limited amount of time.

Thats why its so important to listen to instructions and leave everything behind.

Last October, an American Airlines plane caught fire in Chicago.

Video taken by passengers on board show the evacuation was slowed by some taking their personal items, or simply not knowing what to do. Everyone escaped, but one crew member and seven passengers were injured.

Leave everything, meaning your personal items, they can be replaced but you, yourself might not, Knudson said. And I think some passengers dont realize that can be a big effect on whether you get out of that aircraft safely or not.

Statistically flying is the safest form of travel but if youre ever forced to get off at an unexpected stop, take ten seconds to read the Safety Information Card (SIC).

You just never know. The majority of evacuations occur unplanned, so you just need to be prepared in the event something does happen, said Knudson. Statistically, they have shown that passengers who look at the SIC have a better success rate in an evacuation of getting out safely.

And please, dont take anything with you down the slide.

I think the one tip is to go straight to that exit and evacuate leave everything behind, saidKnudson.

Greg Argos joined CBS 3s Eyewitness News team as a general assignment reporter in August, 2015. A New Jersey native who grew up in Dover, Delaware, Argos came to CBS 3 from KPHO-TV in Phoenix where he had been a reporter and back up anchor s...

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CBS 3 Gets Rare Access Into Life-Saving 21-Day Flight Attendant Training Program - CBS Philly

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In the 13 years since the 16 Life Safety Initiatives were first developed at the Tampa Summit, sponsored by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, we have seen much emphasis on firefighter personal safety. Consequently, weve also seen the number of fireground line-of-duty deaths and injuries decline.

And while that is certainly a positive trend, its a case of, the more you know, the more you dont know. Fire service leaders have come to realize the term safety only reflects one piece of a much larger puzzle: firefighter health and wellness.

So, what else do we need to emphasize to complete the puzzle?

We now know the inconvenient truth: more firefighters are dying from non-fireground causes such as heart attacks, strokes and vehicle crashes. Enter the term survivability.

Close examination of those 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives reveals that survivability is interwoven throughout each of them. During the Tampa 2 Summit in March 2014, where participants refined and ratified those 16 initiatives, important discussions took place about improving survivability in the fire service.

What is survivability? In the military, survivability is defined as the ability to remain mission capable after a single engagement. Engineers working in survivability are often responsible for improving four main system elements.

Isnt survivability what its all about in the fire service? Just a few examples of how we can increase our survivability include safe and effective training, responding to and returning from emergencies safely, eating a healthy and balanced diet, exercising and maintaining a healthy weight, wearing and maintaining personal protective equipment, and understanding that repeated exposure to toxins can lead to chronic and terminal illnesses like cancer.

Those same four elements that guide our military personnel in understanding survivability are equally applicable for us in the fire service. Lets consider what that can look like.

The goal of the soldier is to avoid detection so that they gain the advantage on their enemy. So how do we as firefighters gain the advantage on our enemies like fires, motor vehicle crashes, heart disease and cancer?

We can do it through size-up, information collection and analysis and risk assessment on every emergency incident. We can do it by using data on firefighter LODDs and LODIs to refine and focus our training and operations. And, we can do it through annual physical assessments that align with the requirements of NFPA 1500.

This pertains to the inability to avoid taking a hit from say a flashover, backdraft or structural collapse. But how about those non-fireground hits like heart attacks, strokes, exposure to infectious diseases or carcinogens?

Or, as were becoming increasingly more aware of, how can we avoid the adverse psychological impact on firefighters from single high-stress events or the accumulation of mentally stressful episodes?

This is comparable to the inability to withstand the hit because a firefighter was not following standard operating guidelines or the emergency incident was not being properly managed using the incident command system.

Other examples include the firefighter who was not seated and belted during response or who develops a cancer from repeated exposures during overhaul because he didnt use his SCBA.

Yet another example is firefighters whose hearts cant meet the increased demands of firefighting because they are obese and in poor physical condition.

When one of those hits occurs to a firefighter, what mechanisms are in place for medical care and rehabilitation for both physical and mental traumas? What are the workers compensation policies and procedures?

What are the departments policies and procedures for determining firefighter fitness for duty following treatment? If the firefighter cant return to full-time status, are there other employment options within the department or local government, policies and procedures for involuntary separation from the department or career counseling to assist the firefighter in obtaining new employment?

Fire service leaders agree that weve reached the time when its appropriate to move beyond solely emphasizing safety in the fire service. If were to continue making progress in reducing LODDs and LODIs from all causes, we must adopt the concept of survivability.

We must incorporate it into our fire service vocabulary, and embrace this concept in our understanding of our fire service culture.

Survivability means taking control. And theres nobody better than the company officer to take responsibility for increasing survivability for their crew.

Here are seven early actions to take.

Survivability means taking care of each other. And that begins with you, the company officer.

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Firefighter safety is about survivability - Fire Chief

Every year Americans adopt new diet trends, from the juicing craze to gluten-free diets, and each new fad promises health benefits such as weight loss and higher energy.

But, as specific diets become more popular, doctors wanted to assess whether they would help the one part of the body that carries the most risk for both men and women in the U.S.: the heart.

In order to get a better sense of which diets were the most heart healthy, researchers examined more than 25 peer-reviewed studies and published their findings today in a new report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

"There is sort of mass confusion about what foods are healthy or not healthy," lead study author Dr. Andrew Freeman, Director of Cardiovascular Prevention and Wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado, told ABC News.

"When you take the time to weigh through the data and the evidence it becomes clear," he continued. "Human beings havent changed all that much in the last many, many years."

Researchers from 12 institutions, including George Washington University School of Medicine and National Jewish Health, analyzed the studies - which together included tens of thousands of participants - in order to determine what types of foods appear, given currently available research, to help the heart.

After an in-depth review of the scientific data, researchers found the most heart-healthy diet includes foods like extra-virgin olive oil, antioxidant-rich berries, green leafy vegetables, plant-based proteins, nuts in moderation and can include lean meats. To cut down on cholesterol, the study authors suggest limiting or eliminating coconut and palm oils, which are high in saturated fatty acids, and eggs, which raise the level of cholesterol in the bloodstream.

"Dietary requirements havent really changed," Freeman continued. "The diet that is most cardioprotective is mostly plant based ... predominantly fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and limited amounts of animal products if any."

However, Dr. Keith Ayoob, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who was not involved in the studies, says that diet issues are rarely so black and white and that doctors need to approach each patients diet in a more holistic manner.

"When youre talking about dietary cholesterol, sometimes I get more concerned with the companion foods. What kind of company are those eggs keeping?" Ayoob said. "Do you eat them plain boiled, fried in butter, cooked with olive oil?"

Simply relying on advice like eating in moderation is too vague, Ayoob added, and can mean different things for different people. He said patients should be given more guidance about exactly how to eat healthy.

"I think the idea of moderation is more of a mantra," Ayoob said. "But I think we would do well to define it a little bit better."

In addition to looking at the benefits of specific foods, researchers looked for evidence that recent popular diets to limit gluten or consume vegetables and fruits via juicing were heart healthy. Researchers found that the process of juicing fruits and vegetables with pulp removal actually concentrates the sugars more, making it easier to ingest more calories than needed. Adding sweeteners such as sugar or honey also increase caloric content of juices. The researchers found that the data regarding juicing where the pulp is retained is inconclusive for determining whether it provides harm or benefit for heart health.

"There are things that youre going to have in the whole fruit that you cant get into the juice," said Ayoob. "Also the other side is to remember that your gut is a great juicer, it just works more slowly. Let your teeth and digestive tract do what its supposed to do. And the fiber in fruits and vegetables is critical to a healthy diet."

Another trendy diet that was evaluated is a gluten-free diet, which has been proven to be a good treatment for patients who have gluten-related disorders such as celiac disease, wheat allergy, and nonceliac gluten sensitivity.

But only about 1 in 141 Americans have celiac disease, according to the National Institutes of Health. However, according to a Gallup poll in 2015, one in five Americans actively tries to avoid gluten in their diets. Researchers say there is no evidence that a gluten-free diet helps with weight loss in healthy individuals and some studies even show weight gain on a gluten-free diet. Gaining weight to the point of obesity is significantly associated with increased risk of heart disease.

"Our message here is if you are gluten sensitive, allergic, or have celiac disease, you should avoid gluten," says Freeman. "Otherwise gluten is not necessarily the enemy."

The studies reviewed in the analysis published today have a few limitations: Some of the foods and trends have not been studied over as long a time as others, there can be a "complex interplay" between nutrients in individuals and the lifestyle habits of the people included may have had some effect on their heart health.

For those searching for a heart-healthy diet, Freeman has some simple advice.

"If people want to eat animal products they should limit it as much as theyre willing, especially if they have risk factors for heart disease," he said. "For my patients I try to get them to go as low as theyre willing."

Ayoob agrees with increasing fruit and vegetable intake in the general population, but cautions against telling people to strictly eliminate certain foods from their diets. "Because a diet, no matter how nutritious," he says, "is only nutritious if people stay on it."

Dr. Joyce Park is a New York-based dermatologist at NYU Langone Medical Center and resident in the ABC News Medical Unit.

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How food fads and diet trends fare for heart health - ABC News

For the past 17 years, Hugh Jackman has played Wolverine in the X-Men movies, which means that for nearly two decades, the actor has had to stay on a strict diet his character is often shirtless and slashing his way out of difficult situations, so no dad bods were allowed on set. But now, with the release of Logan, Jackman is finally putting Wolverine (and the Wolverine diet) to bed.

Jimmy Fallon, always the considerate soul, wanted to celebrate the end of Jackmans X-Men fasting during the actors Tonight Show appearance last Friday. And so, toward the end of their segment, the late-night host summoned his buddy Mario Batali from backstage, who surprised Jackman with a gigantic bowl of pasta and a hearty pour of wine. This clip captures the pure joy of kicking your diet to the curb and diving head-first into a pile of delicious carbohydrates.

Hugh Jackman Breaks His "Wolverine Fast" After Whisper Challenge [YouTube] All Video Interludes [E] Logan Review [The Verge]

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Watch Hugh Jackman Shred the Wolverine Diet to Smithereens - Eater

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New evidence on the diet of the 'Homo antecessor' from Atapuerca ... Science Daily The Homo antecessor, a hominin species that inhabited the Iberian Peninsula around 800000 years ago, would have a mechanically more demanding diet than ... and more »

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Ketogenic diet shown safe, effective option for some with rare and severest form of epilepsy Science Daily "From our past research, we know the ketogenic diet is effective in approximately one-third of adults with epilepsy who are resistant to traditional anti-seizure drugs," says Mackenzie C. Cervenka, M.D., associate professor of neurology and director of ... and more »

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Ketogenic diet shown safe, effective option for some with rare and severest form of epilepsy - Science Daily

New research shows that a diet which mimics fasting might be able to push beta cells in the pancreas to repair themselves and start making insulin again.

BBC news reported that for the research study, mice in the lab were put on a modified form of the fasting-mimicking diet. The diet is similar to the human practice of spending five days on a low-calorie, low-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. It resembles a vegan diet with nuts and soups, but with around 800 to 1,100 calories a day. Then they have 25 days eating what they want so overall it mimics periods of feast and famine, says BBC news.

A press release on Eureka Alert explained that the researchers used two different mouse models of two types of diabetes to study how the diet affected the mice. One group had a gene mutation that causes insulin resistance and loss of insulin secretion, which mimicked type 2 diabetes. The other group was treated with a chemical to destroy the mices beta cells, which was the model for type 1 diabetes. Both groups were put on the diet for three cycles.

Excitingly, this diet showed the possibility of regeneration of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas which had stopped or slowed production of insulin in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, respectively.

Senior author of the study, Dr. Valter Longo of the University of Southern California School of Gerontology and Director of the USC Longevity Institute, told Eureka Alert, Our conclusion is that by pushing the mice into an extreme state and then bringing them backby starving them and then feeding them againthe cells in the pancreas are triggered to use some kind of developmental reprogramming that rebuilds the part of the organ thats no longer functioning.

Studies suggest the diet could be a way to reboot the body by inducing it to slow down aging and regenerating new cells, reports Eureka Alert.

Dr. Longo told BBC: Medically, these findings have the potential to be very important because weve shown at least in mouse models that you can use diet to reverse the symptoms of diabetes. Scientifically, the findings are perhaps even more important because weve shown that you can use diet to reprogramme cells without having to make any genetic alterations.

The intermittent fasting diet has been trialed on humans for various purposes, and it has shown improved blood sugar levels. However, people are advised not to try this diet on their own because it could have a detrimental impact on their health if not done with proper medical guidance.

A BBC reporter, Peter Bowes, took part in a separate trialwith Dr. Valter Longo several years ago .

Bowes told BBC: During each five-day fasting cycle, when I ate about a quarter of the average persons diet, I lost between 2kg and 4kg (4.4-8.8lbs).

But before the next cycle came round, 25 days of eating normally had returned me almost to my original weight. But not all consequences of the diet faded so quickly.

According to the BBC, his blood pressure was lower as was a hormone called IGF-1, which is linked to some cancers.

On February 15, Longos team published a Phase II study that was carried out in 100 humans who were exposed to three rounds of the same diet. According to Eureka Alert, their IGF1 levels decreased and their fasting glucose levels improved, among other findings.

However, the team says more research is needed before the findings can be validated for application in humans. Longo told Eureka Alert that future clinical trials are already being planned.

The research findings were originally published in the journal Cell.

Elizabeth Rowley is the Founder and Director of T1International. She was born in the United States and has lived with type 1 diabetes for 25 years. Elizabeth moved to London in 2011 to complete her Masters degree in International Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science and has worked with non-profits, diabetes and health organizations ever since. She believes that where you were born should not determine whether you live or die with diabetes, and she is confident that by working together we can find solutions to the complex problems faced by people with diabetes.

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Fasting Diet for People With Diabetes Could Regenerate the Pancreas - A Sweet Life

A toddler suspected of being allergic to eggs underwent a challenge to make sure.

Up to 15 million Americans suffer from some kind of food allergy, and a good number of them are children. Food allergies in children jumped by 50 percent over 14 years, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Policing a child's diet can be a huge challenge, but a different kind of challenge may help.

For Sasha Welter, keeping eggs out of her 18-month-old daughter, Gabriella, has been difficult.

We brought her initially because she has eczema, and I was told that kids with eczema tend to have allergies, Welter said.

She also was told allergies can be hereditary, and she has food allergies.

So Gabriella took the egg challenge at the Allergy and Asthma Center in Rockville, Maryland.

We are back here today to do the egg challenge and see how she does eating eggs, her mother said. Hopefully we pass.

That just involves taking small amounts of the food of concern and introducing it at 15-20 minute intervals and just watching for any kind of reaction, Dr. Shelby Elenberg said.

Gabriella ate increments of one whole egg every 15 minutes.

Things we look for are hives, wheezing, difficulty breathing, swelling of the lips, some people also vomit, Dr. Jennifer Lan said. Its usually a constellation of symptoms we look for.

Gabriella passed her test.

This takes a load off of my shoulders and hopefully off of hers, too, Welter said. She may not have noticed, but that's okay. We can eat eggs.

The benefits of the challenges are that since they are performed in real time, they are pretty conclusive, and the child's diet can be safely expanded.

Published at 6:13 PM EST on Feb 27, 2017 | Updated at 6:45 PM EST on Feb 27, 2017

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Eggs Reintroduced Into Toddler's Diet at Allergy and Asthma Center ... - NBC4 Washington