A study that’s been nearly two decades in the making is shining some new light on the benefits of weight training. Researchers from the Harvard University of Public Health have found that this popular form of exercise not only provides bigger biceps, but may also help prevent Type 2 diabetes.

It’s long been known that weight training is an extremely beneficial form of exercise, but more recently experts have been touting that it’s one of the best activities a person can do over a lifetime. Recent studies have even suggested it can improve memory and brain function, strengthen bones and connective tissue in children, help a person quit smoking, and even help breast cancer patients recover more quickly.

Author and health researcher Timothy Caulfield, whom we interviewed earlier this year for his book “The Cure for Everything,” even selected weight training as the one activity he would do to reap the most benefits if he had to choose just one. Knowing he tested every exercise theory out there, we place a fair amount of confidence in his opinion.

And Harvard researchers agree, saying weight training may be as effective at preventing diabetes as other aerobic exercise like walking, swimming and biking.
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As the number of individuals living with Type 2 diabetes continues to rise, additional means of prevention become all the more crucial. And a recent study from the Srinakharinwirot University of Nakomnayok in Thailand, suggests that a spice called curcumin may be the answer.

Curcumin is a compound in turmeric, a spice in the ginger family that’s most commonly found in Indian cooking. According to an article in Reuters, previous lab work has shown strong evidence that curcumin may help fight both inflammation and oxidative damage to cells – two processes that are thought to feed a variety of diseases, including Type 2 diabetes.

Researchers found that a daily dose of curcumin helped prevent new cases of diabetes develop among people with pre-diabetes, a condition involving high blood sugar levels that may eventually progress to Type 2 diabetes.
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Nutrisystem announced a new addition to their Nutrsisytem D program this week. The diet company is now offering the expertise of certified diabetes educators for its current and future Nutrisystem D customers.

Nutrisystem D is an arm of Nutisystem that provides delivered, pre-portioned meals specifically designed for those living with diabetes. All of the meals have been formatted to help control and reduce diabetes symptoms, and are congruent with the nutritional standards set forth by the American Diabetes Association (ADA).

This announcement comes just weeks after Nutrisystem was named a National Strategic Partner of the ADA for its effort in fighting the disease.

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There’s now one more reason to get your morning fuel from coffee: it’s good for your heart, according to new research.

The study, published in an American Heart Association journal, comes from the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical. Based on their findings, researchers now believe drinking two cups of coffee a day will lower the risk for diabetes, which as a result lowers the risk for heart failure.

The size of your ‘two cups of coffee’ is important, however, and shouldn’t exceed more than 8 ounces. By keeping these parameters, researchers say people may be able to lower their risk of heart failure by as much as 11 percent compared to non-coffee drinkers. But if you exceed that 16-ounce a day limit, it may actually undermine the beneficial qualities.
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Gestational diabetes and low socioeconomic status seem to be risks for the development of attention deficient hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) according to research published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. Reearchers Yoko Nomura, PhD, MPH, David J. Marks, Ph, Bella Grossman, MA, Michelle Yoon, BS, BA, Holly Loudon, MD, MPH, Joanne Stone, MD, and Jeffrey M. Halperin, PhD analyzed data from an ongoing cohort study according to Med Page Today. While the original study included 212 children, only 10 percent of the mothers reported experiencing gestational diabetes.

The children who had mothers who had experienced gestational diabetes during pregnancy were more likely to demonstrate inattention, while the children who also came from families of lower socioeconomic status, were more likely to demonstrate both inattention and hyperactivity. Children from families of a lower socioeconomic status who were not exposed to gestational diabetes showed twice the risk for developing ADHD. When the researchers analyzed differences between children who were exposed to gestational diabetes to children who were exposed to lower socioeconomic status to children who were exposed to both and to those who were exposed to neither, there was an obvious statistically significant likelihood that children exposed to both would develop ADHD; however, there seemed to be no increased risk for children exposed to only one of the two variables.

I would like to see similar research done with a larger sample size. Information about maternal history of gestational diabetes came from maternal reports approximately four years after gestation, which could limit the accuracy of the data. Future research should pull that information from medical records. This research looked at children between the ages of four and six. While six is often a key age for such diagnoses, a more longitudinal study may provide us more accurate results.

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