While women with gestational diabetes — a condition leading to temporarily high blood sugars during pregnancy — have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease than those without, no one knew if mild glucose intolerance in pregnancy is associated with heart disease, the study authors noted.

Gestational diabetes is an important risk factor for future type 2 diabetes. Pregnant women are generally screened for gestational diabetes with a glucose challenge test in the second trimester. If the result is abnormal, they have an oral glucose tolerance test to confirm the diagnosis, according to information in a news release about the study, which is published in the current issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

For the study, researchers examined data on 435,696 women in Ontario who gave birth between April 1994 and March 1998. All of the women were followed until March 31, 2008, and the study excluded women who had preexisting diabetes.

“Women who had an abnormal glucose challenge test but then did not have gestational diabetes had an increased risk of future cardiovascular disease compared to the general population, but a lower risk than women who actually did have gestational diabetes,” co-author Dr. Baiju Shah, of the Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences in Toronto, said in a news release from the journal’s publisher.

Unlike low blood sugar, high blood sugar usually develops slowly over hours or days. Blood sugar levels well above your target range may make you feel tired and thirsty. If your blood sugar level stays higher than normal, your body will adjust to that level. If your blood sugar continues to rise, your kidneys will produce more urine and you can become dehydrated. If you become severely dehydrated, you can go into a coma and possibly die. Over time, high blood sugar damages the eyes, heart, kidneys, blood vessels, and nerves.

Unless you fail to notice the symptoms, you usually have time to treat high blood sugar so that you can prevent an emergency. Three things can help you prevent high blood sugar problems:

* Test your blood sugar often, especially if you are sick or not following your normal routine. You can see when your blood sugar is above your target range, even if you don’t have symptoms of high blood sugar (increased thirst, increased urination, and fatigue). Then you can treat it early.

* Call your doctor if you have frequent high blood sugar or your blood sugar is consistently above your target range. Your medication may need to be adjusted or changed.

* Drink extra water or noncaffeinated, nonsugared drinks to prevent dehydration.

Publisher: PanGlobal Media

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“We are trying to see what kind of adjustments must be made to make sure that the definitions really meet the situation,” said interim Assistant Director General Keiji Fukuda.

“To do this we will be asking a number of prominent scientists and people who have a good perspective on these issues to help us think this through,” he told journalists.

The move follows appeals by several countries last week for more caution before moving up a step from the current phase five alert to declaring a pandemic.

Under the current rulebook, phase six would involve a purely geographical step with sustained community spread in another WHO region to the Americas, where the virus first emerged in April.

But officials said last week they were also taking into account issues such as the severity of the virus, possible changes in the pattern of illness, its impact on poor countries or circulation in the southern hemisphere where it could mix with seasonal flu.

Fukuda said the outbreak, which has now infected nearly 13,000 people in 46 countries, including 92 deaths, was continuing to evolve.

“I think it’s quite possible that it will continue to spread and it will establish itself in many other countries in multiple regions, at which time I think it would be fair to call it a pandemic at that point,” Fukuda said.

“But right now we’re clearly in the early times of the evolution of this virus and we’ll see where it goes,” he added.

The WHO is confident that enough countries are able to detect the spread of swine flu in the southern hemisphere or in poorer regions of the world, where weakened chronically ill populations might suffer more severely.

“We are comfortable that countries are doing the kinds of public health actions that they need to be taking right now,” he added.

Most of the cases of A(H1N1) have been relatively mild, and the WHO has admitted that its pandemic response plan was largely designed around the more lethal H5N1 avian influenza virus.

Fukuda emphasised that the plan was largely a tool designed to ensure that countries mobilised against the threat of a new flu virus. (AFP)

Researchers found that among nearly 3,000 middle-aged adults, those who maintained a healthy diet — including lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy — generally had less abdominal fat than those with less-desirable diets.

The same was true of men and women who regularly exercised, as compared with their sedentary counterparts.

Like healthy eaters, exercisers had less abdominal fat just below the skin, as well as less visceral fat — deep layers of fat that surround the abdominal organs and are especially likely to contribute to diseases like diabetes and heart disease.

In contrast, smokers generally had more visceral fat than non-smokers, the researchers report in the journal Diabetes Care.

Many past studies have found that smokers typically weigh less than non-smokers, but these latest findings suggest that smokers may nevertheless have more deep abdominal fat, according to the researchers, led by Dr.

Esther A. Molenaar of the University Medical Center Utrecht, in the Netherlands,

The investigators based their findings on data from 2,926 U.S. adults who were 50 years old, on average. Participants completed surveys on their lifestyle habits and underwent CT scans to measure their abdominal fat.

Besides the effects of diet, exercise and smoking, high alcohol intake was related to greater visceral fat in men, though not women.

More studies are needed to see whether there are particular components of a healthy diet, or specific types of exercise, that help reduce visceral fat, according to Molenaar and her colleagues.

As for why smokers tended to have more visceral fat, the reasons are unknown. One possibility, the researchers note, is that smoking encourages deep-fat accumulation because it reduces the action of estrogen and boosts the production of male hormones in both men and women.

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, March 2009.

Biophotonics International delivers a unique global insight into the photonic products and techniques that solve problems for researchers, product developers, clinical users, physicians and others actively involved in the field of medicine and biotechnology.

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So it is no surprise to facilitate these stars have their own secrets at what time it comes to staying fit and gorgeous. Their wellbeing agenda can vary commencing excessive workouts to well-planned meals. Who doesn’t desire to know their secrets in staying enormously sexy? Here are some of the diet secrets of seven women celebrities.

1. Jennifer Aniston
The star of the out of the ordinary small screen radio show contacts not simply mesmerized audiences with her adorable comic signification and her famous hairstyle, she was too identified for having one of the sexiest bodies in Hollywood, as she appeared in countless magazine covers. To visit trim, Jennifer follows the 40:30:30 diet method. The diet consists of:

40% Low glycemic carbohydrates
-Foods such as beans, fruits and vegetables, legumes

30% sinewy proteins
-Tofu, fish, chicken, turkey, beef and low fat dairy goods

30% chief fats
-nuts and seeds, nose about and emerald oils

It is central that every meal should hold back macronutrients to attain the consider of hormones and utmost weight loss.

2. Kate Hudson
The gorgeous daughter of actress Goldie Hawn gained 60 pounds at some point in her pregnancy, which she considered necessary to shed quickly before commencing on her subsequently film. commencing her previous eating plan, she switched to a superior protein diet. She consumed eminent protein meals in minor portions, and she combined this diet with an work out agenda with the intention of includes substance teaching and cardiovascular workouts. After being paid a lot of flak because of her post-pregnancy figure, Kate removed all that baby weight in solitary four months and has gained abdominal muscles to facilitate gained the envy of many in Hollywood.

3. Oprah Winfrey
As one of the a large amount winning talk-show hosts in the world, in attendance is no question that Oprah requirements to assert her brute appearance for her millions of audiences. Known as one of folks celebrities who are constantly battling burden gain, she has only just toned up her person and has by no means looked celebrity in age 50 by combining a regular apply regime and diet plan. Oprah installation out five days a week, payments 30 action on the threadmill and doing free weights. Her consumption set up consists of legumes, fish, nuts, fruits and vegetables, chicken and dairy foodstuffs that are lowfat. She limits her use of fair darling and flour. Oprah in addition credits her decorate individual to her habit of not intake something subsequently seven in the evening.

4. Gwyneth Paltrow
A lot of live in may find it thick-skinned to trust so as to the perpetually slim Academy award-winning performer in fact wants to diet. Gwyneth in point of fact follows a vigorous ingestion prepare with the intention of resembles Oprah’s, avoiding sweetie and ashen flour. She frequently follows a macrobiotic diet, ingestion foods in the vein of vegetables, brown rice, and be supported meat. She also eliminated dairy commencing her diet, and does yoga everyday.

5. Madonna
The pop star known as the Material youngster has permanently flaunted a group with the intention of is to die for, and has become a true health quintessence terminated the years. She keeps herself in tip-top shape by having Ashtanga Yoga, and follows a narrow diet that regularly shuns chuck out foods. She adopted a untreated eating map to facilitate includes organic foods rich in lean protein.

6. Claudia Schiffer
The bodacious German supermodel eats salad and steamed vegetables for feast and eats single fruits rather than the afternoon. While on locations, she prefers to eat black grapes and drinks tomato juice and herbal tea.

7. Christie Brinkley
Long-time supermodel maintains her all-American good looks by individual a vegetarian. She does not honor junk foods of any kind inside her family to command somebody to certainly to facilitate she does not eat them when cravings occur. She snacks on accommodating potatoes in put of toffee bars, and she adopts a liquid juice diet as soon as she needs to slim tabled fast.

Celebrities are only this minute like ordinary people. They must to maintain their numbers just comparable anyone else, and present is other pressure on their parcel ever since they are constantly in the public eye. regular individuals can have celebrity-like bodies, too, and by next these diet and capability plans, they can also aspect reminiscent of red-carpet worthy.

Surgery at Present

The greatest progress in the care of the surgical patient has taken place since the beginning of the present century. An increasing knowledge of disease and disorder as a result of research has permitted the development of many diagnostic aids. Some of these depend upon roentgenograms, laboratory procedures such as chemical, bacteriologic, and pathologic determinations, as well as monitoring devices and computer aids.

The Concept of Weight Loss Surgery

Health experts contend that weight loss surgery is a “major surgery.” One of the most common reasons why people would like to lose weight is to enhance their physical attributes. However, it should not be the underlying motivation that they should undergo the process of weight loss surgery.

What people do not know is that weight loss surgery is especially generated to help obese people live longer, healthier, and better.

That is why it is important for an individual to meticulously analyze his or her situation, do some research about the process, and analyze if weight loss surgery is the ultimate choice for his or her physiological condition.

Moreover, it is important to gather further information about weight loss surgery by consulting an experienced and knowledgeable bariatric surgeon or even just an expert family physician who knows the ins and outs of weight loss surgery.

Generally, patients who have undergone weight loss surgery are said to be successful if they were able to lose 50% or more of their extra body weight and will be able to maintain that condition for the next five years or so. However, the results of the operation may still vary depending on the clinical information of the patient and the skills of the bariatric surgeon.

Normally, the patient will be able to lose at least 30% to a maximum of 50% during the first six months after surgery; and within the year after the operation, the patient has the potential of losing weight up to a maximum of 77%.

Best of all, people who were able to loss weight through surgical operations can actually maintain a continuous weight loss of up to 50% to 60% in the next 10 to 14 years after surgery.

As with the other weight loss management programs, there are many factors to consider before the patient should decide to undergo weight loss surgery.

Consequently, the actual weight that will be lost is reliant on the weight before surgery, surgical procedure, patient’s age, capability to exercise, total health condition of the patient, dogged determination to maintain the necessary follow-up nurture, and the enthusiasm to succeed with the help of their family, friends, and their colleagues.

If you have just put on a few extra pounds and want to avoid gaining more, these weight loss surgeries for better health may seem convincing. Lifestyle changes are where it is at for long-term success with your weight especially after weight loss surgery.