Diabetes Archive

Some men with an enlarged prostate gland (benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH for short) eventually start to experience urinary incontinence, the involuntary discharge of urine. The incontinence can be related to overactive bladder, one of the changes in bladder function caused by BPH.

Normally, the brain says "time to go" when your bladder is only partially full. That gives you a fair warning to find a place to relieve yourself. When you decide to let go, a valve called the urinary sphincter opens to allow the bladder to drain. Muscles in the bladder wall squeeze inward to empty the storage tank.

From 1990 to 2010, there was a significant decrease in diabetes-related complications, but since then the trend has reversed and complications are on the rise among young adults. This may be due to the changing profile of those who develop type 2 diabetes, or may be due to other factors.

Nerve damage might be causing everything from low blood pressure to gastrointestinal distress without your knowing it.

Doctors have long known peripheral neuropathy as a nerve condition that causes reduced sensation, tingling, weakness, or pain in the feet and hands. But those symptoms may be just the tip of the iceberg. Doctors are now learning that neuropathy can cause many more problems.

What is peripheral neuropathy?

Peripheral neuropathy refers to damage to the peripheral nerves throughout the body. These nerves carry messages to and from the brain.

News briefs

We already know that a diet rich in red meat is linked to many health problems, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancer. Now a Harvard-led study published online June 12, 2019, by BMJ suggests that boosting your red meat intake increases your risk for early death. Scientists analyzed questionnaire answers about health and diet provided by more than 81,000 healthy men and women between 1986 and 2010. In particular, researchers looked at whether changes in red meat consumption during an eight-year period of the study affected the risk of death eight years later. The findings: An increase of just half a serving of processed red meat per day was associated with a 13% higher risk for dying young from any cause; an additional half-serving of unprocessed red meat increased the risk by 9%. On the flip side, decreasing total red meat consumption and increasing the consumption of nuts, fish, poultry without skin, dairy, eggs, whole grains, or vegetables was tied to a lower risk of death. The takeaway: Try to curb your appetite for red and processed meats like bacon, salami, and hot dogs. Eat more poultry, fish, or plant-based proteins (like beans, lentils, nuts, and seeds), along with the other components of a healthy diet.

Image: © Pavlo_K/Getty Images

Sweet drinks go down easy, but they may be hard on your heart. Aside from plain water, the healthiest choices are unsweetened tea, coffee, and flavored waters.

When you want to quench your thirst with something a little more exciting than plain old water, there are a dizzying array of choices these days. However, many of the beverages in supermarkets and convenience store aisles are loaded with added sugar. Even many of those that sound healthy (such as 100% fruit juice and vitamin-enhanced water) contain as much sugar as regular sodas.

Yes, the sugar in fruit juice is naturally occurring, as opposed to the processed sugar (usually high-fructose corn syrup) found in many carbonated and noncarbonated drinks such as sodas, vitamin water, and the like. But people should still be mindful about consuming too much fruit juice, says Vasanti Malik, a nutrition researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

At least one additive — a preservative called propionate — could be linked to diabetes and obesity.

Scientists are giving food additives and other ingredients more scrutiny these days, thanks to new technology that allows them to get an up-close view of how individual molecules affect the body. And they are already discovering some surprising information that could change what you put on your plate in the future.

Consider propionate, or propionic acid, a naturally oc-curring fatty acid and a common preservative found in everything from bread and animal feeds to pudding and cheese. A study published online April 24 by Science Translational Medicine found that this ingredient may disrupt the metabolism, triggering the body to produce excess glucose (blood sugar), which could lead to diabetes and obesity.

Ask the doctors

Q. I understand that shingles is caused by a virus. Does that mean that shingles is contagious?

A. Yes and no. If you had chickenpox when you were a child, you are at risk for shingles. Shingles occurs when the varicella-zoster virus that caused your chickenpox re-emerges after lying dormant in your nerve cells from the time of your original illness. When this occurs, you are contagious, but you can't give someone shingles. You can, however, infect people with chickenpox if they haven't been exposed to the virus in the past and haven't been vaccinated against it. For this reason, it's important to take precautions, particularly if you are close to someone who has a weakened immune system.

Research we're watching

Rabies infections are extremely rare in the United States, with only approximately one to three cases seen each year. That number has dropped significantly since the 1930s and 40s when there were 30 to 50 cases during the average year. But when they do occur, they're typically transmitted by infected bats. According to a new report by the CDC, the majority of people who have died from rabies in the United States were infected through contact with a bat. This is the case even though bats represent only one-third of the 5,000 rabid animals typically seen in the United States each year. The second most common source for rabies infections in Americans is rabid dogs encountered when people are traveling overseas.

To prevent exposure to rabies, be certain to let your doctor know if you are scratched or bitten by a bat, or if you awaken with one flying around your house or bedroom, says the CDC. If you are exposed to rabies, your doctor can administer a series of shots (known as post-exposure prophylaxis) before you develop symptoms, which can prevent you from developing a rabies infection, which is almost always fatal. If you are traveling outside the United States, be aware that dogs may carry the infection.