Rick and His Cockatiels

This newsletter keeps you up-to-date with new articles, columns, and Web pages that I have written. I list and link most of these on my Diabetes Directory at www.mendosa.com/diabetes.htm

From time to time Diabetes Update may also include links to other Web pages of special interest.

My most recent contribution is:

on October 15, 2002

• Nutrition.Gov
  Cynics are the best investigative reporters. I’m not cynical, and that's probably why I have only one real exposé to my credit in all my years in journalism. I’m not complaining, because those of us who aren’t cynical have longer and happier lives. But I am giving you warning that I tend to trust the motivation of others. Even when those others work for the U.S. government.

  I am as aware as anyone of the corruption and self-dealing of many of those in power. But most of the time I know from my own experience, including 15 years as a government bureaucrat, that most people in our government call it like it is. This, I believe, is especially true in the field of nutrition, a field that could not be more important to those of us with diabetes.

  So, now that the government has pulled together its resources on nutrition in a new portal site called Nutrition.Gov we have something to cheer about. And that’s what I do in my new column for the American Diabetes Association's Web site.

  While I have some reservations about the government’s advice on nutrition, I don’t think that the facts that it presents can be doubted. I do wonder who influenced the outdated “Food Pyramid.” Its recommendations on nutrient requirements sometimes seem awfully conservative. But by and large there is no better source of nutrition information. Start with my column at http://www.diabetes.org/main/community/info_news/web/default.jsp

Updates include:

• Forthcoming BD Meter
  Becton Dickinson & Co. will introduce a glucose meter in the U.S. in the year 2002, according to W.R. Hambrecht & Co. analyst Chris Kaster. The introduction of a BD meter has been the subject of speculation for several months. Mr. Kaster says that he believes this meter’s “features are believed to be a small sample size (in the neighborhood of 1 ml) and fast test time (5-15 seconds).” He goes on to write that “With these features an alternative sight [sic] labeling is possible.” The URL is http://www.wrhambrecht.com/sector/medtech/notes/ther20020906.pdf and I have accordingly updated my Meters page at http://www.mendosa.com/meters.htm

Research Notes:

on October 8, 2002

• Tea Enhances Insulin Activity
  Could something as common as tea actually increase our sensitivity to insulin? Dr. Richard A. Anderson, a research chemist at the USDA-ARS Nutrient Requirements and Functions Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, thinks so. Dr. Anderson and his colleague, Marilyn Polansky, have been working for years to analyze dozens of herbs, spices, and plants for any positive effect on blood glucose levels. He previously made the headlines with his research on chromium and cinnamon.

  Now, based on studies of raw fat cells grown in test tubes, they say that tea increases insulin activity more than 20-fold. What do they mean by tea? Leaves of the traditional tea plant, Camellia senensis, whether it is black, green, or oolong. It didn’t matter if the tea was caffeinated or non-caffeinated. But herbal teas, which do not use leaves from tea bushes, don’t have the effect. And don’t add whole or skim milk, nondairy creamers, or soy milk. They inhibited the tea’s action on insulin. On the other hand, lemon is okay.

  One problem is that you’ve got to keep drinking the stuff. The effect lasts only a few hours.

  The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry published the study online in its October 8 issue. Unfortunately, they want $25 for either the abstract or the article. A free source for summary information is the Agriculture Research Service site.

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Archives:

I send out Diabetes Update about once every two weeks. Previous issues are online:

• Diabetes Update Number 1: Diabetes Genes of December 10, 2000

• Diabetes Update Number 2: DiabetesWATCH of December 18, 2000

• Diabetes Update Number 3: Starlix of January 3, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 4: Native Seeds/SEARCH, Tepary Beans of January 17, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 5: Insulin Makes You Fat of January 31, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 6: Available and Unavailable Carbohydrates of February 15, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 7: Dates of March 1, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 8: Quackwatch of March 15, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 9: The Cost of Insulin of March 30, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 10: Sof-Tact Meter of April 2, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 11: iControlDiabetes of April 16, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 12: Cinnamon, Tagatose of May 2, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 13: Glycemic Index of May 15, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 14: Eat Your Carrots! of May 31, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 15: Glycemic Load of June 21, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 16: Homocysteine of July 2, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 17: Chana Dal Tips of July 15, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 18: Lag Time in AlternativeLand of August 2, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 19: Fiber of August 15, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 20: How Diabetes Works of August 30, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 21: Insulin Resistance of September 14, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 22: Trans Fats, Honey, CU of October 1, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 23: Pedometer Power of October 15, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 24: Is Glycerin a Carbohydrate? of October 31, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 25: Kill the Meter to Save It of November 15, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 26: Protein, Fat, and the GI of December 1, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 27: Insulin Index of December 14, 2001

• Diabetes Update Number 28: Fructose of January 4, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 29: Aspirin of January 14, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 30: Stevia of January 31, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 31: Gretchen Becker’s Book of February 19, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 32: The UKPDS of March 4, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 33: Financial Aid of March 18, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 34: Pre-Diabetes of April 1, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 35: More Glycemic Indexes of April 15, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 36: Gila Monsters of April 30, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 37: Is INGAP a Cure? of May 15, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 38: Native American Diabetes of June 3, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 39: FDA Diabetes of June 19, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 40: Diabetes Support Groups of July 1, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 41: New GI and GL Table of July 15, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 42: Diabetes Sight of August 1, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 43: DrugDigest of August 18, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 44: Hanuman Garden of September 3, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 45: Guidelines of September 16, 2002

• Diabetes Update Number 46: Trans Fat of October 4, 2002

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