Pomegranate Juice Helps Diabetic Hearts

Pomegranate Helps Diabetic Hearts

Diabetics have increased risk for atherosclerosis, hardening of the arteries, which contributes to coronary heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, and other circulation problems. Atherosclerosis recently published a study where researchers tested the effects of pomegranate juice on atherosclerosis.

"In most juices, sugars are present in free -- and harmful -- forms," says researcher Michael Aviram, of the Technion Faculty of Medicine in Haifa, Israel, in a news release. "In pomegranate juice, however, the sugars are attached to unique antioxidants, which actually make these sugars protective against atherosclerosis."

After three months, researches found that diabetes who drank pomegranate juice had a lower risk of atherosclerosis . In addition, the pomegranate juice appeared to slow the absorption of unhealthy LDL cholesterol LDL cholesterol by immune cells.

Diabetic Foot Care Prevents Medical Complications

The Monitor - Prevention best medicine with diabetic foot care

"I was working in a bowling alley, and my leg swelled up one day," Jose O. Guerra, 57 yr old diabetic states, "I was standing up and walking too much, and I noticed my leg swelled up and got blackish from the knee down. I went to see my family doctor and he told me it had to be amputated because I got gangrene. They amputated it three inches below the left knee."

Guerra's story is one in thousands, because patients with advanced diabetes can develop several conditions and ailments as the disease progresses:

• Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) - (bad circulation) Diabetics can develop clogged or blocked arteries, which means blood has difficulty reaching the body's extremities. Without sufficient amounts of blood, parts of your body's tissue die, leading to infection.
• Neuropathy - (nerve damage) - Diabetics can develop a loss of sensation in their limbs, and when the foot gets damaged it might be overlooked, allowing a more serious infection to occur.

"Nine out of 10 amputations are a result of microtrauma," McAllen podiatrist Javier Cavasos said. "It comes from foot deformations and it comes from repetitive injury."

Even small problems that would not injure a non-diabetic person, such as hammertoe deformities or a long walk, could potentially harm an advanced diabetic, because they can lead to microtrauma like corns, calluses or blisters, which can break down into foot ulcers and become infected. However, diabetic preventative measures to ensure these microtraumas do not occur. Specially fitted diabetic shoes can be custom-fitted with insoles molded to a person's foot, reducing the risk of injury. Using awareness and having the issue treated in its beginning stages rather than when it's at the point that the foot has to be amputated. For more information on diabetic shoes visit American Diabetes Services.

New Diabetic Retinopathy Drug in Clinical Trials

MacuSight Announces FDA Acceptance of IND for Novel Ophthalmic Drug Candidate: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the MacuSight's Investigational New Drug (IND) application for its proprietary formulation of sirolimus (rapamycin). The IND covers the compound's development as a treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME), a manifestation of diabetic retinopathy. MacuSight is in the process of setting up a Phase I clinical trial for diabetic retinopathy for third quarter of 2006.

We are pleased with the rapid progress of our ongoing efforts to develop our proprietary sirolimus drug candidate for the treatment of serious ocular diseases and conditions such as wet AMD and DME," said David A. Weber, Ph.D., MacuSight's president and chief executive officer. "The therapeutic potential for this product is very exciting and we are eager to initiate our Phase I clinical trials."

Sirolimus, originally known as rapamycin, has demonstrated the ability to combat ocular disease and conditions through multiple mechanisms of action including immunosuppressive, anti-angiogenic, anti- migratory, anti-proliferative, anti-fibrotic and anti-permeability activity. MacuSight believes that its sirolimus product may serve as a therapeutic solution.