Red yeast rice significantly reduces total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and total triacylglycerol concentrations compared with placebo and provides a new, novel, food-based approach to lowering cholesterol in the general population.

Patients cared for by physicians in the diabetes clinic receive better quality of diabetes care than do patients cared for by physicians in the general medical clinic. If patient care is to be shifted from specialists to generalists, additional attention needs to be paid to ensure that generalists have the knowledge and system resources necessary to deliver an acceptable quality of diabetes care.

After 3 months, the granules-form synthetic materials performed better than DBBM in terms of bone regeneration. The grafting materials performed similarly after 6 months of healing. Addition of polylactide in moldable BCP may slow down osteogenesis in grafted defects.

We previously reported that treatment of streptozotocln-Induced diabetic rats with zinc plus cyclo (his-pro) (CHP) decreased fed blood glucose levels and water Intake. The present study was conducted to examine the dose-dependent, acute, and chronic treatment effects of CHP on oral glucose tolerance (OGT),fed blood glucose levels, water Intake, and plasma Insulin levels In young and aged Sprague-Dawley (S-D) rats, nondiabetic Wlstar rats, and genetically diabetic Goto-Kaklzakl (G-K) rats. Acute gastric gavage of 10 mg zinc pius 1.0 mg CHP/kg body weight significantly Improved OGT In 4-and ta-month-old nondiabetic SoD rats and In z-month-etd diabetic G-K rats. Young SoD and G-K rats returned to pretreatment OGT values 1 week after acute gavage of zinc plus CHP (ZC), but Improved OGT values persisted for at least 1 week after gavage In aged SoD rats. OGT values and fed blood glucose decreased to the greatest extent among other treatments when G-K rats were given free access to drinking water containing 1.0 to 1.5 mg CHP/l plus 10 mg zlnc/l for 2 weeks. Although food and water Intake showed a tendency to decrease, no statistically significant differences were observed In young G-K rats. Plasma Insulin levels and blood glucose levels In both normal and diabetic G-K rats decreased with 2-week treatment with ZC. To test the direct effects of ZC on muscle tissue, we observed the effect of various doses of ZC on normal and G-K rat muscle slices. The optimal level of CHP alone for maximal muscle glucose uptake In muscle slices from normal rats was 10 1J9/ml and 5.0 lJg!ml In G-K rats, and ZC stimulated glucose uptake. However, no statistically significant difference was demonstrated between normal and G-K rat tissues In this stUdy. These results indicate that oral Intake of an optimal dose of ZC stimulates

Objective: Although weight management is an important component in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, there has been concern about the use of liquid meal replacements (MRs) in treating obese patients with type 2 diabetes because of the sugar content of the MRs. The goal of this study was to evaluate the safety and feasibility of using MRs for weight loss in obese patients with type 2 diabetes. Research Methods and Procedures: Seventy-five subjects with type 2 diabetes, treated only with oral agents, were recruited for this 12-week clinical study. Subjects were randomized into three groups using either a MR containing lactose, fructose, and sucrose, a MR in which fructose and sucrose were replaced with oligosaccharides (sugar-free Slim-Fast), or an exchange diet plan (EDP) using the proportion of macronutrients recommended by the American Diabetes Association. Results: Fifty-seven patients (41 MR and 16 EDP) finished the study. None developed serious adverse effects, including major hypoglycemic reactions. Weight losses in the MR 1 and MR 2 groups were comparable (6.4% and 6.7%, respectively) and greater than the weight loss in the EDP group (4.9%). Fasting glucose level was significantly reduced in the MR group compared with the EDP group (p ϭ 0.012). There was a significant reduction in the MR group in total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol that was not seen in the EDP group. Discussion:We have shown that liquid MRs are a safe and effective weight loss tool for obese subjects with type 2 diabetes, and can result in improvements in body weight, glucose, insulin, hemoglobin A1c and lipid levels.