MOD goes to the UMB Wellness Fair

MOD went to the wellness fair to educate University of Maryland staff, students, and the community about diabetes. We talked to 62 people and conducted the diabetes risk assessment. We also provided hand-outs on how to prevent type 2 diabetes and about blood glucose.

Below you can see clips from the handout we gave up on how to delay type 2 diabetes. The handouts came from the American Diabetes Association website. http://www.diabetes.org/

Script Your Future

Operation Diabetes Participated in a Script Your Future event at Safeway to encourage medication adherence.

Above you can see a picture of the wallet cards that we handed out. It reminds patients of their pledge to take their medications and contains a list of the medications that they are taking. It is important to carry your medication list with you at all times so you can discuss them with your pharmacist and physicians. We handed out 246 wallet cards encouraging medication adherence.





We asked the people who stopped by our booth to write on a post-it note what they are pledging for. For example, one person wrote that they are taking their medications because they want to be healthy for retirement. Another person pledged that they will take their medications to be healthy to see their grandchildren graduate high school. Pledging to take medications for a specific reason reminds patients of the importance of taking medication to stay healthy.

Healthy Cook Off

This month, Operation Diabetes Helped Organize a Healthy Cook Off for Million Hearts Week.



We had 4 cooks compete. The meals were judged on their salt and cholesterol content and their overall taste.

Dr. Rocafort and Dr. Fusco were the Cook Off Judges. They enjoyed all of the meals and had trouble making their final decision. The winner made a dish with Earl Grey flavored fish. We learned how tastey healthy food can be! Below you can see a photograph of the judges and the contestants.

Sleep Deprivation Could Increase The Risk for Type 2 Diabetes

I read an interesting article recently relating sleep to Diabetes.

We have been taught that sleep is important for our brain function, but it turns out that sleep is also important for our fat cells. When you feel groggy, your metabolism also feels 'groggy' and this can lead to insulin resistance.

A recent study published October 16th, 2012 in Annals of Internal Medicine conducted by the University of Chicago Medical Center professors indicated that a lack of sleep could also lead to obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure. This is the first study involving sleep on a cellular level. It was a very small study with only 7 healthy young adults. They were randomly assigned to sleep either 8.5 or 4.5 hours a night for four nights and repeated these sessions in four week intervals. After the four days, scientists measured how fat samples from their abdomen processed glucose. The people who were sleep deprived had a 30% reduction in their response to insulin. Their insulin levels were close to 3 times higher than the well rested participants. The high insulin levels suggest that the pancreas was trying to compensate for the insulin resistance by making more insulin. If this sleep deprivation cycle continued chronically, type 2 diabetes could develop. The next project for these researchers will involve studying if treating sleep apnea in overweight people will improve their metabolism.

Sleep may be another important lifestyle modification that we will have to tell our patients about in the future. However; since this was such a small study we will have to wait and see if it will be verified by other studies. One researcher claimed that sleep should be considered as important as diet when you are trying to prevent weight gain and diabetes.

I summarized the information from this website:

http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=669619

Diabetes Outreach at Johns Hopkins

Operation Diabetes joined up with NCPA (National Community Pharmacists Association) to educate the community about diabetes at Johns Hopkins Outpatient Pharmacy.

 

We played Diabetes Jeopardy with people who came by our table to help them learn about diabetes and clarify common myths. We used the Diabetes Risk Test screening tool below to determine patient's risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. The test takes into account age, sex, family history, physical activity, and weight to determine risk for diabetes. We enjoyed interacting with the community and felt that we made a positive impact by educating people about diabetes. 

 



Dietitian Comes to University of Maryland

On November 12th, Operation Diabetes brought Annette Hottenstein to speak at the University of Maryland. Annette is a Registered Dietician and is involved with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the American Diabetes Association. From her presentation, students learned about th history of nutrition therapy in diabetes. She pointed out that being overweight is not the only risk factor for diabetes. People who are not overweight can also be at risk. She taught that diabetics shouldn't skip meals, they should avoid sugary drinks, and eat lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fish. In fact, the diabetic diet is the same as the recommended American diet. Unfortunately, the typical American diet is far from the recommended diet and she passed around bags showing the typical amount of fat and sugar in a fast food meal.

 Amount of butter in a fast food meal:                                            Amount of sugar in a fast food meal:

 

Annette also talked about foods that are good for diabetics. Oatmeal has been shown to be good for controlling blood sugar. Some diabetics feel that cinnamon is helpful but there is unclear evidence about its benefits. Fenugreek spice has some data showing its benefits and it tastes like maple. Whey has more evidence supporting it, but Alpha Lipoic Acid has the strongest evidence that it will effect glucose levels in the blood.

MOD learned a lot from Annette Hottenstein's talk!

Walk To Stop Diabetes in Baltimore

On October 6th 50 students came together to do the Walk to Stop Diabetes in Baltimore. It was a perfect day for a walk around the harbor with sunny blue skies above. We had pharmacy students from first through 4th year participating and a few PhD students as well. We raised $840 towards the American Diabetes Association. The money will go towards research to prevent, cure and manage diabetes; deliver services to hundreds of communities; and provide objective and credible information. Everyone enjoyed walking and getting to know each other outside of the classroom.