For Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute researcher Dr Bianca Bernardo diabetes is personal.
“I’ve got relatives with diabetes and my grandparents passed away from heart disease and the drive to improve health outcomes for people with these conditions is definitely a motivator,” Dr Bernardo says.
The links between prediabetes and depression are well established, now a new study at the University of Sydney is looking at a novel way of helping people treat both conditions at the same time.
Dr Yorgi Mavros believes resistance training, which some people might know as weight training, might be a good way for older Australians both to get active and manage depression and stop or slow the progression of type 2 diabetes.
Heart disease is one of the major complications of diabetes. It can take many forms that affect different parts of the heart.
One type of heart disease, left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), involves the enlargement and thickening of the wall of the heart’s main pumping chamber, the left ventricle. LVH is more common in people with type 2 diabetes and can lead to heart failure.
Lipids are molecules that form the building blocks of the cells comprising our bodies.
When some lipids build up, especially in the liver and the muscles, it can lead to insulin resistance. This can lead to type 2 diabetes.
Scientists don’t know exactly which lipids trigger insulin resistance, but they have a couple of prime suspects.
Research into Gestational diabetes is the fastest growing type of diabetes in Australia and this is why it is important mothers get the best possible care.
The Diabetes Australia Research Trust is funding an important study being undertaken by a team at the University of Queensland and involving Dr Helen Barrett, the Director of Endocrinology at Mater Hospital Brisbane and a Senior Research Fellow at Mater Research into if probiotics can help women with gestational diabetes.
