Diabetes is one of the most prevalent and deadly diseases in the U.S. — and its cause, or causes, is subject to debate.

Millions of dollars in research funding and many studies have linked both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes to a cornucopia of causes or triggers: genetics, obesity, viruses, lack of exercise, breastfeeding, excessive hygiene, climate, age, ethnicity, high blood pressure, immunizations, lack of vitamin D and more.

Researchers are focusing more attention on possible contaminant or pollutant causes of diabetes. Studies have pointed fingers at arsenic, BPA, PCBs, selenium, Agent Orange, lead, benzene, other dioxins or combinations of those.

A new study suggests a link between diabetes and the chemical remnant of a deadly pesticide.

Traces of DDE are in the bodies of almost all Americans, the CDC has said. It is the metabolic residue of DDT, a lethal pesticide banned in America more than 35 years ago. Even though DDT is not used today, its chemical legacy lives on in DDE, produced as the body breaks down the pesticide, which was banned in the United States more than 35 years ago.

“Even though we haven’t used DDT in decades, its metabolites are still detected in almost everyone in the country,” said lead researcher Mary Turyk, an epidemiologist at the University of Illinois-Chicago’s School of Public Health, in a statement.

The newly released study looked at a large group of people who eat varying amounts of sport fish caught in the Great Lakes. The study started with 4,200 participants in 1992. Eleven years later, 1,788 of those original participants provided health information to the researchers, and 293 of those who gave blood in ‘92 again provided samples in 2004-05.

Their findings: Thirty-six cases of diabetes showed up after the study began. That translated to a rate of about 9 diabetics for every 1,000. The more sport fish that had been eaten by survey participants, particularly men, the greater their incidence of diabetes.

Their conclusion: DDE exposure was linked to the incidence of diabetes in the study’s participants.  Five researchers, two from the University of Illinois – Chicago and three from Wisconsin’s Bureau of Environmental Health, conducted the study. Their findings are in July’s issue of Environmental Health Perspectives.

Several experts have suggested there should be more study of potential links between pollutants and diabetes, according to one report.

The president of medicine and science for the American Diabetes Association agrees that there is “genuine concern about what is in the water we drink and the food we eat that we don’t know about.” Dr. R. Paul Robertson called attention to “oxidative stress” (the result of free radicals in the body interacting with cellular molecules that can damage genes, among other things).  “Oxidative stress is a key thing to focus on, because for years there have been reports that people with Type 2 diabetes have increased levels of oxidants in their blood. That could come from the environment, or it might be the result of high glucose levels.”

The study is offered with some caveats. It is observational, and not large or long enough to confirm a direct link from DDE to diabetes. There was no control group to compare against the participants’ dietary (or other) behaviors. (That could have taken other factors into consideration, such as overall excessive eating by those who ate more fish.) But the study adds to a number of contaminant/diabetes studies that may eventually connect the dots between chemicals and the disease

That would come as good news to the more than 23.6 million people in the U.S. – 7.8 percent of the population — with diabetes.

“We have to get serious with this, because we’re losing this war,” the ADA’s Robertson said. He cited the growing incidence of diabetes in Native Americans. “Why? We don’t understand. We have to find out . . . what genes are behind some of this.”

PHOTOS: top, blood glucose testing, American Association of Family Physicians; second, samples of DDT from the 1940s and ’50s, Smithsonian Legacies

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

You know those smoggy, hazy days when you look toward downtown to find the skyscrapers obscured behind a  ripply, gray veil? What horrible pollution, you think. And it may be.

But watch out, those other days when the skyscrapers blaze brightly under clear blue skies may be deceptively hazardous to your health as well, or maybe more so.

An article just out in Science News, somewhat confusingly entitled “Bad Breath” (we get it, we just have to think about it) looks at how finer particle air pollution can seep deep into our lungs and into our blood, causing harm without us “seeing” that we’re in any danger.

The gist, according to the article by Janet Raloff:

“Even on a clear, sunny day, many tens of thousands — and potentially millions — of tiny particles cloud every breath you take. Some are nearly pure carbon. But reactive metals, acids, oily hydrocarbons and other organic chemicals jacket most of these motes.”

Ok, we’ll get back to what a “mote” is in a moment. But here’s the scary part, these micro particles of “particulate matter” — identified as particles that are 2.5 micrometers in diameter or smaller — may cause  premature aging and make us more susceptible not just to respiratory illnesses, but other health conditions as well. Even when they’re at levels currently deemed safe by government standards, they are able to do damage. In fact, their very microsopic nature is why they’re so insidious.

And now for the very bad news: A lot of these tiny particles and their nano cousins, known as “ultra-fine” particles apparently come from car and truck exhaust. The EPA and others have been exploring the problem of PMs for years, but it seems the science is now homing in on exactly why and how traffic fumes hurt us, and beginning to look at those ultra fine particles that have been less studied and are, even now, difficult to track.

Our government, too, is taking more of an interest in assessing the impact of traffic on our health. Recently, the EPA announced it would look at the air outside several elementary schools that were identified in a USA Today investigation as being located in high pollution sites, mainly near factories or freeways.

This week, the Centers for Disease Control launched a website called the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network that allows people to look at data on air pollution, and other environmental factors, in their area. You can, for instance, find the counties in your state where PM 2.5 pollution exceeded EPA standards during a selected year. And there’s information about how traffic pollution may worsen heart disease, already America’s number one killer, claiming nearly 1 million lives annually.

Meanwhile, the Science News article lists other studies looking at this emerging area of inquiry of how small particulate pollution particles alter our body’s ability to stay healthy. The studies have found that direct exposure doesn’t just aggravate lung conditions, it exacerbates inflammation throughout the human body, worsening heart and a host of other conditions.

A German study in 2007 that measured coronary artery calcification among nearly 4,500 middle-aged to elderly men and women found traffic pollution was a main culprit, according to the Science News article: “After controlling for other risk factors, that study showed that the closer people lived to a major road, the worse their atherosclerosis.”

Other studies, such as one completed in the US that released findings in March in the journal, Epidemiology, have found a similar, though not as strong, correlation between traffic exposure and arteriosclerosis.

The Science News article goes on to round up the latest research on the 2.5 micron PMs, chronicling how they worsen the situation for diabetics, cause kids more asthma attacks (you probably suspected that) and can lead to shortening of the telomeres on the ends of chromosomes, at least according to one study of traffic crossing guards. (When chromosomes have shorter end caps or telomeres, they can become less effective at replicating, which alters body chemistry in a way that weakens the immune system. Shorter telomeres, in other words, can age a person biologically.)

Some of this is new and much of it is intuitive, still it adds to the growing mound of  evidence that living near expressways or even busy surface streets can be unhealthy — something that lately appears to be getting  more research attention.

(Motes, btw, are small or tiny particles, per Websters. The term also is used to define “smart dust” — a science fictiony sort of particle that’s actually real, operates like a sensor and would take another article to explain.)

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

If people who ran the highest risk of obesity and Type 2 diabetes were offered more fruits and vegetables to offset or prevent these health risks, would they eat them?

Resoundingly, yes.

Study after study shows that when low-income populations have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, they significantly improve their diets.

Yet, in most neighborhoods, fast food and convenience stores, not known for their wealth of fresh produce, are the most accessible choices for shopping.

A public health advocacy report by UCLA and the California Center for Public Health Advocacy called Designed for Disease: The Link Between Local Food Environments and Obesity and Diabetes found that the state of California had four times as many fast food restaurants and convenience stores as it did groceries or public produce markets. (The picture is likely the same or worse in other states.) The study further found a high degree of correlation between access to healthy food and an increased incidence of diabetes. This was exacerbated in lower income areas, where for many residents walking or public transportation are their only means of getting around.

The solution: Bring farmer’s markets to more urban areas. It’s greener and healthier.

Across the country, public health and community planners are joining forces to help change attitudes and eating habits by bringing farmer’s markets to lower-income residents. Community health clinics and government offices that provide vouchers, and other types of programs are bolstering these initiatives. Recently, WIC vouchers were amended to include fresh fruits and vegetables.

One of those new markets is in Brownsville, Texas, where the community and the University of Texas School of Public Health have come together to help increase awareness of the links between diet, obesity, and diabetes – and found an enthusiastic response.

Out of the 400 residents who shop weekly at the new Saturday market, 80 percent of them say they are eating more fruits and vegetables, and 78 percent are eating a wider variety of fruits and vegetables.

Surveys indicate that 84 percent of shoppers find the market produce better than they have seen elsewhere.

According to the CDC, obesity in Hispanic populations, as in all ethnic groups, is increasing, along with Type 2 diabetes. Texas’s Cameron County, which includes Brownsville and the Rio Grande Valley, has twice the national average of diabetes and obesity.

Hispanics ages 18-44 have the highest prevalence of diabetes (6.8 percent) among all ethnic age groups in Texas and it is the fourth leading cause of death among Hispanics in the state, according to the Texas Diabetes Council.

What’s the main culprit? Processed carbohydrates and refined sugar. But fruits and vegetables exert an opposing force. They can help protect against diabetes because they contain natural sugar, says Rose Gowen, M.D. medical director of the Clinical Research Unit at the UT School of Public Health who also chairs the market’s board of directors.

“Mexican American diets are high in foods such as flour tortillas, beans, rice, and lard that are mostly processed carbohydrates,” she explains. “Not all carbohydrates are bad; it depends what kind they are. Fruit are carbohydrates but they contains natural sugar, which makes all the difference. We want to minimize carbs from processed foods, which, more often than not are also ‘empty calories’.”

The addition of fruits and vegetables also can make a significant difference even to those who already have type 2 diabetes or weight problems.

“A lower carbohydrate diet with more nutritional value can lower weight and control blood sugar,” says Gowen. “These two factors, together along with exercise, can improve many people’s health to the point that they need to take less or don’t need medication at all.”

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media