Gretchen Cuda Kroen

Twenty two nonprofit organizations have been awarded COVID-19 Rapid Response Grants as part of the American Heart Association’s 

initiative.The grants range from $20,000 to $50,000 and will support work focused on improving access to healthy food, increasing access to health care and addressing income needs during and beyond the pandemic.

“These grantees are deeply rooted in their communities, and we are honored to support their crucial policy work that will have impact and benefit that will far outlast this pandemic,” said Lori Fresina, vice president and executive director of Voices for Healthy Kids at the American Heart Association. “Organizations like these are vital for improving health in their communities and we encourage others to similarly support their efforts.”

Out of 200 applications, requesting a total of more than $10 million, 22 were selected across 19 states, Puerto Rico and the Lummi Nation, based in Washington state.

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Twenty two nonprofit organizations have been awarded COVID-19 Rapid Response Grants as part of the American Heart Association’s Voices for Healthy Kids initiative.The grants range from $20,000 to $50,000 and will support work focused on improving access to healthy food, increasing access to health care and addressing income needs during and beyond the pandemic.

AHA Awards Nonprofit Grants to Address Food and Healthcare Shortages Due to COVID-19

New data released today from the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study (DPPOS) shows that in over 2000 patients followed for an average of 22 years, lifestyle programs and treatment with metformin continues to prevent the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in at risk populations.

New Data on Clinical Outcomes from the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study (DPPOS)

were presented today at the American Diabetes Association’s® (ADA’s) 80th Virtual Scientific Sessions.

 a multicenter trial conducted from 1996 to 2001 that established the success of either an intensive lifestyle program or treatment with metformin to prevent or delay the development of T2D in individuals who were considered at high risk for developing the disease. The DPP demonstrated lifestyle intervention, aimed at achieving weight loss, and metformin treatment reduced the risk of T2D development by 58% and 31%, respectively, compared to placebo after an average of three years. Metformin, one of the most commonly used medications worldwide for the treatment of T2D, is currently not labeled by the FDA for prevention purposes, although it is approved in other countries.

88% of the original 3,234 DPP participants enrolled in the DPPOS, including the DPP participants who had developed T2D and those who still had not developed diabetes. Currently, after an average of 22 years of study, 75% of the participants who enrolled in the DPP who are still alive have continued to be evaluated. The mean age of the participants is now 72 years.

The newest results indicate that prevention effects in the original lifestyle group and metformin treatment group remain 22 years after the start of the study with a 25% and 18% reduced risk of diabetes development, respectively, compared with the original placebo group.

“The DPP/DPPOS is the longest duration and largest prevention study that continues to actively follow its participants,” said DPPOS chair David M. Nathan, MD, director of the Clinical Research Center and Diabetes Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “The current results indicate that prevention of type 2 diabetes is possible and has important clinical benefits. The long-term benefits of the two DPP interventions on diabetes development, still present many years after they were started, are a testament to the power of these interventions and reinforce their importance in the reduction of diabetes.”

The participants who did not develop diabetes had a significant (57% and 37%) lower risk of developing early changes of eye and kidney disease, respectively, and a 39% lower risk of major cardiovascular disease endpoints, such as heart attacks and stroke.

There was no significant benefit in heart disease or the development of kidney disease or diabetic retinopathy with either of the individual interventions—metformin or the lifestyle intervention.However, stroke and cardiovascular events were reduced in the subgroup of people who started the study before age 45, and there was a non-significant (12%) lower risk of cancer in the Metformin group compared with the placebo group. The intensive lifestyle intervention group also had a long-term reduction in the development of frailty.

There was a modest increase in kidney disease with metformin, which appeared only in the oldest group of participants.

Diabetes Trial Shows Prevention Benefits Two Decades Later

Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) study

 illuminate the environmental triggers that are thought to cause the autoimmune response leading to type 1 diabetes(T1D) and celiac disease. The data was presented in a symposium at the American Diabetes Association meeting.

TEDDY is an international multi-center trial researching the potential causes T1D in children. The study is funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).It has been collecting prospective data since 2004, researching the link between genetic and environmental factors in the autoimmune destruction of the beta islet cells of the pancreas.

Although many children are genetically predisposed to T1D, not all children develop it, resulting in the conclusion that an environmental trigger is required. The study enrolls infants identified as “at-risk” for developing T1D and follows them for 15 years to look for the appearance of various beta-cell autoantibodies and diabetes. TEDDY has also studied biomarkers that can predict faster or slower progression to diabetes after the autoimmune destruction has begun.

An update of the results presented at the ADA meeting this week showed that the destruction of beta islet cells begins in the first two years of life, and that there are two clearly different genetic subtypes of T1D.

“There appear to be two subtypes of T1D that differ by genetic factors and immune phenotypes,” said study TEDDY co-chair Marian Rewers, MD, PhD, a professor of pediatrics and medicine and executive director of the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “Metabolomic biomarkers may offer clues to the subtypes and whether a child develops T1D. Interestingly, HbA1c has very different predictive characteristics for progression to clinical diabetes in children with islet autoantibodies, compared to adults with risk factors for type 1 diabetes.”

Research also showed that the persistent presence of enterovirus B species in a child’s stool predicts development of islet autoimmunity, especially the earlier subtype characterized by the presence of autoantibodies to insulin.

Researchers say there are also subtle differences in the composition and function of gut microbiome in children who develop islet autoantibodies, compared to controls, and data show that the early use of probiotics may decrease the risk, while use of antibiotics was not related to islet or celiac autoimmunity.

The study has also found potentially beneficial effects of vitamin D, vitamin C, or a diet rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, though these observations need to be confirmed in randomized clinical trials.

Celiac disease shares many genetic factors with T1D, noted Dr. Rewers. For this reason, TEDDY investigators follow study participants for both T1D and celiac disease in an attempt to determine why some children with high-risk genes develop T1D or celiac disease, while most remain disease-free. Recently reported TEDDY 

showed an association between gluten consumption in the early years of childhood and an increased risk of celiac disease among genetically predisposed children.

“While T1D and celiac disease share a lot of genetic characteristics, there are intriguing differences in the ways these diseases develop and progress,” added Dr. Rewers. “TEDDY is contributing exciting clues for design of future trials to prevent both T1D and celiac disease.”

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Andrén Aronsson C, Lee HS, Hård Af Segerstad EM, et al. Association of Gluten Intake During the First 5 Years of Life With Incidence of Celiac Disease Autoimmunity and Celiac Disease Among Children at Increased Risk. 

. 2019;322(6):514-523. doi:10.1001/jama.2019.10329

New data from the Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) study illuminate the environmental triggers that are thought to cause the autoimmune response leading to type 1 diabetes(T1D) and celiac disease. The research, presented in a symposium at the American Diabetes Association meeting.shows that the destruction of the beta cells begins in the first two years of life. 

Type 1 Diabetes Triggered First Two Years of Life, Research Says

 published in the Endocrine Society’s J

ournal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism

 has found that eating a late may be a contributing factor to weight gain and hyperglycemia -- factors that may also exaccerbate heart disease.

The researchers studied how subjects metabolized dinner eaten at 10 p.m. compared to 6 p.m. in 20 healthy volunteers (10 men and 10 women). The volunteers all went to bed at 11 p.m. The researchers found that for the same meal,  blood sugar levels were higher, and the amount of ingested fat burned was lower if it was eaten later.

“On average, the peak glucose level after late dinner was about 18 percent higher, and the amount of fat burned overnight decreased by about 10 percent compared to eating an earlier dinner. The effects we have seen in healthy volunteers might be more pronounced in people with obesity or diabetes, who already have a compromised metabolism,” said the study’s first author Chenjuan Gu, M.D., Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins University.

To gather the data, participants wore activity trackers, had blood sampling every hour while staying in a lab, underwent sleep studies and body fat scans, and ate food that contained non-radioactive labels so that the rate of fat burning (oxidation) could be determined.

“We still need to do more experiments to see if these effects continue over time, and if they are caused more by behavior (such as sleeping soon after a meal) or by the body’s circadian rhythms,” said the study’s corresponding author Jonathan C. Jun, M.D., of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, M.d.

Gu C, Brereton N, Schweitzer A, et al. Metabolic Effects of Late Dinner in Healthy Volunteers - A Randomized Crossover Clinical Trial [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jun 11]. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2020;dgaa354. 

A study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism has found that eating a late may be a contributing factor to weight gain and hyperglycemia -- factors that may also exaccerbate heart disease.

Gretchen Cuda Kroen

Articles

AHA Awards Nonprofit Grants to Address Food and Healthcare Shortages Due to COVID-19

Diabetes Trial Shows Prevention Benefits Two Decades Later

Type 1 Diabetes Triggered First Two Years of Life, Research Says

Late Night Meals Bad for Blood Sugar Control and Weight Loss