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CNN Saturday Morning News
"Weekend House Call"
Aired October 11, 2003 - 08:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: "Weekend House Call" with Elizabeth Cohen begins right now.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning and welcome to Weekend House Call.
I'm Elizabeth Cohen.
Today we're talking about diabetes. A new report says the average American born today will have a one in three chance of developing diabetes in their lifetime. The number one reason? You guessed it, obesity.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN (voice-over): The government says 65 percent of Americans are overweight or obese and being overweight can trigger what's called Type 2 Diabetes. That's the most common kind and can be brought on by a person's lifestyle. Almost 17 million Americans have been diagnosed with the disease and the number is growing.
A new study by the Centers for Disease Control shows the average American woman has a 39 percent risk of developing diabetes in her lifetime. For men, the risk is 33 percent.
TOMMY THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: And it's an epidemic that's spreading across America and it's really hitting minorities much harder.
COHEN: The lifetime risks for Hispanics and African-Americans and African-Americans are staggering. Hispanic women run a 52 percent risk of adult onset diabetes, black women 49 percent. Hispanic men have a 52 percent risk. For black men, it's 41 percent. And Type 2 Diabetes, once considered an adults only disease, is now appearing in children and teenagers in epidemic proportions.
Suhey Dominguez was diagnosed with the classic symptoms.
SUHEY DOMINGUEZ, DIABETIC: Numbness. I had to drink a lot of water. You felt always thirsty. Eat a lot.
COHEN: Suhey is just 19 years old and says managing this disease as a teen is tough.
SUHEY: You go out, you know, and you can't eat what you want to eat. You go to the movies, you can't have a popcorn. It's very hard. You have to take your own Rice Krispies cake, you know, low fat. COHEN: The triggers? Being overweight and sedentary.
DR. ELDA ARCE, CHILDREN'S NATIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: Our kids are no longer playing. They are watching television. They are playing video games. They don't go out to play with their friends.
COHEN: Past studies have shown that a few lifestyle changes can delay or possibly even prevent the disease entirely.
THOMPSON: And if you lost five to 10 percent of your body weight and you walked 30 minutes a day, six days a week, you could prevent the incidence of diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes, by 60 percent. This is something that America has got to stand up and take notice of and start doing something about.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN: Nearly six million Americans have Type 2 Diabetes and don't know it. Sometimes the symptoms are so mild you might not notice them.
Here's what to look for: increased thirst and hunger; fatigue; increased urination, especially at night; weight loss; blurred vision; and sores that don't heal.
Anyone 45 or older should consider getting tested for diabetes. If you're 45 and overweight, it's strongly recommended you get tested. And if you're younger than 45, overweight and have one of the following risk factors, you should also be tested. In addition to obesity, the risk factors are family history, if you have a parent, brother or sister with diabetes; if you're African-American, American Indian, Asian-American, Pacific Islander or Hispanic; if you have gestational diabetes or have given birth to at least one baby weighing more than nine pounds; or if you have high blood pressure or abnormal cholesterol levels or are inactive, exercising less than three times a week.
We want to answer your questions about Type 2 Diabetes. Call us at 1-800-807-2620 or e-mail housecall@cnn.com.
We're joined today by Dr. Frank Vinicor, the director of the Centers for Disease Control diabetes program here in Atlanta.
Good morning and thank you for joining us today.
DR. FRANK VINICOR, DIRECTOR, CDC DIABETES PROGRAM: Good morning.
COHEN: We've gotten so much e-mail on this topic.
Let's jump in with our first question from Leslie in Texas.
She writes, "My husband was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes this summer. He's overweight, yet the doctor has not once mentioned lifestyle changers like diet and exercise. What questions should newly diagnosed patients be asking the doctor?" VINICOR: That's a very common situation. Most people with this Type 2 Diabetes -- we used to call it adult type diabetes -- are overweight. And the initial treatment and the treatment throughout at least has to involve gradually trying to lose some weight, being a bit more active. Some people are going to need oral tablets and some people are going to need insulin.
But nutrition, gradual weight loss and some physical activity are essential regardless of what other things go on to treat the person.
COHEN: Is that common, do you think, that a doctor wouldn't even mention lifestyle?
VINICOR: Well, I think it's getting more common that people are realizing the value and the power of lifestyle changes. So I hope it's not common. We certainly have a lot of advice out in books. There are certainly dietitians that are available to talk to people, to help them. But certainly it's a cornerstone of the treatment of diabetes.
COHEN: OK, let's go to our next e-mail, then.
This one is from Aaron in Connecticut, who wants to know, "I have diabetes on both sides of my family -- six family members on my mother's side and five family members on my father's side. Should I be tested? I'm 35."
With that kind of family history, should he be tested?
VINICOR: Yes, that's a pretty heavy dose of family history. It increases the chances a lot that diabetes is present and not recognized or might develop. The test for diabetes is very simple. It is a blood test. It's not terribly expensive. With that kind of positive family history, somebody should be tested to see if it's present, but not recognized.
COHEN: We have a phone call question from Keith in North Carolina.
Keith, why don't you go ahead with your question for Dr. Vinicor?
KEITH: Good morning.
Is there a particular number that your blood sugar count must reach and does it have to stay there for a certain time to be diagnosed with diabetes? And is there sort of like a time window that you can diet and exercise to reverse things?
VINICOR: Yes, that's a great question. There are actually two numbers. If you're tested for diabetes before you eat breakfast, a test called the fasting blood sugar, the value has to be at 126 or greater. Sometimes you're tested after you eat, two hours after you get some particular meal with sugar. That value is 200 or greater. So we do have specific numbers.
In terms of how long do you have to do exercise or how long do you have to do modest weight control, really not that long. This study that Secretary Thompson talked about earlier on, it was only a two to three year study and people who lost really a relatively small amount of weight, five or six percent, maybe eight, nine pounds, ort who were active, like walking 30 minutes five days a week, things that probably we all can do, including me, in three years there was an effect that the likelihood of developing diabetes was reduced by half.
So it's not a heavy dose to prevent diabetes and it's not a long time before we can see the effects.
COHEN: And so you can keep yourself off insulin. You can keep yourself off drugs. You just need to...
VINICOR: Absolutely.
COHEN: You need to work at it.
We have another e-mail now from Nora in Washington who asks, "Is there a way to test yourself initially for diabetes without running to a physician?"
Is there at home diabetes test like there's an at home pregnancy test?
VINICOR: Well, you can be suspicious just by how you feel. You went over the symptoms. And certainly if you have those symptoms, like excessive thirst or urination or you're hungry or you're losing weight and you don't intend to do that, those are signs and symptoms that you ought to think about diabetes.
You can go to a drugstore and get, perhaps, a strip that helps you look at the amount of sugar in your urine, and you can do that if you want. But ultimately to make the diagnosis, to be sure you know what's going on, you need to get a blood test. And that's going to have to be done in some medical facility.
COHEN: OK, well, thank you.
And Dr. Vinicor will be back when we come back with more answers.
We're talking about what kind of diet is best for a diabetic. Can you go on the Atkins diet, for instance?
We'll have those answers coming up.
And we'd love to hear your questions. Call us at 1-800-807-2620 or e-mail us at housecall@cnn.com.
Now, before we go to our break, let's check our Daily Dose health quiz.
True or false, diabetics should never drink alcohol.
We'll have the answer when "Weekend House Call" continues.
Stay with us COMMERCIAL
COHEN: Checking the Daily Dose quiz, we asked, true or false, diabetics should never drink alcohol. The answer is false. A moderate amount of alcohol consumption is OK for diabetics. A new Scandinavian study shows it may actually help reduce the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes.
Well, what's moderate? Well, for men moderate drinking is two drinks a day. For women, it's one drink a day.
Welcome back to Weekend House Call.
We're talking about diabetes and what you can do to prevent the disease. A National Health Institute study shows lifestyle changes can help prevent diabetes.
Here's what you should shoot for. Eat a diet low in fat. Exercise for two and a half hours a week. It doesn't have to be strenuous exercise. It could simply be walking. Try to lose seven percent of your weight. These three things can help you delay or prevent the disease.
We're joined today by Dr. Frank Vinicor.
He's the director of the diabetes program at the Centers for Disease Control here in Atlanta.
We have a lot of specific questions for Dr. Vinicor about what's best to eat if you're struggling with diabetes.
Neville from New York wants to know, "Is there a suggested diet for diabetics? Any cookbooks, for example, that diabetics ought to read and follow?"
Any thoughts on that?
VINICOR: Well, I don't know of any issue among people with diabetes that's more controversial than diet. But basically what you're trying to do is to strike some balance between the amount of protein, the amount of carbohydrate or sugar and the amount of fat that you take in. And it has to be some balance.
If you take in too much fat, you're increasing the likelihood of having heart disease. If you take in too much sugar, you're increasing the likelihood of having your blood sugar go up. If you take in too much protein and you have a little bit of kidney disease, you could worsen the kidney disease.
So it's an issue of balancing. That's the number one message I guess I would give.
The second message is you've got to talk to somebody. And the best people to talk to, I think, are nutritionists or dietitians who are skilled in this areas and who understand it. So, for most people it is finding this proper balance. There are some people with diabetes who need special diets, unique diets. But for the average person with diabetes, it's the balance of the big three.
COHEN: Now, we usually think of fruits and vegetables, eat as many as you can, they're so healthy. For diabetics, are they problematic because there can be a lot of sugar in them?
VINICOR: Sure. And, but there's a lot of valuable things in fruits and vegetables. And, again, if you had three meals a day of only fruits and vegetables, that would be excessive and it might cause the blood sugar to go crazy. So you've got to balance it off.
We should be eating fruits and vegetables, probably. But balancing it with some protein and some safe fats. And so, again, it's a balance issue. It's not that any one of those three is the solution or is the devil. It's the balance.
COHEN: OK, we have another e-mail now. Shirley from Idaho wants to know, "Is the new craze the Atkins diet a good idea for diabetics to follow?"
What do you think -- lots of protein.
VINICOR: Yes, well, the Atkins diet certainly has now been studied and the major thrust for most people with Type 2 Diabetes is to lose some weight gradually. Most people with Type 2 Diabetes have excessive weight and we want to get that weight down. If that can be done with the Atkins diet and if one can follow the blood lipids, the blood fat levels and be sure that they don't go up on the Atkins diet, it appears to be fine.
Many people are not going to need the Atkins diet. Again, it's this balance. But the number one goal is to lose weight. The number two goal is to be sure we're not hurting other parts of the body -- the heart by taking in too much fat. And the third goal of diet is to be sure that we're doing everything we can to keep the blood sugar under control so that you don't have the eye problems, the kidney problems and the nerve problems.
COHEN: Well, we have a phone call now from Louanne (ph) in Ohio.
VINICOR: Great.
COHEN: Louanne, welcome to Weekend House Call.
And you can go ahead with your question.
LOUANNE: Good morning.
Doctor, my father, ironically, is recovering this morning from arterial bypass in his foot for decreased circulation from the diabetes. My brother, who is 48 years old -- my father is 78 -- also has the diabetes, both dependent upon the insulin. And my question is what about the practice of inserting foreign genes, say from fireflies or chicken into corn, potatoes or rice and some of our food additives, if that may have something to do with the rise of the diabetes?
VINICOR: Ah, a very interesting question. First of all, let me, a quick comment about the foot problem. Very, very common among people with diabetes. Diabetes is the biggest cause of amputations, non-traumatic amputations, in the United States. We know it's because the nerves don't work, so you don't feel things. And the blood vessels get clogged and you can't get blood there.
But we also know that easily half the people who have amputations don't have to have them with simple things, like looking at the feet and finding problems early.
The genetic question, a fascinating question. No, I don't think it's causing diabetes, but it is relevant to diabetes because they are doing these genetic studies where they're inserting the insulin gene into cells that normally don't make insulin, like fat cells. And look at me, I've got plenty to donate. But those cells then could produce insulin for people who need it.
So I don't think it's causing the increased rate of diabetes and in the future it may actually be a very interesting treatment for diabetes.
COHEN: Gene therapy for diabetes.
VINICOR: Yes.
COHEN: OK, well, more and more kids are being diagnosed with diabetes, not just adults. Could your child be next?
We'll tell you how to tell if your child is overweight or just sort of going through a chubby stage?
That's when "Weekend House Call" continues.
COMMERCIAL
COHEN: Before people actually develop Type 2 Diabetes, they almost always have pre-diabetes -- blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. At least 16 million Americans age 40 to 74 have pre- diabetes.
Welcome back to Weekend House Call.
Diabetes is on the rise in America's kids, and being overweight is the main cause.
Krista from Nebraska sent us an e-mail. She wants to know, "What is the best way to tell if your child is overweight? Is the BMI a good measure or do we rely on the doctor's assessment? How do you factor growth into the determination?"
Dr. Frank Vinicor joins us here in Atlanta.
How do you know if your child is slightly overweight or -- and can you just eyeball them and say yup, you're overweight?
VINICOR: Well, some you can eyeball and say they're overweight if they're real overweight. But almost every pediatrician has in his or her office a chart that takes into account their age, their height and their weight. And it gives you curves on which you can put a dot as to how old the child is. If the child is six years old of this height, here's the weight. And you can tell whether it's high, like 95 percent above, or 95 percent below.
So there's a standard chart that's been developed by NIH and CDC that's used to give you real hard quantitative data.
COHEN: And if your child is overweight, should you say oh, let's wait a couple months, maybe they'll grow out of it?
VINICOR: We used to think that, in fact, being overweight as a child was sort of a mild thing and nothing to worry about. We are concerned about it now because of the increased likelihood of the so- called adult type diabetes occurring in teenagers.
And so overweight as a child is maybe not quite as benign as we thought. So, again, I don't think you ought to lock them up and take them away from all food, but you ought to pay attention to it and see why that's happening.
COHEN: We have a phone call now from Gloria in Connecticut.
Gloria, go ahead with your question.
GLORIA: Yes, my question is, I'm 61 years old and five years ago was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I went from the P.O. pills to the insulin dependent. Also, my son, now 40, has developed diabetes. There's no history in the family.
What I'm concerned with is I'm kind of feeling guilty because could I have detected this diabetes when he was three or four or with a Diascan machine or, you know, pushing the doctor to do a blood sugar test?
VINICOR: Well, first of all, diabetes is generally more common, as everybody knows, and also we are seeing the onset of diabetes occurring at younger and younger ages. So perhaps 10 years ago, it was most common to see the onset of diabetes maybe 50 or 55. Now we're commonly seeing it 30 and 34, and as I just mentioned, occasionally now even in teenagers.
So I would not feel guilty at all.
We're learning who is at risk for diabetes. If you have symptoms, if you're overweight, if you're under active, you could have diabetes and not know it and we are gradually encouraging people to be tested to find out if you have unrecognized diabetes.
So, again, I think as we learn more, as we understand who is at risk, we are trying to work with people and work with the medical community to get them to be tested. But you should not feel guilty. The important thing is it was found and a lot can be done to help people not have to worry about losing their eyes, their kidneys and their feet.
COHEN: It's never good to feel guilty anyhow. It doesn't...
VINICOR: I don't think so.
COHEN: It doesn't help anybody.
VINICOR: No.
COHEN: Well, grab a pen. When we come back, we'll give you a Web site and phone number you can use to get more information on diabetes prevention.
You're watching "Weekend House Call" on CNN.
COMMERCIAL
COHEN: For more information, go to the American Diabetes Association's Web site at www.diabetes.org. You'll find more details about the disease and where you can find a health care professional in your area. You can also call 1-800-DIABETES.
You've been watching Weekend House Call.
We've been talking about diabetes and what you can do to prevent and to treat it.
We've been talking to Dr. Frank Vinicor, head of the diabetes program at the CDC.
Any quick thought that you'd like people to know about diabetes?
VINICOR: Well, I think there's no question diabetes is becoming a bigger problem. We're all concerned about the devastating complications. But it doesn't have to be a big problem and the complications don't have to happen. We know a lot today to prevent it and we know a lot today to prevent the complications. And we'll work together and we'll get that done.
COHEN: Great.
Well, thank you, Dr. Vinicor, for joining us.
VINICOR: Thank you.
COHEN: And thanks to our viewers for all the great questions you sent us.
Join us tomorrow when we look at a promising new treatment for breast cancer. If you know someone with breast cancer or if you have it, you'll want to catch tomorrow's House Call. We'll also talk about other treatment, screenings and prevention options.
Thanks for watching.
I'm Elizabeth Cohen.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 11, 2003 - 08:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: "Weekend House Call" with Elizabeth Cohen begins right now.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning and welcome to Weekend House Call.
I'm Elizabeth Cohen.
Today we're talking about diabetes. A new report says the average American born today will have a one in three chance of developing diabetes in their lifetime. The number one reason? You guessed it, obesity.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN (voice-over): The government says 65 percent of Americans are overweight or obese and being overweight can trigger what's called Type 2 Diabetes. That's the most common kind and can be brought on by a person's lifestyle. Almost 17 million Americans have been diagnosed with the disease and the number is growing.
A new study by the Centers for Disease Control shows the average American woman has a 39 percent risk of developing diabetes in her lifetime. For men, the risk is 33 percent.
TOMMY THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: And it's an epidemic that's spreading across America and it's really hitting minorities much harder.
COHEN: The lifetime risks for Hispanics and African-Americans and African-Americans are staggering. Hispanic women run a 52 percent risk of adult onset diabetes, black women 49 percent. Hispanic men have a 52 percent risk. For black men, it's 41 percent. And Type 2 Diabetes, once considered an adults only disease, is now appearing in children and teenagers in epidemic proportions.
Suhey Dominguez was diagnosed with the classic symptoms.
SUHEY DOMINGUEZ, DIABETIC: Numbness. I had to drink a lot of water. You felt always thirsty. Eat a lot.
COHEN: Suhey is just 19 years old and says managing this disease as a teen is tough.
SUHEY: You go out, you know, and you can't eat what you want to eat. You go to the movies, you can't have a popcorn. It's very hard. You have to take your own Rice Krispies cake, you know, low fat. COHEN: The triggers? Being overweight and sedentary.
DR. ELDA ARCE, CHILDREN'S NATIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: Our kids are no longer playing. They are watching television. They are playing video games. They don't go out to play with their friends.
COHEN: Past studies have shown that a few lifestyle changes can delay or possibly even prevent the disease entirely.
THOMPSON: And if you lost five to 10 percent of your body weight and you walked 30 minutes a day, six days a week, you could prevent the incidence of diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes, by 60 percent. This is something that America has got to stand up and take notice of and start doing something about.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN: Nearly six million Americans have Type 2 Diabetes and don't know it. Sometimes the symptoms are so mild you might not notice them.
Here's what to look for: increased thirst and hunger; fatigue; increased urination, especially at night; weight loss; blurred vision; and sores that don't heal.
Anyone 45 or older should consider getting tested for diabetes. If you're 45 and overweight, it's strongly recommended you get tested. And if you're younger than 45, overweight and have one of the following risk factors, you should also be tested. In addition to obesity, the risk factors are family history, if you have a parent, brother or sister with diabetes; if you're African-American, American Indian, Asian-American, Pacific Islander or Hispanic; if you have gestational diabetes or have given birth to at least one baby weighing more than nine pounds; or if you have high blood pressure or abnormal cholesterol levels or are inactive, exercising less than three times a week.
We want to answer your questions about Type 2 Diabetes. Call us at 1-800-807-2620 or e-mail housecall@cnn.com.
We're joined today by Dr. Frank Vinicor, the director of the Centers for Disease Control diabetes program here in Atlanta.
Good morning and thank you for joining us today.
DR. FRANK VINICOR, DIRECTOR, CDC DIABETES PROGRAM: Good morning.
COHEN: We've gotten so much e-mail on this topic.
Let's jump in with our first question from Leslie in Texas.
She writes, "My husband was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes this summer. He's overweight, yet the doctor has not once mentioned lifestyle changers like diet and exercise. What questions should newly diagnosed patients be asking the doctor?" VINICOR: That's a very common situation. Most people with this Type 2 Diabetes -- we used to call it adult type diabetes -- are overweight. And the initial treatment and the treatment throughout at least has to involve gradually trying to lose some weight, being a bit more active. Some people are going to need oral tablets and some people are going to need insulin.
But nutrition, gradual weight loss and some physical activity are essential regardless of what other things go on to treat the person.
COHEN: Is that common, do you think, that a doctor wouldn't even mention lifestyle?
VINICOR: Well, I think it's getting more common that people are realizing the value and the power of lifestyle changes. So I hope it's not common. We certainly have a lot of advice out in books. There are certainly dietitians that are available to talk to people, to help them. But certainly it's a cornerstone of the treatment of diabetes.
COHEN: OK, let's go to our next e-mail, then.
This one is from Aaron in Connecticut, who wants to know, "I have diabetes on both sides of my family -- six family members on my mother's side and five family members on my father's side. Should I be tested? I'm 35."
With that kind of family history, should he be tested?
VINICOR: Yes, that's a pretty heavy dose of family history. It increases the chances a lot that diabetes is present and not recognized or might develop. The test for diabetes is very simple. It is a blood test. It's not terribly expensive. With that kind of positive family history, somebody should be tested to see if it's present, but not recognized.
COHEN: We have a phone call question from Keith in North Carolina.
Keith, why don't you go ahead with your question for Dr. Vinicor?
KEITH: Good morning.
Is there a particular number that your blood sugar count must reach and does it have to stay there for a certain time to be diagnosed with diabetes? And is there sort of like a time window that you can diet and exercise to reverse things?
VINICOR: Yes, that's a great question. There are actually two numbers. If you're tested for diabetes before you eat breakfast, a test called the fasting blood sugar, the value has to be at 126 or greater. Sometimes you're tested after you eat, two hours after you get some particular meal with sugar. That value is 200 or greater. So we do have specific numbers.
In terms of how long do you have to do exercise or how long do you have to do modest weight control, really not that long. This study that Secretary Thompson talked about earlier on, it was only a two to three year study and people who lost really a relatively small amount of weight, five or six percent, maybe eight, nine pounds, ort who were active, like walking 30 minutes five days a week, things that probably we all can do, including me, in three years there was an effect that the likelihood of developing diabetes was reduced by half.
So it's not a heavy dose to prevent diabetes and it's not a long time before we can see the effects.
COHEN: And so you can keep yourself off insulin. You can keep yourself off drugs. You just need to...
VINICOR: Absolutely.
COHEN: You need to work at it.
We have another e-mail now from Nora in Washington who asks, "Is there a way to test yourself initially for diabetes without running to a physician?"
Is there at home diabetes test like there's an at home pregnancy test?
VINICOR: Well, you can be suspicious just by how you feel. You went over the symptoms. And certainly if you have those symptoms, like excessive thirst or urination or you're hungry or you're losing weight and you don't intend to do that, those are signs and symptoms that you ought to think about diabetes.
You can go to a drugstore and get, perhaps, a strip that helps you look at the amount of sugar in your urine, and you can do that if you want. But ultimately to make the diagnosis, to be sure you know what's going on, you need to get a blood test. And that's going to have to be done in some medical facility.
COHEN: OK, well, thank you.
And Dr. Vinicor will be back when we come back with more answers.
We're talking about what kind of diet is best for a diabetic. Can you go on the Atkins diet, for instance?
We'll have those answers coming up.
And we'd love to hear your questions. Call us at 1-800-807-2620 or e-mail us at housecall@cnn.com.
Now, before we go to our break, let's check our Daily Dose health quiz.
True or false, diabetics should never drink alcohol.
We'll have the answer when "Weekend House Call" continues.
Stay with us COMMERCIAL
COHEN: Checking the Daily Dose quiz, we asked, true or false, diabetics should never drink alcohol. The answer is false. A moderate amount of alcohol consumption is OK for diabetics. A new Scandinavian study shows it may actually help reduce the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes.
Well, what's moderate? Well, for men moderate drinking is two drinks a day. For women, it's one drink a day.
Welcome back to Weekend House Call.
We're talking about diabetes and what you can do to prevent the disease. A National Health Institute study shows lifestyle changes can help prevent diabetes.
Here's what you should shoot for. Eat a diet low in fat. Exercise for two and a half hours a week. It doesn't have to be strenuous exercise. It could simply be walking. Try to lose seven percent of your weight. These three things can help you delay or prevent the disease.
We're joined today by Dr. Frank Vinicor.
He's the director of the diabetes program at the Centers for Disease Control here in Atlanta.
We have a lot of specific questions for Dr. Vinicor about what's best to eat if you're struggling with diabetes.
Neville from New York wants to know, "Is there a suggested diet for diabetics? Any cookbooks, for example, that diabetics ought to read and follow?"
Any thoughts on that?
VINICOR: Well, I don't know of any issue among people with diabetes that's more controversial than diet. But basically what you're trying to do is to strike some balance between the amount of protein, the amount of carbohydrate or sugar and the amount of fat that you take in. And it has to be some balance.
If you take in too much fat, you're increasing the likelihood of having heart disease. If you take in too much sugar, you're increasing the likelihood of having your blood sugar go up. If you take in too much protein and you have a little bit of kidney disease, you could worsen the kidney disease.
So it's an issue of balancing. That's the number one message I guess I would give.
The second message is you've got to talk to somebody. And the best people to talk to, I think, are nutritionists or dietitians who are skilled in this areas and who understand it. So, for most people it is finding this proper balance. There are some people with diabetes who need special diets, unique diets. But for the average person with diabetes, it's the balance of the big three.
COHEN: Now, we usually think of fruits and vegetables, eat as many as you can, they're so healthy. For diabetics, are they problematic because there can be a lot of sugar in them?
VINICOR: Sure. And, but there's a lot of valuable things in fruits and vegetables. And, again, if you had three meals a day of only fruits and vegetables, that would be excessive and it might cause the blood sugar to go crazy. So you've got to balance it off.
We should be eating fruits and vegetables, probably. But balancing it with some protein and some safe fats. And so, again, it's a balance issue. It's not that any one of those three is the solution or is the devil. It's the balance.
COHEN: OK, we have another e-mail now. Shirley from Idaho wants to know, "Is the new craze the Atkins diet a good idea for diabetics to follow?"
What do you think -- lots of protein.
VINICOR: Yes, well, the Atkins diet certainly has now been studied and the major thrust for most people with Type 2 Diabetes is to lose some weight gradually. Most people with Type 2 Diabetes have excessive weight and we want to get that weight down. If that can be done with the Atkins diet and if one can follow the blood lipids, the blood fat levels and be sure that they don't go up on the Atkins diet, it appears to be fine.
Many people are not going to need the Atkins diet. Again, it's this balance. But the number one goal is to lose weight. The number two goal is to be sure we're not hurting other parts of the body -- the heart by taking in too much fat. And the third goal of diet is to be sure that we're doing everything we can to keep the blood sugar under control so that you don't have the eye problems, the kidney problems and the nerve problems.
COHEN: Well, we have a phone call now from Louanne (ph) in Ohio.
VINICOR: Great.
COHEN: Louanne, welcome to Weekend House Call.
And you can go ahead with your question.
LOUANNE: Good morning.
Doctor, my father, ironically, is recovering this morning from arterial bypass in his foot for decreased circulation from the diabetes. My brother, who is 48 years old -- my father is 78 -- also has the diabetes, both dependent upon the insulin. And my question is what about the practice of inserting foreign genes, say from fireflies or chicken into corn, potatoes or rice and some of our food additives, if that may have something to do with the rise of the diabetes?
VINICOR: Ah, a very interesting question. First of all, let me, a quick comment about the foot problem. Very, very common among people with diabetes. Diabetes is the biggest cause of amputations, non-traumatic amputations, in the United States. We know it's because the nerves don't work, so you don't feel things. And the blood vessels get clogged and you can't get blood there.
But we also know that easily half the people who have amputations don't have to have them with simple things, like looking at the feet and finding problems early.
The genetic question, a fascinating question. No, I don't think it's causing diabetes, but it is relevant to diabetes because they are doing these genetic studies where they're inserting the insulin gene into cells that normally don't make insulin, like fat cells. And look at me, I've got plenty to donate. But those cells then could produce insulin for people who need it.
So I don't think it's causing the increased rate of diabetes and in the future it may actually be a very interesting treatment for diabetes.
COHEN: Gene therapy for diabetes.
VINICOR: Yes.
COHEN: OK, well, more and more kids are being diagnosed with diabetes, not just adults. Could your child be next?
We'll tell you how to tell if your child is overweight or just sort of going through a chubby stage?
That's when "Weekend House Call" continues.
COMMERCIAL
COHEN: Before people actually develop Type 2 Diabetes, they almost always have pre-diabetes -- blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. At least 16 million Americans age 40 to 74 have pre- diabetes.
Welcome back to Weekend House Call.
Diabetes is on the rise in America's kids, and being overweight is the main cause.
Krista from Nebraska sent us an e-mail. She wants to know, "What is the best way to tell if your child is overweight? Is the BMI a good measure or do we rely on the doctor's assessment? How do you factor growth into the determination?"
Dr. Frank Vinicor joins us here in Atlanta.
How do you know if your child is slightly overweight or -- and can you just eyeball them and say yup, you're overweight?
VINICOR: Well, some you can eyeball and say they're overweight if they're real overweight. But almost every pediatrician has in his or her office a chart that takes into account their age, their height and their weight. And it gives you curves on which you can put a dot as to how old the child is. If the child is six years old of this height, here's the weight. And you can tell whether it's high, like 95 percent above, or 95 percent below.
So there's a standard chart that's been developed by NIH and CDC that's used to give you real hard quantitative data.
COHEN: And if your child is overweight, should you say oh, let's wait a couple months, maybe they'll grow out of it?
VINICOR: We used to think that, in fact, being overweight as a child was sort of a mild thing and nothing to worry about. We are concerned about it now because of the increased likelihood of the so- called adult type diabetes occurring in teenagers.
And so overweight as a child is maybe not quite as benign as we thought. So, again, I don't think you ought to lock them up and take them away from all food, but you ought to pay attention to it and see why that's happening.
COHEN: We have a phone call now from Gloria in Connecticut.
Gloria, go ahead with your question.
GLORIA: Yes, my question is, I'm 61 years old and five years ago was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I went from the P.O. pills to the insulin dependent. Also, my son, now 40, has developed diabetes. There's no history in the family.
What I'm concerned with is I'm kind of feeling guilty because could I have detected this diabetes when he was three or four or with a Diascan machine or, you know, pushing the doctor to do a blood sugar test?
VINICOR: Well, first of all, diabetes is generally more common, as everybody knows, and also we are seeing the onset of diabetes occurring at younger and younger ages. So perhaps 10 years ago, it was most common to see the onset of diabetes maybe 50 or 55. Now we're commonly seeing it 30 and 34, and as I just mentioned, occasionally now even in teenagers.
So I would not feel guilty at all.
We're learning who is at risk for diabetes. If you have symptoms, if you're overweight, if you're under active, you could have diabetes and not know it and we are gradually encouraging people to be tested to find out if you have unrecognized diabetes.
So, again, I think as we learn more, as we understand who is at risk, we are trying to work with people and work with the medical community to get them to be tested. But you should not feel guilty. The important thing is it was found and a lot can be done to help people not have to worry about losing their eyes, their kidneys and their feet.
COHEN: It's never good to feel guilty anyhow. It doesn't...
VINICOR: I don't think so.
COHEN: It doesn't help anybody.
VINICOR: No.
COHEN: Well, grab a pen. When we come back, we'll give you a Web site and phone number you can use to get more information on diabetes prevention.
You're watching "Weekend House Call" on CNN.
COMMERCIAL
COHEN: For more information, go to the American Diabetes Association's Web site at www.diabetes.org. You'll find more details about the disease and where you can find a health care professional in your area. You can also call 1-800-DIABETES.
You've been watching Weekend House Call.
We've been talking about diabetes and what you can do to prevent and to treat it.
We've been talking to Dr. Frank Vinicor, head of the diabetes program at the CDC.
Any quick thought that you'd like people to know about diabetes?
VINICOR: Well, I think there's no question diabetes is becoming a bigger problem. We're all concerned about the devastating complications. But it doesn't have to be a big problem and the complications don't have to happen. We know a lot today to prevent it and we know a lot today to prevent the complications. And we'll work together and we'll get that done.
COHEN: Great.
Well, thank you, Dr. Vinicor, for joining us.
VINICOR: Thank you.
COHEN: And thanks to our viewers for all the great questions you sent us.
Join us tomorrow when we look at a promising new treatment for breast cancer. If you know someone with breast cancer or if you have it, you'll want to catch tomorrow's House Call. We'll also talk about other treatment, screenings and prevention options.
Thanks for watching.
I'm Elizabeth Cohen.
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