John Wecker

Pacific Northwest Diabetes Research Institute (PNDRI) announced today that John Wecker, PhD has been appointed president and CEO.

Dr. Wecker was most recently Global Program Leader, Vaccine Access and Delivery at PATH.

PNDRI is an independent non-profit biomedical and clinical research center that focuses on eliminating diabetes and its complications.

The Institute, which has a team of 85 physicians, scientists and technical staff, was founded in Seattle in 1956 by Dr. William Hutchinson, Sr., who also founded the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Before he joined PATH, Dr. Wecker worked for Boehringer Ingelheim, a global pharmaceutical company, where he led pharmaceutical product development teams and championed the company’s efforts to expand access to treatments for HIV/AIDS in the developing world.

During this time he established a program to provide medication for the prevention of mother-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, free of charge to over 120 countries around the world.

Dr. Wecker received his doctorate in Biological Psychology from the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY.

Dr. Wecker succeeds Dr. Jack Faris, who has been serving as acting CEO during the past eighteen months. Dr. Faris will remain part of the PNDRI team as a strategic advisor.

Dr. Wecker will begin at PNDRI on April 23^rd.

To learn more:

• For more information about PNDRI, visit www.pndri.org or call (206) 726-1200.

Photo by Brainloc

By Randy Dotinga, Contributing Writer
Health Behavior News Service 

Single, middle-aged people who live alone spend more time sitting.  A new study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine discovered that men tended to sit for longer periods watching TV on the weekends while women sat for longer periods doing activities such as reading or dining out.

Unemployed people tended to spend more time sitting than employed people.

Sitting habits, which lead to risks of poor health, were found to vary by gender, age, health status and during weekdays versus weekends.

“Sitting is not the same for everyone,” said study lead author Nicola Burton, Ph.D., a senior research fellow at The University of Queensland. “If we want to identify who does prolonged sitting, we need to think about the context of sitting and take into account group differences.”

Key Points:

• Single people who live alone or have health restrictions spend the most time sitting on a daily basis.

• Men spend more time sitting while watching TV or using the home computer, while women spend more seated time doing other leisure activities, like reading or eating out.

• People without jobs spend more time sitting than people who are employed full-time.

It’s important to study sitting habits because research has begun to link them to health problems, Burton said. “While people may associate prolonged sitting with muscular problems such as back and neck pain, research evidence is emerging to suggest that prolonged sitting a total of more than 6-8 hours a day or watching television more than 4 hours a day is in itself also potentially harmful for cardiovascular and metabolic health.”

Among other things, she said, researchers have linked lots of sitting to high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes and higher death rates. Studies suggest that sitting causes problems even in people who exercise, she said.

The study authors analyzed survey responses from 7,719 people aged 40 to 65 in Australia who were asked about their daily activities. The researchers found that people sit longer on weekends than on weekdays, and sitting habits among groups differed depending on what they did while sitting. The findings would probably be similar in other Western countries like the United States, Burton said.

“The next step is to develop and evaluate strategies to reduce sitting time, and see what works for whom, and in what context,” she said. “This is different from strategies to increase exercise, as sitting time can be exchanged for things other than exercise.”

Is it really possible to neither sit nor exercise? Yes, Burton said. “Some research is suggesting that interrupting sitting time is important, so people could think about how to break up sitting for light activity that is not exercise, like doing things around the house during TV commercial breaks or taking standing or walking breaks during the working day.”

Susan B. Sisson, an assistant professor who studies diet and exercise at the University of Oklahoma said the findings are important because they can be used to figure out how best to coax people to not sit so much. “For example, this study found that individuals that are single and living alone sit more… A media campaign telling people to do on a walk with their spouse would likely not be as effective in this group.”

For more photos by Brainloc go here.

Health Behavior News Service is part of the Center for Advancing Health

The Health Behavior News Service disseminates news stories on the latest findings from peer-reviewed research journals. HBNS covers both new studies and systematic reviews of studies on (1) the effects of behavior on health, (2) health disparities data and (3) patient engagement research. The goal of HBNS stories is to present the facts for readers to understand and use for themselves to make informed choices about health and health care.

For type 2 diabetics who are not on insulin, monitoring their blood sugar does little to control blood sugar levels over time and may not be worth the effort or expense, according to a new evidence review.

Self-monitoring blood sugar levels for type 1 diabetics and type 2 diabetics who require insulin is recognized as a critical part of self-care.

For these insulin taking diabetics, keeping track of blood sugar levels helps them attempt to keep glucose levels within an acceptable range.

However, it has been unclear if self-monitoring of blood sugar has the same value for type 2 diabetics who are not on insulin.

To answer this question, Uriëll L. Malanda of the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam and his colleagues reviewed 12 studies, of more than 3,000 non-insulin-using diabetics.

The review showed that self-monitoring of blood sugar by these patients had only a modest effect on a measure called HbA1c, a standard for assessing blood glucose control.

Over a six-month period, patients who tested their own blood glucose levels reduced HbA1c by about 0.3 percent. This effect nearly completely dissipated after 12 months.

Key Points:

• In patients with diabetes who don’t require insulin, self-monitoring of blood glucose had a modest effect on HbA1c levels at six-months, which subsided after 12 months.

• Self-monitoring of blood glucose in non-insulin treated diabetics had no effect on satisfaction, general well-being or general health-related quality of life.

• Supplies required for self-monitoring of blood glucose are more expensive than for urine testing, a common alternative for non-insulin treated diabetics.

Additionally, the review showed that blood sugar self-monitoring had no effect on patients’ satisfaction, general well being, or general health-related quality of life.

One study, which compared the cost of the first year of monitoring blood for glucose versus urine testing, found that monitoring blood glucose was 12 times more expensive.

Mayer Davidson, M.D., a professor of medicine at Charles Drew University in Los Angeles who authored one of the studies included in the review, notes that many endocrinologists recommend blood glucose self-monitoring as part of efforts to educate patients on the effect of lifestyle habits—for example, how eating an apple affects their blood glucose compared to drinking a glass of apple juice. However, knowing their blood sugar numbers doesn’t appear to change patients’ behavior.

“Patients aren’t using these numbers to do anything clinically significant,” he says.

With the cost of blood glucose test strips for home monitoring equipment hovering around 1 dollar apiece, he adds, there doesn’t appear to be enough “bang for the buck” to recommend that form of self-monitoring for most patients.

Authors of the review agree. “Regular self-monitoring of blood glucose in non-insulin treated patients has minimal impact on glycemic control, has no impact on general well-being or quality of life, and is rather expensive. Consequently, it does not add to a clinically relevant long-term benefit,” Malanda says.

Health Behavior News Service is part of the Center for Advancing Health

The Health Behavior News Service disseminates news stories on the latest findings from peer-reviewed research journals. HBNS covers both new studies and systematic reviews of studies on (1) the effects of behavior on health, (2) health disparities data and (3) patient engagement research. The goal of HBNS stories is to present the facts for readers to understand and use for themselves to make informed choices about health and health care.

By Michelle Andrews

Jackie Risley, before and after her bariatric surgery (Photos provided by Risley)

As obesity among young people continues to rise, a growing number of clinicians and researchers say that weight-loss surgery may be their best chance to take off significant weight and either correct or avoid conditions like diabetes and heart disease, which often go hand-in-hand with obesity.

But although health plans frequently cover bariatric surgery in adults, insurance coverage for the procedure in patients under age 18 is spotty.

Experts in pediatric obesity say that caution is warranted and that insurers shouldn’t just rubber-stamp such surgery in adolescents.

But they say emerging research may lead to more coverage for young people.

Anyone who has ever been on a diet—and there are many of us—knows that there are sensible ways to lose weight. These include balanced diets, exercising and realistic goals.

And then there are reckless ways to shed pounds—fads and diet aids that promise rapid weight loss, but often recommend potentially dangerous practices.

These include HCG weight-loss products marketed over-the-counter (OTC) that are identified as “homeopathic” and direct users to follow a severely restrictive diet.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising consumers to steer clear of these “homeopathic” human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) weight-loss products.  They are sold in the form of oral drops, pellets and sprays and can be found online and in some retail stores.

FDA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have issued seven letters to companies warning them that they are selling illegal homeopathic HCG weight-loss drugs that have not been approved by FDA, and that make unsupported claims.

(For the list of manufacturers, distributors and products—and more information about FDA’s concerns about HCG—visit www.fda.gov/hcgdiet.)

HCG Makes Big Claims

HCG is a hormone that is produced by the human placenta during pregnancy.

Products that claim to contain HCG are typically marketed in connection with a very low calorie diet, usually one that limits calories to 500 per day.

Many of these popular HCG products claim to “reset your metabolism,” change “abnormal eating patterns,” and shave 20-30 pounds in 30-40 days.

“These products are marketed with incredible claims and people think that if they’re losing weight, HCG must be working,” says Elizabeth Miller, acting director of FDA’s Division of Non-Prescription Drugs and Health Fraud. “But the data simply does not support this; any loss is from severe calorie restriction. Not from the HCG.”

HCG is approved by FDA as a prescription drug for the treatment of female infertility, and other medical conditions. It is not approved for weight loss.

In fact, the prescription drug label notes there “is no substantial evidence that it increases weight loss beyond that resulting from caloric restriction, that it causes a more attractive or ‘normal’ distribution of fat, or that it decreases the hunger and discomfort associated with calorie-restricted diets.”

HCG is not approved for OTC sale for any purpose.

A Potentially Dangerous Diet

Living on 500 calories a day is not only unhealthy—it’s hazardous, according to FDA experts. Consumers on such restrictive diets are at increased risk for side effects that include gallstone formation, an imbalance of the electrolytes that keep the body’s muscles and nerves functioning properly, and an irregular heartbeat.

Shirley Blakely, a nutritionist at FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, echoes concerns about such restrictive diets. They can be dangerous, she says, and potentially fatal.

Very low calorie diets are sometimes prescribed by health care professionals for people who are moderately to extremely obese as part of medical treatment to lessen health conditions caused by obesity, like high blood pressure.

But even then, strict—and constant—medical supervision is needed to ensure that side effects are not life threatening, says Blakely.

Without medical oversight, consumers on very low calorie diets may not be getting enough vitamins, minerals and—most critically—protein.

“In general, the reference (average) calorie level is 2,000,” says Blakely. “If you want to lose weight, reduce your daily intake by 500 calories. Over the course of a week, that equals 3500 calories, which is the loss of a pound. Gradual weight loss is the way to do it.

Story Started Decades Ago

Miller explains that HCG was first promoted for weight loss in the 1950s. “It faded in the 1970s, especially when it became apparent that there was a lack of evidence to support the use of HCG for weight loss,” she says.

The diet has become popular again and FDA and FTC are taking action on illegal HCG products. “You cannot sell products claiming to contain HCG as an OTC drug product. It’s illegal,” says Brad Pace, team leader and regulatory counsel at FDA’s Health Fraud and Consumer Outreach Branch. “If these companies don’t heed our warnings, they could face enforcement actions, legal penalties or criminal prosecution.”

Elisabeth Walther, a pharmacist at FDA, explains that the agency does not evaluate homeopathic drug products for safety or effectiveness, and is not aware of any scientific evidence that supports homeopathy as effective.

However, those that meet certain conditions set by FDA can be marketed. A reference document called the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States lists active ingredients that may be legally included in homeopathic drug products.

“HCG is not on this list and therefore cannot be legally sold as a homeopathic medication for any purpose,” Walther says.

FDA advises consumers who have purchased homeopathic HCG for weight loss to stop using it, throw it out, and stop following the dieting instructions. Harmful effects should be reported online to FDA’s MedWatch program or by phone at 800-FDA-1088 (800-332-1088) and to the consumer’s health care professional.

This article appears on FDA’s Consumer Updates page, which features the latest on all FDA-regulated products.

Dec. 6, 2011