It's In the News... the top diabetes stories of the past seven days! This week, what did lockdown mean for BG trends, Provention Bio keeps fighting for Teplizumab, the FTC shuts down diabetes schlockmeisters and if you're still using the Dexcom G5 - you need to hear this...
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Episode transcription and links below
Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. As always, I’m going to link up my sources in the Facebook comments – where we are live – and in the show notes at d-c dot com when this airs as a podcast.. so you can read more if you want, on your own schedule.
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In the News is brought to you by Real Good Foods! Find their Entrée Bowls and all of their great products in your local grocery store, Target or Costco.
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Our top story.. What did COVID lockdown mean for blood sugar trends? A new study says when they had to stay at home, people with type 1 significantly improved while the opposite happened for those with type 2.
You should know these studies all come from European countries with pretty strict lockdowns and they’re an aggregate – a look at a bunch of previously conducted studies.
With type 1, time in range improved significantly in 83% of the studies looked at here.. with type 2, almost half of the studies showed a clear decrease in blood sugar control, with higher A1Cs.
So what happened? There’s a lot of speculation but these researchers suggest less exercise and more snacking and more stress is to blame for the type 2 numbers.. although in my opinion the same could be said for all people with diabetes. They also suppose that the lockdown gave parents more time to look after kids with type 1 and gave young adults a more predictable routine.
I hope another study is done on this in the US where, frankly – access to insulin & health care providers may have become more of an issue during the pandemic
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210913/COVID-19-lockdown-linked-to-improved-glycemic-control-in-type-1-diabetes.aspx
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Bit of an update - Provention Bio moving forward to answer the FDA’s questions and hopefully resubmit. This is for Teplizumab the first drug shown to prevent type 1 diabetes for – so far- up to three years.. although the FDA turned it down in July.
Provention says they continue to collect data and are moving to set up what’s called a Formal Type A meeting to submit that new information.
The company’s CEO says they believe they’re making significant progress to address the observations cited by the FDA and continue to work with urgency.
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Bunch of schlock-meisters got called out last week by the US FDA and FTC – that’s the Federal Trade Commission. 10 companies got warning letters alleging they were selling illegal dietary supplements to cure or prevent diabetes. Regulators wrote the products cited in the warning letters are considered unapproved new drugs – they include things like turmeric, bitter melon, ginkgo biloba and more.. The report cites the increasing cost of insulin and other diabetes medications as a reason why people are turning to alternatives, even if they aren’t proven.. Please.. be careful out there.
Quick additional FTC note – they held a virtual open meeting today. Two people from the diabetes community spoke about rising insulin prices. If you’d like to learn more I’ll link up the information.
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/09/ftc-announces-tentative-agenda-september-15-open-commission
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We don’t talk a lot about shots – multiple daily injections – but here’s some good news about the basics. New study shows rotating sites and using smaller needles really do help. You’ve likely heard of LY-po-hy-PER-tro-fee.. it’s when lumps of fat or scar tissue form under your skin. These Belgian researchers did a six month study where they provided smaller pen needles and did a lot of education, including an online platform where they taught proper injection techniques, including not re-using needles. They reduced what they called unexplained high blood glucose significantly and glucose variability decreased as well. A1Cs stayed about the same.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dme.14672
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No surprise but still disappointing – insurance is what’s dictating whether young children are more likely to use a CGM regularly. This was published in Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics.
Those on public or government insurance often face more obstacles.
This was a study of children ages 1-6 years, within two months of diagnosis.
82-percent used a CGM at least once during the study period.. but they divided everyone into 4 groups – always used CGM, stable use, inconsistent use or never used.
Families with private insurance were more likely to be in the always group or the stable group than those with public insurance. And..
The “always” group had an A1C that was 1.3% lower than the “never” group
https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20210907/private-insurance-determines-cgm-use-by-young-children-with-type-1-diabetes
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More to come, including a Dexcom G5 update! But first, I want to tell you about one of our great sponsors who helps make Diabetes Connections possible.
Real Good Foods. Where the mission is Be Real Good
They make nutritious foods— grain free, high in protein, never added sugar and from real ingredients—the new Entrée bowls are great. They have a chicken burrito, a cauliflower mash and braised beef bowl.. the lemon chicken I’ve told you about and more! They keep adding to the menu line! You can buy online or find a store near you with their locator right on the website. I’ll put a link in the FB comments and as always at d-c dot com.
Back to the news…
Heads up if you’re still – somehow – using the Dexcom G5. More than a year ago, Dexcom stopped selling the G5 and G4.. but – and thanks to the listeners who brought this to my attention – the G5 app is now sending out a notification.. On October 4th the Dexcom G5 app will no longer be available. As they’ve shared with us on the podcast many times, they’ve been transitioning everyone over to the G6 and will soon move on to the G7. No timeline on that btw I know you’re going to ask. But as far as we know, it hasn’t been submitted to the FDA and Dexcom has said it will go for European approval first.
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And finally don’t forget to send me your Dear Dr. Banting audio! What would you say to the man credited with the discovery of insulin? All the details and how to send it to me is in the show notes.
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Please join me wherever you get podcasts for our next episode - The episode out right now is all about the new Walmart Insulin.. will it save you money?
That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon.