Diabetes Treatment And New Dementia Link Part Of Big Week In Medicine
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – It's been a busy week in the field of medicine. Doctors found a link between one heart condition and dementia. Health officials are out with their annual flu shot warning and can fasting help reverse type-2 diabetes?
CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez took a look at all the top health stories.
FASTING FOR DIABETES
Three men with type-2 diabetes fasted on alternate days for a full 24 hours. It turns out that helped their sugar control.
Doctors writing in the British Medical Journal said the men were between 40 and 67. After their ten-month trial, all three were able to stop injecting themselves with insulin.
On fast days, the patients were allowed to drink water, tea, or coffee. Experts caution this was a very small study, but that it could offer a new way to treat type-2 diabetes.
NEW LINK TO DEMENTIA
The heart condition that may be related to Alzheimer's and other dementias turned out to be atrial fibrillation. The ailment is a heart rhythm abnormality that affects more than four million Americans.
According to a study in the journal Neurology, patients with atrial fibrillation are more likely to suffer memory loss. When the heart's rhythm is out of sync it could lead to blood clots traveling to the brain and cause a stroke.
Tiny strokes that don't cause symptoms could lead to dementia. The study finds people on blood thinners are less likely to develop dementia than those who don't take them.
PREGNANCY AND THE FLU
It's flu shot season again and health professionals are urging pregnant women to be extra careful. The CDC is recommending soon-to-be mothers get a flu shot, especially because a new study finds pregnant women who got a flu shot reduced their risk of being hospitalized for the flu by an average of 40 percent.
New moms can also pass along their flu immunity to a newborn through breast feeding; protecting the baby while his or her immune system is still developing.
