US aims to fight diabetes

The HHS is describing the initiative as a "step-by-step guide to activities and resources against a disease that affects more than 18 million Americans"​.

"The most effective way to bring this problem under control is for government, business, health care providers, schools, communities and the media, as well as people with diabetes and their families to work together,"​ said HHS secretary Tommy Thompson.

The diabetes action plan focuses on specific, attainable action steps such as reducing fat consumption, taking the stairs instead of the elevator and getting screened for diabetes.

The HHS​ is putting a certain emphasis on the role of the food industry, suggesting the need, for example, for healthy food in vending machines and cafeterias.

The global incidence of the risk factors that cause diabetes, collectively known as the 'metabolic syndrome', is soaring. The clinical conditions linked to the metabolic syndrome are obesity, type 2 diabetes, abnormal blood fats and raised blood pressure. Each of these conditions is a risk-factor for the metabolic syndrome in its own right, but if individuals have more than one of these conditions the risk is multiplied.

In most cases, development of the metabolic syndrome is caused by eating too much of the wrong kind of foods and taking too little exercise.

Further research into the impact of diet on these risk factors could however help supplement and functional food makers offer products designed to reduce risk for some of the thousands forecast to develop the disease.

And while there is little evidence so far to support either the safety or efficacy of nutritional supplements in helping to improve diabetes-related conditions, there are some foods and nutrients, such as dark chocolate and magnesium, that warrant further investigation, Dr Michael Quon, chief of the diabetes unit of the US National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) told NutraIngredients.com earlier this year.

Some supplement companies though are convinced their supplement products do help at least those showing early symptoms of diabetes.

Degussa Food Ingredients, for instance, announced last month that it had created a double-fermented wheat product, to be rolled out in Europe, North America and Asia, will be offered as a powder blend, tablets or as a functional food ingredient for beverages, dairy and dessert-type products.

The company is also waiting for results of a human trial on a new herbal extract, said to improve insulin sensitivity. The herbal could launch in the first half of next year.

And, at the beginning of the year, Nutrition 21 submitted a qualified health claim linking chromium picolinate with a reduced risk of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and related disease conditions to the FDA. The FDA extended the review period for the claim by 90 days eralier this week.

Trials by the company have found daily supplementation of up to 1,000 mcg of chromium, as chromium picolinate alone or in combination with other therapies, helps reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and other health conditions associated with insulin resistance.

The rapidly growing incidence of type 2 diabetes in the US (almost 1 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed every year) has encouraged Nutrition 21 to focus on chromium's effects on insulin over recent months.

Approximately 95 million Americans have some degree of insulin resistance, according to the firm, which holds patents for the therapeutic use of chromium picolinate in addressing insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Pre-diabetes conditions are rising in parallel to the increasing incidence of obesity, now thought to affect more than 1 billion adults overweight, with at least 300 million of them clinically obese. An estimated 24 per cent of the US adult population has metabolic syndrome, a collection of risk factors for type 2 diabetes.