The A-Files, Alcohol A-Z for Alcohol Awareness Month: Prediabetes and Diabetes

(see online video/article)

Twenty-six episodes of 'The A-Files' air throughout Alcohol Awareness Month on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Alcohologist.com and AddictedMinds.com, among other web and social media sites. Episode P covers the links between Prediabetes and alcohol use. Alcohol use carries a significant danger of developing type 2 diabetes. The blood sugar disorder has reached near epidemic status in the United States and has largely been blamed on an increase in the percentage of the population considered overweight. However, alcohol use and the disease of alcoholism also contribute to the disease.

Alcohol use damages the pancreas, the organ responsible for producing insulin naturally to regulate blood sugar. The more a person drinks, the more damage to that organ and the higher the risk of developing prediabetes, which can lead to type 2 diabetes. According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), prediabetes is when a person's blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be type 2 diabetes. Prediabetics are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

The risk of prediabetes may be even higher for people with high blood pressure, according to preliminary research introduced in 2013 at the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation's EuroPRevent meeting. The University of Padova, Italy, found that patients with high blood pressure who drank more than 10 drinks a day had a six-times higher risk of developing a prediabetic condition.

Drinking alcohol, contributes to diabetes in three ways.

1. Drinking can reduce the body’s sensitivity to insulin (according to the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism)
2.Diabetes is a common side effect of chronic pancreatitis, which is overwhelmingly caused by heavy drinking, especially in men. (See The related Nature Genetics report)
3.Alcohol contains a huge amount of calories. One beer can be equivalent to a slice of pizza. The extra calories increase your chance of becoming overweight, another diabetes risk factor.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 26 million children and adults in the U.S. have diabetes and another 79 million Americans have prediabetes. Many people with alcohol use disorders already may be prediabetic and not know it, according to the ADA, “because the symptoms develop so gradually, people often don't recognize them. Some people have no symptoms at all.”
Diabetes is the seventh-leading cause of death… part of that is due to the third-leading cause of death, alcohol use. The entire 26 episode HD series is available on disc, along with fact sheets, for helping professions. See the preorder special at tr.im/AFiles

Visit alcohologist.com for a replay of CBS Sports' Power Up Your Health featuring Scott Stevens.  Another interview is on Alcohol Awareness.  Syndicated radio program Savvy Central Radio did this interview, too. Lucy Pireel's "All That's Written" included a feature called "When alcohol doesn't work for you anymore."  Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud and the first for Adding Fire to the Fuel also can be found on www.alcohologist.com. Download the FREE Alcohology app in the Google PlayStore today. Stevens also is the public relations officer with AddictedMinds.com 

Purple with a Purpose: Alcohol misuse ups pancreatic damage, especially in men

People wearing purple Nov. 22 are doing so in support of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. One of the easiest ways to reduce the risk of pancreatic disease and cancer is to cut back on the alcohol or stop all together. Alcohol abusers and those with the disease of alcoholism are 1.6 times more likely to develop pancreatic cancer, the most fatal of cancers and one of the hardest to detect.

Pancreatic cancer is currently the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States, but is expect to become the second in 2020. According to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, 45,000 Americans will be diagnosed with the disease this year alone.

Pancreatic cancer is more common in men than women, however it has recently moved from the tenth to the ninth most common cancer in females. As an additional shot across the bow for men: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers isolated a gene variant in men that puts those who drink heavily at risk for pancreatitis. While painful and treatable, long-term pancreatitis has been linked to cancer of the pancreas.

The researcher’s report, online in the journal Nature Genetics, found the genetic defect in half the men with chronic pancreatitis.

Pancreatitis is a disease in which the pancreas becomes inflamed. Acute pancreatitis occurs suddenly, with severe upper abdominal pain and can be a serious, life-threatening illness if not treated. The most common symptoms of pancreatitis acute abdominal pain, pain radiating into the back, nausea, vomiting and fever. The symptoms may last for a few days then disappear off and on.

Alcohol abuse and alcoholism are risk factors for developing the disease of pancreatitis, but the new research shows men with a flaw on the X chromosome are more likely to have pancreatic troubles if they drink heavily. Women with the same flaw were not as likely to get the disease. The study suggests the second X chromosome in women protects them, while men have only one X chromosome and a Y.

The gene doesn’t cause pancreatitis but increases the risk in drinkers.

“The discovery that chronic pancreatitis has a genetic basis solves a major mystery about why some people develop chronic pancreatitis and others do not,” study lead author Dr. David Whitcomb, professor of medicine, cell biology and physiology, and human genetics, said in a university news release.

“We also knew there was an unexpected higher risk of men developing pancreatitis with alcohol consumption, but until now we weren’t sure why,” he said. “Our discovery of this new genetic variant on chromosome X helps explain this mystery as well.”
(from examiner.com -- see full article)
www.alcohologist.com

Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud, plus the new radio interview replay is available at alcohologist.com... and please read the new interview with Scott Stevens at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international historical fiction novelist from the UK.

SATURDAY REWIND: Alcohol warning for prediabetes, type-2 diabetes during Diabetes Month

November is American Diabetes Month -- the 14th is World Diabetes Day -- and this article from the alcohol research news archive notes that among the many health risks associated with alcohol, a significant danger among them is developing type 2 diabetes.


The blood sugar disorder has reached near epidemic status in the United States and has largely been blamed on an increase in the percentage of the population considered overweight. However, alcohol abuse and the disease of alcoholism also contribute to the disease.

Heavy alcohol use (with moderate use being defined as one drink daily for women, two a day for men) damages the pancreas, the organ responsible for producing insulin naturally to regulate blood sugar. The more a person drinks, the more damage to that organ and the higher the risk of developing prediabetes, which can lead to type 2 diabetes.

According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA) , prediabetes is when a person's blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be type 2 diabetes. Prediabetics are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

The risk of prediabetes may be even higher for people with high blood pressure, according to preliminary research introduced April 18 at the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation's EuroPRevent meeting. Lucio Mos, of San Antonio Hospital at the University of Padova, Italy, found that patients with high blood pressure who drank more than 10 drinks a day had a six-times higher risk of developing a prediabetic condition.

Drinking alcohol, especially in large quantities, contributes to diabetes in three ways.
1. Heavy drinking can reduce the body’s sensitivity to insulin (according to the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism)
2.Diabetes is a common side effect of chronic pancreatitis, which is overwhelmingly caused by heavy drinking, especially in men. (See related examiner.com article on the Y-chromosome and pancreatitis)
3.Alcohol contains a huge amount of calories. One beer can be equivalent to a slice of pizza. (see examiner.com article on alcohol calories) The extra calories increase your chance of becoming overweight, another diabetes risk factor.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 26 million children and adults in the U.S. have diabetes and another 79 million Americans have prediabetes. Many people with alcohol use disorders already may be prediabetic and not know it, according to the ADA, “because the symptoms develop so gradually, people often don't recognize them. Some people have no symptoms at all.”
Signs of prediabetes include:
unusual thirst
frequent urination
blurred vision
extreme fatigue
frequent infections
cuts/bruises that are slow to heal
tingling/numbness in the hands/feet
recurring skin, gum or bladder infections

Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, non-traumatic lower-limb amputations and new cases of blindness among adults, and a major cause of heart disease and stroke. It's the seventh-leading cause of death.
--from examiner.com (see full article)
www.alcohologist.com

The new radio interview replay is available at alcohologist.com... and please read the new interview with Scott Stevens at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international historical fiction novelist from the UK.