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30% of American Indians on the White Earth Reservation have Type 2, which is three times the national average.

Accessibility to fresh fruits and vegetables plays an integral role in a community’s health. Often we stumble upon “food deserts – regions where grocery stores with fresh, healthy options simply don’t exist.” 

This summer, a new food truck has set out to make healthy eating more accessible to those who are not near grocery stores. White Earth Nation purchased a “healthy” food truck to help tribal members have access to healthy, locally produced and traditional foods. 

Unhealthy eating habits are often tied to generations with limited access to fresh foods and can lead to chronic long-term health problems. 

The goal of the new food truck is to provide more choices, as the White Earth Food truck travels to reservation villages in the summer with fresh produce and in the winter with other foods like squash, wild rice and preserves made from summer crops.

To learn more about the new food truck – White Earth hopes food truck puts reservation on road to better health by MPRnews

Please also enjoy our Plant Based Resource page

The FreeStyle Libre is a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), which automatically measures glucose readings day and night. This technology helps track glucose levels and in turn, manage diabetes. A new study suggest that CGM helps decrease health costs as it improves treatment adherence. Although people are still advised to perform standard glucose tests to confirm the accuracy, the monitor is reading and reporting glucose levels automatically through out the day. 

The study suggest that from a cost perspective, the CGM saves money due to the lessened frequency of testing and materials necessary. The study also found that people with Type 1 and 2 experienced a reduction in hypoglycemia when using the CGM. 

“For people with T1DM or T2DM who use MDI therapy, flash CGM has demonstrated improved adherence to the ADA recommendation as well as reduced acquisition cost when compared with routine SMBG.” 

Learn more with – FreeStyle Libre boosts testing adherence and lowers costs during MDI treatment, US study reports by Diabetes.co.uk

View our July Newsletter

For this issue, we discuss the differences and similarities of human and analog insulin. Topics covered include:

• Insulin, Analogs or Human Insulin?
• The ADA Petition to keep insulin affordable
• Human Insulin for Medicare Beneficiaries
• and more!

Click here to read our newsletter! 

Please check out this fantastic resource by “Mom loves best” – The 111 Benefits of Breastfeeding – For Babies, Moms & Everyone Else

The “Plant-based movement” has gained increasing popularity within the past few years, with more people turning to fruits and vegetables to help improve their health. As interest increases, as does research. A study conducted suggest four main foods that can have big benefits to the heart, such as lowering your cholesterol and blood pressure!

The fours foods said to benefit cholesterol include:

• Nuts
• Plant Protein such as tofu, soy milk, beans, peas, chickpeas, etc,.
• Soluble fibers such as oats, eggplant, apples, oranges
• Margarine enhanced with plant sterols, or “cholesterol-like” compounds that can be found in fruits, vegetables, nuts, and cereals

Multiple governmental organizations such as the European Association for the Study of Diabetes are beginning to recognize and further investigate this particular diet as a prevention plan for cardiovascular diseases. 

Particularly the recommended foods above, called the “Portfolio” diet, which includes an intake of 42 grams of nuts, 20 grams of soluble fiber, 2 grams of plant sterols, and 50 grams of plant protein. The study concluded, “overall, the analysis found that sticking to the Portfolio diet lowers total cholesterol levels, as well as triglycerides (which are the most common fat types in the human body), blood pressure, and C-reactive protein (which is a marker of inflammation).” 

As research continues, we are seeing more and more evidence that a plant-based diet is not only restorative to your health, but can also be preventative.

Check out additional Plant Based Eating Resources here.

You can learn more – “These four foods are proven to lower your cholesterol” by Medical News Today

According to a statement made recently by Eli Lilly, they have submitted a nasal glucagon treatment to the FDA. The treatment would be for cases of severe hypoglycemia in adults and children with diabetes. This treatment would be the first of it’s kind, a nasal spray, to treat low blood glucose emergencies in those with diabetes.  

“The submissions put us one step closer to bringing this innovative rescue medicine to the diabetes community and filling an important need in the treatment of severe hypoglycemia,” said Thomas Hardy, Senior Medical Director, Lilly Diabetes, told Endocrine Today. 

The way glucagon is currently administered can be a complicated process, requiring the administer to reconstitute the powder and other steps. This can be a confusing process, particularly if you are a caregiver a a child with diabetes. The new nasal glucagon would deliver the medicine in a powder form in an easy, ready to use format. Many people already understand how to use nose spray, making this functional but also realistic in a hypoglycemic emergency. 

 “This is important and different. You don’t want people to get low [blood sugar], but they do. It’s not a pretend problem, and the fact that the science is clear that people don’t know how to treat it makes it a real problem. With this nasal glucagon kit, anyone could rescue them.”

To learn more about the new nasal glucagon – Lilly submits NDA for nasal glucagon by Helio Endocrine Today

By: Sofia Sepulveda

A recent study by the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health has found that breastfeeding has a major impact on the kind of gut bacteria that a baby develops. Babies that were breastfed in this study showed to have more beneficial gut bacteria that decreases risk of obesity in their future.

Breast milk plays a critical role in the present and future health of an individual. Breast milk ” contains, oligosaccharides which are complex sugars that feed specific gut bacteria.” It specifically fed the good bacteria in the gut that has a positive effect on how fat is stored and burned. These oligosaccharides are not present in infant formula. This may contribute to increased weight and risk of obesity for formula fed babies.

This particular study assessed over 1,000 infants during their first year of life. Stool samples were taken during month 3 and month 12 and were used to test for gut bacteria diversity. Weight differences became apparent around the 3 month mark, as the babies receiving formula were typically overweight or at risk. Only 19 percent of the babies who were breastfed were overweight or at risk compared to 33 percent of the formula fed babies.

The research emphasizes that breastmilk has “many important bioactive components that influence appetite and weight gain, including growth factors and hormones, which are not present in infant formulas.” This weight difference is most likely due to the nutrients contained in breast milk that are not found in formula.

Microbes have a very special role in the way that we digest food. Individuals accumulate these microbes in many different ways and may be affected by, “the type of delivery, whether the baby or mother gets antibiotics, and what the baby is fed and when solid foods are introduced.” Not having a healthy array of microbes is associated with weight gain and increased the likelihood of obesity during infancy.

For more information, visit “Infant formula could change gut bacteria, contribute to childhood obesity”

To help get the word out visit World Breast Feeding Week Resource Page

You can also learn more about Women and Diabetes with our webinar below or via the “Women and Diabetes Resource Page”