New Diabetes Treatment Teaches Rogue Immune Cells to Behave

FRIDAY, July 14, 2017 -- A treatment targeting wayward immune cells in people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes may help even years later, a new study finds.

For the treatment, researchers take blood from a person with diabetes and separate out the immune system cells (lymphocytes). They briefly expose those cells to stem cells from umbilical cord blood from an unrelated infant. Then they return the lymphocytes to the patient's body.

More Than 100 Million Americans Have Diabetes or Prediabetes: CDC

TUESDAY, July 18, 2017 -- More than 100 million U.S. adults have diabetes or prediabetes, health officials say.

As of 2015, more than 9 percent of the population -- 30.3 million -- had diabetes. Another 84.1 million had prediabetes, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday.

Many People With Type 1 Diabetes Still Make Some Insulin

FRIDAY, June 30, 2017 -- Almost half of people with type 1 diabetes are still producing some insulin more than a decade after being diagnosed with the disease.

The new findings challenge previous assumptions that people with type 1 diabetes lose the ability to produce any insulin -- a hormone that helps usher sugar to cells to be used as fuel -- over time.

Key Diabetes Test Gives Higher Blood Sugar Readings in Black Patients

TUESDAY, June 13, 2017 -- A commonly used blood test that measures average long-term blood sugar levels -- called hemoglobin A1C -- is known to give higher readings for black people with diabetes, and now new research may indicate why.

"There has been a long debate about why African Americans have a higher hemoglobin A1C than whites [with diabetes]. Is it a biological difference or do African Americans have higher blood glucose because they don't have the same access to care or insurance?" said the study's lead author, Dr. Richard Bergenstal.

Broccoli Extract Shows Promise for Type 2 Diabetes

WEDNESDAY, June 14, 2017 -- Your Mom may have been right about broccoli's goodness. A small study hints that a substance in the crunchy veggy may help some with diabetes get better control of their blood sugar.

Researchers found that a concentrated extract of the substance, called sulforaphane, helped obese type 2 diabetes patients rein in their stubbornly high blood sugar levels.

Can Folks With Type 2 Diabetes Forgo the Finger Stick?

SATURDAY, June 10, 2017 -- People with type 2 diabetes who aren't taking insulin don't necessarily need to check their blood sugar levels, a new study contends.

Many of these patients use "finger prick" blood sugar monitors, but "testing blood sugar didn't have any impact on their blood sugar," said study author Dr. Laura Young, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina.