Shortly after my daughter was diagnosed in 2001 I learned about the juvenile diabetes research foundation and the great work they had been doing to find a cure for her diabetes. Over the years I held hope that their investments in promising research done by trail-blazing scientists would pan out before she became an adult and had to deal with the potentially deadly effects of low blood sugar at night and awful complications from high blood sugar over time.

Through the course of the past 8 years I have gradually stopped trying to figure out how to get JDRF involved in the innovative research that I’ve had a hand in. My research has been focused on the here and now - lower hanging fruit for sure vs a cure found in the lab. In addition, mine is a commercial venture focused on helping people to more easily manage with the help of information technology in the form of wireless devices and some pretty slick software.

It’s taken a few $million to get here from a combination of credit cards, friends and family and the ability to win several competitive research grants from federal agencies and lesser known medical research foundations. We recently announced preliminary results from our most rigorous scientific study that showed how our technology, in the hands of patients, provides a clinically significant benefit vs. the current standard of care (ie - a full point reduction in A1c and reductions in glycemic variability all without the dependency on additional visits to the clinic or participation by their medical providers). A subsequent peer review and publication will be the final judge but I can already say that we now know a few special things that can be done today at very low cost to have a significant impact on reducing complications from type 1 diabetes.

I used to think this goal was something I had in common with the JDRF and always struggled with the fact that there has never been a constructive dialogue with them - only my pleadings and attempts to share what I have been learning along the way. Nothing ever came out of those discussions - absolutely nothing. Yet, the data shows that Diabetech and our research partners have the stuff that mitigates complications and makes life with diabetes easier for all concerned.

In light of JDRF’s recently accelerated behavior as some kind of new wave Robin Hood who takes donations from families who walk for a cure and gives millions to large multi-national corporations, I have to wonder if they are now my competitor? I also wonder if this precedent will stifle a company’s future willingness to fund R&D out of their own pocket when they know there is this JDRF bankroll in the wings? What about new investments into this field that don’t involve JDRF? It seems like that just got riskier too since your new fledgling project might find itself up against a giant waving the JDRF banner. So did they just monopolize innovation regarding diabetes technology?

Weird.

As the Project Director of the soon to launch Healthy Families of South Texas community telehealth network, I’m proud to share important news about this new program which expands on our previous work funded in part by grants from the USDA. The project will launch with a community registry so everyone can participate; not just people with diabetes. Then in January we’ll launch the second tier which takes our profile based education to another level - a kind of diabetes version of Amazon’s expert profile based recommendations meets Facebook. The third tier involves working with pregnant mothers with diabetes of all types in the hopes of preventing serious complications. Here’s a quick overview for anyone interested in participating. Note that access to this program is being provided at no cost to the registered members and the 3 years of federal grant dollars means it will continue to enhance the lives of people in this part of Texas for many years to come.

What is the Healthy Families Program?

* HFSTX is an education and health monitoring community resource designed to establish a home based support network around people with diabetes and at risk for diabetes.

Program Goals:

* To improve self-care for patients and their families by increasing their knowledge of better lifestyle choices.

* To provide encouragement and reinforcement.

* To extend access to care into the home vs an unrealistic emphasis on office visits.

How does it work?

* Through Internet and cell phone technology and postcards, enroll patients and their families in the Healthy Families Registry.

* Over time, the Registry helps them to enhance individualized profiles making it possible for their team to receive personalized education and support via email, cell phone text messages and post cards in the mail according to their own preferences.

Check back in a week or two to find out the url for the online home for this program as this is still being decided.

Gotten enough”D” lately?

Thinking about a very essential vitamin has undergone a renaissance in the past few years. It was highlighted by a 2009 report from the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston which found that up to 70% of all children and teens with type 1 diabetes were insufficient or deficient in vitamin D. The reason for this may be less sun exposure or effective use of sunscreen, which blocks most of the vitamin D producing rays of the sun.

Dietary reasons for low vitamin D include less fortified milk consumption (soda pop reigns!) or other sources of vitamin D (oily fish, fortified cereals, eggs).

I have seen this problem in my patients with both forms of diabetes. So, why is there such a fuss about this vitamin? Well as it turns out, vitamin D is necessary for a healthy immune system. But low vitamin D levels are known to be associated with a list of serious diseases, include both types of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, some cancers, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson disease, and Multiple sclerosis to name just a few. Our blood vessels are richly lined with receptors for vitamin D. The current recommendations for daily vitamin D intake are probably too low. On top of that, the current vitamin D intake of most Americans is quite poor. 400 IU is the official RDA for vitamin D, but it may be better to move that value closer to 1000 IU. There have been over 3,000 papers on vitamin D in just the past year. This is a white hot diabetes topic and will remain so for a long time to come. I strongly suggest getting your child with diabetes checked for their 25-hydroxy-vitamin D level at the next office visit. You may be surprised at the result. Personally, I take 1000 mg vitamin D3 daily and have so for over a year.