Sugar control cuts pre-eclampsia risk in diabeticsNEW YORK (Reuters Health) — Pregnant women with Type 1 diabetes who maintain good control of their blood sugar levels during the second trimester are at decreased risk for developing pre-eclampsia, a potentially serious pregnancy complication involving high blood pressure and fluid retention, according to a report in the journal BJOG.“Achieving excellent (sugar) control in the second trimester of pregnancy (rather than in first or third) may reduce the risk of pre-eclampsia in women with...diabetes,” Dr. Rosemary C. Temple told Reuters Health.

Diabetes Type 1, also called juvenile diabetes, tends to begin during childhood and is potentially more serious than Type 2 diabetes, which typically develops in adulthood in people who are overweight.

Temple and colleagues from Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust, UK, examined the relationship between sugar control at different stages of pregnancy and the risk of pre-eclampsia during 290 pregnancies in 178 women with Type 1 diabetes.

Women who developed pre-eclampsia had significantly worse sugar control at 24 weeks than those who did not develop pre-eclampsia and at 12 weeks, the investigators report.

In contrast, the results indicate, sugar control in the first and third trimesters did not differ significantly between women who did and did not develop preeclampsia.

“Greater attention must be given to supporting women to optimise (sugar) control during the second trimester if further progress is to be made,” the team concludes.

“Ideal management of blood (sugar) levels during pregnancy in women with Type 1 diabetes should include women testing blood (sugar) at least seven times daily (before and one-two hours after meals)” and then administering insulin to achieve recommended levels, Temple said.Onions, garlic linked to lower cancer risksNEW YORK (Reuters Health) — People who flavour their diets with plenty of onions and garlic might have lower odds of several types of cancer, a new study suggests.In an analysis of eight studies from Italy and Switzerland, researchers found that older adults with the highest onion and garlic intakes had the lowest risks of a number of cancers — including colon, ovarian and throat cancers.

The findings, which appear in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, are in line with some past research. But those studies were mainly conducted in China, and it is unclear if the results are different in Western countries.

Dietary habits are substantially different in China, with garlic intake, in particular, being far higher, Dr. Carlotta Galeone, the lead author of the new study, told Reuters Health.

These latest findings suggest the anti-cancer benefit of these vegetables extend to Western populations, according to Galeone, a researcher at the Mario Negri Institute of Pharmacologic Research in Milan, Italy.

It’s still not certain that onions and garlic have a direct effect on cancer risk. It’s possible, for instance, that onion and garlic lovers also have an overall diet that protects against cancer, according to Galeone and her colleagues. On the other hand, they note, animal studies and lab experiments with cancer cells have found that certain compounds in onions and garlic may inhibit the growth of tumours.

Sulfur compounds found in garlic and antioxidant flavonoids in onions are among the potentially protective substances.

The current findings are based on results from eight studies conducted in Italy and Switzerland.

Each study compared healthy older adults to patients with a particular form of cancer, asking participants for detailed information on their diets, physical activity and other lifestyle habits.Eating slowly really does make people eat lessNEW YORK (Reuters Health) — A new study provides the first-ever scientific proof that if you eat slowly, you will eat less — and you will enjoy the meal more.Women consumed about 70 fewer calories when they were told to take their time eating a meal of pasta and sauce, compared to when they were instructed to eat it as quickly as possible. They also rated the meal as more pleasant when they ate slowly.

“They got more pleasure for (fewer) calories, and more satiety for (fewer) calories,” Dr. Kathleen Melanson of the University of Rhode Island in Kingston told Reuters Health.

Melanson decided to conduct the study when she learned there was no research to support the familiar claim that eating slowly reduces appetite.

She and her colleagues had 30 young women eat a meal of ditalini with tomato and vegetable sauce, topped with Parmesan cheese, under two different conditions. Before each meal, the women had eaten a standard 400-calorie breakfast, and then fasted for four hours.

At one visit to the lab, study participants were given a large spoon and told not to pause between bites and to eat as quickly as possible.