Advanced diabetes manager Joanne Rinker discusses changes in the 2024 American Diabetes Association Standards of Care, including offering continuous glucose monitoring to all individuals with type 1 diabetes and those with type 2 diabetes who use basal insulin. Time in range data obtained through CGM helps pinpoint blood glucose trends throughout the day, helping to predict risks for complications and improve awareness of hypoglycemia.

A study published in JAMA Network Open found that people who get less than six hours of sleep per night may carry a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Investigators looked at more than 10 years of UK Biobank data from 247,867 adults and concluded that those with a five-hour sleep duration had a 16% greater risk of developing diabetes, and those getting three to four hours had a 41% higher risk compared to individuals who got seven to eight hours of rest.

Not all processed food is created equal, and registered dietitian Kim Shapira prefers not to label foods using words like "bad" or "good." Shapira recommends focusing on a diet that includes fruits, vegetables, fermented foods, probiotics and whole grains, but also says the occasional treat is OK. "The foods we eat should be improving our health, and if some of our diet has birthday cake on occasion, I feel like that's normal," Shapira says.

A consensus statement published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology focused on helping prepare families who plan to build their child's tolerance to common food allergens, including giving oral immunotherapy to children, as well as alternative therapies and options to OIT, such as continued food avoidance. The researchers used the Delphi methodology to agree on statements and themes, including consent forms, standard operating procedures and processes.

Breast cancer survivors who adhere to a heart-healthy DASH diet may reduce their risk of heart disease, including heart failure and irregular heart rhythm, potentially mitigating the toxic effects of cancer treatment on the heart, researchers reported in JNCI Cancer Spectrum. "Our findings suggest that we need to begin talking to breast cancer survivors about the potential heart benefits of the DASH diet," lead researcher Isaac Ergas said.

The FDA said shortages of most dose sizes of Eli Lilly and Co.'s diabetes medication Mounjaro and weight loss drug Zepbound are likely to continue through the second quarter of 2024, mainly because supply is not keeping up with high demand. Officials originally said the shortages were expected to run through this month. Only the 2.5 mg dose of each drug remains unaffected by the supply issue.

A decision support tool based on machine learning outperformed existing risk assessment tools for heart failure and may help clinicians tailor treatments, researchers reported in the American Heart Journal. The tool is available to other clinicians for free.

Contemplative medicine using techniques such as mindfulness and meditation may help palliative care practitioners ease the emotional cost of caring for the seriously ill and reduce stress and burnout. Koshin Paley Ellison, a monk and co-author of the book "Awake at the Bedside: Contemplative Teachings on Palliative and End-of-Life Care," has developed a contemplative medicine fellowship through the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, along with fellow monk Chodo Robert Campbell.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals' chief scientist, Dr. David Altshuler, discusses in an interview the importance of developing non-opioid pain drugs that are not addictive. The company is working on several medications in the opioid alternative space, and as part of the research, scientists have studied individuals with a rare genetic inability to sense pain. "Our goal is to make medicines that act in the periphery, not in the brain, so they wouldn't have the same potential risk," Altshuler said.

Generative AI will rapidly grow more powerful and eventually will be ubiquitous in health care, but it will be different from past AI models like IBM's Watson, writes former Permanente Medical Group CEO Robert Pearl. No one imagined that the smartphone would become an essential tool in everyday life, and it's equally easy to dismiss the potential of generative AI, but it's increasingly clear that the technology will enable continuous access to reliable, affordable medical advice, Pearl writes.