The use of designated health food (DHF) has increased among subjects with diabetes. Unfortunately, some such users have paid less attention to diet and exercise because they rely too much on DHF efficacy. Conducting a questionnaire on DHF and its effects on behavior in those with type 2 diabetes, we surveyed 154 such subjects, 29 % of whom used DHF, and analyzed the relationship between blood glucose control and DHF use. No significant difference was seen in plasma HbA1c (JDS) levels between DHF users and nonusers. We divided subjects into four subgroups (A: DHF user with suitable dietary habits, B: DHF user with poor dietary habits, C: DHF nonuser with suitable dietary habits, D: DHF nonuser with poor dietary habits) based on DHF use and dietary habits, comparing their plasma HbA1c levels. The DHF user group with suitable dietary habits had significantly lower plasma HbA1c levels at 6.5 % than the DHF user group with poor dietary habits of 7.6 % DHF users with poor dietary habits appeared to view DHF as a diet therapy substitute, even though diet therapy is thought to be essential for blood glucose control. This makes it important for medical staff to teach those with diabetes and poor dietary habits that DHF use cannot be substituted for diet therapy.

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Evidence of Calcium Channel Blocker (CCB) on the effects of diabetic nephropathy is less well established than for RAS inhibitors. We studied long-term nifedipine effects on hypotensive effect and renal function in hypertensive diabetes subjects whose blood pressure is not well enough controlled. Subjects were 30 hypertensive diabetics whose blood pressure was 130/80 mmHg or more regardless of antihypertensive agent administration. Nifedipine CR tablets of 40 mg were administered once daily for 12 months. Morning home blood pressure was used as the indicator. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly in nifedipine CR administration -143±10/82±9 mmHg vs. 129±6/74±12 mmHg, p<0.01. Urinary albumin excretion decrease was also observed. This decrease correlated significantly with reduction in systolic (p=0.00124) and diastolic (p=0.0127) blood pressure. Additional nifedipine CR administration resulted reduced blood pressure and correlated regression and/or remission of associated diabetic nephropathy.

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The use of iPad (Apple Inc., USA), a tablet launched in January 2010, is rapidly expanding to fields, including medicine. Our department bought 9 iPads in July 2010, and set up cloud computing for diabetes education using Dropbox (Dropbox, Inc., USA), an online storage service. We report the results of our study on iPad usefulness in diabetes education. To determine iPad usefulness, treatment guidance was provided to 24 subjects with diabetes using an iPad, a laptop, and printed material. The results of a questionnaire showed that iPad was highly ranked by subjects for its easy-to-understand image display and operability, and ranked above the laptop and print. iPad has become an extremely useful device for diabetes training, and is expected to be further used as educational applications develop.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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