Word: endocrinologist
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...obese people, cells quickly become sated and sluggish. They reduce their sensitivity to insulin and, thus, their appetite for glucose. To compensate, the pancreas heroically pumps out more and more insulin. Usually it is able to keep up with the work load. As Dr. Jeffrey Flier, an endocrinologist at Beth Israel Hospital, emphasizes, "Most obese people do not have diabetes." In susceptible individuals, however, obesity can overload the system, and insulin-producing cells begin to stop functioning. One intriguing, if controversial, hypothesis suggests that obese people may produce large quantities of amylin, a protein made by the same cells that...
Whether they suffer from Type I or Type II, diabetics must be educated and motivated to manage their disease on a daily basis. "Yet ironically," notes University of Vermont endocrinologist Dr. Edward Horton, president of the American Diabetes Association, "our health-care system does not pay for education." That, experts agree, needs to change. As the U.S. population ages rapidly, diabetes, which already costs the nation $20 billion a year, is expected to become increasingly common. And since rising affluence and obesity go hand in hand, the disease can be expected to take root and flourish in developing countries, where...
While such a choice is unconventional, it is also natural, argues Dr. Robert Nachtigall, a reproductive endocrinologist in San Francisco. Because women have a monthly hormonal cycle, "they can't escape the fact that their bodies are telling them to do something," he says. "The biological drive to reproduce may be stronger than the cultural yen to get married...
...cure-all for aging. For one thing, cells of the brain, eyes, ears and elastic tissues such as ligaments and tendons are not responsive to HGH. "The ((Wisconsin)) study does demonstrate clear-cut effects of growth hormone," says Dr. Mary Lee Vance, a University of Virginia endocrinologist who wrote an editorial accompanying the report, "but to say it reverses the effects of aging is an overstatement. It's just one part of the equation." Other processes that may influence aging include cumulative tissue damage caused by destructive particles called free radicals that form within the body, and the inability...
Drugs, however, are not a substitute for diet and exercise, warns Ira Goldberg, an endocrinologist at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. He has already uncovered backsliders among his lovastatin patients. "We saw a couple of people whose cholesterol levels had gone down 30% to 40% but then started creeping back up." Doctors are concerned that lifelong use of lovastatin, which could cost $1,000 or more a year, may cause some people to develop cataracts or liver problems. "The real test will be the next few years, when a lot of people are taking the drug," says...