Health

Obesity in Adults: Adapting a Clinical Practice Guideline for South Africa, has now been published and is available as an Open Access article through Taylor & Francis. I'm delighted to share that our clinical practice guideline, "Obesity in Adults: Adapting a Clinical Practice Guideline for South Africa," has now been published and is [...]

Christine Manga unpacks the key reasons why people living with diabetes may be temporarily or permanently deferred from donating blood. Can I donate blood? is a common question among people living with diabetes. The short answer is yes, most people with diabetes can donate blood safely. Many people who have prediabetes or early-stage diabetes [...]

HOW DO I KNOW I AM MANAGING MY DIABETES WELL? The 24/7 management of diabetes is all consuming and it is sometimes difficult to see the right path among the multitudes of medications and endless glucose readings. To check your direction, it is necessary to zoom out and look at the big picture: [...]

Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future World Food Day 2025 is calling for global collaboration in creating a peaceful, sustainable, prosperous, and food-secure future. By working together,across governments, organizations, sectors, and communities, we can transform agrifood systems to ensure that everyone has access to a healthy diet, living in [...]

DIABETES AND CANCER Part 1 A diagnosis of either diabetes or cancer causes significant stress. Although cancer is not a typical complication of diabetes, there is an increase in the occurrence of cancer in people living with diabetes (PLWD). In 2009 the American Diabetes Association and the American Cancer Society developed a consensus document to [...]

TIME TO UNDERSTAND ‘TIME IN RANGE’ It is estimated that about a half a billion people are living with diabetes worldwide. Most of them will have Type 2 diabetes, with about 10% living with Type 1 diabetes. Large scale studies have proven that good glucose control reduces the complications associated with diabetes: cardiovascular [...]

SHOULD I HAVE A FLU VACCINE? SHOULD I HAVE A FLU VACCINE? Every year more than 6000 people die from influenza (flu) in South Africa.   Thousands more are hospitalized and many lose income from missing work. Influenza is a viral illness which has a sudden onset causing fever, sore throat, body pains and headache.   [...]

AN APPROACH TO TREATING OBESITY-Part 1 The Canadian Obesity Guidelines define obesity as follows: Obesity is a prevalent, complex, progressive and relapsing chronic disease, characterized by abnormal or excessive body fat (adiposity), that impairs health. Let me break down that definition: Prevalent – common in the world; the World Health Organization says that 43% [...]

OZEMPIC – A STORY OF SOCIAL MEDIA vs SCIENCE Dr Angela Murphy writes: The twin pandemics of obesity and Type 2 diabetes have created a need to find an effective treatment for both chronic diseases. Yes, obesity is also a chronic disease. A disease is a disordered condition in the body – in diabetes [...]

How Biokineticists can assist with exercise in diabetes – Hennie Fourie explains: A biokineticist will perform a personalised evaluation and assign an exercise prescription that will help improve your glycaemic control. Principles for exercise There are various principles that biokineticists use to ensure that exercise is prescribed correctly. Frequency: This is how often [...]