Build Up Catch Up - 5/12/23

Inflammed about Inflammation, We'll see you LADA, Chatting about ChatGPT, Book Nook Pick.

Inflamed about Inflammation

One of the buzzwords all over the internet these days is “inflammation” with headlines like:

Foods that cause inflammation…Anti-inflammatory foods or diet…Supplements you can take to prevent inflammation…

Vaguely mentioning inflammation as the cause of a myriad of health problems has become a technique used by wellness gurus and influencers to promote or sell restrictive diets, different food products or unnecessary supplements. They demonize certain foods or ingredients (“seed oils” or gluten) and tell you to buy others (e.g. avocados, grass-fed beef). They talk glibly about inflammation, a complex reaction, without any explanation of the difference between acute (e.g. a bee sting) and chronic inflammation (long term that can lead to high blood pressure and other chronic diseases). They forget to mention that you can be tested for inflammation or how you can tell if inflammation has resolved.

This is not to say that inflammation doesn’t exist, but for some facts not fear about inflammation, start with dietitian Karen Collins who writes about the different types of inflammation and how to test for inflammation (C-reactive protein - CRP).

Podcast Pick - Tim Crowe on “Thinking Nutrition” dives into claims around inflammation and debunks the idea that dairy is the cause of inflammation.

Bottom Line: Beware of people promoting or making claims about individual foods, (restrictive) diets or supplements as cures or treatments for inflammation as this may be a red flag of pseudoscience.

LADA - Latent Auto-Immune Diabetes in Adults (aka Diabetes 1.5)

.(PDF) A Systematic Mapping Study on the Risk Factors Leading to Type II Diabetes Mellitus Mellitus (researchgate.net).

Have you ever had a patient referred to you for diabetes education for new-onset Type 2 diabetes but who didn’t fit the typical profile Type 2 diabetes, or of someone with Type 1 diabetes? Maybe they were in their 30’s, active and fit but with a HbA1C of 10%….Could it be they didn’t have Type 2, but a hybrid form of Type 1 diabetes known as LADA?

LADA or Latent Auto-immune Diabetes in Adults is a form of diabetes that may be unfamiliar to you. The term was not introduced until 1993 and is often known as diabetes 1.5.

Individuals with LADA are sometimes mistakenly diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, but they may present quite differently than Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes:

Podcast Pick:

“Getting Type 1 as an Adult - LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults”

With Expert Endocrinologists Living with T1D, Drs. Steven V. Edelman & Jeremy Pettus Getting Type 1 as an Adult - LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults) – Featuring Mila Clarke Buckley health writer, journalist and person with LADA who talks about the “fail” with how she was diagnosed and the frustrating path to get appropriate care.

Bottom Line: If you’ve ever had a patient referred to you who seems atypical in terms of presentation of diabetes, or if they’re not responding to treatment in an expected way —this should trigger some reflection. If their age, weight or presentation makes you think their diabetes exhibits aspects of both Type 1 and Type 2 it may be because their diabetes is more of a hybrid situation and could be LADA. These individuals should have auto-antibodies and C-peptide checked to see what is going on with their insulin.

For Dietitians, a Group to follow/join: Build Up Dietitians and DIABETES

Chat about ChatGPT/AI

Poll done in our CLINICAL group - 58 responses. Similar results from a poll done in our CAREERS group.

ChatGPT/AI is a hot topic right now. What sort of impact will it have on schools, learning and even on the role of dietitians? Is it a useful tool or will it undermine or eliminate the role of dietitians in some settings?

We would encourage you to experiment with ChatGPT to see what sort of answers and content it produces. In this Bon Appetit article (with dietitians quoted) they notice some of the problems with diet and nutrition advice from ChatGPT “…we shouldn’t use ChatGPT as a replacement dietitian—and need to be wary of any meal-planning ideas it generates. “The concern is that it might help promote unnecessarily restrictive diets and trigger vulnerable individuals, such as people with a history of disordered eating,” says Marisa Moore, RDN, a registered dietitian…”

If the information asked is basic, it may not be an issue:

It does offer a disclaimer: “ChatGPT may produce inaccurate information about people, places, or facts.” and limitations like these:

A Group dietitians might want to join: Build Up Dietitians Career Advice

Bottom Line: ChatGPT is here and your children or grandchildren are probably already aware of it. It’s good to understand the limitations of this new AI (Artificial Intelligence). ChatGPT seems like it provides a mash up of information from a variety of internet resources—kind of like a meta-analysis —-and this one results in a text answer. Just like a meta-analysis, the answer that come out is only as good as the sources that go into it.

Book Nook

“Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World’s Worst Diseases”

Authors: Lydia Kang, MD and Nate Pederson

From plagues in history to Covid19 and from syphilis to Hepatitis C. How diseases start and how they are spread

A Group Dietitians might want to join: Build UP Book and Podcast Group