Comparison of the effects of dried peas with those of potatoes in mixed meals on postprandial glucose and insulin concentrations in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Background: Data on the blood glucose response of diabetic patients to mixed meals containing food both rich in fiber and with a low glycemic index, such as dried peas, is scarce. Thus, the extent to which type 2 diabetic patients should take into account low-glycemic, high-fiber foods for their daily carbohydrate intake is uncertain.

Objective: We compared the glycemic and insulinemic responses to 3 different meals based on dried peas, potatoes, or both in patients with type 2 diabetes undergoing dietary treatment.

Simvastatin in primary biliary cirrhosis: effects on serum lipids and distinct disease markers.

Background/aims: Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is an autoimmune disease of the liver with inflammation of small and middle-sized bile ducts. Serum lipids are frequently elevated, but the use of a lipid lowering drug therapy in PBC is still a matter of debate. Application of an inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase in hypercholesterolemic PBC patients was therefore the subject of the present study.

Acupuncture treatment of chronic low-back pain -- a randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled trial with 9-month follow-up.

There is some evidence for the efficacy of acupuncture in chronic low-back pain (LBP), but it remains unclear whether acupuncture is superior to placebo. In a randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled trial, we evaluated the effect of traditional acupuncture in chronic LBP. A total of 131 consecutive out-patients of the Department of Orthopaedics, University Goettingen, Germany, (age=48.