Reframe Daily: Diabetes breakthroughs: diet steadies sugar, drug duo protects kidneys + Why we doomscroll

Reframe Daily—curated by Christin Chong (neuroscience PhD, Buddhist chaplain, healthtech strategy consultant)—delivers optimistic and credible healthtech updates you won’t find in most popular news outlets, from sources scientists and healthcare providers read and trust.

Today in one sentence: A diabetes-friendly DASH diet kept blood sugar steadier in a randomized crossover trial; starting finerenone with empagliflozin cut kidney-damage markers in people with diabetes and CKD; lab work showed pancreas cells push more glucose transporters to the surface to boost insulin release; and human nerve maps in diabetic neuropathy revealed new inflammatory targets for future treatments.

Christin’s note: Before I talk about new projects, I’m grounding in why I started—minimalism taught me to love open space, but decluttering alone can become its own loop if we don’t touch the pain underneath. Doomscrolling “works” because it soothes, just not deeply. What’s helped is pairing simple living with trauma-informed practice: building somatic awareness, safety, and real kindness toward myself. I’m leaving in the fumbles to keep it human, and I’ll keep sharing practical entry points for being your own mind mechanic.

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Good news: A diabetes-friendly version of the DASH diet helped people with type 2 diabetes keep blood sugar steadier in a randomized crossover trial. This means simple food swaps can help the body handle glucose better.

DASH4D diet for glycemic control and glucose variability in type 2 diabetes: a randomized crossover trial

Market readiness: 😊😊😊😊 (you can adopt this eating pattern now; larger, longer trials will show long-term benefits). 

Good news: Starting two already-approved medicines together (finerenone + empagliflozin) lowered kidney-damage markers more than either drug alone in people with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease. This could better protect kidneys sooner.

Finerenone with Empagliflozin in Chronic Kidney Disease and Type 2 Diabetes

Market readiness: 😊😊😊😊😊 (both drugs are on the market in the US; evidence supports using them together in practice). 

Good news: Scientists uncovered a new way pancreatic cells boost insulin release at high glucose—by rapidly moving glucose transporters (“GLUTs”) to the cell surface. This points to fresh drug targets to help the body make insulin when needed.

Dynamic GLUT trafficking at high glucose levels enhances insulin secretion

Market readiness: 😊 (lab discovery; could guide future medicines but not ready for people yet).

Good news: Researchers mapped how diabetic peripheral neuropathy changes human nerves toward inflammatory states, highlighting new targets (like axon mRNA transport and immune pathways) that future treatments could calm or correct.

Cell and molecular profiles in peripheral nerves shift toward inflammatory phenotypes in diabetic peripheral neuropathy

Market readiness: 😊 (mechanistic human-tissue study; helps design therapies but not a treatment by itself yet).

Thank you for taking the time to take care of yourself and your loved ones.