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May 25, 2011
This Friday, May 27, Northeast Community Clinics will be celebrating our 40th Anniversary. That’s right. Forty years ago Friday we opened our first clinic in Northeast Los Angeles as one of the first of Los Angeles’ free clinics. It was actually located a stone’s throw from our current clinics on Figueroa in Highland Park.
Now 40 years later, 12 NECC community clinics provide quality healthcare to residents of some of the most indigent, underserved, and uninsured communities of Los Angeles from Wilmington to Hawthorne to downtown LA to Bell. We do this in a linguistically competent and culturally sensitive manner. Our clinic staff, including most providers, is bilingual (and sometimes tri-lingual). Many have grown up in the areas they serve today.
If you have been reading my columns in 2011, you know we have implemented a new fundraising campaign called “The Fabulous 40” in which we ask everyone to make a $40 dollar (or more) to NECC.
So “40” is the number for the year. Imagine the impact if 5,000 (of the patients in LA County) all gave $40 to Northeast Community Clinics to help those in need. That would be $200,000 towards affordable vital healthcare to those most in need.
I look forward to your participation in our cause as we transform lives and meet the healthcare needs of the poor, uninsured and underserved by building healthier communities for a brighter tomorrow.
Do your part and donate today to honor NECC’s 40 years of service to Los Angeles County and its most underserved populations.
Be well,
Christopher Lau, MD
NECC Executive Director/CEO
Building up to 10,000 steps a day can help control weight and may reduce diabetes risk, new research in suggests.
Of 592 middle-aged adults, those who increased the number of steps they took during a five-year period and built up to 10,000 steps per day had a lower body mass index, less belly fat, and better insulin sensitivity than their counterparts who did not take as many steps daily during the same time period.
A hallmark of diabetes, insulin resistance occurs when the body's cells stop responding as well to the action of the hormone insulin, which helps the body use blood sugar (glucose) for energy. The pancreas tries to compensate by producing more insulin, but ultimately fails to keep pace. As a result, excess glucose builds up in the bloodstream, setting the stage for diabetes.
Weight loss is known to increase insulin sensitivity, so researchers suggest that increased walking led to weight loss and decreased body fat which, in turn, improved diabetes risk factors.
“These findings, confirming an independent beneficial role of higher daily step count on body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, and insulin sensitivity, provide further support to promote higher physical activity levels among middle-aged adults,” conclude researchers. “The use of a pedometer for measuring physical activity allows quantification of the magnitude of these effects.”
Participants answered questions about their diet and other lifestyle factors and had a full physical exam when the study began. They were also asked to wear pedometers to count the number of steps they took each day. Researchers followed up with the study participants five years later to see how many steps they were taking, and reassessed their diabetes risk factors.
Those who built up to 10,000 steps a day and kept at it showed a threefold improvement in their insulin sensitivity at five years, when compared with participants who only increased their daily steps to 3,000 per day, the study showed.
“We know that any time you lose weight, you will have improvements in insulin sensitivity and one of the hallmarks of diabetes is insulin resistance or insensitivity,” the American Diabetes Association says.
But taking extra steps does not always lead to weight loss.
“I wouldn't conclude that if you start taking a few more steps a day, you are going to make diabetes go away,” the Association says. “That is a reach, but losing weight will help prevent or treat diabetes.”
American Diabetes Association says taking extra steps can help improve diabetes control even in the absence of weight loss.
“It’s a good idea to walk or exercise more, but this may not necessarily lead to weight loss, but it will help improve insulin action and diabetes control,” they say. Physical activity may lead to changes in body fat composition instead of weight loss, and these changes may help prevent or treat diabetes.
There is evidence that routine changes that are not too difficult to introduce if a person is motivated such as use of cars -- switching to walking when possible -- or climbing steps at work rather than taking the elevator, can help. A more aggressive approach involving taking up an exercise program can also, of course, help.
Kaiser Permanente sponsored programs for exercise and nutrtition for children and adults at NECC clinics throughout the last three years. Families that exercise and eat well together stay healthy together!
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The Fabulous 40
