Drinking a barley extract-enriched beverage may help to improve insulin sensitivity and prevent against type 2 diabetes.

Betulin, a compound found in abundance in birch bark, blocks a key pathway involved in cholesterol production.

Healthy people who are genetically predisposed to develop type 2 diabetes are also predisposed to weight gain. 

One’s risk of future chronic disease may be impacted by factors beyond body mass index (BMI).

Men with fasting levels of insulin that are elevated but still within the normal range may be at increased risk of prostate cancer. Demetrius Albanes, from the National Cancer Institute (Maryland USA), and colleagues studied 100 men with incident prostate cancer and 400 age-matched controls within the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study in Finland.