DiabeticFamilyLife.com Features Weight Management Perspectives By Dr. Caroline J. Cederquist

CHERRY HILL, NEW JERSEY (December 2005) - DiabeticFamilyLife.com, http://www.diabeticfamilylife.com, an independent, online news and information resource for today's diabetic families, features perspectives on weight management by Caroline J. Cederquist, M.D. a board certified Family Physician and a board certified Bariatric Physicians - the medical specialty of weight management). She specializes in lifetime weight management at the Cederquist Medical Wellness Center of Naples, Florida.

In the December 2005 perspective featured at DiabeticFamilyLife.com, Dr. Cederquist reports that: ovarian cysts aren’t usually a big deal. Most women get a few through the course of their lives and never even know it. On the other hand, if you ever had one burst, you’d never forget it. The rupture of an ovarian cyst can be excruciatingly painful. While it’s generally harmless, medically speaking, the pain often sends women terrified to the emergency room, convinced their appendix has given out, or worse. It’s not an experience you’d ever want to repeat. But women with polycystic ovary syndrome often have to. As the name implies, these gals often have many ovarian cysts. It doesn’t mean they’ll rupture, or rupture any more often, but there are actually other characteristics of polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, that could be more important than even that awful pain. That’s because women with PCOS are far more likely to have insulin resistance, which makes them subject to higher rates of diabetes and heart disease. And not surprisingly, most women with PCOS are overweight.

What’s the trouble? Dr. Cederquist reports that PCOS is both a hormonal and a metabolic disorder. Women with PCOS produce too much androgen, a male hormone. An excess of androgen can cause menstrual irregularities, weight gain, acne, excess hair growth, and the production of those ovarian cysts. They’re also overwhelmingly likely to have insulin resistance, a condition that develops over time and makes it harder and harder for your body to metabolize energy, so it kicks up its insulin production to compensate. People with insulin resistance gain weight more easily and have a harder time losing it.

To read the complete column by Dr. Cederquist or for more information, visit http://www.diabeticfamilylife.com. For more information or to speak with an editor at DiabeticFamilyLife.com, call the editorial team at 856-216-9956.