Third JSDEI Symposium in Japan held in Nagoya

May 26, 2010

On March 22, 2010, the third Joslin-Sunstar Diabetes Education Initiative (JSDEI) Symposium was held in the city of Nagoya in Central Japan, Japan's third largest metropolitan area. It explored the theme of "The Linkages between Diet and Nutrition and Diabetes and Oral Health."

This was the third JSDEI Symposium held in Japan, following after the symposia held in Osaka and Tokyo. The Nagoya Symposium was participated in by 273 Japanese professional specialists in the fields of medicine and dentistry. Fifteen dentists from China also attended. In addition, two major daily newspapers and 6 TV stations based in Nagoya came to report on the JSDEI Symposium. That evening, TV news programs in the Nagoya area featured stories about the Symposium.

Dr. George L. King, Director of Research and Head of the Section on Vascular Cell Biology of the Joslin Diabetes Center and a director of the Sunstar Foundation for Oral Health Promotion, gave an opening address, and then seven prominent worldwide experts in medicine and dentistry presented papers that reported on the newest insights in each of their special fields concerning the theme of the Symposium. The program of the Nagoya JSDEI Symposium was as follows:

Latest Development of Therapeutics for Diabetes Mellitus
Dr. William C. Hsu
Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School

Periodontal Disease as a Complication of Diabetes Mellitus
Prof. Toshihide Noguchi
Aichi Gakuin University

The Relationship between Dietary Compositions of Different Races/Ethnicities and Prevalence of Diabetes
Ms. Sophia Cheung
Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School

Diabetes, Diet and the Prevention of Diabetic Complications: The Importance of Unsaturated Fatty Acids
Dr. Atsunori Kashiwagi
Shiga University of Medical Science Hospital

Why Do Diabetes Complications Progress?
Dr. Nigishi Hotta
Chubu Rosai Hospital

The Association of Periodontal Infection with Obesity and Hyperglycemia
Dr. Robert J. Genco
State University of New York at Buffalo

Pathogenesis of Diabetic Microvascular and Cardiovascular Complications
Dr. George L. King
Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School

In his paper, Dr. Hsu presented an overview of current and future diabetes medications, diabetes devices and future promises, and diabetes treatment in the context of cultural and pathophysiologic characteristics of Asians. He described the movement from episodic glucose monitoring to continuous glucose monitoring, the shifts from syringes, insulin pens, and insulin pumps to smart pumps and the future prospects for an automated artificial pancreas. Prof. Noguchi in analyzing the characteristics of periodontal disease as a complication of diabetes, described the results of a meta-analysis of the periodontal status of diabetes compared with non-diabetics, an intervention study on periodontal treatment in diabetes patients and analyzed its relationship with other diabetes complications and a study involving experimental periodontitis induction. In her paper, Ms. Sophia Cheung, a research and clinical dietitian/nutritionist at Joslin, concluded, "we are in a new era of nutrition in which we are slowly developing a systematic way of moving from current guidelines, which do not factor in genetic variation, to the ultimate goal of being able to tailor diets to individuals."
Dr. Kashiwagi's paper presented the empirical evidence that the "quality" of diet, particularly the usefulness of a brown rice and vegetables diet and a fish diet with useful unsaturated fatty acids, helps prevent the progression of metabolic syndrome and diabetes and helps to improve vascular endothelial function and protect against thrombosis and other cardiovascular events. In his paper. Dr. Hotta concluded, "it is impossible to ignore IGT (impaired glucose tolerance) in the management of diabetic complications." He stressed that it is crucial to appropriately diagnose and treat diabetes in the early stage. He emphasized that the frequency of complications is related to the number of risk factors and that it is important to make progress in the search for complications related-genes and reduce the effects of risk factors.
Dr. Genco's paper discussed the interaction of periodontal infection with diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome and described the mechanisms that may account for these interactions. He outlined approaches to regulate systemic inflammation, and urged the importance of integrating medical and dental care. Dr. King's paper, the final paper at the Symposium, discussed the microvascular and macrovascular complications of diabetes and its risk factors. He stated that periodontal disease should be classified as both a complication of diabetes and a risk factor for diabetes. He introduced new information about the emerging class of new antihyperglycemic agents, which he divided into antitoxic agents and pro-survivor agents.
After the doctors' presentation of their papers, there was a Q-and-A session that was so stimulating that the session went on for 90 minutes. Because this was an opportunity to directly ask questions to doctors who are active on the front lines in each of their special fields, members of the audience asked many questions. At the end of the Q-and-A session, Dr. Hotta made some closing remarks. He said, "The opportunity to mutually exchange the most advanced medical information in the specialized fields of the doctors who gave the presentations today is very important, and to realize a better quality-of-life for patients, it is essential to have deepening ties between professionals in the fields of medicine and dentistry."
Almost two years have passed since Sunstar signed a contract with Joslin Diabetes Center to jointly launch the Joslin-Sunstar Diabetes Education Initiative. During this period, Sunstar has been carrying out studies from various angles regarding how to connect the fruits of this collaboration with Joslin to the future growth and development of the Sunstar Group's businesses.
Sunstar is committed to endeavoring to strongly communicate the information to the public that periodontal disease is the sixth complication of diabetes. We will also work to spread the knowledge that by taking systematic steps to treat periodontal diseases, a person's blood sugar level can improve.

For more information about the various JSDEI programs, please contact the Sunstar Inc. Public Relations Department:
Email: jp-news@jp.sunstar.com