Though commercial ads on television are the rage during the Super Bowl, here is yet another study that cautions parents about the downside of ads as it relates to children’s health. The study measured the effect that food ads had on snacking while watching television. One test found that children aged 7 to 11 who watched a half-hour cartoon that included food commercials ate 45 percent more snack food while watching the show than children who watched the same cartoon with non-food commercials.

If you added up the calories for this type of snacking the researchers estimated that it would lead to a weight gain of about 10 pounds a year. The researchers of the study believe there is "a direct and powerful link between television food advertising and calories consumed by adults and children…that is major contributor to the obesity epidemic.”

Of course, children with type 1 diabetes can pack on the pounds just as easily as other children. But children with type 1 are also at risk of high blood sugar from frequent snacking.

What are your thoughts on this issue of snacking and television ads? Do you think advertisers ought to be held responsible for the products they promote? Or, is it a parent’s responsibility to ensure that their child is eating properly and avoiding excessive snacking? Post your comments below.

Learn about "free foods" that won't raise your child's blood sugar much.

Carbohydrate counting for parents.

We already knew our furry friends could smell a cold cut from the other end of the house, but now it appears some dogs can also use their sense of smell to detect low blood sugar in people. Dogs in Britain are being trained to detect small but noticeable changes that occur when blood sugar is low. When the dogs sense these changes they alert their master that a hypoglycemic episode is imminent.

Even without the training, it appears many dogs instinctively react to the physical changes that occur during low blood sugar reactions. A survey conducted at the Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland found that 65% of 212 people with type 1 diabetes reported that their dogs reacted by whining, barking, licking or some other display when they were amid a hypoglycemic episode.

I’d be interested to hear is any of you have had a similar experience or know of someone who has. Post your comments below.

A recent press release announced that 129,000 vials of the long-acting insulin Levemir, were recently stolen and are being sold in the United States. Because it is unknown whether the stolen insulin was stored and handled properly, the FDA has issued a warning to consumers using this product. There has been one reported case of an adverse reaction to the insulin in these stolen vials.

Health officials are asking consumers who use Levemir to check their insulin to see if it contains the lot number XZF0036, XZF0037 or XZF0038. The lot number is located on the side of the box of insulin and also on the side of the vials. If you find that you have insulin from one of these lots, you are asked to not use it and return it to the pharmacy for a new vial.

Additional questions can be directed to the manufacturer, Novo Nordisk Inc., at 800-727-6500.

Learn more about storing insulin, insulin therapy and insulin delivery devices.

Most parents of a child with type 1 have already suspected what a new study indicates: that high and low blood sugars affect their ability to think clearly. This fuzzy thinking is most evident when a child is going low and results from a lack of glucose to help the brain work optimally.

But this study also shows that cognition is affected when the glucose readings are high. In fact, researchers found that the degree of mental impairment on math and reaction speed tests were the same for children with high sugar readings as they were for low. The causes of the slower performance associated with high glucose readings are not yet known.

Have you noticed fuzzy thinking in your child when his or her glucose is high? Or, if you have diabetes, have you seen this trend in yourself? Does it prompt you to check blood glucose? Post your comments below.