In this week’s issue of The Savvy Diabetic:
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- Liver Disease and Diabetes: An Overlooked Complication
- Islet Cell Transplants for Type 1 Diabetes by Dr. Steve Edelman for TCOYD
- Stash Diabetes App by Cory Zapatka to Inventory your Diabetes Supplies
- When the Skin Says No by Diabetetech.com
- iHealthScreen’s AI diabetic retinopathy screening software
- Chronic Kidney Disease Increasingly Driven by Diabetes
- Should Hearing Checks Be Part of Diabetes Care?
- Sodas with a Doctorate
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- News from T1Dto100
- INTERVIEW: Resilience & Aging with T1D: A Conversation with Scott Johnson
- News from T1Dto100
Liver Disease and Diabetes: An Overlooked Complication by Matthew Garza for diaTribe.org, 6 July 2026.
The liver is a vital organ. It filters toxins from your blood, produces bile to help digest fats, helps regulate blood sugar levels, and manufactures essential proteins for blood clotting and immunity. It’s also one of the body’s main storehouses for sugar, but it struggles to fulfill this role when a person lacks insulin or develops insulin resistance.
One of the primary drivers of insulin resistance is a buildup of fat in the liver. Fat may build up there for a variety of reasons, but some of the most common are obesity, diabetes, and related metabolic conditions. Over time, excess fat can cause significant stress for liver cells, leading to inflammation and damage.
Types of liver disease in diabetes
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- MASLD is when excess fat builds up in the liver. This condition used to be called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but experts decided to change the name to focus more attention on the role of metabolic health in disease progression and to avoid stigmatizing language. A MASLD diagnosis requires evidence of fat in the liver and at least one metabolic risk factor, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, or high lipid levels. However, a person who meets these criteria may be given a different diagnosis if other factors contributed to liver damage. Although type 1 diabetes is not used in making a MASLD diagnosis, research suggests that people with type 1 are also more likely to have it than people without diabetes. A 2025 study estimated that the condition affects over a third of people with type 1.
- Many people don’t progress beyond MASLD, but in a significant number, liver cells exposed to excess fat for too long become damaged. At this point, MASLD turns into MASH, which was formerly called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). In people with MASLD, liver cells are often stressed and inflamed. MASH is when liver cells have reached their limit and start to die. As a result, the liver develops fibrosis, which is when tissue thickens and scars.
- Late-stage liver disease: No current medications or technology can turn scar tissue back into healthy, functional cells, but the liver can regenerate on its own if you alleviate the stress on it before scarring has become too extensive.
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Read more: Liver Disease and Diabetes: An Overlooked Complication
Islet Cell Transplants for Type 1 Diabetes: Which Approach Gets Us There First? by Dr. Steve Edelman for TCOYD.org, 9 July 2026.
Stash Diabetes App by Cory Zapatka and shared by LoopandLearn Open Mic sessions, 11 July 2026.
The developer of the Stash Diabetes App, Cory Zapatka, joins a Loop and Learn Open Mic to explain his free iOS app’s current and in-development features and answer community questions. All your supplies in one place. Safe and sound!Pods, sensors, insulin, infusion sets, cartridges. Diabetes already gives you enough to track — Stash puts it all in one inventory you can actually trust. Recall alerts when lots fail. Travel planning without the packing anxiety. Site tracking so rotations don’t slip. Caregiver sharing for the people in your corner. Built by someone with diabetes, for everyone with diabetes. Includes Automatic Recall Alerts, Community Reports, Travel Planning, Injection & Site Tracking, Reorder Reminders, and Shared Views,
Cory is an Emmy-winning video creative with over 20 years of production experience in documentary and branded content. After graduating from RISD, he moved to New York and built a foundation in traditional video journalism. His early career included key roles at Mic, where he helped fuse editorial and video, and at Vox Media, where he launched Verge Science — the fastest-growing YouTube channel in Vox’s history. Since 2022, he has been Video Lead at Notion, a collaborative productivity app used by over 30 million people, where he leads their video team.
Available on the Apple App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stash-diabetes/id6759133478
Diabetes Devices: When the Skin Says No by Diabetetech.com, 6 July 2026.Prevention, Recognition and Treatment of CGM and Insulin Pump Skin Problems – The Forgotten Complication of Diabetes Technology.
We talk a lot about Time in Range, algorithms, and automation. We compare sensors, pumps, and hybrid closed-loop systems. Yet for some people, the greatest challenge is much simpler: Finding a patch of healthy skin that can tolerate another sensor or infusion set.
The most advanced diabetes technology in the world is useless if the skin can no longer tolerate it.
As diabetes devices become increasingly integrated into daily life, skin health is emerging as an important — and often underestimated — part of successful device use. Skin reactions do not only affect comfort. They can disturb sleep, reduce confidence in diabetes technology, and ultimately lead to device discontinuation. The multinational SKIN-PEDIC study found that:
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- 30% of CGM users experienced skin problems
- 52% of insulin pump users experienced skin problems
And beyond these visible reactions, the single most common complaint is something simpler: itching. Across studies, itching is reported by anywhere from 23% to 77% of people wearing a sensor or pump.
Read more: Stash Diabetes
FDA clears iHealthScreen’s AI diabetic retinopathy screening software by Ross Law for Yahoo.com, 10 July 2026.
Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) developer iHealthScreen has obtained US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for iPredict-DR, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based screening software for diabetic retinopathy. The software uses AI to detect ‘more than mild’ diabetic retinopathy (mtmDR) in adults with diabetes by analyzing color retinal fundus images captured by the iCare DRSplus camera, a tool widely used in ophthalmology clinics and opticians’ shops across the US.
Cleared on the basis of a clinical validation trial that evaluated the SaMD’s diagnostic performance, safety, and usability in accordance with FDA requirements, New York-based iHealthScreen said it is now focused on advancing additional FDA clearances for the early detection of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, hypertensive retinopathy, and cardiovascular disease risk.
Dr Alauddin Bhuiyan, iHealthScreen’s CEO, commented: “This [clearance] reinforces our mission to make AI-powered retinal screening accessible in primary care and community healthcare settings, enabling earlier detection, faster referral, and helping prevent avoidable vision loss.”
Read more: FDA clears iHealthScreen’s AI diabetic retinopathy screening software
Chronic Kidney Disease Increasingly Driven by Diabetes by Kristen Monaco for MedPageToday.com, 8 July 2026.
The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the U.S. was generally stable over the past decade, but the underlying diagnoses driving the condition changed over time, according to National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data.
During the 2013-2014 survey cycle, 14.5% of U.S. adults had CKD. That figure crept up slightly to 14.8% during the 2021-2023 cycle, corresponding to an estimated 36 million adults, reported Ashish Verma, MBBS, and Sophie Claudel, MD, both of the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“This is the first CKD study to utilize recently released survey data spanning a decade, encompassing the period during which the first therapies specifically approved to protect the kidneys … were introduced into the market,” Verma said in a statement, pointing to SGLT2 inhibitors and the nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist finerenone (Kerendia). “Remarkably, despite these advancements, overall CKD rates have remained stagnant,” he pointed out.
In fact, instead of improving, CKD due to diabetes increased from 4.7% to 5.7% during this timeframe. Diabetes was the coexisting condition carrying the highest adjusted prevalence ratio at 2.49, meaning it was substantially more common in people with CKD than those without.
Read more: Chronic Kidney Disease Increasingly Driven by Diabetes
Should Hearing Checks Be Part of Diabetes Care? by Anna Brooks for diaTribe.org, 8 July 2026.
Diabetes care often includes routine tests to help maintain healthy eyes, kidneys, feet, and nerves. New research suggests hearing may also deserve regular attention.
After reviewing 29 studies involving 17,000 people worldwide, researchers found that about 1 in 4 adults with diabetes had moderate-to-severe hearing loss. People with diabetes were also more than twice as likely to have serious hearing loss compared with those without diabetes.
The link appeared especially high in adults under 60, who had about three times the likelihood of moderate-to-severe hearing loss. For younger people in particular who notice changes in their hearing, the findings suggest it’s important to ask about hearing tests as part of their regular diabetes care.
Read more: Hearing Loss in Adults With Diabetes and Prediabetes
Just for fun: Sodas with a Doctorate by Rachael “Trademark Clippy” Dickson as posted by @tudorsandtms.bsky.social, 6 July 2026.
I adore Dr. Pepper as a drink and I also love trademarks, so I have a growing collection of photos of “sodas with a doctorate.” Please witness some of my treasures.
Share if you know others: Sodas with a Doctorate
News from T1Dto100
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INTERVIEW: Resilience & Aging with T1D: A Conversation with Scott Johnson by Barbara Giammona for T1Dto100.com, 7 July 2026.
Scott K. Johnson is a prominent Type 1 diabetes (T1D) advocate, blogger, and speaker diagnosed in 1980 at age five. Known for early work in the online diabetes community and his blog, scottsdiabetes.com, he focuses on the emotional and technology-driven aspects of diabetes management. He has worked extensively with mySugr and now with Blue Circle Health, aiming to empower patients and improve diabetes care. I sat down with Scott recently to talk about staying resilient when faced with the challenges of aging and of T1D in general.
Barbara: How do you balance diabetes management with quality of life?
Scott: That’s the real challenge. We could have perfect blood sugars if that’s all we cared about, but we’d miss out on life. It’s a moving target that requires flexibility—balancing safe and satisfactory management with living fully.
Barbara: Any last thoughts for our readers about living resiliently with diabetes as they age?
Scott: Resilience is about sticking with it through tough times, adapting, knowing when to ask for help, and creating an environment that supports you. Keep trying, trust yourself, and remember you’re not alone. There’s hope, community, and better care ahead.
Read more: Resilience and Aging with Type 1 Diabetes: A Conversation with Scott Johnson
