Diabetes Health Topic

Learn More About Diabetes

1. Nutritional Factors That Can Favorably Influence the Glucose/Insulin System: Vanadium

   A growing body of experimental and clinical research indicates that the trace element, vanadium, exerts potent insulin-mimetic effects in vitro and in vivo when used in pharmacological doses. Since our first demonstration of the anti-diabetic and cardioprotective effects of vanadium in vivo, impressive advances have been made in our understanding of its mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Long-term vanadium treatment causes marked and sustained decreases in plasma glucose, triglyceride and cholesterol levels.

   SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

2. Deaths Halt Diabetes Study

   Diabetes is not a disease of blood sugar. Rather, it is a disease of insulin resistance, and perhaps more importantly, of faulty leptin signaling. Conventional treatment is focused on fixing a symptom, in this case elevated blood sugar, rather than the underlying disease. Treatments that concentrate merely on lowering blood sugar for diabetes while raising insulin levels, can actually worsen rather than remedy the actual problem of metabolic miscommunication. Insulin's main role is not to "control" blood sugar. When blood sugar becomes elevated it is a signal for insulin to be released to direct the extra energy into storage. Insulin lowers glucose as a side effect of directing the extra energy into storage. The hormone leptin is largely responsible for the accuracy of insulin signaling.

3. Efficacy of Turmeric and Curcumin on Blood Sugar in Diabetic Albino Rats

   In the traditional system of medicine, Ayurveda, several spices and herbs are thought to possess medicinal properties. In this research, we studied the effect of turmeric and its active principle, curcumin, on diabetes mellitus in a rat model. Administration of turmeric or curcumin to diabetic rats reduced the blood sugar, Hb and glycosylated hemoglobin levels significantly. Turmeric and curcumin supplementation also reduced the oxidative stress encountered by the diabetic rats. Moreover, the activity of SDH (soorbitol dehydrogenase), which catalyzes the conversion of sorbitol to fructose, was lowered significantly on treatment with turmeric or curcumin. These results also appeared to reveal that curcumin was more effective in attenuating diabetes mellitus related changes than turmeric.

   SCIENTIFIC STUDY

4. Antidiabetic Indian Plants: a Good Source of Potent Amylase Inhibitors

   Diabetes is defined as a state in which homeostasis of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism is improperly regulated by the pancreatic hormone, insulin; resulting in an increased blood glucose level. There are many reports of herbal extracts being used in Ayurvedic literature as antidiabetic. We investigate six known plants, namely A. indica; S. cumini; O. tenuflorum; M. koenigii; L. usitatissimum and B. spectabilis having antidiabetic properties for their possible glucosidase inhibitory activity. Plants are known to produce a large variety of glucosidase inhibitors that provides protection against insects and microbial pathogens therefore plant extracts were analyzed for alpha-amylase inhibitory activity. M. koenigii and O. tenuflorum shows significant inhibition with porcine pancreatic, murine pancreatic as well as intestine glucosidase. This may have beneficial effects in managing type II diabetes mellitus and could be used as an indicator for combinational therapy.

   SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

5. Reducing Insulin Levels

   Insulin-resistance is defined as any condition in which the plasma insulin concentration is higher than the blood sugar level suggests it should be. It is therefore, not unreasonably, interpreted to mean that insulin is not as effective at lowering the blood sugar level as it should be. Includes information on known methods of either reducing levels of insulin or reducing insulin resistance.

6. Ursolic Acid Regulates High Glucose-Induced Apoptosis

   A high concentration of glucose has been implicated as a causal factor in initiation and progression of diabetic complications and there is evidence to suggest that hyperglycemia increases the production of free radicals and oxidative stress. Therefore, compounds that scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS) may confer regulatory effects on high glucose-induced apoptosis. This study indicates that Ursolic Acid (UA) may play an important role in regulating the apoptosis induced by high glucose presumably through scavenging of ROS.

   SCIENTIFIC STUDY

7. Diabetes Heart Health Risk Assessment

   People living with type 2 diabetes are at an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease such as heart attack or stroke. Learn your risk with this online health assessment.

8. Antipsychotic Drugs Linked To Insulin Resistance In Children

   Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center say a group of drugs known as "atypical antipsychotics" that are commonly used to treat children with aggression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia may trigger insulin resistance, a condition that increases the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and heart disease later in life.

9. Dirty Electricity Elevates Blood Sugar Among Electrically Sensitive Diabetics

   In an electromagnetically clean environment, Type 1 diabetics require less insulin and Type 2 diabetics have lower levels of plasma glucose.

   SCIENTIFIC STUDY

10. Carnitine in Type 2 Diabetes

    Both L-carnitine and acetyl-L-carnitine are effective in improving insulin-mediated glucose disposal either in healthy subjects or in type 2 diabetic patients.

    SCIENTIFIC STUDY

11. Acetyl L-Carnitine Improves Pain, Nerve Regeneration, and Vibratory Perception in Patients With Chronic Diabetic Neuropathy

    Data showed significant improvements in sural nerve fiber numbers and regenerating nerve fiber clusters. Nerve conduction velocities and amplitudes did not improve, whereas vibration perception improved in both studies. Pain as the most bothersome symptom showed significant improvement in one study.

12. Elevated Intakes of Supplemental Chromium Improve Glucose and Insulin Variables in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes

    These data demonstrate that supplemental chromium had significant beneficial effects on HbA1c, glucose, insulin, and cholesterol variables in subjects with type 2 diabetes. The beneficial effects of chromium in individuals with diabetes were observed at levels higher than the upper limit of the Estimated Safe and Adequate Daily Dietary Intake.

    SCIENTIFIC STUDY

13. Very Low-Calorie Diet May Reverse Diabetes

    A very low-calorie diet of 600 calories a day may be able to reverse type 2 diabetes, preliminary research suggests. The very low-calorie diet reduced the amount of fat in the pancreas and liver, which allowed insulin production and function to return to normal. Fat in the pancreas inhibits the action of beta cells in making insulin. After one week on the diet, participants' fasting blood sugar levels were no longer elevated. After eight weeks on the diet, their bodies were once again making sufficient insulin, essentially reversing their diabetes.

14. Build Muscle to Fight Diabetes

    UCLA researchers reported that their studies indicated more muscle mass would do more to prevent diabetes than previously thought. Sarcopenia (a low level of total body muscle mass) was associated with increased insulin resistance in both non-obese and obese individuals, and also with higher levels of blood glucose in obese individuals.

15. Lifting Weights May Protect Men Against Type 2 Diabetes

    Subjects who combined weightlifting and aerobic exercise experienced the greatest benefits, with men who did 150 weekly minutes of aerobic exercise and 150 of lifting weights reducing diabetes risk by 59 percent.

16. Diabetes Remission Possible with Diet, Exercise

    A new study can give people with the disease hope that through lifestyle changes, they could end up getting off medication and likely lowering their risk of diabetes-related complications. After one year, 11.5 percent of the program participants no longer needed medication to keep their blood sugar levels below the diabetes threshold.

17. Vicious Circles: Diabetes, and Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies

    Diabetes can lead to lots of nutritional deficiencies. Polyuria will pretty obviously mess up your electrolyte balance. The more you drink to make up for losing fluid, the more vitamins and minerals you end up losing in urine. Like with potassium and especially magnesium, getting low on B vitamins can make your blood glucose control much worse, setting up a vicious cycle. Lack of all these nutrients will also cause…any number of…problems generally written off as diabetic complications. Low magnesium and potassium levels are risk factors for developing Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Hypertension treated with diuretics can cause hypokalemia. Hypokalemia, in turn, can aggravate hypertension and also lead to diabetes mellitus. Diabetes, in turn, can cause hypertension, and people with hypertension are more likely to get diabetes mellitus. Underlying vitamin D deficiency [can cause] low blood levels of calcium and magnesium. If you are low on magnesium, you can't use your potassium properly. It's all connected. It's all about balance between electrolytes. Diabetes is associated with a disturbingly long list of complications. From the research I have done, it looks as though pretty much all of this suffering is preventable.

18. Artificial Sweeteners May Trigger Blood Sugar Risks

    Saccharin and other artificial sweeteners may raise blood sugar levels — a condition the sugar substitutes aim to help prevent — by altering digestive bacteria. The consumption of artificial sweeteners may affect the microbiome in ways that cause glucose intolerance in some people. What we eat directly influences our gut microbiota, which, in turn, is intimately linked to many facets of our health.

19. The Complete Guide to Fasting and Reversing Type 2 Diabetes: A Special Interview with Dr. Jason Fung

    Dr. Fung addresses multiple myths and issues that are commonly brought up about fasting. And dives into explaining how fasting does not burn muscle, how it can reverse diabetes, addresses the 'Starvation Mode' myth, explains the role of insulin, discusses different variations of fasting and much more.

Tags: diabetes, diabetes and diet, diabetes and chromium, diabetes and vanadium, diabetes and curcumin, diabetes and turmeric, diabetes and ursolic acid, diabetes and l-carnitine, diabetes and acetyl l-carnitine, diabetes and ayervedic medicine, diabetes and heart disease, diabetes and electromagnetic fields, diabetes and low-calorie diet, diabetes and muscle mass, diabetes and exercise, diabetes and fasting

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