Showing posts with label diabetes. Show all posts

Sunday, 22 November 2020

What Happens to Your Body When You Stop Eating Sugar

Fighting those cravings is life changing—literally.

Kristin Limoges

Give a shoutout to Glen Carrie on social or copy the text below to attribute.

Sugar is a cruel, cruel mistress—it’s delicious and addictive, but it’s not doing you any favors. Aside from causing weight gain, increased consumption of refined sugar increases the risk of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, and can impact cognitive function and memory, says best-selling author Sara Gottfried, M.D.

It turns out your daily afternoon sugary treat not only gives you major brain fog—according to author David Wolfe, it also accelerates aging.

It may seem daunting, even impossible, to remove processed sugar from your diet, but understanding all the extraordinary things that happen when you cut it out can empower you to kick the habit. Keep reading.

After an Hour

Expect withdrawals, even after a few hours. “Sugar is addictive and activates a dopamine response in the reward center of the brain, like a drug,” says Wolfe. Depending on the amount of sugar you consume daily, you might experience varying drops in blood sugar levels, sweating, shaking, irritable moodiness, hunger, and sadness. Gottfried suggests fighting through these symptoms by consuming fresh vegetables with fiber, anti-inflammatory protein sources, and healthy fats.

After a Day

The days just after you’ve stopped consuming sugar are perhaps the hardest. “You may have withdrawal-like symptoms including headaches and a drop in energy levels,” says Gottfried. You’ll probably have some strong cravings for something sweet, too.

But already, your body is beginning to heal itself. According to Wolfe, sugar feeds harmful microorganisms, such as candida—which, when overgrown, can affect your gut health. Cutting out processed sugar helps keep those microorganisms in check.

After a Week

This is when the magic happens. Your body will quickly start to repair itself once sugar is out of the way, starting with improvements in insulin levels and inflammatory responses. According to Gottfreid, in just 72 hours, as your insulin levels begin to stabilize, other hormones (like those involved in fat storage) will also return to normal levels. Another noticeable difference? Skin clarity and less puffiness in the face, says Wolfe.

After a Month

“You’ll realize what sugar has been doing to you, namely increasing cravings, causing weight gain and yeast infections, and amplifying inflammation,” says Wolfe. Why? Because a lot of these issues, as well as hankerings for treats, will be disappearing.

Add to those benefits stable blood sugar levels, improved mental clarity, natural weight loss, and improved gut health. “A healthy gut reduces inflammation in your body and your overall risk for many health problems,” says Gottfried.

After Six Months

Imagine this: “You will be so far away from the habit of eating sugar that you will not only not want it, but you won’t even be able to look at it,” says Wolfe. Gottfried adds that when you have stable blood sugar levels, you’ll find weight stays off, especially that stubborn belly fat. More important, you’ll be overall healthier: Six months without refined sugar will decrease your risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and early aging, she says.

After a Year

On a surface level, skin quality and reduction of acne, irritation, and fine lines can be dramatic when sugar is eliminated from your daily diet. Even better, you will see a reduction in overall risk of preventable diseases, like diabetes, as well as heart attack and stroke. Not to mention, you’ll also increase your quality and length of life. Seriously—we’re not sugarcoating it.

Kristin Limoges is the Wellness Editor at Domino.

Sunday, 25 October 2020

How Iceman Wim Hof Uncovered the Secrets to Our Health

Wim Hof

Click above to read the full article

Wim Hof's teachings about breath work and the health benefits of cold plunges have attracted millions of followers who swear it has cured everything from depression to diabetes and makes them happier and stronger. Our writer traveled to Iceland (naturally) for a deep dive with the man and his methods.

Jökulsárlón Lagoon, Iceland.

The air is cold but the water is colder, its surface gridlocked with icebergs. Slabs and hunks and blocks of ice the size of ships, houses, buses—they’re everywhere, crowded into the glacial lagoon. The icebergs are dazzling white and pale gray and a light milky blue, and striped with volcanic ash; the water is the color of dull metal. Low clouds press down. Seabirds shriek. On the far side of the lagoon, a glacier called Vatnajökull hunkers like the beast that it is: a 3,100-square-mile ice cap that sprawls over southeast Iceland, dwarfing other European glaciers. For anyone unaware that it is ill-advised to jump in for a dip, a big red sign spells out the hazards: “No Swimming—Freezing Water. You Only Survive Few Minutes.” And if that isn’t enough of a deterrent: “Dangerous Currents. Rolling Icebergs Form Waves.”

Susan Casey

Susan Casey, formerly an Outside creative director and editor-in-chief of O, the Oprah Magazine, is the author of three books: The Devil’s Teeth, The Wave, and Voices in the Ocean. She lives in New York.

Sunday, 23 August 2020

What Happens to Your Body When You Stop Eating Sugar

Sugar

Fighting those cravings is life-changing—literally.

Domino

Kristin Limoges

Photography by Cody Guilfoyle.

It turns out your daily afternoon sugary treat not only gives you major brain fog—according to author David Wolfe, it also accelerates aging.

After an Hour

After a Day

After a Week

After a Month

After Six Months

After a Year

Kristin Limoges is the Wellness Editor at Domino.

Monday, 28 October 2019

How Dietary Intervention Lifts Depression

Dietary Intervention

By Dr Joseph Mercola

Story at-a-glance

Research has linked sweetened beverages — both sugar- and artificially-sweetened beverages — with an increased risk of depression, the highest risk being associated with diet fruit drinks and diet soda
Another study found adolescents who had elevated levels of sodium and low levels of potassium in their urine — two factors indicative of a diet high in junk food and processed food — had more frequent symptoms of depression
A 2019 study found dietary intervention can effectively treat depression in young adults. Those who ate a Mediterranean-style diet reported a significant reduction in depression symptoms after 21 days
A recent meta-analysis also concluded that “Dietary interventions hold promise as a novel intervention for reducing symptoms of depression across the population”
As a general guideline, eating a whole food diet can go a long way toward lowering your inflammation level and thus your risk of depression. A cornerstone of a healthy diet is limiting sugar of all kinds, ideally below 25 grams a day

Foods have an immense impact on your body and your brain, and eating whole foods as described in my nutrition plan is a good way to simultaneously support your mental and physical health. Avoiding sugar and artificial sweeteners is in my view, based on the evidence, a crucial aspect of preventing and/or treating depression.
Both contribute to chronic inflammation and can wreak havoc with your brain function. Recent research also shows how swapping processed junk food for a healthier diet can significantly improve depression symptoms, which really shouldn’t come as a great surprise.

The Sugar Trap

Research^1,² published in 2014 linked sweetened beverages — both sugar- and artificially-sweetened beverages — with an increased risk of depression. Those who drank more than four cans or glasses of soda had a 30% higher risk of depression compared to those who did not consume sweetened beverages of any kind.
Interestingly, fruit juices were even more hazardous. The same amount of sweetened fruit drinks (four glasses) was associated with a 38% higher risk of depression.
Overall, artificially sweetened so-called “diet” drinks were associated with the highest risks of depression, compared to beverages sweetened with sugar or high-fructose corn syrup. More specifically, compared to those who did not drink sweetened beverages:

Those who drank primarily diet soda were 31% more likely to suffer with depression, whereas regular soda was associated with a 22% increased risk
Those who drank primarily diet fruit drinks had a 51% higher risk for depression, while consuming regular fruit drinks was associated with a more modest 8% increased risk
Drinking primarily diet iced tea was associated with a 25% increased risk for depression, whereas those who drank regular sweetened iced tea actually had a 6% reduced risk

Similarly, recent research³ detailed in “The Link Between Fast Food and Teenage Depression” found adolescents who had elevated levels of sodium and low levels of potassium in their urine — two factors indicative of a diet high in junk food and processed food — had more frequent symptoms of depression.
According to the authors,⁴ “Given the substantial brain development that occurs during adolescence, individuals in this developmental period may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of diet on the neural mechanisms underlying emotion regulation and depression.”

Why Sugar Takes a Toll on Mental Health

There are at least four potential mechanisms through which refined sugar intake could exert a toxic effect on mental health:

Sugar (particularly fructose) and grains contribute to insulin and leptin resistance and impaired signaling, which play a significant role in your mental health
Sugar suppresses activity of a key growth hormone called brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which promotes healthy brain neurons. BDNF levels are critically low in both depression and schizophrenia, which animal models suggest might actually be causative
Sugar consumption also triggers a cascade of chemical reactions in your body that promote chronic inflammation. In the long term, inflammation disrupts the normal functioning of your immune system, which is linked to a greater risk of depression⁵
Sugar impairs the microbiome and its influence on the modulation of stress response, immune function, neurotransmission and neurogenesis

In 2004, British psychiatric researcher Malcolm Peet published a provocative cross-cultural analysis⁶ of the relationship between diet and mental illness. His primary finding was a strong link between high sugar consumption and the risk of both depression and schizophrenia. According to Peet:

“A higher national dietary intake of refined sugar and dairy products predicted a worse 2-year outcome of schizophrenia. A high national prevalence of depression was predicted by a low dietary intake of fish and seafood.

The dietary predictors of ... prevalence of depression are similar to those that predict illnesses such as coronary heart disease and diabetes, which are more common in people with mental health problems and in which nutritional approaches are widely recommended.”

One of the key predictors of heart disease and diabetes is in fact chronic inflammation which, as Peet mentions, is also associated with poor mental health. Sugar is a primary driver of chronic inflammation in your body, so consuming excessive amounts of sugar can truly set off an avalanche of negative health events — both mental and physical.

Three-Week Dietary Intervention Lifts Depression

Most recently, a study^7,^8,⁹ published in the October 2019 issue of PLOS ONE said to be the first of its kind, found dietary intervention can effectively treat depression in young adults. The researchers enrolled 101 individuals aged 17 to 35, whose stress and depression scores indicated moderate to high levels of depression.
Participants were divided into two groups. One received dietary intervention while the other (controls) received no intervention. Dietary instructions were provided to the treatment group by a registered dietician via a 13-minute video, which could be revisited at will.
The dietary recommendations were based on the 2003 Australian Guide to Healthy Eating protocol “with additional recommendations to increase concordance with Mediterranean-style diets … and diet components (e.g., omega-3 fatty acids, cinnamon, turmeric) that have beneficial effects on neurological function.”¹⁰ More specifically, the treatment group was instructed to eat:

Five servings of vegetables per day

Two to three servings of fruit per day

Three servings of wholegrain cereal per day

Three servings of protein (such as lean meat, poultry, eggs or legumes) per day

Three servings of unsweetened dairy per day

Three servings of fish per week

3 tablespoons of nuts and seeds per day

2 tablespoons of olive oil per day

1 teaspoon of turmeric and cinnamon on most days

Refined carbohydrates, sugar, processed meats and soft drinks were to be avoided as much as possible. According to the authors:¹¹

“There is strong epidemiological evidence that poor diet is associated with depression. The reverse has also been shown, namely that eating a healthy diet rich in fruit, vegetables, fish and lean meat, is associated with reduced risk of depression …

There was good compliance with the diet intervention recommendations assessed using self-report and spectrophotometry. The Diet group had significantly lower self-reported depression symptoms than the Control Group …

Reduced DASS-21 depression subscale scores were maintained on follow up phone call 3 months later. These results are the first to show that young adults with elevated depression symptoms can engage in and adhere to a diet intervention, and that this can reduce symptoms of depression.”

Dietary Intervention Significantly Lowers Depression Scores

The first graph below illustrates the difference in primary depression scores (based on Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale or CESD-R) between the two groups. The second graph illustrates the difference between the two groups based on DASS-21 depression subscale scores.

depression subscale scores — Source: PLOS One October 9, 2019, Figure 3¹³

The researchers also report that the dietary intervention resulted in lower levels of anger. In the Discussion section of the paper, the authors make the following observations:¹⁴

“The results of this RCT provide support for improving diet as a useful adjunct treatment to reduce depressive symptoms … One of the most interesting findings is the fact that diet change was feasible in this population.

As the participants were young adults and university undergraduate students, we anticipated several potential barriers such as the perceived cost of the diet, the time demands of preparing food and/or reliance on others for food preparation (particularly if they lived at home).

Additionally, the participants were recruited based on self-reported symptoms of depression. We anticipated that the symptoms of depression, including low energy, reduced motivation and apathy, would present as barriers to eating well.

Despite these factors, there was a significant increase in the recommended foods and decrease in processed foods for the diet change group but not the habitual diet group.

Furthermore, within the diet change group, increase in recommended foods was associated with spectrophotometer readings. This provides objective evidence to support the participants’ self-reported compliance with the diet …

Even in the general population, adherence to diet advice is typically very poor, with over 80% of Australians reporting that they do not comply with dietary recommendations.

As a result, there is substantial nihilism regarding the ability to change people’s diets. The current study simply provided a brief 13-minute video, paper resources and minimal phone support.

The fact that this relatively low-cost intervention can result in a population of young adults adhering to diet recommendations is very promising. Furthermore, it is important to consider that participants in the current study did not need to adhere strictly to the diet recommendations to derive benefit.”

Other Studies Support Dietary Intervention for Mental Health

Another recent paper found similar results. The meta-analysis,¹⁵ published in the April 2019 issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, looked at 16 randomized controlled trials with outcome data — based on a variety of depression scores — for 45,826 participants ranging in age from 21 to 85. Interventions ranged from 10 days to three years.
While all but one examined nonclinical depression, dietary interventions were still found to significantly reduce symptoms of depression. Interestingly, women appeared to reap the greatest benefits, not only for depression but also anxiety. According to the authors, “Dietary interventions hold promise as a novel intervention for reducing symptoms of depression across the population.”
Interestingly, studies specifying the involvement of a nutritional professional had significantly better results than those in which the dietary advice was delivered without a professional’s involvement.
However, as shown in the featured PLOS ONE study, this doesn’t necessarily have to be a complicated affair. There, participants simply viewed a video in which a dietician gave the instructions.

Mechanisms of Action

In the Implications and Recommendations section of the Psychosomatic Medicine meta-analysis, the authors point out a number of possible mechanisms of action allowing depressed patients to benefit from nutritional intervention:¹⁶

“… diet may act via several pathways that are implicated in mental health. These include pathways related to oxidative stress, inflammation, and mitochondrial dysfunction, which are disrupted in people with mental disorders.

Gut microbiota dysbiosis has also been implicated because of emerging research demonstrating involvement of the microbiome in the modulation of stress response, immune function, neurotransmission, and neurogenesis. A healthy diet typically contains a wide variety of bioactive compounds that can beneficially interact with these pathways.

For example, vegetables and fruits contain, in addition to beneficial vitamins, minerals and fiber, a high concentration of various polyphenols that seem to be associated with reduced rates of depression … potentially because of their anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, and prebiotic properties.

Furthermore, vitamins (e.g., B vitamins), fatty acids (e.g., omega 3 fatty acids), minerals (e.g., zinc, magnesium), and fiber (e.g., resistant starch) as well as other bioactive components (e.g., probiotics), which are typically abundant in healthy dietary patterns, may also be protective from mental illness.

Along with increasing the intake of beneficial nutrients, dietary interventions may also impact on mental well-being by reducing the consumption of unhealthy food associated with increased risk for depression, such as processed meats, refined carbohydrates, and other inflammatory foods.

Unhealthy diets are also high in other compounds that may negatively affect these pathways. For example, elements commonly found in processed foods such as saturated fatty acids, artificial sweeteners, and emulsifiers may alter the gut microbiome, which may activate inflammatory pathways.”

Nutritional Advice for Mental Health

Keeping inflammation in check is an important part of any effective mental health treatment plan. If you’re gluten sensitive, you will need to remove all gluten from your diet. A food sensitivity test can help ascertain this. Reducing lectins may also be a good idea.
As a general guideline, eating a whole food diet as described in my optimal nutrition plan can go a long way toward lowering your inflammation level. A cornerstone of a healthy diet is limiting sugar of all kinds, ideally to no more than 25 grams a day.
In one study,¹⁷ men consuming more than 67 grams of sugar per day were 23% more likely to develop anxiety or depression over the course of five years than those whose sugar consumption was less than 39.5 grams per day. Certain nutritional deficiencies are also notorious contributors to depression, especially:

• Marine-based omega-3 fats — Omega-3 fats have been shown to improve major depressive disorder,¹⁸ so make sure you're getting enough omega-3s in your diet, either from wild Alaskan salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel and anchovies, or a high-quality supplement.
I recommend getting an omega-3 index test to make sure you’re getting enough. Ideally, you want your omega-3 index to be 8% or higher.
• B vitamins (including B1, B2, B3, B6, B9 and B12) — Low dietary folate can raise your risk of depression by as much as 304%.^19,²⁰ A 2017 study^21,²² showing the importance of vitamin deficiencies in depression involved suicidal teens. Most turned out to be deficient in cerebral folate and all of them showed improvement after treatment with folinic acid.
• Magnesium — Magnesium supplements have been shown to improve mild-to-moderate depression in adults, with beneficial effects occurring within two weeks of treatment.²³
• Vitamin D — Studies have shown vitamin D deficiency can predispose you to depression and that depression can respond favorably to optimizing your vitamin D stores,²⁴ ideally by getting sensible sun exposure.
A double-blind randomized trial²⁵ published in 2008 concluded that supplementing with high doses of vitamin D “seems to ameliorate [depression] symptoms indicating a possible causal relationship.” Research²⁶ published in 2014 also linked low vitamin D levels with an increased risk for suicide.
The 2017 paper “Depression and Vitamin D Deficiency: Causality, Assessment and Clinical Practice Implications,” published in the journal of Neuropsychiatry, notes:²⁷

“The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which enrolled a sample of 7,970 non-institutionalized U.S. residents age 15 to 39, confirmed that people with serum vitamin D ≤50 nmol/L [20 ng/mL] are at a significantly higher risk of showing depression than individuals whose serum levels of vitamin D are greater or equal to 75 nmol/L [30 ng/mL] …

A … large cohort study²⁸ showed an association between low vitamin D levels and both presence and severity of depression, this suggesting the possibility that hypovitaminosis D indicates an underlying biological susceptibility for depression.”

For optimal health, make sure your vitamin D level is between 60 and 80 ng/mL year-round. Ideally, get a vitamin D test at least twice a year to monitor your level.

Keeping your gut microbiome healthy also has a significant effect on your moods, emotions and brain. You can read more in my previous article, “Mental Health May Depend on the Health of Your Gut Flora.”

Helpful Supplements

A number of herbs and supplements can also be used in lieu of drugs to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, including the following:

St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) — This medicinal plant has a long historical use for depression, and is thought to work similarly to antidepressants, raising brain chemicals associated with mood such as serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline.²⁹
S-Adenosyl methionine (SAMe) — SAMe is an amino acid derivative that occurs naturally in all cells. It plays a role in many biological reactions by transferring its methyl group to DNA, proteins, phospholipids and biogenic amines. Several scientific studies indicate that SAMe may be useful in the treatment of depression.
5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) — 5-HTP is another natural alternative to traditional antidepressants. When your body sets about manufacturing serotonin, it first makes 5-HTP. Taking 5-HTP as a supplement may raise serotonin levels. Evidence suggests 5-HTP outperforms a placebo when it comes to alleviating depression,³⁰ which is more than can be said about antidepressants.
XingPiJieYu — This Chinese herb, available from doctors of traditional Chinese medicine, has been found to reduce the effects of “chronic, unpredictable stress,” thereby lowering your risk of depression.³¹

Other Helpful Treatment Options

Evidence clearly shows antidepressants are not an ideal choice for most people with depression. For more information about this, see “What Does the ‘Best Evidence’ Say About Antidepressants?”
In it, I also review a number of other treatment suggestions, such as phototherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, the Emotional Freedom Techniques and the importance of limiting your electromagnetic field exposure.
Aside from diet, which I believe is foundational, the depression treatment with the most solid scientific backing is exercise. I discussed some of the mechanisms behind this effect in “How Exercise Treats Depression.”
I also review the evidence against antidepressants and provide a list of studies detailing the effectiveness of exercise for depression in “The Depression Pill Epidemic.”

Saturday, 7 September 2019

Turmeric Extract May Prevent, Even Reverse Diabetes (Type 1 and 2)

Turmeric

Turmeric is an age-old remedy with so many benefits, not just for Diabetes but for general health!

Posted on:

Friday, September 6th 2019 at 6:15 am

Written By:

Sayer Ji, Founder

This article is copyrighted by GreenMedInfo LLC, 2019
Visit our Re-post guidelines

Turmeric Extract May Prevent, Even Reverse Diabetes (Type 1 and 2)

What if the long sought after "cure" for diabetes was as safe, affordable, and accessible as a spice sitting in your kitchen cupboard?

"Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot if you can cure the patient with food." -Hippocrates, 420 BC

Slowly but surely the world is waking up to the reality that diabetes is not only a preventable but a reversible condition, and that the drug-based model of symptom suppression and disease management has fatal flaws. For instance, some of the drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes actually increase the risk of death, with a recent study showing GMO insulin given to type 2 diabetics may lead to the development of so-called "double diabetes": type 2 and type 1 diabetes, together. Clearly, if medicine can't at least abide by its founding principle to "do no harm," it must seek the answer somewhere other than from the "chemist's pot."

As the pharmaceutically-driven medical paradigm continues to lose adherents by the droves, and the public seeks a system that identifies and resolves the root causes of disease, interest is growing in the use of natural substances and lifestyle modifications to prevent and treat blood sugar disorders. And unlike a few decades ago, where most of the evidence for "natural healing" was anecdotal, there are now thousands of studies on hundreds of natural substances and therapeutic activities that may ameliorate blood sugar disorders and their complications. You can check out a good portion of the relevant research on the topic on GreenMedInfo.com's blood sugar disorder database.

While plants like cinnamon and gymnema sylvestre have received plenty of attention for diabetes over the years, one special plant extract that is beginning to stand out from the crowd as being exceptionally valuable as an anti-diabetic agent is turmeric. There are, in fact, 21 articles on turmeric's value in type 2 diabetes on our database alone.

Turmeric's primary polyphenol curcumin is the main compound in the plant that has been researched for it's blood sugar regulating properties. One particularly striking study, published in the American Diabetic Association's own journal, Diabetes Care, found turmeric extract to be 100% effective in preventing pre-diabetics from developing type 2 diabetes -- a feat of prevention that no FDA approved drug for type 2 diabetes has yet come even close to accomplishing.

Turmeric Extract May Reverse Pancreatic Damage In Type 1 Diabetes

It turns out that this spice may be a powerful therapeutic intervention for more than just type 2 diabetics. Pre-clinical research now reveals it may have a role in reversing pancreatic damage in insulin-dependent, type 1 diabetics, who are routinely told that their condition can not be cured. Type 1 diabetics are rarely educated to the fact that the root cause of their disorder can be addressed: namely, that the deficiency and/or dysfunction of the beta cells in the pancreas responsible for producing insulin can be repaired, as well as the autoimmune issues at the heart of the problem.

Back in 2013, an exciting study published in the journal Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome titled, "The effect of a novel curcumin derivative on pancreatic islet regeneration in experimental type-1 diabetes in rats (long term study)," found that diabetic rats who received a novel water-soluble, high concentrate (53.21%) curcumin derivative orally for 40 days showed an improvement of their plasma glucose, insulin and C-peptide (a marker for the health and insulin producing capability of the beta cells) levels, that began after about 4 months, and continued to improve until the 10 month mark, when their values were almost completely normalized and evidence of significant pancreatic regeneration could be observed. The researchers concluded the novel curcumin derivative (NCD): "...possesses antidiabetic actions and enhanced pancreatic islets regeneration."

The daily dose used in this rodent study (80 mg/kg) was the body weight equivalent of 6,400 mg or 6.4 grams of curcumin for an average North American male adult (80 kilograms/176 lbs). Rodent and human physiology is, of course, radically different, but significant crossovers nonetheless do exist. In another article, titled "Why Turmeric May Be the Diseased Liver's Best Friend," we reviewed research indicating that turmeric may help to reverse damage in and even regenerate the diabetic liver, as well as safety literature on what is a safe human dose:

"A 2001 study in cancer patients reported that quantities of curcumin up to 8 g, administered per day for three months, were not toxic and resulted in significant anti-cancer properties in a number of those treated.[5] Considering that turmeric is only 3-4% curcumin by weight, this implies that a larger quantity of turmeric can be consumed safely, as well."

Given that organ transplantation (pancreatic islet transplants) is exceedingly expensive and prohibitive due to a lack of donor material and the potential for rejection by the host, the notion that a safe, affordable, and non-prescription spice extract like curcumin may have significant therapeutic value and may even regenerate damaged pancreatic tissue, is truly exciting. That said, it should be noted that since curcumin is not patentable, it is unlikely the 800 million dollars or more needed to fund the requisite clinical trials needed to obtain FDA drug approval will materialize. Because the so-called "evidence" needed to justify the use of a new treatment is locked behind an insurmountably high paywall, don't count on randomized, controlled, trials being performed on this "natural cure" in the near or distant future.

In this study, the authors surmised that the ameliorative effects curcumin treatment on type 1 diabetic rodents observed were the result of beta cell regeneration and they explained the theory behind how this works:

"Each tissue or organ is believed to contain a small sub-population of cells that is capable of self-renewal and has the ability to give rise to each mature cell type [47]. Thus, one of the most promising sources of beta cells might be pancreatic stem cells."

The researchers theorized that curcumin likely produces,

"...a favorable systemic and pancreatic environment to foster bone marrow transplantation and islet neogenesis. Accordingly, administration of curcumin; as an established anti-inflammatory and immune modulatory drug; would likely boost and preserve the process of islet regeneration; which was evidently proven true in this study."

Curcumin's "immunomodulatory" benefit in type 1 diabetes, also known as autoimmune diabetes, appears to be based on it reducing the activity of the host immune system in attacking self-structures. In fact, another recent study, published in 2014 in the journal Clinical and Experimental Immunology titled, "Curcumin ameliorates autoimmune diabetes. Evidence in accelerated murine models of type 1 diabetes," found that curcumin down-regulates the T cell response that destroys pancreatic beta cells, resulting in an improvement in autoimmune or type 1 diabetes.

It is important for the reader to know that curcumin is not a magic bullet; nor is it the only natural substance studied to have potential beta cell regenerative properties. Indeed, pancreatic regeneration has been induced experimentally for at least 23 different natural substances. We have a keyword dedicated to indexing relevant research on the topic here: beta cell regeneration. We've highlighted 10 of the most compelling ones in our article, "10 Natuaral Substances That Could Help Cure Type 1 Diabetes."

As the research continues to accumulate on the value of natural substances for disease prevention and treatment, it is clear the future of medicine will rely on returning to the wisdom of the ancients, where Hippocrates' fundamental principle that one can "cure the patient with food" is once again passionately embraced.
Are you a health professional or just a serious research geek? Interested in taking your the GreenMedInfo experience to the next level? Learn about our GMI pro membership features, which includes access to our research PDF database of over 100,000 documents. Learn More Here.
Originally published: 2015-08-30
Article updated: 2019-09-06

Sayer Ji is founder of Greenmedinfo.com, a reviewer at the International Journal of Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine, Co-founder and CEO of Systome Biomed, Vice Chairman of the Board of the National Health Federation, Steering Committee Member of the Global Non-GMO Foundation.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of GreenMedInfo or its staff.

Tuesday, 14 May 2019

Top 8 Tips to Optimize Your Blood Sugar Level

Regulating Blood Sugar Levels

Here is a helpful article concerning blood sugar levels. It is vital to pay attention to this for good health.

Story at-a-glance

If you consistently consume a high-sugar, high-grain diet, your blood glucose level will be correspondingly high and over time your body becomes desensitized to insulin, requiring more and more of it to get the job done. Eventually, you become insulin resistant
Insulin resistance is one of the easiest health problems to correct. Eight of my top tips for optimizing and maintaining a healthy blood sugar level are reviewed
Intermittent fasting promotes insulin sensitivity and improves blood sugar management by increasing insulin-mediated glucose uptake rates. I recommend starting your intermittent fasting routine and monitoring your blood ketones as you go along. Once your fasting ketones are greater than 0.3 mmol/L, start incorporating partial fasting as described in “KetoFast”
If you are healthy, your fasting blood glucose upon waking should be below 90 mg/dL. Before meal time, your glucose level should read between 70 to 99 mg/dL. After meals, the level should be below 140 mg/dL
Radically limiting net carbs and increasing healthy fats are also important for blood glucose control, as are drinking plenty of pure water, eating more nuts and seeds, and strength training

Insulin is essential to staying alive; unfortunately, the vast majority of people have resistance to this essential hormone, speeding up the aging process and contributing to the development of degenerative diseases. Any meal high in grain and sugar carbs typically generates a rapid rise in blood glucose.
To compensate, your pancreas secretes more insulin into your bloodstream to lower your blood sugar. Insulin, however, is also very efficient at lowering blood sugar by turning it into fat. The more you secrete, the more fat your body will accumulate.
If you consistently consume a high-sugar, high-grain diet, your blood glucose level will be correspondingly high and over time your body becomes desensitized to insulin, requiring more and more of it to get the job done. Eventually, you become insulin resistant and prone to weight gain, and then full-blown diabetic.
Prediabetes¹ is defined as an elevation in fasting blood glucose between 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) and 125 mg/dl. At 126 mg/dl on two separate occasions, it formally becomes Type 2 diabetes. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 84.1 million American adults — about 1 in 3 — are prediabetic,^2,³ and most are unaware of this fact.
However, any fasting blood sugar regularly over 90 in my book suggests insulin resistance, and findings by the late Dr. Joseph Kraft — former chairman of the department of clinical pathology and nuclear medicine at Presence Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Chicago, and author of “Diabetes Epidemic and You: Should Everyone Be Tested?” — suggests a whopping 80% of Americans are insulin resistant, and that’s true even if your fasting glucose is normal.^4,⁵
The good news is that insulin resistance is one of the easiest health problems to correct. Below I review eight of my top tips for optimizing and maintaining a healthy blood sugar level.

Tip No. 1 — Proper Meal Timing

Intermittent fasting or compression of your eating window is a powerful approach that facilitates weight loss and helps reduce your risk of chronic diseases like Type 2 diabetes.
In his book “Circadian Code: Lose Weight, Supercharge Your Energy and Sleep Well Every Night,” Satchidananda Panda, Ph.D., cites research showing that 90 percent of people eat across a span of 12 hours a day, and many across even longer timespans, which is a clear prescription for metabolic disaster.
Intermittent fasting, i.e., the cycling of feast (feeding) and famine (fasting) mimics the eating habits of our ancestors and restores your body to a more natural state that allows a whole host of metabolic benefits to occur.⁶
With regard to insulin resistance, research shows intermittent fasting promotes insulin sensitivity and improves blood sugar management by increasing insulin-mediated glucose uptake rates.⁷
While there are a number of different intermittent fasting protocols, my preference is fasting daily for 18 hours and eating all meals within a six-hour window. If you’re new to the concept of intermittent fasting, consider starting by skipping breakfast and have your lunch and dinner within a six-hour timeframe, say 11 AM and 5 PM, making sure you stop eating three hours before going to bed.
The latter is important, as it helps protect your mitochondrial function. Recent research^8,⁹ shows men who are at risk of Type 2 diabetes can improve their glucose control, thereby lowering that risk, simply by eating all their meals within a nine-hour timeframe — even if they do not implement any other dietary changes.
Research^10,¹¹ has also shown men who eat supper at least two hours before bedtime have a 26% lower risk of prostate cancer, and women have a 16% lower risk of breast cancer than those who eat dinner closer to bedtime. For more details on why late-night eating is so detrimental, see “Eating Early Dinner Aids Weight Loss and Lowers Cancer Risk.”
When you do eat, focus on healthy protein in moderate amounts and minimize net carbs like pasta and bread, exchanging them for healthy fats like butter, eggs, avocado, coconut oil, olive oil and raw nuts. This will help shift you into fat burning mode.
On a related side note, when eating, relax and take your time! Research shows rushed eating, which typically occurs when you’re stressed, has a significant impact on your blood sugar level. When you become stressed your body also secretes cortisol and glucagon, both of which affect your blood sugar levels as well.¹² You can learn more about this in “How Stress Can Affect Your Blood Sugar Level.”

Tip No. 2 — Monitor Your Blood Sugar Level

As mentioned, while prediabetes¹³ is clinically defined as having a fasting blood sugar level between 100 and 125 mg/dl, I strongly believe any blood sugar over 90 mg/dl puts you in the danger zone for insulin resistance. Your blood sugar is measured through a glucose test, of which there are four types:

Fasting plasma glucose test — When you fast overnight and take your blood sample in the morning
Oral glucose tolerance test — Similar to the fasting blood sugar test, overnight fasting is required for this, and the person's fasting blood sugar level is measured. Afterward, a sugary liquid is provided and the levels are then tested for the next two hours
Hemoglobin A1C test — This test checks the percentage of blood sugar attached to the hemoglobin and will indicate your average blood sugar level for the past two to three months
Random plasma glucose test — This makes use of a blood sample that is taken at a random time

You could also do 24-hour continuous glucose monitoring, which I’ve done in the past, although it’s pricey and probably not necessary for most people.
At the time, I used a Dexcom monitor, which involves inserting a sensor beneath your skin for a week, which takes continuous glucose readings every few minutes. It really helped me fine-tune and evaluate how different foods impacted my glucose levels, and helped me understand the importance of feast-famine cycling.
All of that said, for most people, a simple at-home glucose test,¹⁴ where you prick your finger and deposit a drop of blood onto a glucose testing strip, will do the job. Ideally, test yourself two to three times a day: first thing in the morning, before your first meal, and a couple of hours after your last meal.
Your blood glucose levels will vary throughout the day. According to conventional recommendations, if you are healthy and do not have diabetes, your fasting blood glucose upon waking should be below 100 mg/dL. I recommend aiming for a fasting (when you wake up) level below 90 mg/dL.
Before meal time, your glucose level should read between 70 to 99 mg/dL. After meals — or what’s called “postprandial” and is usually taken two hours after eating — the level should be below 140 mg/dL.
There are two measurements used for blood sugar levels. In the U.S., the measurement is in milligrams of glucose per deciliter of blood (mg/dL). In the U.K. and Canada, the measurement for blood sugar is in millimoles/liter (mmol/L). To convert to mg/dL, multiply the amount by 18. For example, if a person in the U.K. says that their blood glucose result is 7 mmol/L, in the U.S. it’s read as 126 mg/dL.

Tip No. 3 — Monitor Your Blood Ketones

Another valuable test is the blood ketone test, which will tell you whether you’re in nutritional ketosis or not. I recommend starting your intermittent fasting routine and monitoring your blood ketones as you go along. The KetoCoachX monitor¹⁵ is currently one of the best and least expensive ketone monitors on the market.
You’re in nutritional ketosis once your blood ketone level is above 0.3 to 0.5 millimoles per liter (mmol/L).¹⁶ Ideally, perform the test first thing in the morning while still in a fasted state (i.e., before ingesting anything). Having a fasting ketone level above 1 mmol/L is a sign you’re in deep ketosis.
Once your fasting ketones are greater than 0.3 mmol/L, then you can start incorporating partial fasting as described in my book, “KetoFast: Rejuvenate Your Health With a Step-by-Step Guide to Timing Your Ketogenic Meals.”
The partial fasting regimen described in “KetoFast” essentially mimics ancestral eating patterns, allowing your body to work optimally by allowing for periods of breakdown and cleanout, and periods of rebuilding and rejuvenation.
Among the many health benefits of cyclical fasting is improved circulating glucose and lipid levels.¹⁷ For a summary of my KetoFast protocol, see “Avoid the Dark Side of Fasting and Ketosis With KetoFasting.”

Tip No. 4 — Radically Limit Net Carbs Until You Are Metabolically Flexible

Along with intermittent fasting, you’ll also want to adopt a cyclical ketogenic diet, which involves radically limiting carbs (replacing them with healthy fats and moderate amounts of protein) until you’re close to or at your ideal weight. As with intermittent fasting, this will allow your body to start using fat as its primary fuel rather than carbohydrates.
Twenty grams of carbs a day is on the low end of what's typically recommended to maintain nutritional ketosis, although some may be able to eat up to 50 grams a day and still maintain a ketogenic state.
The only way you'll know how many total carbs, fiber and net carbs you eat is to keep a food diary. The simplest way of doing this is to use an online nutrition tracker. Also remember you need to measure your ketones to determine if and when you’re in nutritional ketosis.
One of the primary reasons you develop insulin resistance is because you’re eating too many net carbs (total carbs minus fiber), too much protein and too little healthy fat. For optimal health, your body must be able to burn fat for fuel, and this is an ability that is lost when you consume too many net carbs on a daily basis.
When your body is able to burn fat for fuel, your liver creates ketones (water-soluble fats) that not only improve your glucose metabolism¹⁸ but also burn far more efficiently than carbs, thus lowering inflammation by creating fewer damaging reactive oxygen species and secondary free radicals.
If your ketones are above 0.3 mmol/L, as described in the section above, you can start increasing the amount of healthy carbs back into your diet and start cyclical ketosis.
To get you started, see my previous article, “Ketogenic Diet: A Beginner’s Ultimate Guide to Keto.” A far more detailed exposition on nutritional ketosis and how to implement a cyclical ketogenic diet can be found in my book, “Fat for Fuel,” which is the prequel to “KetoFast.”

Tip No. 5 — Increase Healthy Fats

A key to making nutritional ketosis work is to replace the lost carbs with healthy fats, and knowing which fats are healthy and which ones are not is a crucial distinction here. Most people will need 60 to 85 percent of daily calories in the form of fat, but not all fats qualify.
Fats to steer clear of are industrially processed vegetable oils, found in most processed foods and restaurant foods. Polyunsaturated fat found in processed vegetable oils is not harmful in and of itself, but becomes so if and when you eat too much of it, and/or when the oils degrade, which occurs during refining, processing and heating (cooking).
Not only can they form trans fats if heated high enough, but they can also form cyclic aldehydes, which are even more harmful. For a run-down of the dangers associated with processed vegetable oils, see “Top 13 Reasons to Replace Dangerous Oils With Healthy Fats.”
For cooking, healthy alternatives include coconut oil, grass fed raw organic butter, organic ghee, lard, tallow and olive oil. For general eating, foods high in healthy fats include avocado, olives, coconut, raw nuts such as macadamia and pecans, seeds such as black sesame, cumin, pumpkin and hemp seeds, raw cacao butter and organic pastured egg yolks.
Dairy fats found in butter, cheese and yogurt have been shown to lower your diabetes risk specifically. MCT oil is another healthy fat — just be sure to avoid taking it during partial fasting days once you’ve started KetoFasting, as exogenous ketones will inhibit autophagy.

Tip No. 6 — Drink Plenty of Clean Pure Water

Next, be sure to drink plenty of clean, purified water. Organic black coffee (meaning no milk or sugar) and tea are other healthy choices. Steer clear of all sweetened beverages, including “diet” drinks sweetened with artificial sweeteners and fruit juices.
As for how much water you need, your best bet is to use thirst and the color of your urine as a guide, along with frequency of urination.

Thirst — Simply using thirst as a guide to how much water you need to drink is a simple way to help ensure your individual needs are met, day by day
Color — If your urine is a deep, dark yellow, then you are likely not drinking enough water. Light straw-colored urine is typically a sign of sufficient water intake
Frequency of urination — If your urine is scant or if you haven't urinated in many hours, that too is an indication that you're not drinking enough. Based on the results from a few different studies, a healthy person urinates on average about seven or eight times a day

Tip No. 7 — Eat More Nuts and Seeds

In addition to being a good source of healthy fats, nuts and seeds are also an excellent source of magnesium, which many are deficient in. Lack of magnesium may raise your risk of insulin resistance as it plays an important role in carbohydrate and glucose metabolism. Magnesium helps your body metabolize carbs and glucose properly. As noted by Today’s Dietician:¹⁹

“Epidemiologic data^20,²¹ suggest that for every 100 mg/day increase in dietary magnesium, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes decreases by approximately 15%. The few clinical studies^22,²³ showing efficacy in improving insulin sensitivity with magnesium supplementation have used doses between 300 and 365 mg/day.”

Some of the most magnesium-rich seeds include sunflower, black sesame, black cumin, pumpkin and chia seeds. Among these, black cumin (nigella sativa) deserves special mention, as studies have shown it can help prevent both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
In one study, black cumin improved glucose tolerance as efficiently as metformin.²⁴ As a source of healthy fats, my preferences go to macadamias, pecans and walnuts, as they are high in fat while being lower in protein.

Tip No. 8 — Properly Prescribed Exercise

Last but not least, you need exercise, focusing more on strength/resistance training than cardio. Research²⁵ published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found even a single session of moderate exercise can improve the way your body regulates glucose and reduces postprandial glucose spikes, and several studies have demonstrated the benefits of strength training for diabetes specifically.
Among them is a 2017 study,²⁶ which found strength training lowered women’s risk of Type 2 diabetes by 30%. Adding aerobic exercise on top of it reduced the risk even further. Participants who performed at least 120 minutes of aerobic exercise per week, along with some form of strength training, had a 65% lower risk for Type 2 diabetes than those who did neither.
Research²⁷ published in April 2019 found a link between muscular strength and Type 2 diabetes incidence. People with mid-level muscular strength, measured using leg and bench press tests, had a 32% lower risk of Type 2 diabetes compared to weaker cohorts, irrespective of cardiorespiratory fitness. No significant association between diabetes and upper level muscle strength was observed, however.
A third example of this kind of research was published in BioMed Research International in 2013.²⁸ This review also investigated the mechanisms of how exercise lowers your risk of diabetes. One way by which strength training improves your glucose metabolism is by increasing glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT4) translocation in skeletal muscle.
GLUT4 translocation occurs as a result of muscle contraction,²⁹ and is required for proper regulation of glucose uptake in your muscles. Strength training increases your insulin sensitivity, as lean muscle is highly sensitive to insulin,³⁰ which helps restore metabolic flexibility.
By using insulin more efficiently, your body also ends up using more glucose, leaving less to circulate in your bloodstream — hence the improvements in glucose control.^31,³² “Increased energy expenditure and excess postexercise oxygen consumption in response to resistance training may be other beneficial effects,” the review paper³³ notes.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has also been shown to effectively reduce your risk for diabetes. In one such study,³⁴ older overweight Type 2 diabetics improved their glucose regulation in just six HIIT sessions done over the course of two weeks.
Participants performed 10 bouts of 60-second cycling at 90 percent of their maximum heart rate, interspersed with 60 seconds of rest (total time spent exercising was one hour per week). Overall, the average 24-hour blood glucose concentration was reduced from 7.6 mmol/L (± 1.0) to 6.6 mmol/L (± 0.7) following the exercise.
According to the authors, “Our findings indicate that low-volume HIIT can rapidly improve glucose control and induce adaptations in skeletal muscle that are linked to improved metabolic health in patients with Type 2 diabetes.”

Friday, 10 May 2019

Study finds lifestyle factors that could harden arteries | Newswise:

Study finds lifestyle factors that could harden arteries|

In this age where we find more and more people with Dementia and Alzheimer, it is vitally important to be aware what can cause these conditions!

One of the largest of its kind, the study performed an untargeted metabolomics profile of over 1,200 participants of the Bogalusa Heart Study to identify metabolites linked to the hardening of arteries.
Hardening arteries, or arterial stiffness, is an independent risk factor for heart disease and death, and the mechanisms that contribute to arterial stiffening are not well understood.
That’s where metabolomics can help pull back the curtain on how and when arterial stiffness begins to occur.

Metabolomics is the study of metabolites, which are created each time there is a transfer of energy in the body. Metabolites play a key role in maintaining the body’s normal function, and changes in metabolite levels can reflect how environmental factors, like smoking, diet or pollutants, influence health.

“Metabolomics can accurately measure the amount of exposures entering the body,” said study author Changwei Li
.
“In this study, we identified many metabolites related to coffee drinking, alcohol drinking, Southern foods, dietary supplements, and even pesticides,” said Li, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UGA’s College of Public Health.

Using the most up-to-date panel of metabolites, Li and his colleagues ran an analysis on participant blood samples, looking for environmental exposures that had an impact on measures of arterial stiffness.

The study found 27 new metabolites associated with arterial stiffness.
“We were able to identify some environmental and lifestyle related-metabolites, build metabolite networks to shown how the body reacts to the environmental exposures, and more importantly, tested the effect of those metabolites on arterial stiffness,” said Li.

The majority of these were associated with other known risk factors of arterial stiffness like high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes.

But some of these metabolites are food additives and cooking ingredients found in many U.S. kitchens.

For example, the team identified two peptides – gamma-glutamylvaline and gamma-glutamylisoleucine – that are commonly used to enhance the savory taste of chicken broth.
“Our study raised possibility that those additives may cause arterial stiffness. Given the wide usage of those additives, future studies are warranted to investigate their role in arterial stiffness.”
To be clear, said Li, the current study is a snapshot of metabolites. The relationship between some of the metabolites and arterial stiffness over time is unclear, and he has plans to run this study again using longitudinal data.

The full report of the findings can be found in the current issue of the American Journal of Hypertension at https://academic.oup.com/ajh/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ajh/hpz046/5429584
###
Writer: Lauren Baggett, lbaggett@uga.edu, 706-542-7636
Contact: Changwei Li, changwei.li@uga.edu, 706-583-0918
This release is available online at https://news.uga.edu/study-lifestyle-factors-harden-arteries/

SEE ORIGINAL STUDY

Monday, 12 November 2018

Why All Diabetics Should Know About Turmeric

Important Informaton about Diabetes

The healing powers of Turmeric cannot be ignored.

Posted on:

Sunday, November 11th 2018 at 5:00 am

Written By:

Sayer Ji, Founder

This article is copyrighted by GreenMedInfo LLC, 2018
Visit our Re-post guidelines

Why All Diabetics Should Know About Turmeric

Many diabetics already know about the benefits of a low-glycemic diet and the need for regular exercise, but why haven't they heard about turmeric, one of the world's most extensively researched anti-diabetic plants?
A recent literature review published in the International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism titled, "Anti-Hyperglycemic Effect and Insulin Sensitizing Effects of Turmeric and Its Principle Constituent Curcumin," adds promising new support to the notion that the ancient Indian spice turmeric may provide an ideal drug alternative to treating and perhaps even preventing type 2 diabetes, which has become of the world's most prevalent diagnoses.

The study reviewed research published between 1998 to 2013 that indicates the active polyphenol in turmeric known as curcumin may provide an ideal intervention for type 2 diabetes, capable of mitigating characteristic pathophysiological hallmarks of the disease such as elevated blood sugar (hyperglycemia) and insulin resistance.

Nineteen of the studies reviewed were cell (in vitro) and animal (in vivo), all which showed beneficial effects. Five of the studies were human clinical trials using turmeric or curcumin, three of which were performed in those with either diabetes or prediabetes.

Amazingly, the animal and cell research literature review concluded that curcumin could improve the type 2 diabetic state through 10 distinctly different mechanisms, such as:

Reduction in liver glucose production
Reduction in liver glycogen production
Stimulation of increased glucose uptake (by increasing GLUT4, GLUT2 and GLUT3 gene expressions)
Increasing the activation of AMP kinase
Promoting PPAR γ ligand- binding activity
Suppressing hyperglycemia-induced inflammatory state
Stimulating insulin secretion from pancreatic tissues
Improvement in pancreatic cell function,
Increasing phosphorylation of AKT
Increasing insulin receptor β and reduction of insulin resistance

The human clinical research conducted on diabetic and pre-diabetic patients revealed that curcumin had the following beneficial effects:

Glucose lowering effect
Improved beta cell function
Improved fatty acid oxidation and utilization

One of these studies is especially worth highlighting, as it found a turmeric extract was highly effective in preventing the development of diabetes within pre-diabetic subjects. The study published in 2012, in the American Diabetic Association's own journal, Diabetes Care, and titled, "Curcumin extract for the prevention of type 2 diabetes," found that the administration of six capsules containing 250 mg of curcumin daily for 9 months was 100% effective at preventing the development of type 2 diabetes in prediabetics; more specifically: "16.4% of the subjects in the placebo group were diagnosed with T2DM, whereas none were diagnosed with T2DM."

Observed effects like these are extremely promising when viewed within the context of the highly dismal pharmaceutically-based standard of care. For instance, oral anti-diabetic drugs like metformin are notorious for their serious side effects. They often lower blood sugar, generating the surface appearance of physiological normality, e.g. blood sugar within range, but actually increase morbidity and mortality. With the possibility of deadly side effects, we need natural, safe, affordable and easily accessible alternatives like turmeric now more than ever.

Moreover, despite the well known problem of insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes, recombinant or genetically modified insulin is often used in these patients – a highly illogical and irresponsible approach, and which is endemic to a medical paradigm that does not seek to identity for resolve root causes of disease. A small, but highly concerning recent clinical study found that insulin accelerated the progression of type 2 diabetes, as well as caused type 1 diabetes, or "double diabetes."
Diabetes is, of course, driven by a dietary pattern that reflects evolutionary mismatch, i.e. the Western diet is a lethal disease vector that has no resemblance to the traditional diet humans consumed for thousands of years, and upon which it still depends for good health. Turmeric, therefore, while an amazing alternative to diabetic drugs, should not be considered a "natural cure"; rather, it is something of a palliative counter-balance to a biologically inappropriate diet, which while far better than pharmaceuticals (learn more by reading: Science Confirms Turmeric As Effective As 14 Drugs), still needs to be part of a broader, more holistic plan that takes into account diet, exercise, toxicant exposure, and mind-body/emotional factors that underpin well-being and contribute significantly to most dis-eases.

For more information on the therapeutic value of turmeric/curcumin diabetes, read our previous articles on the topic:

Tuesday, 25 September 2018

How To Reverse Insulin Resitance

Reverse Insulin Resistance

Amazing what these herbs can achieve!

Posted on:

Wednesday, December 20th 2017 at 3:45 am

Written By:

GreenMedInfo Research Group

This article is copyrighted by GreenMedInfo LLC, 2017
Visit our Re-post guidelines

Reverse Insulin Resistance With These 8 Foods

Research indicates that you don't need drugs to control blood sugar. Food, herbs, and spices are the future of medicine.
Over 80 million Americans have insulin resistance that can lead to diabetes. And you could be on the road to diabetes for 10 years or more and never even know it. Here's what happens.
The hormone insulin directs your cells to open up and take in glucose from the blood. With insulin resistance, your cells become desensitized to insulin. They ignore the instructions to open up and take in glucose. Your body keeps producing more insulin to try to get the message heard. But it doesn't work. And your insulin levels rise higher and higher.
Those chronically high insulin levels cause rapid weight gain, premature aging, high blood pressure, heart disease, and higher cancer risks. Eventually they lead to type 2 diabetes.
Herbs, spices and foods are your first line of defense. Here are eight that can help restore and maintain your cells' sensitivity to insulin.

1. Turmeric: 100% Effective In Preventing Diabetes

A 2009 study found curcumin, an active compound found in turmeric, was 500 to 100,000 times more effective than the prescription drug Metformin at activating glucose uptake.[i]
In another study of 240 pre-diabetic adults, patients were given either 250 milligrams of curcumin or a placebo every day. After nine months, NONE of those taking curcumin developed diabetes but 16.4% of the placebo group did. In other words, the curcumin was 100% effective at preventing Type 2 diabetes.

2. Ginger: Lowers Fasting Blood Glucose by 10.5%

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial 88 diabetics were divided into two groups. Every day one group received a placebo while the other received 3 one-gram capsules of ginger powder. After eight weeks, the ginger group reduced their fasting blood sugar by 10.5%. But the placebo group INCREASED their fasting blood sugar by 21%. In addition, insulin sensitivity increased significantly more in the ginger group.[ii]
In another study, researchers proved that 1600 mg per day of ginger improves eight markers of diabetes including insulin sensitivity.[iii]
Many other studies prove the value of ginger for diabetes. For a complete list of studies visit Green Med Info's page on Ginger Health Benefits.

3. Cinnamon: Less Than Half a Teaspoon A Day Reduces Blood Sugar Levels

Cinnamon is one of the oldest spices and most popular spices. It's been used for millennia both for its flavoring and medicinal qualities.
Cinnamon has been shown to normalize blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetics by improving the ability to respond to insulin. A meta-analysis of eight clinical studies shows that cinnamon or cinnamon extracts lower fasting blood glucose levels.[iv]
Cinnamon works in part by slowing the rate at which the stomach empties after eating. In one study subjects ate about a cup of rice pudding with and without about a teaspoon of cinnamon. Adding the cinnamon slowed the rate the stomach emptied from 37% to 34.5% and significantly slowed the rise in blood sugar levels. Even less than a half of a teaspoon a day reduces blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetics.[v]
Here are 5 more reasons to eat cinnamon every day.

4. Olive Leaf Extract: Results Comparable to Metformin

University of Auckland researchers proved that olive leaf extract decreases insulin sensitivity.
In a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study, 46 overweight men were divided into two groups. One group received capsules containing olive leaf extract and the other group received a placebo. After 12 weeks, olive leaf extract lowered insulin resistance by an average of 15%. It also increased the productivity of the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas by 28%.[vi]
The researchers noted that supplementing with olive leaf extract gave results "comparable to common diabetic therapeutics (particularly metformin)."

5. Berries Lower After-Meal Insulin Spike

Studies show the body needs less insulin for sugar balance after a meal if berries are also eaten. In a study of healthy women in Finland, subjects were asked to eat white and rye bread with or without a selection of different pureed berries. Starch in the bread alone spikes after-meal glucose levels. But the researchers found that adding berries to the bread significantly reduced the after-meal insulin spike.
Strawberries, bilberries, lingonberries, and chokeberries were effective. So was a mixture consisting of strawberries, bilberries, cranberries, and blackberries.[vii]

6. Black Seed (Nigella Sativa): Just 2 Grams Reduces Insulin Resistance

In a study of 94 diabetic patients, researchers prescribed either 1, 2 or 3 grams a day of Nigella sativa capsules. They found that at the dose of 2 grams per day, black seed significantly reduced fasting blood glucose and insulin resistance. The higher dose of 3 grams per day did not result in additional benefits.[viii]
Black seed has been treasured for thousands of years for its healing properties. It is sometimes referred to as Roman coriander, black sesame, black cumin, and black caraway. It's been called the remedy for everything but death.

7. Spirulina Increases Insulin Sensitivity by 225%

In a randomized study of insulin-resistant patients, researchers compared the power of spirulina and soy to control insulin levels.[ix] They assigned 17 patients to receive 19 grams of spirulina a day. The other 16 patients received 19 grams of soy. After eight weeks the spirulina group on average increased their insulin sensitivity by 224.7% while the soy group increased their insulin sensitivity by 60%.
In addition, 100% of the spirulina group improved their insulin sensitivity while only 69% of the soy group improved.

8. Berberine Just As Good as Three Different Diabetes Drugs

Berberine is a bitter compound found in the roots of several plants including goldenseal, barberry, and Oregon grape. Studies prove it's just as good as prescription diabetes drugs.
Chinese researchers compared berberine to metformin in a pilot study of 36 patients. They found berberine lowered blood sugar levels just as well as metformin in just three months. The patients also significantly decreased their fasting blood glucose, and their after-meal blood glucose.
In the same study, researchers gave berberine to 48 diabetics for three months. After only one week, berberine lowered both fasting and post-meal blood glucose levels. In addition, their insulin resistance dropped 45%.[x]
Other researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 14 studies involving 1,068 participants. They found berberine performed just as well as metformin, glipizide and rosiglitazone. Those are three of the top diabetes drugs on the market.[xi] And berberine has no serious side effects.
For more than 70 studies on this herbal compound visit Green Med Info's page on berberine