As the General Manager of Forward Nutrition, I'm constantly reading and researching about supplements and health, particularly when it involves diabetes. Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome are huge problems that are only getting worse in this country, and natural treatments for diabetes don't get nearly the attention they deserve.
This article from the April 2009 issue of Nutritional Outlook (ok, I'm a little behind) is too good not to share.
Entitled "Understanding a Silent Killer," this is must reading if you're at all concerned about diabetes, maintaining or managing blood sugar, or seeking natural, safe treatments to treat Type 2 diabetes.
Among the natural treatments for diabetes care discussed are alpha-lipoic acid, dietary fiber, gymnema sylvestre and chromium. These nutrients have been shown repeatedly to help manage blood sugar, control blood sugar spikes, and reduce sugar cravings and mood swings.
Alpha-lipoic acid doesn't just improve insulin sensitivity, but also protects against diabetic complications like peripheral nerve pain. It's one of the best natural diabetes treatments, and it also helps your body utilize the other antioxidants you take, like vitamins C and E.
Here's a simple recipe for preventing Type 2 diabetes and heart disease: pour glass of tomato juice. Drink. Repeat.
Metabolic Syndrome -- which for many is the first step towards obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease -- may be prevented by upping your antioxidant carotenoid levels, according to a recent study from the University Medical Center Ulrecht in The Netherlands.
In the study published in the Journal of Nutrition, Dutch scientists report that those with the highest carotenoid levels had a 58 percent decreased incidence of Metabolic Syndrome, drastically reducing their future risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Higher levels of carotenoids, including beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein and zeaxanthin, were associated with smaller waist size and less body fat, as well as lower triglyceride levels. Waist size above 40" in men (35" in women) and increased triglyceride levels are two major signs and symptoms of Metabolic Syndrome.
The highest levels of protection seem to come from lycopene and beta-carotene, with lycopene in particular associated with a 45 percent lower incidence of the syndrome.
Clearly if you're looking for a new diabetes treatment or a simple lifestyle change for better health, getting more lycopene in your diet is a healthy place to start. Lycopene, which is abundant in tomato juice and widely available in supplement form, not only lowers your risk of diabetes, heart attack and diseases of the prostate, lung, colon, stomach, and pancreas, but studies have also found it can significantly decrease exercise-induced asthma too.
Metabolic Syndrome is particularly dangerous because so many have it and don't even realize it. As many as 75 million Americans have the risk factors associated with Metabolic Syndrome (also known as "Syndrome X") which include low HDL cholesterol, high fasting blood glucose levels and blood pressure above 135/85.
Taking steps to manage blood sugar and reduce weight can not only prevent Metabolic Syndrome, but the more serious Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular problems that so often follow behind it.
Who knew that an alternative treatment for diabetes could be as close as your next V-8? Just make it the low sodium variety, please.
The connection between exercise and diabetes treatment and prevention is not exactly new news, but this is: a new study shows that less than 10 minutes a week may actually be enough to make a difference!
Researchers studying Type 2 diabetes at Scotland's Heriot-Watt University assigned 16 subjects in their 20s to very short exercise sessions, lasting only 30-seconds each. In addition to a set of 4-6 sprints, subjects drank a 75 gram glucose solution, to determine how long blood sugar and insulin levels remained elevated, and the impact of intense exercise on glucose control.
The result: after only two weeks, blood sugar levels decreased 12 percent, and the duration of elevated blood sugar decreased 37 percent.
While we all know exercise has tremendous benefits -- not just to manage diabetes and control blood sugar, but to treat and prevent heart disease and boost overall health -- we still come up with excuses not to do it.
Exercise dramatically improves diabetes and insulin resistance. It actually acts like insulin -- exercising muscles take up glucose. Furthermore, the benefits are lasting because exercise increases insulin sensitivity.
Exercise also helps you lose weight, key to managing diabetes and blood sugar control. In an NIH study, regular exercise (just 30 minutes, five days a week) and a low-fat diet resulted in an average sustained weight loss of 10-15 pounds. This alone can prevent or reverse diabetes.
Walking, jogging, cycling, swimming --what you do doesn't matter as long as you actually do it. Dr. Whitaker recommends you aim for at least 30 minutes, five days a week, and if you can add a session or two of weight training, so much the better.
But this new research shows that even a few sprints around the block, a quick bike ride or a run up a hill or set of stairs can deliver lasting health benefits too.
No excuses -- start moving. I'll race ya!
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