Preventing Type 2 Diabetes

Many people dealing with diabetes admit that the disease snuck up on them. They didn’t see it coming.

These men and women didn’t suddenly lose weight or become excessively hungry and thirsty (as those with type 1 diabetes often experience), nor did they feel sick in any way.  In fact, there are few truly recognizable type 2 diabetes symptoms. The disease is usually discovered during a routine blood test when a high fasting blood glucose reading, usually in the 150 to 300 mg/dL range, is noted.

There are, however, a few common type 2 diabetes signs and symptoms:

• The vast majority of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight, with the distribution of weight most commonly in the abdominal area.
• Most people with type 2 diabetes are inactive.
• Worldwide, the greatest increase in the number of people managing diabetes appears in those over the age of 65. Beginning in our forties, our lifestyle indiscretions are no longer protected by the resilience of youth. Things like an unhealthy diet, extra pounds, and lack of exercise suddenly turn into diabetes risk factors and begin take their toll.

For more information about type 2 diabetes symptoms and natural remedies for diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com.

In the United States alone, more than 24 million children and adults are living with diabetes, including 5.7 million who are unaware that they have this disease.  

Diabetes is a fearsome disorder, yet one we take much too lightly. Few people flirting with borderline elevated blood sugar levels realize how important it is to get this situation under control right away.   

Most folks are unaware of the many diabetes complications, and that this disease is the leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, and amputations in this country. People living with diabetes are more likely to have—and die of—a heart attack or stroke than those with normal blood sugar levels. Diabetes is also a primary contributor to erectile dysfunction (impotence) and dementia.

Unfortunately, most people either don’t know or tend to ignore the subtle warning signs of this devastating disease. It’s time we all pull our heads out of the sand and look diabetes in the eye.  
Diabetes is in large part a disease of lifestyle. In 90 percent of all cases, it is both preventable and treatable. Treating diabetes is simpler than many people think—exercising most days of the week and cutting sugars and starches out of your diet can go a long way toward improving blood sugar levels and preventing diabetes complications.

For more information about diabetes complications and treating diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com.

In addition to being the driving force behind type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance is also part and parcel of a condition called metabolic syndrome (formerly syndrome X).

Identified in the mid-1980s by Stanford University researcher Gerald Reaven, MD, metabolic syndrome is a cluster of disorders that includes obesity (particularly abdominal obesity), high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels, low HDL cholesterol (often referred to as “good” cholesterol, since it ushers excess cholesterol out of the body), and increased risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Reaven, observing that these seemingly unrelated disorders cropped up so often in the same individuals, determined that the one underlying constant was insulin resistance.

Though the natural treatments for diabetes that I often write about are geared toward people who are already managing diabetes, it is good to know that your efforts at beating diabetes can also help protect against hypertension, heart disease, and obesity.

For more information about metabolic syndrome (syndrome X), insulin resistance, and how to manage diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com.

Diabetic neuropathy is a form of nerve damage that affects many people living with diabetes.  In addition to being quite painful, it can also be debilitating.  Fortunately, there are three effective, natural remedies to treat this common diabetes complication.

Lipoic acid, also called alpha lipoic acid, is an extremely powerful natural antioxidant. High doses of lipoic acid (in the 600 mg range) have been shown in several studies to be an effective therapy for diabetic neuropathy, reducing pain, and improving function in affected patients. Aim for 600-1,200 mg daily, depending on your degree of neuropathy.

Evening primrose oil, which contains the essential fatty acid gamma linolenic acid, also benefits nerves damaged by diabetes and reduces associated pain. In a landmark double-blind study carried out in seven medical centers, 480 mg of evening primrose oil taken daily for one year resulted in improvements in symptoms of neuropathy in both type 1 and type 2 diabetics. Other studies have utilized doses of up to 6,000 mg per day with good results. Start with 500–1,500 mg per day.

Potent daily multivitamin/mineral supplement and fish oil. Because oxidative stress plays a role in diabetic neuropathy, you need to take a potent multivitamin and mineral complex that contains the following nutrients in the suggested doses: vitamin E (at least 300 IUs), vitamin B6 (150 mg), and vitamin B12 (1,500 mcg). Since inflammation is also a factor, take 2–8 grams of high-quality fish oil.

For more information on managing diabetes and diabetes complications, visit www.drwhitaker.com.

At the Whitaker Wellness Institute, we routinely prescribe high doses of water- and fat-soluble vitamins and minerals to virtually all of our patients. However, for our patients living with diabetes, we bump up those amounts by at least 50 percent. The diabetic condition causes increased urination and essentially acts as a diuretic, washing away magnesium, zinc, folic acid, and other vital nutrients from the body. Supplementing with high levels of these vitamins and minerals helps compensate for nutritional deficiencies and protect against diabetic complications.

Take Roxann, a type 2 diabetic who had been on insulin for 16 years. She had retinopathy, angina, high blood pressure, a history of two heart attacks, and an open ulcer on her foot that refused to heal. But the most debilitating of her problems was neuropathy. Nerve damage left her with virtually no sensation in her feet, and she could barely get around on her own.

After hitting rock bottom, Roxann came to my clinic and started on a comprehensive nutritional regimen that included high doses of antioxidants, B-complex vitamins, zinc, magnesium, and targeted nutrients and herbs known to help control blood sugar. Given the severity of Roxann’s condition, she also underwent a course of enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT).

Within three days, the feeling began to return to Roxann’s feet. She had more energy, less pain, and a renewed sense of hope. By the end of her second week at the clinic, she was walking normally. In fact, she and her daughter did something that would have been unthinkable just three weeks before: They spent the next couple of days strolling around and sightseeing in southern California.

If you’re living with diabetes and are seeing a conventional doctor, ask this question: “Doctor, I understand that diabetes causes losses of many micronutrients in the urine. Would it be wise for me to be on a nutrient supplement regimen to counteract those losses?”

If your doctor says it’s not needed or gives you some garbage about lack of science or some other nonsense, run—don’t walk—to a physician with a different attitude toward nutritional supplementation and other natural diabetes treatments. You just might save yourself a whole lot of suffering.

For more information on treating diabetes or key supplements for diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com.

The key to the treating diabetes is twofold. First, you need to control blood sugar levels. Equally important, you must prevent diabetes complications.

While conventional physicians do attempt to stave off diabetes complications by helping patients maintain blood sugar levels that are in the normal range, they ignore the solid scientific research that supports the aggressive use of specific nutritional supplements for protection against the ravages of diabetes. This is one of the most obvious and inexcusable blind spots of conventional medicine.

Diabetes is a nutritionally wasting disease. Massive amounts of nutrients are lost as the kidneys rid the body of excess glucose by increasing urination, so the first step is replacement of these lost nutrients.

Among the most significant losses are the B-complex vitamins, and many people with diabetes have suboptimal cellular levels of these vital nutrients. Vitamins B6, B12, and biotin improve insulin sensitivity and also help prevent diabetes complications, particularly neuropathy, which is present in almost half of all people with diabetes. Supplementation is imperative, with recommended doses of:

• 75 mg vitamin B6,
• 150 mcg of B12,
• 300 mcg of biotin, and
• an array of other B-complex vitamins.

People with diabetes also tend to have low levels of magnesium, and those with the lowest levels are most likely to have diabetic retinopathy and other eye problems. For this reason, anyone trying to manage diabetes should also take a minimum of 500 mg of magnesium per day, balanced with 1,000 mg of calcium.

For more information on managing diabetes, natural diabetes treatments, and reversing diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com.

One of the most effective natural treatments for diabetes is vanadium. This unique trace mineral works to lower blood sugar by mimicking insulin and improving the cells’ sensitivity to insulin.

Supplementation with vanadyl sulfate and other vanadium compounds markedly lowers fasting glucose and improves other measures of diabetes. In a number of animal studies, this mineral has actually eliminated diabetes.

Human studies, although not as numerous, are also compelling. In a landmark study, eight people with type 2 diabetes receiving 50 mg of vanadyl sulfate twice a day for four weeks, followed by a placebo for four weeks, were found to have a 20 percent reduction in average fasting blood sugar, which lasted well into the placebo period after the mineral was discontinued. The only reported adverse effect was minor gastrointestinal (GI) distress during the first few days of the study.

Vanadium is quite safe, even at doses of up to 400 mg per day. Don’t be surprised if you hear rumors to the contrary. According to Dr. John McNeill, one of the world’s leading experts on vanadium, these unfounded precautions are based on toxicity studies done by a single researcher and have never been replicated by anyone else.  

Many physicians have utilized vanadyl sulfate with thousands of people living with diabetes in doses of 100–150 mg per day with remarkable success and absolutely no adverse reactions, save slight GI distress in a few individuals.

Vanadium is just one of the many natural diabetes treatments. For additional natural treatments for diabetes or information on managing diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com.

While type 2 diabetes can sneak up on you, there are three type 2 diabetes symptoms you should be aware of:

• Diabetes and weight go hand-in-hand. The vast majority of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight, with the distribution of weight most commonly in the abdominal area. Excess weight is also a known factor in insulin resistance.
• Most people with type-2 diabetes are inactive. Exercise enhances insulin sensitivity and makes it easier to control blood sugar.
• The average newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patient is middle-aged. Once we hit our forties, our lifestyle indiscretions are no longer protected by the resilience of youth. Years of an unhealthy diet, extra pounds, and lack of exercise begin to take their toll and we succumb to degenerative diseases—not only diabetes but also other diseases of aging, such as heart disease, blood pressure concerns, and arthritis. 

For more information on type 2 diabetes symptoms, natural diabetes treatments, and reversing diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com.

Type 2 diabetes, sometimes referred to as non-insulin-dependent diabetes or adult-onset diabetes, is marked by elevated blood glucose levels. 

The problem starts at the insulin receptor sites on the cells’ surfaces—they simply won’t open up to let in glucose and other nutrients, regardless how much insulin is knocking at the door. This is a condition known as insulin resistance or insulin insensitivity, and is at the root of 90 percent of all diagnoses of diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes symptoms can sneak up on you. The actual disease is usually discovered during routine blood tests when a high fasting blood glucose reading, usually in the 150 to 300 mg/dL range, is noted.

For the vast majority of people, eating a healthy diet, taking targeted nutritional supplements, increasing activity level, and losing weight will go a long way toward managing diabetes. In fact, these measures may well help you avoid diabetes altogether.

For more information on managing diabetes, natural diabetes treatments, and diabetes and weight, visit www.drwhitaker.com.

Type 2 diabetes information and research can be found all over the place, but much less is written about type 1. That’s likely because the vast majority of people living with diabetes have type 2. Nevertheless, type 1 diabetes warrants discussion. 

Type 1 diabetes, sometimes referred to as juvenile diabetes because it usually appears before the age of 20 (though it can crop up at any age), results from the inability of the pancreas to produce adequate insulin. Insulin is the nutritional storage hormone. Produced in specialized beta cells located in areas of the pancreas called the Islets of Langerhans, insulin is the key that opens up cells to glucose and other nutrients. If there is not enough insulin in the bloodstream to “unlock” these cells so that nutrients can get in, cells literally starve to death.  

Not surprisingly, classic symptoms of type 1 diabetes include extreme hunger as the body tries to compensate for this inability to feed its cells, and rapid weight loss as the cells are unable to utilize food, regardless of how much is eaten. In addition, untreated individuals with type 1 diabetes are extremely thirsty, drink copious amounts of fluids, and urinate excessively. This is because the kidneys, in an attempt to keep things in balance, excrete as much excess glucose via the urine as they possibly can.  

People with type 1 diabetes are often diagnosed in the emergency room—dehydrated, wasting away, and sometimes in a life-threatening diabetic coma. Their blood glucose is sky high, usually between 350 and 750 milligrams per deciliter of blood (mg/dL; normal is 80 to 110 mg/dL).  

This type of diabetes is defined as an autoimmune attack on the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Researchers aren’t sure exactly what causes the immune system to attack, but viral infections are one possible cause.   

But to reiterate, only 10 percent of all people dealing with diabetes have this form of the disease. For the other 90 percent, lifestyle factors—the foods you choose to eat, the supplements you take, your activity level, and your weight—determine whether or not you will develop diabetes and what course it will take if you already have it. 

For more information on treating diabetes, diabetes risk factors, or diabetes success stories, visit www.drwhitaker.com.

While several herbs have been proven to lower blood sugar levels, two in particular stand out:

Gymnema sylvestre.  This is a plant native to India that, incredible as it may seem, appears to regenerate the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Gymnema has been demonstrated to lower blood sugar levels in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. In a study of 22 type 2 diabetics, supplementation with this herb resulted in improved blood sugar control across the board. Furthermore, 16 of the 22 patients were able to reduce their oral medications while five discontinued them altogether. The recommended dose is 400 mg of Gymnema sylvestre per day.

Banaba leaf (Lagerstroemia speciosa L.). Banaba leaf contains colosolic acid, which activates glucose transport into the cells and effectively lowers blood sugar. In a landmark Japanese placebo-controlled clinical trial, 24 diabetics were given a supplement containing banaba leaf or a placebo three times a day for four weeks. Significant blood sugar declines were observed in the individuals taking the herb (average 153.9 to 133.1 mg/dL); there was little change in the placebo group. Aim for approximately 50 mg of banaba leaf extract daily.

Other botanicals that make it easier to control blood sugar, albeit to a lesser degree, include:

• bitter melon (Momordica charantia),
• Siberian ginseng,
• basil,
• cinnamon,
• garlic, and
• onion.

Look for all of these herbs in your health food store and use as directed.

For more information on treating diabetes, natural diabetes treatments, and reversing diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com. While there, sign up for FREE e-letters, or subscribe to Dr. Whitaker’s monthly newsletter, Health & Healing.

If you’re dealing with diabetes, specifically type 2 diabetes, the primary thrust of your medical management should be to obtain and maintain blood sugar levels within the normal range.

For most physicians, this means drug therapy. However, in more than 30 years of treating thousands of type 2 diabetics at the Whitaker Wellness Institute, I’ve found that drugs are rarely necessary. Instead, I rely on alternative diabetes treatments, including a comprehensive diet, exercise, and weight loss program, and natural agents that lower blood sugar. Adopting this natural treatment program has allowed the majority of the diabetic patients who come to the clinic to be successfully weaned from their hypoglycemic drugs.

Take the case of Alice, who came to Whitaker Wellness with a seven-year history of type 2 diabetes. Her blood sugar was under pretty good control on Diabeta (a sulfonylurea drug), but she was concerned about side effects—as she should have been. Drugs in this class are associated with weight gain, elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and an increased risk of heart disease.  

During her week at the Back to Health Program, Alice was weaned off Diabeta and placed on a combination of targeted minerals and herbs. And guess what? Her blood sugar levels remained stable. She continued on this effective, less expensive, and far safer program, and has been able to maintain blood sugar levels in the normal range.

For more information on managing diabetes, natural diabetes treatments, and reversing diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com. While there, sign up for FREE e-letters, or subscribe to Dr. Whitaker’s monthly newsletter, Health & Healing.

We have become a nation obsessed with junk food and this emphasis on refined, fatty fare is partly responsible for nutritional deficiencies that can make it difficult to control blood sugar.  

Studies indicate that only a quarter of Americans get the recommended amount of magnesium, and intakes of zinc are also low. The average woman gets less than half the calcium she needs, and 58 percent of young women in the US are iron deficient. Chief among the nutrients that are lost during the refining process is the trace mineral chromium, which enhances the action of insulin and also facilitates weight loss. It has been suggested that chromium deficiencies, which are increasingly common in this country, may play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes.

Everyone—even those of you who eat a good diet—should take a high-potency multivitamin-mineral supplement every day. Make sure your multivitamin contains “megadoses” of the nutrients that have been demonstrated to reduce risk of type 2 diabetes, namely vitamin C (1,000-1,500 mg), vitamin E (300-400 IU), vitamin B6 (75–100 mg), vitamin B12 (100–1,000 mcg), biotin (300 mcg), magnesium (500 mg), and chromium (200–400 mcg).

Think of your multivitamin supplement as insurance to counterbalance the inadequacies of your diet. This small measure can help fill in the nutritional “holes” created by our modern lifestyle. Believe me, it’s the cheapest diabetic treatment you’ll ever buy.

For more information on managing diabetes and natural treatments for diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com. While there, sign up for FREE e-letters, or subscribe to Dr. Whitaker’s monthly newsletter, Health & Healing.

What you eat has a profound effect on your blood glucose levels and your risk of developing insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. So if you or a loved one are at risk for or already dealing with diabetes, read the following information carefully.

Refined carbohydrates and sugars are rapidly broken down into glucose, driving up blood sugar levels and placing an increased burden on normal metabolic processes. Please avoid them whenever possible.

On the other hand, vegetables, legumes, and most fruits, cause a slow, sustained release of glucose into the bloodstream. Couple these slow burners with moderate amounts of lean protein and healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, and you’ll find it easier to control blood sugar.  

Other great dietary tips to help you manage diabetes include:

• Eat moderate amounts of lean protein with every meal. Good sources are fish, poultry, tofu, egg whites, and legumes.
• Avoid saturated fats and trans fatty acids, found in margarine and other processed fats, and eat only healthy fats, such as those found in raw nuts and seeds, olive oil, and flaxseed.
• Make unprocessed carbohydrates the mainstay of your meals. Concentrate on fruits, vegetables, and legumes.
• Whenever possible stay away from starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, and refined grains.  

For more information on diabetes, diabetic complications, and reversing diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com. While there, sign up for FREE e-letters, or subscribe to Dr. Whitaker’s monthly newsletter, Health & Healing.

One of the primary reasons we’re seeing a worldwide glut of insulin-resistant diabetes is because more and more emerging nations are adopting the Western diet that we’ve “enjoyed” for years. Indigenous diets of fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, and whole grains are being replaced with processed, refined foods that have been stripped of their natural fiber and nutrients. Meat has become more prominent in the daily diet. And fast-food restaurants are springing up all over the globe. This is horrible news for anyone trying to manage diabetes.

In the US, we’ve been eating a schizophrenic diet for years. In a futile effort to lose weight, we fill up on fat-free cookies and ice cream, which are nothing more than unhealthy refined carbohydrates. We’ve also become sugar junkies. According to US Department of Agriculture statistics, Americans consume an average of 149 pounds of sweeteners a year—not counting the artificial sweeteners that we consume in more than 7,000 products. 

Excess fat is also a culprit, particularly saturated fats from meat and altered trans fatty acids in processed foods. As early as the 1920s, it was demonstrated that a high-saturated-fat diet contributes to type 2 diabetes, as it not only causes weight gain—one of several diabetes risk factors in itself—but also decreases insulin sensitivity and makes it difficult to control blood sugar.

Beating diabetes has a lot more to do with lifestyle choices than with which pill to take next. Stay tuned to this blog for additional diet recommendations and other natural remedies for diabetes.

For more information on diabetes, diabetic complications, and reversing diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com. While there, sign up for FREE e-letters, or subscribe to Dr. Whitaker’s monthly newsletter, Health & Healing.

If you are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, you’ll immediately—and unavoidably—be prescribed insulin. If the diagnosis is type 2 diabetes, you’ll probably be told to make some changes in your diet and to begin exercising. But, you’ll also likely be told to take a drug if your blood glucose doesn’t normalize with lifestyle changes.  

Prescribing drugs is what physicians do. Medical school education is largely an exercise in learning which drugs to prescribe for certain conditions. Studies published in the most prestigious medical journals routinely compare the benefits of one drug versus another. Prescription medications are simply the heart and soul of modern medicine.

There are five major classes of drugs usually prescribed to help control blood sugar.  Although these medications may be effective in lowering blood sugar, each and every one of them has its price.  

Most oral hypoglycemic agents are no more than a Band-Aid approach to diabetes—they lower blood sugar, but do nothing to address the underlying condition. The majority increases insulin production, which, is not what’s needed in the case of type 2 diabetes, where folks are not insulin deficient, but rather insulin resistant.  

Other meds affect the way carbohydrates are metabolized in the intestinal tract. And although some drugs do attempt to improve insulin sensitivity, their side effects (including liver failure and death) make them highly suspect.  

Drugs are by their very nature foreign agents. As such, they affect your body in unnatural ways. The most common side effects of diabetic drugs are weight gain, gastrointestinal upset, and sometimes serious liver problems.  

While I’m not against all prescription drugs, I know from decades of experience treating diabetes that natural remedies for diabetes also work. Better still, I have thousands of patient success stories to back up this natural approach.   

For more information on diabetes, diabetic complications, and reversing diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com. While there, sign up for FREE e-letters or subscribe to Dr. Whitaker’s monthly newsletter, Health & Healing. 

R.B., a type 2 diabetic, had been on insulin for 16 years. She had retinopathy, angina, high blood pressure, a history of two heart attacks, and an open ulcer on her foot that refused to heal. But the most debilitating of her problems was neuropathy. Nerve damage left her with virtually no sensation in her feet, and she could barely get around on her own.

After hitting rock bottom, R.B. came to the Whitaker Wellness Institute and started on a comprehensive nutritional regimen, which included high doses of antioxidants, B-complex vitamins, zinc, magnesium, and targeted nutrients and herbs to help control her blood sugar. Given the severity of her condition, R.B. also underwent a course of enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT).

Within three days, the feeling began to return to her feet. She had more energy, less pain, and a renewed sense of hope. By the end of her second week at the clinic, she was walking normally. In fact, she and her daughter did something that would have been unthinkable just three weeks before: They spent the next couple days strolling around and sightseeing in southern California.

R.B. is just one of many diabetes success stories. And, in 99 percent of these cases, people have been willing to try natural diabetes treatments, as opposed to conventional methods of treating this disease. Targeted supplements for diabetes, coupled with lifestyle modifications, are just a few of the natural methods used in treating diabetes – and they work.

Fish oil, which contains the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, is powerful medicine for disorders ranging from heart disease and depression to arthritis and autoimmune disorders.

EPA is particularly beneficial for the cardiovascular system, as it discourages blood platelets from sticking together, relaxes the arteries, and lowers triglyceride and cholesterol levels.

For years, people dealing with diabetes, specifically type 2 diabetes, were advised to avoid fish oil supplements, due to their presumably negative effects on the body’s ability to control blood sugar. However, a meta-analysis has put this myth to rest.

In this review of studies involving 823 patients with type 2 diabetes, fish oil supplementation at doses ranging from 3,000–8,000 mg per day had no harmful effect on short- or long-term ability to control blood sugar. Furthermore, the fish oils supplements significantly improved triglyceride levels.

More recent research found that women living with diabetes who took 3,000 mg of fish oil a day for two months had marked improvements in body fat and blood lipid levels. (This is key, in part due to the connection between diabetes and weight.) 

I’m not suggesting that fish oil is a cure for high blood sugar, but it can certainly play a role in managing diabetes. Everyone, regardless of health status, should take a minimum of 2 g of high-quality fish oil per day. If your cholesterol and triglycerides are high, consider increasing this to 4 or more grams daily. For these larger doses, look for liquid or concentrated fish oil supplements, as they beat taking handfuls of capsules.

Chromium is a trace mineral that is a boon for people living with diabetes. Its therapeutic value was first discovered in the 1950s, when researchers isolated a previously unknown substance from pork kidney. When they gave this substance to laboratory rats with glucose intolerance (a pre-diabetes form of insulin resistance), it caused such significant improvements that they named it glucose tolerance factor (GTF).

This unique compound was found to improve the activity of insulin and facilitate the uptake of glucose into the cells. Research intensified and, in 1959, the active ingredient in GTF was identified: chromium.

Chromium doesn’t cause the body to make more insulin—it just helps insulin work better, and this is critical for people who are trying to manage diabetes. 

At least 15 well-controlled clinical trials examining the effects of supplemental chromium on people living with diabetes, insulin resistance, and other blood sugar abnormalities have shown that this mineral improves glucose metabolism.

In one study conducted by the US Department of Agriculture’s Human Nutrition Research Center and Beijing Medical University, 180 people with type 2 diabetes were divided into
three groups and given supplements containing 100 mcg chromium, 500 mcg chromium, or a placebo, twice a day. No other changes were made in their medications, diets, or activity levels. When their blood glucose levels were tested after four months, the patients taking chromium had reductions in blood sugar, insulin, cholesterol, and glycated hemoglobin (also called hemoglobin A1C, a longer-term measure of blood sugar control).

Chromium has also been demonstrated to facilitate weight loss, and if you’re aware of the close connection between diabetes and weight, you’ll understand how important this is.

Aim for 200 mcg of chromium daily.