Supplements for Diabetes

If you are dealing with diabetes, it is imperative that you take a potent daily multivitamin and mineral supplement. This will give you the nutritional foundation you need to help manage your diabetes. Antioxidants such as coenzyme Q10, acetyl-L-carnitine, and n-acetyl-cysteine are also important because they help scavenge the free radicals and clear up the oxidative stress caused by the diabetic condition. But if I had to choose just one antioxidant for people trying to manage diabetes, it would be alpha lipoic acid (ALA).

ALA has the unique ability to work in both water- and fat-soluble mediums and to regenerate vitamins C and E, and other antioxidants. Furthermore, it actually improves the diabetic condition by enhancing glucose uptake, increasing insulin sensitivity, and protecting against beta cell destruction.

Most important are ALA’s effects on diabetes complications. Studies show that daily doses of 600-1,200 mg of ALA reduce pain, burning, numbness, tingling, and other symptoms of neuropathy. Benefits of this supplement have also been demonstrated for diabetes-related eye, kidney, and cardiovascular diseases.

For more information on diabetes complications or dealing with 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.

If you’re working hard to manage diabetes, it may surprise you to know that one of the easiest aspects of diabetes management is keeping on top of the nutritional deficiencies the disease can cause. And taking nutrients and supplements for diabetes in the proper doses can go a long way toward improving your condition.

The best way to do this is to take a high quality daily multivitamin and mineral supplement. Although the bulk of the vitamins and minerals I recommend are included in most multivitamin and mineral supplements, the amount of each nutrient they contain is often woefully inadequate. Most one-a-day brands contain only the government’s recommended daily allowances (RDAs), which are absurdly low.

Read labels carefully and look for a high-potency formula, or augment individual nutrients to achieve the therapeutic doses recommended in articles posted throughout this blog.

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

As you strive to control blood sugar levels, it’s important to remember the role antioxidants play in managing diabetes. In order to get a handle on this condition, you’ll need to shore up on these important nutrients.

For starters, there’s Vitamin C. Vitamin C is the most active antioxidant in our water-based tissues. It lowers levels of sorbitol, the sugar that collects in and damages cells of the eyes (retinopathy), kidneys (nephropathy), and nerves (neuropathy).

You’ll also want to take an adequate amount of Vitamin E, your body’s premier fat-soluble antioxidant. Vitamin E improves glucose control and protects blood vessels and nerves from free radical damage, which is accelerated in people living with diabetes. Studies have shown that high doses of supplemental vitamin E may even reverse damage to nerves caused by diabetes and protect against diabetic cataracts and atherosclerosis.

Supplementation with both of these antioxidants is associated with a reduced risk of diabetic retinopathy. If you are living with diabetes, aim for 1,000-2,500 mg of vitamin C and 300-800 IU of vitamin E daily.

For more information on treating diabetes and diabetes risk factors, 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.

Chromium is a trace mineral that improves the action of insulin and helps move glucose and other nutrients into the cells. 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-diabetic form of insulin resistance), it caused such significant improvements that they named it glucose tolerance factor.

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 glucose tolerance factor was identified: chromium.

Chromium doesn’t cause the body to make more insulin—it just helps make insulin work better. At least 15 well-controlled clinical trials examining the effects of supplemental chromium on patients living with diabetes, insulin resistance, and other blood sugar abnormalities have shown that this mineral improves glucose metabolism.

Chromium has also been demonstrated to facilitate weight loss. As you likely know, diabetes and weight are very closely connected. Maintaining an ideal weight greatly increases your chances of avoiding the disease and beating diabetes.  

For more information on managing diabetes, 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.

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.

With all the focus on “fixing” diabetes with drugs, underlying causes of the condition are rarely considered.  One potential contributor is low testosterone, which affects one in three men managing diabetes. But which came first, testosterone deficiency or diabetes?

A study published in Diabetes Care may answer that question. Finnish researchers measured levels of sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG) and testosterone in 702 middle-aged men who had no signs of diabetes and were easily able to maintain blood sugar levels that were healthy. They then reexamined them after 11 years.

At the time of follow-up, 147 had developed metabolic syndrome and 57 had diabetes. What’s important about this study is that, regardless of other factors, the men with the lowest testosterone levels were nearly two-and-a-half times more likely to have developed diabetes or metabolic syndrome.

The idea that diabetes can be treated by normalizing testosterone levels is one of the many alternative treatments for diabetes that is picking up speed. Studies looking at supplemental testosterone as an adjunct therapy are being conducted, and many physicians who use bioidentical hormones have been treating diabetes patients with it for years.

Men over the age of 45 should have their testosterone level tested. If it’s low, replacement should be considered. In addition to regulating insulin, testosterone reduces body fat, increases libido, boosts energy levels, and improves mood and memory. Testosterone requires a prescription and may be obtained from compounding pharmacies.

J.J. was lying in a hospital bed awaiting a below-the-knee amputation, thanks to a diabetic ulcer that didn’t respond to intravenous antibiotics.  

Five hours before his surgery, someone told J.J. about the Whitaker Wellness Institute, so J.J. checked out of the hospital against medical advice and came to see us.

Like all of our patients dealing with diabetes, J.J. was started on natural diabetic treatments, including a therapeutic diet and targeted nutritional supplement program (he was obviously unable to exercise). He also underwent a course of EDTA chelation.

In addition, we treated his infected diabetic ulcer—which was so far gone the skin was almost black—with sugar dressings.  

When sugar or honey is packed on top of and inside of an open wound, it dissolves in the fluid exuding from the wound, creating a highly concentrated medium. Bacteria cannot exist in this environment, and infection is dramatically curbed. This natural treatment for diabetes related wounds also reduces swelling and encourages the removal of dead tissue to make room for new growth.

Over the next few weeks, J.J.’s foot began to regain its normal color, and eventually the wound healed completely. Today, he’s beating diabetes, is nearly 150 pounds lighter, and he walks several miles a day on his own God-given legs.

NOTE:  Do not try this on a bleeding wound, as sugar promotes bleeding.   

Sugar Dressing Protocol

• Unravel a 4” x 4” piece of gauze into a long strip and coat it with Vaseline. Place it around the outside edges of the wound, like a donut.
• Cover the wound with ¼-inch of sugar. (The Vaseline “donut” will keep it in place.)
• Place a 4” x 4” sponge on top of the wound. Bandage it firmly but not too snugly with a cling dressing.
• Change the dressing every one or two days. Remove, irrigate with water, saline, or hydrogen peroxide, pat dry, and repeat steps 1–3.

With all the focus on treating diabetes with drugs, underlying causes of the condition are rarely considered. One potential contributor is low testosterone, which affects one in three diabetic men. But which came first, testosterone deficiency or diabetes? A study published in Diabetes Care may answer that question.  

Finnish researchers measured levels of sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG) and testosterone in 702 middle-aged men who had no blood sugar problems, and then reexamined them after 11 years.

At the time of follow-up, 147 had developed metabolic syndrome and 57 were living with diabetes. What’s important about this study is that regardless of other factors, the men with the lowest testosterone levels were nearly two and a half times more likely to have developed diabetes or metabolic syndrome.

The idea of treating diabetes by normalizing testosterone levels is picking up speed. A study looking at supplemental testosterone as an adjunct therapy is underway, and many physicians who use bioidentical hormones have been treating patients with it for years.

If you are male and over the age of 45, get your testosterone level tested. If it’s low, replacement should be considered. In addition to regulating insulin and making it easier to control blood sugar, testosterone reduces body fat, increases libido, boosts energy levels, and improves mood and memory. Testosterone requires a prescription and may be obtained from compounding pharmacies.

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.

Bill, a patient of the Whitaker Wellness Institute, had diabetic neuropathy and very little sensation in his hands or below his knees. He was constantly dropping things, and his left leg dragged.

His previous doctor told him there was no hope of improvement and predicted that he’d be in a wheelchair within a year. Rather than accepting this dire prognosis, Bill acted on advice he’d read in Health & Healing, and started taking alpha lipoic acid (ALA).

Bill reported that after taking ALA for about two months, his coordination improved, the pain in his hands and feet resolved, and his gait normalized. His doctor said he’d never seen such a turnaround.

Bill eventually received other treatments at the clinic, but his story is a testament to the therapeutic power of targeted nutritional supplements.

ALA is just one of the many natural treatments for diabetes. Others include nutrients, and supplements for diabetes and simple lifestyle adjustments. Many of these approaches are detailed in this blog. You’ll also find a variety of diabetes success stories that can encourage and motivate you as continue on your quest toward reversing diabetes.

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.

If you’re trying to manage diabetes and need a little extra help to control blood sugar (and your weight), glucomannan may be just the supplement for you.

Glucomannan is a water-soluble fiber derived from the Konjac root, a potato-like tuber native to Asia. Glucomannan works by absorbing water, which increases bulk, helping to reduce appetite, and produce feelings of satiety. It can also help support your health in other ways:

• Glucomannan promotes a more gradual absorption of carbohydrates, which helps to slow the release of sugars from the gut. This helps to manage blood sugar levels.
• Since glucomannan is a soluble fiber, it prolongs stomach emptying time and helps to promote healthy cholesterol levels.
• Glucomannan also helps support overall digestive health and naturally promotes regularity and normal bowel function.

All of these factors place glucomannan at the top of the list when ti comes to natural remedies for diabetes.

If you are looking to manage diabetes, take ½ teaspoon (2.5 g) mixed in an eight-ounce glass of water, two or three times daily, 30 minutes to one hour before meals (drink it quickly, before it thickens). Take care to avoid glucomannan capsules, as they may stick and expand in the esophagus.

Glucomannan is safe and well-tolerated. It can be taken indefinitely.

Note: Taking fiber supplements may interfere with the absorption of some minerals. If you take glucomannan or any fiber supplement before a meal, wait three or four hours before taking your vitamin and mineral supplements. (Most of the time, supplements should be taken with food. If you are taking glucomannan, use as directed and take your other supplements with a light snack to avoid stomach upset.)