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Posts Tagged ‘Diabetes’

A few months ago I stumbled upon an article that tied together cinnamon, diabetes, and insulin resistance. Intrigued, I did some follow up research and made some astonishing discoveries. In fact, I’m absolutely amazed that what I discovered isn’t covered on the nightly news, the major newspapers, and is a constant top story on Drudge considering the profundity of what you’re about to learn.

First, the background on insulin, insulin resistance, and diabetes. After we eat, food is broken down into glucose, the simple sugar that is the main source of energy for the body’s cells. But our cells cannot use glucose without insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas. Insulin helps the cells take in glucose and convert it to energy. When the pancreas does not make enough insulin or the body is unable to use the insulin that is present, the cells cannot use glucose. Excess glucose builds up in the bloodstream, setting the stage for diabetes.

Being obese or overweight affects the way insulin works in your body. Extra fat tissue can make your body resistant to the action of insulin. If you have insulin resistance, your muscle, fat, and liver cells do not use insulin properly. The pancreas tries to keep up with the demand for insulin by producing more. Eventually, the pancreas cannot keep up with the body’s need for insulin, and excess glucose builds up in the bloodstream. Many people with insulin resistance have high levels of blood glucose and high levels of insulin circulating in their blood at the same time.

People with blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet in the diabetic range have “pre-diabetes” or “insulin resistance.” Insulin resistance is a hidden condition, one that doesn’t present any symptoms, that increases the likelihood of developing diabetes and debilitating heart conditions. If you have pre-diabetes, you have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, formerly called adult-onset diabetes or non-insulin-dependent diabetes. Studies have shown that most people with pre-diabetes go on to develop type 2 diabetes within 10 years, unless they lose 5 to 7 percent of their body weightówhich is about 10 to 15 pounds for someone who weighs 200 poundsóby making modest changes in their diet and level of physical activity. People with pre-diabetes also have a higher risk of heart disease. Type 2 diabetes is sometimes defined as the form of diabetes that develops when the body does not respond properly to insulin, as opposed to type 1 diabetes, in which the pancreas makes no insulin at all. At first, the pancreas keeps up with the added demand by producing more insulin. In time, however, it loses the ability to secrete enough insulin in response to meals.

OK, I’ve established the connection with diabetes and insulin resistance. What’s up with the cinnamon? In August 2000, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced preliminary findings that “Cinnamon may significantly help people with type 2 diabetes improve their ability to regulate their blood sugar. As a matter of fact, this study found that it increased glucose metabolism 20-fold.” Over the next few years additional studies were conducted with humans to further evaluate this surprising result. In one small 60 patient study conducted in Pakistan, reporting in the journal Diabetes Care, all the patients had been treated for type 2, adult onset diabetes for several years and were taking anti-diabetic drugs to increase their insulin output. But they were not yet taking insulin to help process their blood glucose. The subjects were given small doses of cinnamon ranging from as little as a quarter teaspoon up to 2 teaspoons a day for 40 days.

The results again surprised the scientists, but were even more profound than previous. Not only did the cinnamon reduce the blood sugar levels and increase the natural production of insulin, it lowered their blood cholesterol as well. Even 20 days after the cinnamon treatment had ended, the patients continued to see beneficial effects.

This is good news for the more than 50 million Americans who suffer from diabetes and/or heart disease. All the patients in the study showed better glucose metabolism and natural insulin production when they took cinnamon capsules that delivered less than two teaspoons a day of the spice.

Specifically, their blood cholesterol levels were lowered in the range of 10 to 26 percent, affecting overall cholesterol levels and reducing the LDL (known as the bad cholesterol) but not reducing levels of HDL, the good cholesterol.

This is also potentially good news for the many millions more of us who suffer from insulin resistance, sometimes known as pre-diabetes, or the Metabolic Syndrome. Lowering blood sugar levels, and improving cholesterol ratios can help reverse pre-diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome, and in fact may actually prevent the onset of full diabetes.

Better news still, while cinnamon addresses elevated blood sugar levels and helps to combat insulin resistance, it is also a successful factor in helping you lose weight. The fat cells in your abdomen are particularly sensitive to high insulin levels, and are very effective at storing energy far more so that fat cells you would find in other areas such as the lower body (i.e. hips, rear-end, thighs). Because abdominal fat cells are so close to your digestive organs, and there is an extensive network of blood vessels circulating in the abdominal area, it is even easier for fat cells to store excess glucose there.

Now here’s the challenge: getting enough cinnamon over the course of a day without getting absolutely sick to death of the taste. After doing this research, I decided to be my own guinea pig for testing. I spent the first week putting a couple of teaspoons of cinnamon in a bowl of oatmeal every morning and after about the third day, I knew that wasn’t going to be a workable long term strategy. I next went online and found an excellent source of cinnamon capsules. I’ve been taking two cinnamon capsules a day ever since I made my discovery and the effects have been profound. I’ve lost 14-lbs and no longer have a noticeable bulge around my waistline. I changed nothing else in my daily routine other than adding the cinnamon capsules. My diet is predominantly low-carb but I’m not fanatic about it. I have a sedate office job and the extent of my exercise is doing household chores and playing with the dogs. This certainly doesn’t qualify as a rigorous scientific controlled test, however I’m certainly convinced as I’m a believer in finding out what works and sticking with it.

An expanded version of this article is online at the authors website.

The pathological conditions in which there are high levels of fats in the blood. The medical term for these conditions is hyperlipidemia, which is made of three parts; hyper-, is a prefix meanings more or extra, lipid is fat, and emia is a suffix indicating that the condition is in the blood. Hyperlipidemia is a general term, it could be either high cholesterol in the blood (hypercholesterolemia), high triglycerides in the blood (hypertriglyceridemia) or it could be both.

When we talk about too much cholesterol in the bloods we mean by that high LDL (the bad cholesterol), there is nothing called too much of a good thing; so high levels of HDL (the good cholesterol) is not considered a disease. We have to remember that the absolute values of these two lipoproteins are not that important but rather the ratio between the two. So lower than normal value of HDL, even in the presence of normal value of LDL, is still considered hypercholesterolemia.

Hereditary

Many factors can lead to having high lipid levels in the bloods like defected copy of one of the several genes that participate in lipid metabolism. The mutation might cause more production of LDL or decrease its rate of clearance from the blood. On the other hand, the mutated gene might promote faster HDL clearance or lower its production. Either way, the balance between the good cholesterol and the bad cholesterol is disturbed and there is more of the bad stuff in the blood. In such hereditary cases, a positive family history is always present, and these individuals develop arteriosclerosis earlier than usual.

Food habit

The majority of the cases are not caused by hereditary factors, but rather secondary to other conditions. Obesity is considered a risk factor because it usually indicates a certain life style with high food consumption and low physical exercises, both are incriminated in high blood lipids. High consumption of food rich in saturated fat such as found in meats, non-skim dairy products, butter and some artificially hydrogenated vegetable oils is particularly risky. We have to remember that high intake of cholesterol prevents the uptake of cholesterol circulating in the blood by the liver, and these kinds of food are not short of it.

Diabetes

Diabetes is a scourge on our society. The number of diabetes patients in the US has climbed to an estimated 12-14 million, up from 8 million in 1990. This article will deal with the growth in Type-I and Type-II diabetes in the US, and the effect that diabetes can have on circulatory disease.
The rate of increase is closely tied to the number of obese and morbidly obese people in the US. There are 66 million obese people in the US (obesity is defined as a BMI of over 30%). Nearly a fifth of these people have diabetes today. Left untreated, we can forecast that many with long-term obesity problems will eventually contract Type-II diabetes as a response to long-term problems of insulin resistance.
It’s no coincidence, therefore, that rates of heart disease and other circulatory problems is increasing. What is surprising is, until recently, the rate of heart disease had been declining since the 1950’s. The reason for the fall was primarily due to a reduction in cigarette smoking, from over 60% of the population, to under 25% today.
In addition, we’ve seen an increase in certain populations which are more susceptible to circulatory disease: these maladies are much more common amongst people of Latin American and African-American subgroups. There is a certain correlation between diabetes and circulatory disease. Both African-Americans and Latinos have much higher rates of obesity and heart disease. As those subgroups have grown, so has the overall incidence of diabetes and circulatory disease.
Finally, people are living longer. As we age, we grow more susceptible to circulatory diseases. It is estimated that the number of people in the US over 75 will double between 2005 and 2030.
What is the connection between diabetes and circulatory disease? Cause and effect works in two directions: as we exercise less, we gain weight. With less exercise, we also tend to have higher levels of circulating insulin. These higher levels contribute to an overall increase in insulin resistance from the cells of the body. As insulin resistance increases, the pancreas increases insulin output in order to counteract the problem. A long period of insulin resistance is typically followed by the onset of insulin-resistant Type-II diabetes.
What effect does diabetes have on the circulatory system? Blood vessels thicken throughout the body in response two three factors related to obesity and diabetes:
High blood pressure causes a thickening of the arteries
High circulating LDL and lower HDL ratios contribute to the formation of plaque in blood vessels, which leads to a further narrowing of those vessels
Inflammation, which can result from circulating substances such as homocysteine in obese and diabetic patients, leads to higher levels of heart and circulatory disease.
The smaller the blood vessels, the greater the damage caused by this thickening and narrowing of the blood vessels. The greatest problem in both diabetics and obese people is with their circulation in the capillaries and their extremities. That’s why we see blindness (as a result of constriction in the capillaries of the eye), neuropathy in the feet and hands, and a reduction in circulation in the brain and heart, all are due to a less-effective circulation and narrowing of the arteries.
Heart disease and circulatory disease are interrelated. It is estimated that 60% of those patients who undergo angioplasty will also need vascular intervention, particularly in the kidneys, iliac, SFA (superficial femoral artery) and femoral-popliteal arteries of the leg. Left untreated, patients are at a much higher risk of heart attacks, strokes, and diabetic foot ulcers.
Diabetes is closely linked to heart and other circulatory diseases. The correlation between the two means that both must be treated in order to improve a person’s morbidity and mortality.

Do you have the signs of being Insulin Resistant? Are you pre-diabetic?

Do you have heart disease, high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels?

Are you gaining weight around your middle even though you’re dieting?

Are you depressed or chronically tired?

Do you have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome?

Do you have non-viral Chronic Fatigue or Fibro-myalgia?

If you have one or more of these symptoms, you just might be Insulin Resistant.

What is Insulin Resistance?

Insulin is a hormone that is produced by your pancreas to help the body to utilise sugars in your diet, it helps the glucose (sugar) pass from your blood into your cells. Once it is in your cells, it is either used to fuel muscles or stored as fat for future needs.

Insulin resistance happens when a diet high in carbohydrates forces the cells to resist the flood of carbohydrates and all that glucose just stays in the blood, and not only do you now have high blood sugar which is the forerunner to diabetes, the pancreas continues to produce more insulin and you now have insulin overload as well.

What are the symptoms of Insulin Resistance?

Fatigue

Brain fogginess and inability to focus. Sometimes the fatigue is physical, but often it’s mental

Low blood sugar. Mild, brief periods of low blood sugar are normal during the day, especially if meals are not eaten on a regular schedule. But prolonged hypoglycaemia with some of the symptoms listed here, especially physical and mental fatigue, are not normal. Feeling agitated, jittery, moody, nauseated, or having a headache is common in Insulin Resistance, with almost immediate relief once food is eaten

Intestinal bloating. Most intestinal gas is produced from carbohydrates in the diet. Insulin Resistance sufferers who eat carbohydrates suffer from gas, lots of it

Sleepiness. Many people with Insulin Resistance get sleepy immediately after eating a meal containing more than 20% or 30% carbohydrates

Weight gain, fat storage, difficulty losing weight. For most people, too much weight is too much fat. The fat in IR is generally stored around the midsection in both males and females

Increased triglycerides

Depression. Because carbohydrates are a natural “downer,” depressing the brain, it is not uncommon to see many depressed persons who also have Insulin Resistance.**

WHO Criteria - the World Health Organization bases it’s definition on the above, plus two of the following:

American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists criteria are similar, but with some different cutoffs, and no particular number of factors required for diagnosis:

How is it diagnosed?

First of all see your doctor, for a full panel of tests, including: Glucose Tolerance Test (2 hour), Lipid Profile (LDL, HDL, Cholesterol, Triglycerides), Insulin Levels (you may show both high blood sugar and high Insulin).

And may include: Plasma Cortisol, Catecholamines, Blood Pressure test, Full Blood profile, C-Peptide.

What can be done?

First of all the good new is Insulin Resistance can be controlled by diet, this is a whole new lifestyle, not a diet that you do for a few weeks or months. A whole new way of eating and exercising is needed. If you need more help there are some drug treatments and supplements that can greatly help with the challenge of getting your insulin and blood sugar under control. The great new is that once you have changed your lifestyle, most if not all of your previous health challenges will often disappear completely.

For more information on Insulin Resistance and the Lifestyle choices you need to make please see “Sick, Tired and Overweight” and “A Rainbow on My Plate” on our website.

**This is not a guide to the various types of depression and in no way constitutes a medical diagnosis or recommendation.

Quick Guide to Metabolic Syndrome

Symptoms and Markers

Growing waist measurement (Buddha Belly)

Depression

Recommendations

Low Carbohydrate lifestyle (Rainbow on My Plate)