Natural Diabetes Cure

Natural Diabetes Cure




Alternative Natural Treatments



Diabetes and it's complications can be treated and/or prevented safely without prescription drugs. If you have diabetes or any of the risk factors for diabetes or are just concerned about diabetes, you should start now with a natural treatment plan to reduce your risk.



There are 3 components to a natural diabetes cure:



1. Diet: The single most important change any diabetic or person at risk can make is to improve their diet. A proper diabetic diet should have a low glycemic index . . . which means containing low simple carbohydrates, moderate protein and high fiber. This diabetic diet will reduce blood sugar, reduce insulin levels, and reduce the need for medications. It will also help to reduce weight, reduce blood pressure and support overall health and energy.



2. Exercise: Many studies have shown that exercise is of great benefit to diabetics and can significantly reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Regular physical activity helps reduce weight, lower blood sugar, improve insulin sensitivity, strengthen the immune system, improve circulation, lower blood pressure, lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol, raise HDL ("good") cholesterol, and reduce risk of heart disease.



3. Nutritional Supplements: There are a number of nutritional supplements that every diabetic should be taking on a daily basis. These supplements are very effective in helping to lower blood sugar and insulin levels, reduce cholesterol levels, reduce triglyceride levels, reduce blood pressure, improve energy, and reduce the risk of heart disease.



These supplements can also protect your tissues (eyes, kidneys, blood vessels) from the damage diabetes often causes. They can also support your immune system, protect your heart, and improve circulation.



The effectiveness of these supplements is not at all theoretical, but rather is fact. There are thousands of published studies proving the beneficial effects these supplements have on diabetics. Amazingly enough, despite the overwhelming evidence, most M.D.'s do not recommend nutritional supplements to their diabetic patients. Fortunately, a prescription is not required.



If you have diabetes . . . supplementation is more than important . . . it is vital!



Every diabetic should take these proven supplements: Alpha Lipoic Acid, Chromax®, Vanadium,



Cinnamon, Banaba Leaf, Fenugreek, Gymnema Sylvestre and Momordica



Alpha Lipoic Acid



Alpha Lipoic Acid (also known as thioctic acid or lipoic acid), is a very powerful, natural antioxidant; and is the single most important supplement you can take to treat diabetes. Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) is a medium length, disulfide fatty acid. In other words . . . it is an 8 carbon, fatty acid, containing two sulfur atoms. It occurs naturally in our bodies, but not in the free form. The body actually converts Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) to DiHydro Lipoc Acid (DHLA).



ALA was first isolated in 1953 and was quickly discovered to be a very important cofactor in the Krebs cycle (the body's main process for converting carbohydrates into energy). ALA and its cousin DHLA are often referred to as the "ultimate universal antioxidants". They (referred to collectively as LA) are the only antioxidants that are both fat and water soluble. Both can actually cross the blood/brain barrier to enter the brain. These unique qualities are important, because it means that LA can access all parts of all cells, giving it tremendous ability to scavenge free radicals wherever they may be. Additionally, LA can also recharge other antioxidants that have been used up. In the body, LA helps regenerate other antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin E and glutathione. And, because LA functions much like a B-vitamin, it also helps convert food into energy.



Although the body makes some alpha lipoic acid, it is not enough for optimal nutrition. Likewise, there are only very small amounts of ALA found in some of our daily foods such as broccoli, potatoes, and liver. In these foods, it actually occurs as lipolylysine though, and not actual lipoic acid itself. You'll never get any useful amount of ALA from your diet alone . . . broccoli (one of the best food sources), for example, contains a mere 100 micrograms per 100 gram serving. This means you would have to eat over two pounds of broccoli to get one single milligram of lipolylysine to convert into alpha lipoic acid.



Everyone over the age of forty (diabetic or not) should be supplementing with 200 mg/day of ALA, for its powerful antioxidant properties. Supplementation is the only way to get this vital nutrient in your body. if you are diabetic . . . you simply must take ALA daily . . . there is a mountain of evidence supporting the major benefits it provides all diabetics.



The journal BioFactors (volume 10, 1999) published a study conducted at the Eberhard-Karls University in Germany titled "Thioctic Acid-Effects on Insulin Sensitivity and Glucose-Metabolism". In their study, real adult human diabetics were given various doses of ALA. The doctors found that in just 10 days, ALA helped cure insulin resistance, normalize blood sugar levels and cure diabetes.



The researchers pointed out that "Thioctic acid is a co-factor of key mitochondrial enzymes, involved in the regulation of glucose oxidation, such as the pyruvate dehydrogenase and the alpha-ketoglutatarate dehydrogenase, both enzyme complexes which are known to be diminished in diabetes." In plain words, this means ALA works with our bodies' enzymes to prevent glucose from being oxidized. They concluded "The clinical and experimental data indicate that this compound has beneficial effects on insulin sensitivity, correcting several metabolic pathways known to be altered in type 2 diabetes, such as insulin stimulated glucose uptake, glucose oxidation and glycogen synthesis." The authors quote two human studies published in Diabetologica 1995 and Arzneimittelorschung 1995. "Here insulin sensitivity was increased 27 to 51% in merely 10 days!"



This is nothing less than incredible! Keep in mind . . . these are real human studies, conducted at a major university, with 39 citations and with no funding from anyone. Results like this are far more than any pharmaceutical drug, anywhere on earth, at any cost . . . could even begin to approach.



Other studies have shown that ALA Increases glucose effectiveness. When ingested, ALA decreases serum lactate and pyruvate concentrations improving glucose effectiveness in both lean and obese patients with type 2 diabetes. Additionally, because ALA inhibits glycosylation and peroxidation of nervous tissues and increases the levels of intra-cellular glutathione, it has been used to improve diabetic nerve damage and reduce pain associated with that nerve damage.



Nerve damage or neuropathy effects over 50% of diabetics and is one of its most damaging complications. A study published in "Diabetes Care" has shown that supplementing with ALA can partly restore diabetic nerve function after only four months of high-dose oral treatment. In 2001, Nutrition 17 published a study which was conducted at the University of Southern California, titled "Molecular Aspects of Lipoic Acid in the Prevention of Diabetes Complications". The researchers concluded "Available data strongly suggest that ALA, because of its antioxidant properties, is particularly suited to the prevention and/or treatment of diabetic complications . . . In addition, ALA increases glucose uptake . . . increases glucose disposal in type 2 diabetics and markedly reduces the symptoms of diabetic pathologies, including cataract formation, vascular damage and polyneurpathy". These are rather powerful statements coming from very well respected research groups.



Chromium and Vanadium are two



very important minerals for diabetics.



Chromium can actually help insulin transport sugar to the cells. It works to make insulin more effective by "bridging" insulin to cell membranes, thus increasing the number of active insulin receptors, resulting in increased insulin sensitivity.



The trace mineral chromium is found in skin, fat, muscle, brain and adrenal glands. There is only about 6 mg in you, but it is ever so important! Chromium absorption through the small intestine is very poor; so normally, a lot of it gets excreted in urine. People with diabetes excrete even more chromium than healthy people; and the loss of this vital nutrient makes it harder for their bodies to respond to insulin. Studies show that chromium supplements can help both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics control their blood sugar.



There are various forms of chromium suitable for human ingestion. The picolinate form of chromium called "chromium picolinate" is the most absorbable. It is a unique molecule that combines chromium with picolinic acid, a compound found in breast milk, which helps the body better absorb and process minerals.



In June of 2002, Chromax® (the "Nutrition 21" patented brand of chromium picolinate) was affirmed by the FDA as "Generally Recognized as Safe" (GRAS) for use in food products, one of only a handful of ingredients to have secured this status at clinically effective doses for use in foods marketed for weight loss and glucose control. In addition, Chromax®; has demonstrated that it is significantly more bioactive than other forms of chromium.



Vandium (vanadyl sulfate) is a trace element that exhibits a variety of significant insulin-mimetic properties . . . actually doing the job of insulin and transporting sugar to the cells.



Clinical trials indicate that "in vitro", vanadium salts have most of the same major effects of insulin on insulin-sensitive tissues. Favorable results are seen, as well, in animal models of insulin deficiency, where vanadium significantly reduces blood glucose levels, and in insulin-resistant diabetic animals, where vanadium improves glucose homeostasis.



In "in vivo" animal studies, examining the relationship between hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance and hypertension, vanadium compounds produce significant, sustained decreases in both plasma insulin concentration and blood pressure. Restoring plasma insulin levels reversed the blood-pressure effect.



Clinical trials with vanadium compounds have produced benefits in both type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients. Results have been better, however, in type 2 patients. Six type 2 diabetic subjects treated with 100 milligrams of vanadyl sulfate daily for four weeks had significant reductions in fasting plasma glucose; beneficial effects on insulin sensitivity persisted for up to four weeks after vanadium treatment ended.



Cinnamon



Cinnamon is the brown bark of the cinnamon tree, which when dried, rolls into a tubular form known as a quill. It is available in either its whole quill form (cinnamon sticks) or as ground powder. Cinnamon is one of the oldest spices known.



It turns out that cinnamon is much more than just a spice . . . it has demonstrated great medical application in preventing and combating diabetes. According to cellular and molecular studies conducted at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Iowa State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture . . . Cinnamon plays the role of an insulin substitute in type II diabetes.



This initial discovery was made quite accidentally, by Richard Anderson at the US Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland.



"We were looking at the effects of common foods on blood sugar," he told New Scientist. One was the American favourite, apple pie, which is usually spiced with cinnamon. "We expected it to be bad. But it helped," he says.



Anderson's team found that people who eat apple pie have a significantly lower probability of getting Type II diabetes. Upon further examination, he isolated cinnamon as the substance in the apple pies that was preventing the diabetes.



They recently completed a human study with associates in Pakistan using cinnamon. Their study included 60 Pakistani volunteers (30 men and 30 women ranging in age from 44 to 58 years) with type 2 diabetes, who were not taking insulin. Subjects were divided into six groups. For 40 days, groups 1, 2 and 3 were given 1, 3 or 6 grams of cinnamon per day, while groups 4, 5 and 6 received placebo capsules.



The results were quite remarkable:



All three of the groups given cinnamon showed reduced blood sugar levels.



Collectively, all three levels of cinnamon resulted in:



reduced blood sugar levels by by 18-29%,



reduction of triglycerides by 23-30%,



reduced LDL cholesterol by 7-27%,



reduced total cholesterol by12-26%.



Even the group with the lowest amount of cinnamon (1 gram per day),



produced an approximately 20% drop in blood sugar.



When daily cinnamon was stopped, blood sugar levels began to increase.



No significant changes were seen in those groups receiving placebo.



The researchers' concluded: "Including cinnamon in the diet of people with type 2 diabetes will reduce risk factors associated with diabetes and cardiovascular diseases."



"I don't recommend eating more cinnamon buns, or even more apple pie . . . there's too much fat and sugar," says Anderson."The key is to add cinnamon to what you would eat normally."



Cinnamon triples insulin's efficiency



at least 1/2 teaspoon is critical to "soften" the cell membranes.



Further studies by the Anderson team have coroberated cinnamon's ability to improve insulin activity; and have led to the discovery of cinnamon's active ingredient; as well as an understanding of it's structure, and the mechanism by which it enhances insulin activity.



Using nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopy, the Anderson team was able to describe the chemical structure of a molecule with "insulin-like" activity in cinnamon, as a water-soluble polyphenol compound called methylhydroxychalcone polymer (MHCP).



Dr. Anderson discovered that MHCP not only stimulates glucose uptake by our cells, but it can even help in the synthesis of glycogen, a polymer of glucose that our bodies produce as a means of storing energy for later use, when it is depolymerized back to glucose. Producing adequate amounts of glycogen is a principal function of blood sugar metabolism, and MHCP can help. Anderson notes . . . "The chemical is very easily obtained." One of his colleagues tried soaking a cinnamon stick in tea. "He isn't diabetic . . . but it lowered his blood sugar." said Anderson. The Anderson team was awarded patents related to MHCP in 2002.



In their latest paper, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Anderson et al. conclude that MHCP mimics insulin, has effects similar to that of insulin and works almost as well as insulin. He asserts that both of these substances work by chemically modifying our cells' insulin receptors in a manner that activates them to do their job, which is to allow glucose molecules to pass through the cell wall into the insulin cascade. He also discovered that when MHCP and insulin act together, the effect is synergistic, i.e., the total effect is greater than the sum of its parts." They characterize the insulin-enhancing complexes in cinnamon as "a collection of catechin/epicatechin oligomers that increase the body's insulin-dependent ability to use glucose roughly 20-fold".



Don Graves of UCSB (a former professor of Anderson) has focused his studies on the way cinnamon operates at cellular and molecular levels, looking at how it works with the cell's insulin receptor and other proteins involved in the action of insulin. Both test tube and animal studies have shown that compounds in cinnamon not only stimulate insulin receptors, but also inhibit an enzyme that inactivates them, thus significantly increasing cells' ability to use glucose.



Additionally, Graves found that cinnamon is a very powerful antioxidant with the ability to neutralize free radicals, often elevated in diabetics, helping to minimize oxidative stress which plays such a big role in the disease. In fact, when compared to six other antioxidant spices (anise, ginger, licorice, mint, nutmeg and vanilla) and three chemical food preservatives (BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole), BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene), and propyl gallate), cinnamon prevented oxidation more effectively than all the other spices (except mint) and more effectively then any of the chemical antioxidants.



Some scientists had been concerned about potentially toxic effects of regularly consuming cinnamon. The latest research shows that the potentially toxic compounds in cinnamon bark are found primarily in the lipid (fat) soluble fractions and are present only at very low levels in water soluble cinnamon extracts, which are the ones with the insulin-enhancing compounds.



Banaba Leaf



Banaba (Lagerstroemia speciosa) is a plant native to India, Southeast Asia and the Philippines and has several medicinal uses. In many cultures the banaba leaf is brewed into a tea and used as a treatment for diabetes and as a weigh loss aid. Banaba Leaf Extract provides a blood sugar lowering effect similar to that of insulin in that it induces glucose transport from the blood into body cells.



Recently, researchers have isolated an active ingredient in the banaba leaf called corosolic acid which was originally thought to be "the" blood sugar regulating substance in the leaf. Other researchers have found that corosolic acid may not be the only active ingredient in banaba leaves. A study published in the journal Planta Medica in 2001 compared a whole-leaf extract of banaba with insulin in cell cultures. The researchers concluded that the whole herb has a glucose lowering effect. Another study reported that banaba leaf extract contains at least three active ingredients that effect blood sugar.



In animal studies, administration of banaba leaf extract resulted in a significant decrease of blood glucose. The same studies suggest that corosolic acid may stimulate glucose transport into tissue. In other animal studies, administration of banaba leaf extract resulted in reduced weight gain, reduced triglyceride accumulation and reduced adipose tissue, with no changes in diet. In noninsulin-dependent animals, administration of banaba leaf extract resulted in suppressed blood plasma glucose, lower serum insulin and lower urinary excretion of glucose.



In clinical studies conducted by Dr William Judy and associates at the Southeastern Institute of Biomedical Research in Bradenton, Florida, a one per cent corosolic acid extract of banaba leaf reportedly reduced serum glucose 20-30% in people with type 2 diabetes, but did not reduce serum glucose in healthy individuals.



In a prior study, some of the same researchers observed that individuals receiving the corosolic acid extract also had an increased tendency toward weight loss . . . an average of about 3.2 pounds.



Gymnema Sylvestre



Gymnema Sylvestre is another herb, whose traditional use in treating diabetes, has been backed up by recent medical research. Originating from India, Gymnema Sylvestre is known as gur-mar, or "sugar destroyer." When gymnema leaf is placed directly on the tongue, it eliminates the sensation of sweetness, even if sugar is put in the mouth immediately following. When taken internally, it helps to control blood-sugar levels in diabetes.



The leaves of Gymnema sylvestre perform two significant functions relative to diabetes. First, they suppress blood glucose, especially after eating. Secondly, they are insulinotropic and promote insulin secretion. By this two-pronged approach, Gymnema sylvestre proves a valuable aid in diabetes control.



Scientists think its active ingredients (gymnemic acids) protect the cells of the pancreas from free radical damage, so allowing them to regenerate and produce insulin more effectively (Nutrition 2004; 20(3): 280-285). Studies have shown that gymnema can also reduce glucose absorption from the intestine, so helping to regulate blood sugar levels. A recent Harvard study indicates the Gymnema lowers blood sugar levels in Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics. A recent King's College, London, study states that Gymnema acts by increasing cell permatibility, therefore reducing insulin resistance.



Momordica



Bitter melon is the common name for Momordica charantia, also known as African cucumber, balsam pear and bitter gourd. The plant is aptly named, as all parts of the plant, including the fruit, taste bitter. Widely sold in Asian groceries as a vegetable, bitter melon is employed as a folk remedy primarily for regulating blood sugar in cases of diabetes, as well as for colitis and dysentery, intestinal worms, jaundice and fevers. Current understanding of the phytochemicals in bitter melon suggests that these multiple uses are well founded.



Among the constituents in bitter melon, charantin is identified as a primary agent for blood-sugar regulation. Charantin demonstrates hypoglycaemic (blood sugar lowering) or other actions of potential benefit in diabetes. The fruits also contain insulin-like peptides, including one known as polypeptide P, and alkaloids. It is likely that several substances in bitter melon contribute to its blood sugar-modifying effects. In human studies, bitter melon demonstrates significant blood-sugar control after food intake and overall blood sugar-lowering effects.



Momordica has also been found to be just as effective as glibenclamide in reducing blood sugar levels (J Ethnopharmacol 2003; 88(1): 107-111). In fact, a large study at Harvard University Medical School concluded that mormodica is one of the best natural remedies for diabetes (Diabetes Care 2003; 26(4): 1277-1294). It appears that mormodica contains compounds similar in structure to insulin, which have the same effects in regulating blood sugar levels. There is also evidence that mormodica can prevent the release of excess glucose into the bloodstream from the liver (Am J Health Syst Pharm 2003; 60(4): 356-359).



Fenugreek



Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) is a tall annual herb that is native to the Mediterranean, Ukraine, India and China. The plant bears pods filled with numerous light brown, diamond-shaped seeds that possess a sweet maple aroma and are commonly used in cookery and flavouring.



Studies reveal that fenugreek helps regulate blood glucose. The glucose-regulating, antidiabetic properties of fenugreek seed are linked to a novel free amino acid, 4-hydroxyisoleucine. This compound stimulates insulin secretion, thereby limiting the extent to which blood glucose is elevated; by promoting insulin secretion and inhibiting the rise of blood glucose, it helps stabilise blood sugar and reduces body fat production. In one human study, 15g/day fenugreek significantly reduced glucose levels after meals. Today fenugreek shows value as an antidiabetic agent with potential for weight control due to its 4-hydroxyisoleucine content. Some supplements are capsules of powdered seed, while others are more concentrated extracts standardized to 4-hydroxyisoleucine.



Experimental and clinical studies have demonstrated the antidiabetic properties of fenugreek seeds. The active ingredient responsible for the antidiabetic properties of fenugreek is in the defatted portion of the seed that contains the alkaloid trogonelline, nicotinic acid and coumarin. Fenugreek contains six compounds that help regulate blood sugar levels. Modern research shows that fenugreek seeds not only lower blood glucose but reduce insulin levels, total cholesterol and triglycerides, while increasing HDL (the good cholesterol).