Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
There have been many small studies in the past that have associated sitting, or being sedentary, with metabolic health outcomes. Recently, a large-scale study measured sedentary behavior among people with type 2 diabetes. Researchers used data from an extensive, population-based study, the Maastricht study, that …
Diabetes is a vicious and life-threatening disease. It is a condition where your blood sugar is continuously and seriously elevated (and your triglycerides are also). The excess circulating blood sugar is very destructive inflaming tissues in the heart and circulation, in the eyes, brain, kidneys, …
More than 29 million people in the United States have diabetes and 1 out of 4 of them have no idea.[1] In honor of National Diabetes Month this November, InVite® Health is urging you to take some time to understand the risk factors and preventative measures of this disease.
Diabetes is a vicious and life-threatening disease, where your blood sugar is continuously and seriously elevated (and your triglycerides are also). The excess circulating blood sugar is very destructive inflaming tissues in the heart and circulation, in the eyes, brain, kidneys, and nerve tissue leading to all manner of serious and life-threatening diseases.
This condition occurs due to various reasons, as your cells become resistant to the effects of the hormone insulin (stores sugar in your cells). However, long before full-blown diabetes occurs, at a stage referred to as pre-diabetes, your blood sugar is already modestly increased and the beginnings of damage to your kidneys, your blood vessel walls, and to your eyes is already occurring (perhaps it should be renamed early-stage diabetes); even a modest elevation in blood sugar should always be looked at seriously.
There are three main types of diabetes: Type 1, Type 2 and Gestational. Type 1 occurs because the body cannot make its own insulin to regulate blood sugar. It is less common in comparison to Type 2 and is not preventable. Type 1 refers to an autoimmune disease that attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas; it is much less common. People with Type 1 always require insulin. Type 2 occurs when the body does not use insulin well or cannot regulate the blood sugar levels with the insulin it has. Nine out of ten people with diabetes have Type 2 diabetes, a preventable, more common disease that occurs when the body’s cells become resistant to the effects of insulin. This results in elevated levels of sugar and triglycerides in the blood. The most common cause of Type 2 diabetes is truncal obesity or having an apple-shaped body instead of a pear-shaped one. New evidence indicates that an increase in the circulating levels of CRP (C-reactive protein), an enzyme tied into inflammation and heart disease, is a major indicator of impending diabetes. Gestational diabetes (GA) occurs during pregnancy and occurs when the body is not able to produce or use the insulin needed during pregnancy.
According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, here are the major risk factors:
To determine your risk of developing this condition, your doctor will perform a blood test after you fast for 12 hours. If your blood sugar after fasting is lower than 99, you are likely normal. However, if the blood sugar is between 100 to 125 mg/dL you have impaired fasting blood glucose and your risk of developing diabetes is increased. You are also at risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
For many individuals diet, exercise, and particular nutrients are very beneficial at this point and can help restore blood sugar levels down towards normal. Some drugs are also prescribed for this effect. If your fasting blood sugar is above 125mg/dL you are considered to have full-blown diabetes and it must be treated aggressively.
Being diagnosed with this condition means you will have to constantly be sure your body is balanced – your food consumption, activity level, medication and blood sugar levels. Here are some tips from the CDC on how to manage your diabetes on a daily basis:
Managing this condition may be tedious, but keeping a record of your treatment plans, feelings and medications could help keep it manageable. Follow your ABCs– the A1C test, Blood Pressure, Cholesterol and (not) Smoking.
For more information on diabetes and how you can prevent it, visit http://www.cdc.gov/features/livingwithdiabetes/index.html.
It’s difficult enough to get out of bed in the morning. But for those who must regularly take pills, check their blood sugar levels or give themselves insulin every morning, they may have it a lot harder. Though, maintaining your health, especially with diabetes is …
Diabetes affects 29.1 million people in the United States, which equals 9% of the entire U.S. population. While Type 2 diabetes makes up about 95% of that number, many people still do not fully understand how it works. Here are the top seven myths about …
The collective expression of obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, systemic inflammation and Type 2 diabetes is now commonly referred to by the term diabesity. This multi-faceted condition is predicted to be the single most pervasive global health epidemic of our time with as many as 366 million people affected worldwide by 2030[1]. Most will experience an estimated 8 to 10 year reduction in life expectancy[2]. Accordingly, it is hard to overstate diabesity’s impact. It is already the leading cause of heart disease, stroke, dementia, cancer and premature death. Unlike most prior epidemics, however, it is almost always precipitated by lifestyle as well as environmental factors[3].
Diabesity damage commonly begins long before full-blown diabetes manifests or is clinically diagnosed. During what is now diagnosed as pre-diabetes the stage is being set for the later, devastating ‘side effects’ of full-blown diabetes. These effects also include high blood pressure, fatty liver, depression, nervous system damage (which may lead to amputation of limbs), sexual dysfunction, retinopathy (blindness caused by damage to tiny blood vessels inside the retina of the eye), periodental and gum disease and heart disease. Accordingly, a clinical diagnosis of pre-diabetes should be treated as seriously as a diagnosis of diabetes.
Perhaps the single greatest driver of Type 2 diabetes is obesity. Simply put, as your waistline increases (elevated waist circumference is considered to be greater than 40 inches for men and greater than 35 inches for women) your risk of death from heart disease, cancer and so many other diseases increases as well. By making wise lifestyle changes that incorporate dietary modification, exercise and stress management, as well as targeted and high quality supplementation, effective weight loss can be achieved. Moreover, it is possible to limit or even completely reverse the effects caused by diabesity. Commonly lacking in people with Type 2 diabetes[4] as well as obese people in general are several minerals critical to maintaining healthy blood sugar levels. Chromium helps blood sugar enter the cells by supporting the natural function of insulin at the cell membrane. It assists in maintaining healthy glucose, insulin, cholesterol and HA1c[5] (a protein found in the body that is an indication of how well blood sugar has performed over the last three months) levels.
Vanadium, a mineral with insulin-like properties[6], promotes better blood sugar metabolism in both the muscle and the liver[7]. Magnesium, a critically important mineral, improves insulin sensitivity and helps lower HA1c levels in Type 2 diabetics and in non-diabetic adults.[8],[9] Not surprisingly these minerals are deficient or even missing in most American diets. Our diets provide the nutritional information our body translates into instructions for the genes that will either keep us healthy or make us sick[10]. Clearly, a healthful diet is critical for appropriate gene programming. In addition to eating a wide variety of real and whole foods, it is advisable to add a high-quality vitamin and mineral supplement to fill the gaps in our diet as well as to provide some of the minerals that may be lacking in our soil due to current agricultural practices.There are many widely studied nutraceuticals that have been shown to help precipitate good health and protect against the ravages of diabesity. Resveratrol, notably found in red wine and the skin of red grapes, activates the SIRT1 gene which turns on other genes that directly influence insulin and fat burning[11], and may be helpful for diabetics[12]. It decreases inflammation in fat cells and boosts adiponectin[13] (a hormone produced and secreted exclusively by adipocytes or fat cells that regulate the metabolism of lipids and glucose).
Green coffee berries contain polyphenols and chlorogenic acid which helps the liver metabolize sugar effectively by modulating the enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase[14], an enzyme that plays a key role in the homeostatic regulation of blood glucose levels. They have been shown to improve glucose tolerance, decrease cholesterol and triglycerides[15] and may also be effective in controlling mildly elevated blood pressure[16] which is common in diabetics. DHA (part of omega 3 fatty acids) decreases the inflammation[17] associated with blood sugar and insulin problems and directly boosts the production of adiponectin[18]. Diabetics tend to have high levels of AGEs or Advanced Glycation End-products. Damaging AGEs are formed by the cross-linking of certain proteins and sugars. The amino acid L-Carnosine may be effective in inhibiting AGEs formation. It may protect kidney cells from the effects of high glucose levels, helping to decrease the risk of diabetic kidney disease or nephropathy.[19],[20] It may also decrease protein cross-linking in the lens of the eye and help reduce the risk of cataract formation, a common diabetic complication[21].
The damage from chronic inflammation is well documented and people with diabesity tend to have extremely high inflammation levels. Fat cells generate inflammatory cytokines, chemicals that disrupt the body’s response to insulin, and leptin (a “satiety” hormone made by fat cells that is involved in the regulation of body fat), thus disabling their ability to properly metabolize sugars, fats, and protein[22]. A powerful spice, turmeric, and specifically its active ingredient curcumin, is very effective in quelling inflammation at the cellular level. Curcumin can improve blood sugar levels by increasing sugar uptake from the blood, decreasing new glucose formation and thus increasing insulin’s effectiveness. Curcumin also reduces dangerous inflammatory markers such as IL6 and TNF-Alpha that are generally elevated in diabetics and may also help to protect nerve and brain cells. As noted, by adopting meaningful lifestyle changes it is possible to stop, or even reverse the ravages of diabesity. With effective diet, supplements, exercise and stress management we can anticipate lives of extended health and wellness rather than fear an inevitable decline into the life-altering changes and ravages of diabesity.
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