Chromium Supports Healthy Weight, Muscle & Blood Sugar – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 199
Chromium is an important mineral that is needed to metabolize fats, carbs and protein and change them into energy.
Tag: diabetes
How Cinnamon and Corosolic Acid Support Healthy Blood Sugar Levels – Invite Health Podcast, Episode 144
There are two plant ingredients that have been clinically studied for their benefit for people with elevated blood sugar – the bark of the cinnamon tree and a plant that grows in the Philippines called banaba that contains corosolic acid. Here’s what you need to know.
Protect Your Body Against Sugar-Induced Damage with Benfotiamine – Invite Health Podcast, Episode 90
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Amanda Williams, MPH
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Let’s talk about the harmful effects of glycation – what it is, how is it impacting our health, why it may be hard to understand and the role it plays in your body. We will discuss what you can do to fend off excessive glycation in our system, including an important form of Vitamin B1 called Benfotiamine.
What is Glycation and What are AGEs?
Our bodies go through something called the Maillard Reaction. This is the result of a chemical reaction between amino acids and sugars. An example of a maillard reaction is when you are cooking and browning foods. The sugar creates that charring effect on our foods at higher heat, like on a grill. This reaction was named after a french chemist – Louis Camille Mallard. It was first described back in the early 1900s, when researchers were trying to recognize the impact of high temperature.
This same chemical change occurs inside of our body. Within every cell, the sugar that the body uses for fuel is busy doing different things. When you have this byproduct of this chemical reaction, you end up with Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs). AGEs can be extremely detrimental to the human body. Excess glucose from sugary foods and drinks create these AGEs, damaging many things including your bodies DNA.
How Grape Seed Extract Has Been Shown to Benefit People with Diabetes. Listen Now! >>
AGEs are directly correlated to oxidative stress and inflammation and they can really harm the function of nerve cells. This is why Diabetic Neuropathy or Diabetic Retinopathy happens in your body – because of excess circulating glucose. This is why the hemaglobin A1C test is so important. AGEs can also deactivate enzymes.
Protecting Your Body Against AGEs with Benfotiamine
The body has its own natural defenses to protect itself against this glycation. One of the most powerful, natural defenses against AGEs happens to be Vitamin B1 (Thiamine). Now, the major issue when dealing with water soluble vitamins is, are we going to have enough or is there going to be a limited supply? If glucose in your system is too high, it is depleting all of that Thiamine and a build up of AGEs occurs.
So, researchers set out to investigate the benefit of fat soluble Vitamin B1. This is something that could stay in the system longer in order to offset and combat this build up of glucose. They found this really unique form of Thiamine called Benfotiamine, a fat soluble Vitamin B1. According to research and testing, using Benfotiamine allows for a 40% higher Thiamine amount that can be incorporated into your heart, liver, brain and muscles to allow for better protection from glycation. Benfotiamine has been shown to block sugar-induced damage in the body. It activates this powerful enzyme called Transketolase, which plays a role in converting toxic glucose-induced metabolites into these harmless compounds. Without it, you will have more AGE build up that causes significant damage within our system.
Benfotiamine has also been shown to ease inflammation by inhibiting the activation of something known as NF Kappa beta, or Nuclear factor kappa beta. This is a trigger for extremely dangerous inflammatory reactions in the human body. So if Benfotiamine can down regulate that and impede the body’s ability to activate NF Kappa beta, then we are able to regulate a more proper inflammatory response.
Recent studies have shown that Benfotiamine can be very beneficial for memory. Researchers found that this fat soluble Vitamin B1 was disrupting the production of amyloid plaques as well as touL proteins in the brain. Right now, Columbia University is studying Benfotiamine for mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s. I am very interested to see this outcome!
Krill oil and Fish oil have been shown to further support brain health. Listen now >>
Thank you for tuning in to the Invite Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Invite Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the Invite Health Podcast.
Grape Seed Extract for People with Diabetes, Part 3 – Invite Health Podcast, Episode 76
People with Diabetes are prone to plaque in the arteries. Grape seed extract is safe and beneficial for people with Diabetes. Here’s what you need to know in the last part of our Diabetes and Grape Seed Extract podcast series.
Grape Seed Extract for People with Diabetes, Part 2 – Invite Health Podcast, Episode 75
In part 2, Jerry Hickey, Ph. discusses the number of things Grape Seed Extract can do for you if you have diabetes, including studies that show its benefit for blood pressure and vision health.
Grape Seed Extract for People With Diabetes, Part 1 – Invite Health Podcast, Episode 74
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph
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People with Diabetes have many issues related to inflammation. Comorbidity is a term that refers to diseases and conditions caused by the original disease. Diabetes has numerous comorbidities. Grape seed is a great supplement for people with diabetes. The pip (seed) of white grapes is loaded with very powerful antioxidants that reduce cellular inflammation. Collectively, these antioxidants are known as OPCs, oligomeric pro. Grape seed extract has GRAS certification – Generally Recognized As Safe for use by the American public, according to the FDA.
What is Metabolic Syndrome?
Metabolic Syndrome is a health disaster but it can be helped, especially with Grape Seed Extract. This is a cluster of conditions, including elevated blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, high cholesterol, obesity, elevated triglycerides, fatty liver, plaque developing the arteries, inflammation developing in the arteries, elevated uric acid, chronic kidney disease and eye issues. This is why this condition will shave years – perhaps decades – off of your health and your lifespan.
The Impact Uric Acid Has On Your Body. Listen Now >
Initially, animal studies demonstrated that Grape Seed Extract does many things for people with diabetes. Diabetes effects the heart, blood vessels, kidneys, the liver, the eyes, the brain, nerves. In people with Metabolic Syndrome, diabetes and pre-diabetes, Grape seed extract has been shown to help lower blood sugar, blood pressure and improve blood flow and the health of your arteries and more.
Clinical Research
The Diabetes and Endocrinology Department at Queen Alexandra Hospital in England published a study in the journal Diabetic Medicine where researchers studied obese patients with diabetes, who are at high risk of heart disease. Participants were given Grape Seed Extract (600mg) everyday versus placebo. Grape seed extract reduced fructosamine within two weeks. This is a quick measure of blood sugar; normally, people with diabetes prick their fingertip everyday to take a little blood and check their sugar to give them an indication of the measure of their blood sugar. Fructosamine is a little better, because it gives you a two week panoramic view of your average blood sugar. So, Grape seed was improving blood sugar very quickly in this study. It was also shown to reduce inflammation in the participants body.
Why you should test your inflammation using a hs-CRP Blood Test >>
The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry from Oregon State University compared a prescription drug – a sugar blocker called Acarbose – to Grape Seed Extract. Acarbose is given before meals and it bonds to a family of enzymes called Alpha-amylase that breakdown carbohydrates and you absorb less sugar from the meal. If you absorb less sugar and slower, it is easier for someone with diabetes or pre-diabetes to control their blood sugar levels. The study found that Grape seed extract was stronger than the prescription for blocking this enzyme and it also blocked the second family of sugar blockers called alpha glucosidase.
So, taking a Grape Seed Extract – 100mg to 300mg – before a meal with a glass of water is going to reduce your absorption of sugar. Now, this extract has not been studied for weight loss to my knowledge but obviously, if you absorb less sugar that will block calorie absorption which should help you lose some weight. But studies have shown that it helps control blood sugar levels, as seen above.
Pharmacognosy Magazine published a small study of healthy men and women who were given Grape Seed Extract at both 100mg and 300mg before a high carbohydrate breakfast, which included a sugary drink, six pieces of white bread with sugary jelly. When participants were given Grape Seed extract, it strongly reduced the absorption of sugar following the high carbohydrate breakfast.
The University of Alberta published a study in the Journal Phytotherapy Research – a review of 50 human clinical trials. It is a meta-analysis of 50 studies. Grape seed extract was shown to have a significant impact; improving fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, reduced bad cholesterol, reduce triglycerides. and reduced inflammation in the heart.
In Part 2, we will be looking at how Diabetes impacts your body, including eye health, plaque and more. Stay tuned!
Thank you for tuning in to the Invite Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Invite Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the Invite Health Podcast.
