Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
What are Soy Isoflavones? Soy Isoflavones are antioxidant and phytoestrogen plant-derived components from the soybean plant. Commonly consumed through soy-based foods like soy flours and soy proteins, soy isoflavones are also found in dietary supplements. A new study conducted by Arak University of Medical Sciences …
Jerry Hickey is a pharmacist and radio personality and fills the esteemed role of Scientific Director and President of Invite Health. He has spent his professional life analyzing nutritional information and medical studies with the aim of creating the highest quality and most natural nutraceuticals …
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 no easy task, leaving your diabetes untreated will only make matters much worse.
Betul Hatipoglu, MD, an endocrinologist at Cleveland Clinic explains, “If you don’t take care of yourself, diabetes complications typically start within 5 years; within 10 to 15 years, the majority of patients will progress to have multiple health issues.” She goes on to advise that eating a nutritious diet, regularly exercising and taking your medication may not only stop complications for progressing, but can reverse them. [1]
Here are some ways your body can take a turn for the worst when you stop taking care of your diabetes –
Your cholesterol and blood pressure will rise
Insulin is a hormone that regulates your blood sugar. With Type 1 diabetes, your body stops producing insulin all togethe
r. With Type 2 diabetes, your body produces insulin but cannot properly use it. Because of this, your “good cholesterol” levels become low and the levels of harmful blood fats (triglycerides) rise. Your blood pressure may also rise due to hardened, narrow arteries brought on by the insulin resistance. This is why about 70% of people with both types of diabetes have hypertension, a major risk factor for stroke, heart disease and cognitive decline.[2] Robert Gabbay, MD, PhD, and chief medical officer at Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston says, “Failing to control high blood pressure and high cholesterol, either with a diet and exercise alone or by adding medications, accelerates the rate at which all your other complications progress.”
Your vision health declines
Retinopathy, the damage to the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye, plagues more than 4 million people with diabetes to some degree.[3] This is because your high blood pressure levels damage your eye’s blood vessels. There are no early on-set symptoms but the longer you let this condition go untreated, the more your vision will fade. Prevention says, a study on people with Type 2 found that when HbA1c levels (a measure of blood glucose) rose by one percent, the risk of developing vision problems increased by about one third. Hatipoglu agrees – “In 20 years, about 80% of people with diabetes will have retinopathy, and about 10,000 will go blind each year.”
Stay tuned for kidney failure
Your kidney’s, the bean-shaped organs located near the middle of your back, are basically “trash collectors”. Every day, your kidneys process about 200 quarts of blood to sift out about 2 quarts of waste products and extra water, which is then removed from your body through urination.[4] When you have this condition, high blood glucose thickens the structures within your kidneys. According to Prevention and Hatipoglu, “About 7% of the time, you’ll already have protein leaking into your urine (an early sign of kidney problems) by the time you receive a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. About half of those who don’t take steps to control their diabetes will sustain kidney damage within 10 years and 40% will progress to kidney failure, which will require dialysis or a kidney transplant.”
Get ready for nerve damage
Gabbay explains, “At first you might have no symptoms or feel a mild tingling or numbness in your hands or feet, but eventually, neuropathy can cause pain, weakness, and digestive troubles as it strikes the nerves that control your gastrointestinal tract.” Neuropathy is nerve damage caused by high blood glucose. According to Prevention, about 7.5% of people already have it when they’re diagnosed with diabetes. If glucose levels are not checked regularly, this risk is heightened.
Save your feet
Because there may be damage to the nerves that work between your brain and lower body, your feet can be affected greatly. As your muscle tones become weaker, you may develop bunions, flat feet or other deformities that may cause ulcers, numbness and poor circulation.[5] An infection in your feet may even spread to the bone, warranting about 73,000 lower-limb amputations per year, says Gabbay. This is why, while suffering from diabetes, it’s important to take care of your feet.
Your Heart health will decline
High blood sugar can directly affect your cardiovascular health – from your veins to the muscles of your heart. Hatipoglu says, “Anyone with diabetes has nearly double the risk of heart attack, and their risk of stroke quadruples. Heart attack is the number one killer in diabetics.”
An earlier death
A recent study published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) has concluded that women with type 1 diabetes can expect to live 13 years less than people without the disease. Diabetes ranks as the 7th leaving cause of death, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Sources:
[1] http://www.prevention.com/health/what-happens-when-you-dont-treat-diabetes
[2] http://www.prevention.com/health/what-happens-when-you-dont-treat-diabetes
[3] http://www.prevention.com/health/what-happens-when-you-dont-treat-diabetes
[4] http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/function-kidneys
[5] http://www.prevention.com/health/what-happens-when-you-dont-treat-diabetes
Research carried out by the experts at Aquaint sanitizer earlier this month have uncovered some disgusting facts that may make you want to choose a destination you can drive to this vacation season. Many people report feeling sick after an airplane ride – from runny …
Arthritis – stiff, painful, swollen joints – is not a single disease. There are more than 100 arthritis-related conditions. The most common is osteoarthritis – “wear-and-tear”. Nearly 27 million Americans have osteoarthritis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Osteoarthritis, in which joint …
A new study suggests that working long hours may contribute to your risk of developing Diabetes. The study, published September 24th in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, found an association between long work weeks and the disease – but the risk involves other factors as well, including the type of job.
Researchers examined data from past studies involving 222,000 men and women from all over the world, including the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia. These subjects were followed for an average of 7.6 years. Results showed that people who worked more than 55 hours a week at a manual labor job, or other types of “low socioeconomic status jobs”, were 30 percent more likely to develop diabetes compared to those who worked 35 to 40 hours per week.
‘More research shows that Vitamin D lowers the risk of developing Diabetes’ – Click here!
“Although working long hours is unlikely to increase diabetes risk in everyone, health professionals should be aware that it is associated with a significantly increased risk in people doing low socioeconomic status jobs,” stated Mika Kivimaki, professor of epidemiology at University College London in England.
Further research is needed to find out more about the association between long work days and diabetes risk. Possible causes of this link include the fact that those who work many hours don’t have any time left for healthy mind and body behaviors, like exercise, eating right, proper sleep, meditation and relaxation, time with friends and family, etc.
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.Diabetes occurs because for various reasons; your cells become resistant to the effects of the hormone insulin, which normally 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. But even a modest elevation in blood sugar should always be looked at seriously.
Type 2 Diabetes is more common and 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. Type 1 Diabetes refers to an autoimmune disease that attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas and it is much less common. People with type 1 diabetes always require insulin.
Jerry Hickey, R.Ph suggests specific supplements and vitamins to support blood sugar. Click here!
To determine your risk of developing diabetes, your doctor will perform a test on your blood after you fast for 12 hours. If your blood sugar after fasting is lower than 99, you are likely okay. 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 for 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 which must be treated aggressively.
A1C Test is a blood test that measures average blood glucose over the past 2 to 3 months and is the best way to measure overall glucose control. It should be measured 2 to 4 times a year and the goal is less than 7 percent. Symptoms may include feeling tired or ill, excessive thirst, frequent urination, sudden weight loss, blurred vision, slow healing of infections, and genital itching.