Cinnamon: A Natural Way to Control Diabetes
An increasing number of doctors are recommending cinnamon to their diabetes patients. Diabetics can see their blood sugar level improved simply by taking cinnamon on a daily basis. Doctors say that although not every patient experience dramatic blood sugar response, for other it works wonders.
Doctor Internist Frank of Hilton Head is one of the many doctors recommending cinnamon to patients with type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetics.
The genesis of prescribing cinnamon started with a study conducted by Richard Anderson, at the Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland, a branch of the U.S department of agriculture. They discovered that apple pie was one of the foods that were able to boost the efficiency of insulin in type 2 diabetics. Further analysis revealed that cinnamon, a common ingredient in apple pie was responsible.
The most active ingredient in cinnamon is methylhydroxy chalcone polymer which helps convert glucose to energy.
Meanwhile, a study conducted on 60 diabetics with type 2 diabetes by Alam Khan, a Fulbright scholar from Pakistan, revealed that one-quarter teaspoon of cinnamon taken twice a day for 40 days did lower blood sugar levels.
Not all researchers agree with the finding. The jury is still out on this. However, there is a growing interest in cinnamon and doctors are increasingly acknowledging the benefits of cinnamon. Anderson recommends cinnamon extract, which is available without prescription.
“People think they can just sprinkle it on their food once in a while, but basically that does not work. We say you have to have one-quarter to one-half a teaspoon twice a day.”
He cautions that people with type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetics should consult their physician before using cinnamon.
How Cinnamon Seems to Help a Diabetic with Their Diabetes Condition
A startling connection was made lately between the use of cinnamon and the ability to prevent some of the diabetes symptoms. Cinnamon, used for a long time as a spice that assists with energy, this is a cheap form of help for the control of diabetes. With the sourced funding from the Diabetes Action Research and Education Foundation, Dr. Richard Anderson enable the study on the possible cinnamon effects on diabetes At the United States Department Of Agriculture's Human Nutrition Research Center. He was able to isolate the sourced compound in cinnamon that is a responsible for a portion of the superb effects that this substance has on diabetes.
This compound partially composed of specific type A. polymers, was found to lower the blood sugar effectively in those that have diabetes. On top of that, it was found at these polymers decreased the diabetic patients total cholesterol by up to 26%. Lipoproteins with a lower density are known to be a bad type of cholesterol. These were lowered by 10 to 24% through the intake of these polymers, and triglycerides showed a decrease by 23 to 30%.
Major importance should be given to this research by those that have this diabetes condition. Also possibly of more importance regarding this find are the effects that this substance can have on practically millions of people who have been found to have prediabetes. This could possibly help delay the diabetes onset, and give those potential future diabetics time to learn about how to keep it from taking control over their health.
These cinnamon polymers have been found to assist diabetics and two important ways; firstly, the substance was seen to make the enzymes that may hold the responsibility for decreasing the effects of insulin resistance. This could be of paramount importance for those with this condition which frequently has been caused by insulin resistance problem. Secondly, when diabetics ingest this compound substance, they were found to have increased sensitivity to insulin within their body. This basely helped them more effectively distribute the insulin. Now, the polymers found as a result of the study have been extracted and clinically available to patients. The substance has been patented as a compound known as Cinnulin PF. The only approved version for use is a water-soluble extract of this compound.
The substance should not be hard to find sense there are many different supplements that contain this. Another thing to note would be that it is important that a person with diabetes absolutely should not ingest high levels of normal cinnamon to try to get these effects. When ingesting high levels of cinnamon, it has been found that it is toxic due to a fat soluble component it holds. If there is the chance that you are unable to purchase one of these supplements that contains the substance, you should only ingest a quarter to a full teaspoon of cinnamon in order to help your diabetes condition. It is also necessary to inform your doctor of this and any other supplements or medications that you take in order to help diabetes. It is helpful to know that the supplement to be added to various drinks including tea or milkshakes to make it more tolerable. Don't think that you might want to eat apple pie because it has cinnamon in it. Apple pie or foods like it probably should be avoided for the most part because of the fat and sugar content.
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New herbal supplement product uses green tea and cinnamon for controlling diabetes
There's a new nutritional supplement available for people suffering from Type 2 diabetes. It's called The Body Rejuvenator, marketed by Lafayette Miracle Solutions. Now, I'm not familiar with this company, nor have I tried this product. I'm discussing it here because it contains two key ingredients -- green tea extract and cinnamon -- and I'm interested in exploring how these two ingredients can help diabetics, and what the big picture is in terms of taking nutritional supplements if you are a diabetic. The first thing to realize is that nutritional supplements can very successfully control blood sugar in diabetics. Both green tea and cinnamon are well-known to help control blood sugar so that you don't have such wild blood sugar swings (and potentially don't need as much insulin either). Also, there are many other benefits documented from taking both green tea and cinnamon. Green tea is noted for its anti-cancer effects, as well as its ability to aid in weight-loss, which is something that diabetics are typically concerned with. However, one concern of mine is that green tea usually contains caffeine, and caffeine, as we know, is contraindicated for diabetics. Accordingly, my advice is that green tea supplementation be limited if you are diabetic so that you don't end up overdosing on caffeine and throwing your blood sugar out of whack.Aside from the fact that these nutritional and herbal supplements can help stabilize blood sugar, there's a bigger question of whether diabetics should be using these sorts of nutritional supplements to help control their blood sugar in the first place. As much as I believe in nutritional supplements and the power of medicinal herbs to help people with diseases like diabetes and cancer, I think there is also a danger of using them as a crutch and ultimately relying on these healing herbs rather than making lifestyle changes that will reverse the diabetic condition in the first place.
Or, stated another way, most people who are diabetic attained that state of health by following a lifestyle that promotes diabetes. This sort of lifestyle includes consuming soft drinks and lots of foods with sugars and refined carbohydrates. It's typically a lifestyle of exercise avoidance and avoidance of strength training. People who are diabetic also tend to be overweight. They tend to eat at fast-food restaurants and consume foods that promote obesity. Most of these people also continue to pursue this lifestyle even while they are diabetic. In other words, once they are diagnosed with diabetes, they very rarely change these habits: they continue to consume soft drinks, refined white sugar, products made with white flour, such as bread, and they continue to avoid physical exercise.
In this scenario, consuming one or two doses of green tea extract and cinnamon is not really going to do you much good. The product may be perfectly effective as claimed, but there's no way that one nutritional supplement can counteract an extremely toxic lifestyle that promotes diabetes, weight gain, and other chronic diseases. So, for diabetic patients who are considering nutritional supplements like this one, I would say that, yes, it's good to pursue supplements that help stabilize your blood sugar, but it's far more important to alter your lifestyle and stop following the habits that made you diabetic in the first place. If you do both, together -- that is, if you alter your lifestyle and start choosing healthful foods while engaging in regular physical exercise -- and start taking these nutritional supplements at the same time, you will be far healthier than doing either one alone. It is only in combination that these complementary therapies really make sense.
The bottom line is that you should never rely on these products to take over
your responsibility for leading a healthy lifestyle in the first place. However,
if you make changes and begin to pursue a healthy lifestyle, then adding these
products to your list of strategies for preventing and even reversing diabetes
is perfectly justified
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Natural Treatments For Diabetes - Less Sugar, More Spice!
Diabetes (including its precursor, Metabolic Syndrome) is one of the top five most significant diseases in the developed world and is rapidly becoming a burden in the developing world too. However contemporary research has found that several spices including cinnamon, garlic, fenugreek and caper have the potential to be effective natural treatments for diabetes.
In order to understand the management of diabetes, it is helpful to consider one of the most important underlying defects in this disease; that of insulin resistance. Before a cell will allow glucose through its protective membrane, its insulin receptor must be "turned on" by insulin or a chemical mimic. Insulin resistance occurs when the receptor develops a weakened response to insulin resulting in the cell's failure to absorb sufficient quantities of glucose from the blood. This process culminates in energy deprivation in the cells and raised blood glucose levels.
The primary cause of a poor insulin receptor response is the chronic over-production of insulin. Not only does too much insulin lead to receptor failure, but wide fluctuations in insulin levels are also known to be an important cause of this condition. These oscillating levels are, in turn, closely associated with a diet high in refined carbohydrate foods.
Extreme changes of insulin levels and associated insulin resistance are abnormalities common to both diabetes and metabolic syndrome and are typically the result of a diet dominated by high glycaemic index foods. The rapid absorption of high GI foods results in abnormally high blood glucose levels. In order to stimulate the cells to absorb this sudden glucose load, the pancreas responds by releasing larger than normal quantities of insulin.
The excessive amount of insulin produced to achieve this effect results in a sudden fall in blood glucose, and within a couple of hours this level becomes very low. The subsequent intake of more high GI foods causes the blood glucose to rise dramatically once more, perpetuating the cycle of wildly fluctuating glucose and insulin levels. If this steady bombardment of the receptors by large amounts of insulin continues over a long period, it eventually leads to their insensitivity and malfunction and, finally, insulin resistance.
A good diet is the most effective ways to prevent insulin resistance. The consumption of predominantly low GI foods means that insulin is released slowly. As a result, glucose is absorbed by cells in a controlled manner and blood glucose levels do not rise and fall so rapidly. This prevents the harmful glucose – and thus insulin – peaks and troughs that are associated with the repeated ingestion of large quantities of high GI foods.
Reducing the proportion of high GI foods in the diet has another, indirect benefit in terms of preventing insulin resistance. Such foods are typically fattening and reducing their intake can lead to weight loss. Obesity, and particularly "central obesity", is another other important cause of insulin resistance and tackling it is an effective way to reduce the risk of diabetes and other chronic diseases.
Other invaluable dietary tools for preventing and managing insulin resistance and diabetes are the spices. These foods counter the disease processes in several ways and can be tremendously helpful, irrespective of whether individuals are making dietary or other lifestyle changes.
Cinnamon, for example, is a potent inducer of insulin sensitivity and the addition of as little as one gram a day to the diet can reduce the blood glucose levels of diabetics by a staggering 30 percent. It does this by enhancing the enzymes that increase insulin receptor sensitivity and inhibiting those enzymes with the opposite action.
Cinnamon has the added benefit of lowering the abnormal lipid levels commonly found in diabetics and reducing oxidative stress caused by lipid oxidation in these patients. Cinnamon is now available as a powder or an extract as a treatment for diabetes.
Fenugreek is also highly effective at modulating glucose metabolism and can lower the blood glucose levels of diabetics by up to 45 percent. This spice both increases insulin receptor sensitivity and normalizes the imbalanced blood lipid levels of diabetics. The fiber contained in fenugreek also lowers the GI of a meal, thus modulating the post-prandial blood glucose levels by slowing the absorption of high GI foods.
Ginger and caper increase sensitivity to insulin, and caper mimics the effects of insulin. Garlic and coriander are also insulin mimics, while coriander enhances insulin secretion.
These and most other spices can, with their rich array of antioxidants, help to prevent the complications of diabetes by reducing the oxidation of fats.
Several spices, including chilies, can also help combat associated conditions such as obesity by increasing the metabolic rate and therefore helping to "burn off" excess calories.
Spices possess an amazing potency and range of weapons in the fight against diabetes. By helping to prevent, delay and even treat one of worst and most widespread chronic diseases afflicting the modern world, they offer useful, natural treatments for diabetes.
Dr Keith Scott is a medical doctor with a special interest in nutrition. He has written several books including the ground breaking, "Medicinal Seasonings, The Healing Power of Spices" and "Natural Home Pharmacy". Download a free pdf copy of "Medicinal Seasonings" and find out more about how useful spices can be in the prevention and treatment of diabetes at: www.medspice.com
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