Group items tagged

You may be wondering how different foods affect your blood glucose.

Pumpkins lower blood glucose levels, shrink enlarged prostates and prevent male hair loss

Dr. Milne presented data which showed that SRT501, Sirtris' proprietary formulation of resveratrol, reduces glucose and improves insulin sensitivity in multiple pre-clinical models of Type 2 Diabetes. Dr. Milne also presented pharmacokinetic (PK) data fro

The role of vitamin D and calcium in type 2 diabetes. A systematic review and meta-analysis. Pittas AG, Lau J, Hu FB, Dawson-Hughes B. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Jun;92(6):2017-29. Epub 2007 Mar 27. Review. PMID: 17389701 .CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin D and calcium insufficiency may negatively influence glycemia, whereas combined supplementation with both nutrients may be beneficial in optimizing glucose metabolism.

Baseline serum 25-hydroxy vitamin d is predictive of future glycemic status and insulin resistance: the Medical Research Council Ely Prospective Study 1990-2000. Forouhi NG, Luan J, Cooper A, Boucher BJ, Wareham NJ. Diabetes. 2008 Oct;57(10):2619-25. Epub 2008 Jun 30. PMID: 18591391 doi: 10.2337/db08-0593 CONCLUSIONS: This prospective study reports inverse associations between baseline serum 25(OH)D and future glycemia and insulin resistance. These associations are potentially important in understanding the etiology of abnormal glucose metabolism and warrant investigation in larger, specifically designed prospective studies and randomized controlled trials of supplementation.

Biochemical effects of consumption of eggs containing omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Ohman M, Akerfeldt T, Nilsson I, Rosen C, Hansson LO, Carlsson M, Larsson A. Ups J Med Sci. 2008;113(3):315-23. PMID: 18991244 Addition of one regular egg per day to the normal diet had no negative impact on blood lipids or inflammation markers. Consumption of omega-3 enriched eggs resulted in higher levels of ApoA1, lower ApoB/ApoA1 ratio and lower plasma glucose. These effects have been associated in previous studies with a reduced risk for cardiovascular mortality and diabetes.

"Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have discovered that restricting consumption of glucose, the most common dietary sugar, can extend the life of healthy human-lung cells and speed the death of precancerous human-lung cells, reducing cancer's spread and growth rate. The research has wide-ranging potential in age-related science, including ways in which calorie-intake restriction can benefit longevity and help prevent diseases like cancer that have been linked to aging, said principal investigator Trygve Tollefsbol, Ph.D., D.O., a professor in the Department of Biology. "These results further verify the potential health benefits of controlling calorie intake." Tollefsbol said. "Our research indicates that calorie reduction extends the lifespan of healthy human cells and aids the body's natural ability to kill off cancer-forming cells.

"ScienceDaily (Dec. 17, 2009) - Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have discovered that restricting consumption of glucose, the most common dietary sugar, can extend the life of healthy human-lung cells and speed the death of precancerous human-lung cells, reducing cancer's spread and growth rate. The research has wide-ranging potential in age-related science, including ways in which calorie-intake restriction can benefit longevity and help prevent diseases like cancer that have been linked to aging, said principal investigator Trygve Tollefsbol, Ph.D., D.O., a professor in the Department of Biology. "These results further verify the potential health benefits of controlling calorie intake." Tollefsbol said. "Our research indicates that calorie reduction extends the lifespan of healthy human cells and aids the body's natural ability to kill off cancer-forming cells.""

"The "Selfish Brain" theory describes the characteristic of the human brain to cover its own, comparably high energy requirements with the utmost of priorities when regulating energy fluxes in the organism. The brain behaves selfishly in this respect. The "Selfish brain" theory amongst other things provides a novel explanation for the origin of obesity, the severe and pathological form of overweight. The Luebeck obesity and diabetes specialist Achim Peters developed the fundamentals of this theory between 1998 and 2004. The interdisciplinary "Selfish Brain: brain glucose and metabolic syndrome" research group headed by Peters and supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) at the University of Luebeck has in the meantime been able to reinforce the basics of the theory through experimental research. Scientists the world over now consider this work as pioneering for the study of the causes of pathological eating disorders and the development of innovative therapies."

Dietary and genetic control of glucose transporter 2 glycosylation promotes insulin secretion in suppressing diabetes. Ohtsubo K, Takamatsu S, Minowa MT, Yoshida A, Takeuchi M, Marth JD. Cell. 2005 Dec 29;123(7):1307-21. PMID: 16377570

What does a steady glucose level have to do with losing weight? Two things: - It's easier to control hunger (and, ultimately, body weight) when your blood sugar level is steady, not changing quickly from high to low and back again. -A steady level of blood sugar level also helps you shed excess body fat more effectively. Read the full article.

Vitamin D and type 2 diabetes: are we ready for a prevention trial? Scragg R. Diabetes. 2008 Oct;57(10):2565-6. PMID: 18820212 doi: 10.2337/db08-0879 Despite evidence from the current article (3) and the Finnish study (17), doubts still remain about whether low vitamin status is a cause of type 2 diabetes. Further cohort studies are required, assessing baseline vitamin D status using blood 25(OH)D to be sure that the Ely and Finnish studies are not false-positive results. Glucose clamp studies are also required because we are still not sure of the mechanism influenced by vitamin D-whether it is insulin resistance, secretion, or both. But most importantly, given that nearly three decades have passed since the first studies linking vitamin D with insulin metabolism (6,7), well-designed clinical trials of the effect of vitamin D supplementation on glycemia status and diabetes risk are urgently required to settle this question. And they need to prevent past mistakes. In particular, the vitamin D dose given in such trials needs to be high enough-above 2,000 IU per day (19)-to raise blood 25(OH)D levels above 80 nmol/l because diabetes risk is lowest at this level (9,20). If well-designed trials are carried out and confirm a protective effect from vitamin D, it could be used by the general population as a simple and cheap solution to help prevent the diabetes epidemic.

Plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin d is associated with markers of the insulin resistant phenotype in nondiabetic adults. Liu E, Meigs JB, Pittas AG, McKeown NM, Economos CD, Booth SL, Jacques PF. J Nutr. 2009 Feb;139(2):329-34. Epub 2008 Dec 23. PMID: 19106328 doi:10.3945/jn.108.093831 After adjusting for age and sex, plasma 25(OH)D was positively associated with ISI(0,120), plasma adiponectin, and HDL cholesterol and inversely associated with plasma triacylglycerol, but these associations were no longer significant after further adjustment for BMI, waist circumference, and current smoking status. 25(OH)D and 2-h post-OGTT glucose were not associated. Among adults without diabetes, vitamin D status was inversely associated with surrogate fasting measures of insulin resistance. These results suggest that vitamin D status may be an important determinant for type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Vitamin D in preventive medicine: are we ignoring the evidence? Zittermann A. Br J Nutr. 2003 May;89(5):552-72. Review. PMID: 12720576 Vitamin D is metabolised by a hepatic 25-hydroxylase into 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and by a renal 1alpha-hydroxylase into the vitamin D hormone calcitriol. Calcitriol receptors are present in more than thirty different tissues. Apart from the kidney, several tissues also possess the enzyme 1alpha-hydroxylase, which is able to use circulating 25(OH)D as a substrate. Serum levels of 25(OH)D are the best indicator to assess vitamin D deficiency, insufficiency, hypovitaminosis, adequacy, and toxicity. European children and young adults often have circulating 25(OH)D levels in the insufficiency range during wintertime. Elderly subjects have mean 25(OH)D levels in the insufficiency range throughout the year. In institutionalized subjects 25(OH)D levels are often in the deficiency range. There is now general agreement that a low vitamin D status is involved in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis. Moreover, vitamin D insufficiency can lead to a disturbed muscle function. Epidemiological data also indicate a low vitamin D status in tuberculosis, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel diseases, hypertension, and specific types of cancer. Some intervention trials have demonstrated that supplementation with vitamin D or its metabolites is able: (i) to reduce blood pressure in hypertensive patients; (ii) to improve blood glucose levels in diabetics; (iii) to improve symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. The oral dose necessary to achieve adequate serum 25(OH)D levels is probably much higher than the current recommendations of 5-15 microg/d.

Simultaneously Blocking Glycolysis and Fat Metabolism Can the use of DCA and a fatty acid metabolism blocker together force more cancer cells into using aerobic metabolism? Tim McGough used green tea extract, which contains EGCG, in his fantastic response. DCA works by reactivating mitochondria and shifts metabolism from glycolysis to glucose oxidation. Hopefully the cancer cell will then undergo apoptosis. However, cancer cells have an alternate energy source: fat metabolism. This page explores to possibility of blocking fat metabolism to help force the cell into apoptosis. Oral squamous cell carcinoma is a cancer that does not respond well to DCA. This study, Head and Neck Cancer Cell Lines Are Resistant to Mitochondrial-Depolarization-Induced Apoptosis states: "Results: ΔΨm in head and neck cell lines started to show slight loss of ΔΨm, while HL-60 showed significant loss of ΔΨm after 30 min of treatment. All cell lines demonstrated complete mitochondrial depolarization within 24 h, however, only the control cell line HL-60 underwent apoptosis. In addition, HNSCC cell lines did not demonstrate cytoplasmic cytochrome c release despite significant mitochondrial membrane depolarization, while HL-60 cell initiated apoptosis and cytochcrome c release after 24 h of treatment. Conclusions: Head and neck cancer cell lines exhibit defects in mitochondrial-membrane-depolarization-induced apoptosis as well as impaired release of cytochrome c despite significant mitochondrial membrane depolarization. Proximal defects in the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway are a feature of HNSCC.(head and neck squamous cell carcinoma)" Note that although the cell lines were depolarized, apoptosis did not occur. So I checked to see if fatty acid metabolism is used by squamous cell carcinoma.

Role of vitamin D in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Palomer X, González-Clemente JM, Blanco-Vaca F, Mauricio D. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2008 Mar;10(3):185-97. Review. PMID: 18269634 DOI: 10.1111/j.1463-1326.2007.00710.x Vitamin D deficiency has been shown to alter insulin synthesis and secretion in both humans and animal models. It has been reported that vitamin D deficiency may predispose to glucose intolerance, altered insulin secretion and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Vitamin D replenishment improves glycaemia and insulin secretion in patients with type 2 diabetes with established hypovitaminosis D, thereby suggesting a role for vitamin D in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Looking at journals of animal farm science, studies for increasing USDA Grades of beef and Marbling Scores (MS) have yielded some interesting perspectives regarding vitamin A and its role in controlling obesity. Do Americans get enough vitamin A? The beef industry has figured out that better grades and thus higher market value can be achieved by restricting vitamin A in the food fed to commercial cows. In fact, by depleting liver stores and restricting the content in food, the grade of meat and percentage of intramuscular (IM) fat increase quite substantially. Better yield for livestock owners. Higher levels of blood glucose (BG) are also associated with lower vitamin A status and higher marbling.

ScienceDaily (Nov. 27, 2007) - Eating foods high on the glycemic index, which measures the effect of carbohydrates on blood glucose levels, may be associated with the risk for developing type 2 diabetes in Chinese women and in African-American women, according to two new studies. However, eating more cereal fiber may be associated with a reduced risk for type 2 diabetes in African-American women.

Derived from the bulb or clove of the plant. Garlic is used as a spice and to treat hyperlipidemia, hypertension, atherosclerosis, cancer, and infections. Processing can have a substantial effect on the chemical content in garlic; the volatile oil components are sensitive to heat and certain enzymes are acid-labile. Several oral garlic formulations are available, and clinical studies have addressed a variety of the proposed claims. Placebo-controlled trials on the cholesterol lowering effect of garlic yielded mixed results (16) (17) (18) (21) (22) (26). Studies evaluating the antithrombotic effects repeatedly have shown modest reduction in platelet aggregation, but varying levels of fibrinolytic activity. Research shows mixed effects with regard to reductions in blood glucose, blood pressure, or risk of cardiovascular disease (23). Frequently reported adverse events include bad breath, headache, fatigue, GI upset, diarrhea, sweating, and possible hypoglycemia (9). Because garlic is known to decrease platelet aggregation and potentially elevate the INR, it should not be used with anticoagulants or in patients with platelet dysfunction (15). Garlic appears to induce cytochrome p450 3A4 and may enhance metabolism of many medications (e.g. cyclosporin and saquinavir) (12). An analysis of several case-control studies in Europe suggests an inverse association between garlic consumption and risk of common cancers (25).