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Diabetes – Oxidative Stress and Metabolic Memory Control

October 22nd, 2011 Comments off

For a number of years we now have known that diabetic patients suffer from toxin overload and oxidative stress. New scientific evidence implies that oxidative stress is the underlying cause of the circulation system damage so characteristic of diabetes. The majority of the important complications of diabetes come from diseased blood vessels. High blood pressure, poor circulation, kidney disease and nerve damage are primarily caused by damage to both small and large blood vessels in diabetics.

Studies have shown the damage completed to blood vessels is caused by the act of toxins on the endothelium (or lining) from the arteries.
Even though it is a layer only one cell deep, the endothelium is a very important part of the circulation system. It has many vital functions; it doesn’t only control the dilatation and constriction of blood vessels but it also regulates the discharge of various hormones and also the formation of clots in the arteries. Endothelial dysfunction results in arterial constriction atherosclerosis and irreversible arterial damage thereby increasing the chance of cardiac arrest, stroke, peripheral arterial disease, kidney failure along with other problems.

Hyperglycemia (high sugar) is the reason for free radical overload and, until recently, it had been thought that once the blood sugar was under control the damaging effects of oxidative stress would be halted. However this has been shown to not be along with a mechanism called “metabolic memory” has been described that accounts for this phenomenon. It looks like, throughout the periods when a person’s blood sugar levels are not controlled, proteins are glycated (attached to a glucose molecule). These glycated proteins retain a ‘memory’ which compels them to continue to send stress signals. This stress signaling maintains the production of excess toxins even after treatment has returned the blood sugar levels to normalcy. Unless countered by dietary antioxidants, the persistent discharge of free radicals maintains the unhealthy state of oxidative stress.

A recent clinical trial indicates conclusively that those insulin dependent diabetics who took antioxidants in addition to insulin reduced oxidative stress considerably than others who have been using insulin without an antioxidant.
This along with other studies have also discovered further interesting specifics of the kind of antioxidants accustomed to treat oxidative stress in diabetics. E vitamin ( considered a powerful antioxidant) was discovered to become useless at all in this context and vitamin C, although effective, did not completely control oxidative stress – even just in those diabetics who’s glucose levels were perfectly controlled and did not have any other conditions that might have caused oxidative stress.

This observation should not come as too much of an unexpected whenever we appreciate the truth that there are many different types of toxins which no individual antioxidant can access all parts of the cell or neutralize all toxin species.

The research informs us two important things. Firstly, that diabetics need to ensure that they’re very aggressive to managing their blood sugar levels all the time. Additionally, by far the majority of people are diagnosed with diabetes long afterwards the disease process has started. Which means that they were probably under oxidative stress for months or years just before receiving treatment which the harmful “metabolic memory” is becoming well entrenched in their cellular proteins. Even if the diabetics, once they receive treatment, then go on to achieve effective glucose levels, the metabolic memory continues to stimulate free radical release and sustain the harmful oxidative stress.

Accumulated research up to now tells us that does not only do all diabetics need to take adequate amounts and variety of antioxidants but non-diabetics need to do so too. Aside from having regular check-ups to see whether you have diabetes or not, you are able to protect yourself against arterial damage when you eat a diet high in antioxidant-rich foods. If however you are at risk of diabetes or other disease associated with oxidative stress you should take an antioxidant supplement too.
Spices possess the highest antioxidant activity of recommended food groups (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2006) and a spice-based antioxidant supplement provides over 100 effective antioxidant compounds.

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Protect Yourself From Type 2 Diabetes

October 22nd, 2011 Comments off

So why do we prefer sweet foods like strawberries to savory ones like cabbage? Our desire to have sweetness is the consequence of an old and continuing coevolution between animals and plants. Fruits provide us a nutritious, pre-packaged, and brightly colored supply of energy, while the plants that bear them get to spread to otherwise unreachable places whenever we spit out their seeds.

Diabetes is a metabolic disease, the most typical form of which is called type 2 (about 90% of people with diabetes have type 2). People with diabetes type 2 are insulin resistant, meaning their cells are resistant to the insulin that is produced. With time additionally they start to produce insufficient insulin. As insulin may be the hormone we use to carry glucose to the cells, if there is insufficient insulin, glucose builds up within the blood and is not used properly by the cells for growth and. The end result? A larger chance of kidney failure, blindness, coronary disease, cardiovascular disease as well as amputation.

Chances are you have a friend with type 2 diabetes. Currently about 8% of people in america are affected. Although the risk increases as we grow older (because insulin production is decreased), childhood diabetes type 2 is on the rise, a well known fact attributed to the increasingly poor diets and sedentary lifestyles of our children. Alarmingly, rates of diabetes have doubled since 1980. Just how can we protect ourselves from contracting the disease?

Since about 80% of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight, there is no denying the hyperlink between being overweight and contracting the condition. A nutritious diet containing low GI foods (for example wholegrains, beans, apples, oranges, sweetcorn) can help. Maintaining a healthy weight as well as an active lifestyle is key. Studies have clearly shown that aerobic fitness exercise and strength training coupled with weight reduction helps your body to process glucose and use insulin effectively. In fact, one study has shown that exercise combined with a good diet can help to eliminate the risk of diabetes by a whopping 58%.

What can you do?

1) Screening. The American Diabetes Association recommends diabetes screening for:

* everyone 45 years of age and older, particularly those with a BMI more than 25.
* people younger than 45 who are overweight and who also provide other risk factors, such as a genealogy of the disease, high cholesterol or blood pressure level, or a good reputation for gestational diabetes.

Testing could be a fasting blood sugar test, a dental glucose tolerance test or perhaps a hemoglobin A1c.

2) Monitor unwanted weight. The Diabetes Prevention Program, a federally-funded study published in 2002, found that people at high risk for diabetes who exercised for Half an hour five days per week and lowered their intake of fat and calories could reduce their weight by 5-7% minimizing their risk of diabetes type 2 by 58%.

3) Learn your family health background. A household history of diabetes type 2 is among the strongest risk factors for getting the condition in people living a Western lifestyle. In these societies, the risk of developing diabetes type 2 is about one out of seven if a parent had the condition and was diagnosed before age 50, and about one in 13 when the parent was diagnosed in a later age. The risk is even higher if both parents had the disease.

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Need to Protect Yourself in the Complications from Diabetes?

October 22nd, 2011 Comments off

Diabetes is really a ailment that can lead to very serious complications — for example blindness and amputation of limbs because of gangrene. Because of this — if you have diabetes, be sure to take proper care of yourself.

Here are a few health tips that you should remember as you try to properly take care of yourself:

1. Remain on schedule together with your medication and go at the same time on a daily basis — preferably about the time you always eat.

2. Get some exercise regularly.

Walking, playing golf, and using a treadmill are three possible exercises you might like to consider. Since diabetics can become exhausted easily, regular exercise will help you become more energetic.

3. Be extra careful of your feet.

Diabetes can result in numerous complications affecting the limbs and feet, so keep keep an eye on your feet and point out to your doctor any suspicious infections. If you have any sores in your feet, they can easily become infected for those who have diabetes. After you have taken a shower or shower, carefully examine the feet. Be sure to dry them thoroughly — and make sure the areas between your toes are totally dry as well. Wear properly fitting shoes and socks to safeguard your feet.

4. Most of all, keep checking your blood glucose levels and make sure they are in the level recommended by your doctor.

5. Drink lots of water every single day — at least 64 ounces.

6. Consume a healthy diet and can include carbohydrates, good fats and lean protein. Consume a lot of more vegetables. Have a daily multivitamin and ensure that you include antioxidants as well as essential minerals.

7. Ward off gum disease as much as possible by brushing and flossing your teeth properly and frequently. Go to your dentist regularly as well so you don’t build up tartar on your gumline.

8. Get lots of sleep — a minimum of seven to eight hours every evening. Keep regular hours so that your body gets used to a regular sleep pattern. Go to sleep at comparable time each night. Not getting enough sleep can be quite harmful to you like a diabetic.

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How to Protect Yourself From Gestational Diabetes?

October 22nd, 2011 Comments off

Gestational diabetes is occurring among women that are pregnant. Even if you have low risk of developing diabetes, say for example you do not have a history of it, and you are less vulnerable to developing it, there’s what we call case to case basis. Some pregnant women don’t expect to have gestational diabetes or diabetes throughout the pregnancy period. However, they tend to get it. Since diabetes is among the most complex diseases, we must ensure that our body is protected from it. Diabetes is by nature a complex disease since it carries a large amount of complications. In contrast, gestational diabetes if much more complex compared to typical one because the pregnancy period causes it to be more complicated.

However, exactly how should we arm ourselves against gestational diabetes? Can there be any way for us to protect ourselves in the disease within our own little way?We all know perfectly that since it is inside the pregnancy period, there are a lot of restrictions on which we must eat, what we should have to do, or what medications we can consume.

Well, in the following paragraphs, we are dealing with the proper way of looking after our body within our own special way to help avoid or prevent gestational diabetes. These is going to be beneficial for people who already acquired the condition and people who are pregnant and wish to try to avoid acquiring the disease
Consume a balanced diet.

As you are pregnant, you need twice the power as what the body requires since you is going to be feeding your child inside. Well, apart from eating three times a day, it should be a balanced diet. You need to complete the food pyramid as prescribed because of your dietitian. If you want diseases to stay away of your stuff, the body must have all of the nutrients and vitamins to defend you against diseases as well as for it to work normally as well. Keep in mind that you are not only feeding your own stomach but also you are feeding kids little stomach.

Have a regular checkup together with your doctor. Because you is going to be reprimanded to take any kind of medication without the doctor’s advice, you have to consult your doctor as frequently as you possibly can to see if what your body feels is still normal as is an implying something similar to through an acquired diabetes. You have to be open together with your doctor about anything and everything you feel. Do not take any illness as a given. Even when it’s easy and manageable, you have to let the doctor learn about it since it may well be a symbol of a significant disease.

The items mentioned previously are simply a few of the stuff that we can do to arm ourselves using the precautions so as not to acquire gestational diabetes. You don’t just say you will not acquire it. Even though you have low risk of getting the disease, you’ve still got to safeguard yourself from eventually getting it by doing the things mentioned previously. Be very careful since your baby’s life is determined by you.

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