Can Marijuana Improve Blood Sugars In Type 2 Diabetes?

Can Marijuana Improve Blood Sugars in Type 2 Diabetes?

Doctors visits, blood tests and more medications. This is the norm when you’re living with type 2 diabetes.
Life becomes a new routine of pricking your finger, worrying if the food you ate is going to spike your sugars and becoming nervous at every little tingle in your fingers and toes.
You have to deal with conflicting advice about what you should and shouldn’t eat (hint: diabetic foods are definitely not a good choice).
Is it any wonder that there is a higher risk of depression for type 2 diabetics. What if there was a natural solution that might help your mood and your blood sugar control?
What are Cannabinoids?
This plant goes by so many names, marijuana, maryjane, weed and is the most widely used illicit drug worldwide. What you might not know is that cannabis has a wide range of medicinal benefits.
To understand the medicinal uses of cannabis we first need to look at how it works in the body. Our body has it’s own cannabinoid receptors, called the Endocannabinoid system. The system helps regulate a number of processes including appetite, memory, mood, pain, metabolism, blood flow and cell immunity.
The active ingredients in cannabis are called cannabinoids, they can act on the endocannabinoid system which is where the medical benefits come from.
Cannabis contains around 80 different cannabinoids most of which have not been widely researched as yet. The most well known cannabinoid contained in cannabis is THC.
Cannabis: the old kid on the block
Actually, humans have been cultivating and using hemp (the plant the cannabis comes from) for over 10,000 years. Eviden Continue reading

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Platypus Venom Could Be The Future of Diabetes Treatments

Scientists have found a promising new lead for diabetes treatments in perhaps the unlikeliest of places: the venom of the Australian 'duck-billed' platypus.
The platypus – along with its compatriot, the echidna – are the world's only surviving monotremes, which means they're egg-laying mammals. But what also sets these animals apart is they've evolved to produce a hormone variant, and it's one that could help us to control blood sugar levels more effectively.
The hormone, called glucagon-like peptide–1 (GLP–1), is also produced in humans and other animals. GLP–1 is secreted in the gut, where it stimulates the pancreas to release insulin to lower high glucose levels.
The only problem with this system, according to Australian researchers led by the University of Adelaide and Flinders University, is that human GLP–1 usually breaks down very quickly, degrading in the body in a matter of minutes.
This means, in the case of people with type 2 diabetes, the short burst of insulin triggered by the hormone isn't enough to sustain lower blood sugar levels, which is why some type 2 diabetics eventually develop a dependence on medications or insulin-based treatments.
But not all GLP–1 hormones are created equal it seems – and that's where platypus venom comes in.
"Our research team has discovered that monotremes – our iconic platypus and echidna – have evolved changes in the hormone GLP–1 that make it resistant to the rapid degradation normally seen in humans," says researcher Frank Grutzner from the University of Adelaide.
"We've found that GLP–1 is degraded in Continue reading

Diabetes Drug Could Be Used To Slow Down Parkinson’s Disease

A well-known diabetes drug could be used to help people who suffer from Parkinson’s disease. Researchers have concluded a year-long study and discovered that people who took exenatide weekly had better motor functions compared to a control group.
The study, published in The Lancet, followed 60 people with Parkinson’s disease. Thirty-one of them had an injection of exenatide once a week for 48 weeks, while the rest received a placebo injection. People on exenatide performed better in motor tests at the end of the trail compared to the control group. They were then tested again 12 weeks later, with the people on exenatide still performing better.
“This is a very promising finding, as the drug holds potential to affect the course of the disease itself, and not merely the symptoms,” senior author Professor Tom Foltynie, from University College London, said in a statement. “With existing treatments, we can relieve most of the symptoms for some years, but the disease continues to worsen.”
The patients in the drug group did not report a significant improvement in their day-to-day life compared to the current treatment. It also needs to be clear that the research didn’t conclusively prove that exenatide was actually affecting the disease, it might simply be reducing its symptoms.
“While we are optimistic about the results of our trial, there is more investigation to be done, and it will be a number of years before a new treatment could be approved and ready for use. We also hope to learn why exenatide appears to work better for some patients than for others,” said Continue reading

10 Amazing Health Benefits of Olive Leaf and How to Make Your Own Olive Leaf Tea

The wonderful qualities of olive oil are well known to us all, but did you know you can also use the leaves of this magnificent tree? A variety of new studies reveal what ancient cultures knew for centuries – infusion made of the olive leaves has extraordinary health properties that work against a wide variety of diseases and symptoms.
It all starts with phytochemicals. Phytochemicals are actually chemicals found in plants (phyto in Greek means plant) and aim to protect the plant against diseases and various pests. When we consume the plants, we absorb the phytochemicals into our body and allow them to also protect us from those hazards. One of those phytochemicals found in olive leaves is called oleuropein, and this is one of the main active ingredients responsible for it’s health benefits.
The Amazing health benefits of olive leaves:
1. Inhibition and prevention of cancer
Olive leaf extract has been shown to have anti melanoma effect in mice. Late phase tumor treatment significantly reduced tumor volume. Other studies have also shown protective capabilities against breast cancer and showed an arrested growth in a tissue culture of human breast cancer cells at an early stage in the growth cycle.
2. Building bone
A Spanish study from 2011 found that oleuropein stimulates production of bone-building cells (osteoblasts), thus preventing the loss of bone density and fights osteoporosis. Find here more information about the 4 steps to prevent osteoporosis.
3. Anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties
The oleuropein, and other compound found in olive leaf, have a unique Continue reading

A Patent’s Just Been Granted For What Could Be a Functional ‘Cure’ For Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes isn’t an easy disease to put an end to; not only do scientists have to fix the complete lack of insulin being produced by the patient’s own pancreas, but the cells they try to send in to help keep getting destroyed by the immune system. It’s a medical catch-22.
But a US patent has just been approved for what could be the first functional cure for the condition – by combining insulin-delivering cells with technology that allows them to hide from the immune system for years at a time.
The cells are called ‘Melligen cells’, and they can produce, store, and release insulin in response to human blood sugar levels.
University of Technology Sydney (UTS) scientists have been genetically engineering these Melligen cells for years so they can release insulin in order to regulate human blood sugar levels – just like the beta cells that are destroyed by type 1 diabetes are supposed to.
And last year, the team published a paper showing they could reverse type 1 diabetes in mice.
That was great, but those mice were immunocompromised, which meant they didn’t have an immune response. In the human body, the cells would still be attacked on entry. And that’s where this new collaboration comes in.
The UTS scientists have now joined up with US clinical stage biotechnology company PharmaCyte Biotech, who have developed a product called Cell-in-a-Box that can, in theory, encapsulate the Melligen cells and hide them from the immune system. They’ve just patented the combination.
"My team and I are extremely pleased that the US patent for the Melligen cells has b Continue reading