One Fruit Can Help Regulate Insulin Levels And Beat Diabetes

One Fruit Can Help Regulate Insulin Levels and Beat Diabetes

A sedentary lifestyle combined with poor nutrition can lead to the development of diabetes. Each day more and more people are being diagnosed with this possibly deadly disease. While there is no cure for type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes can actually be regulated through diet and exercise in most cases.
If you are pre-diabetic or diabetic, or simply looking for a healthy food to help you control your insulin and blood sugar levels, consider adding bitter melon to your diet.
Many people avoid bitter melon because they do not enjoy the bitter taste of this fruit. However, there are many health benefits of eating it.
Health Benefits of Bitter Melon
There are several ways that bitter melon can help control type 2 diabetes. There are at least 3 or more active substances found in bitter melon that has anti-diabetic properties.
These substances are charantin, vicine, and polypeptide-p. Charantin has been shown to lower blood glucose. All three of these substances work together in order to help reduce your blood sugar levels.
In addition, bitter melon has a lectin that helps reduce the blood glucose levels. It works by suppressing the appetite in a similar way that insulin does in the brain. It is thought to be one of the major factors of why there is a hypoglycemic effect developed after consuming bitter melon.
Bitter melon also has several other health benefits as well. It has been used for treating fevers, colic in babies, chronic coughs, burns, and even some skin conditions. In some areas of the world it is used to help with childbirth, heal wounds, and to treat or prevent malar Continue reading

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Cinnamon Essential Oil for Cancer, Diabetes and More!

Warm, spicy, fragrant, powerful, even dangerous? What comes to mind when you think of cinnamon essential oil? Even as a potentially sensitizing and irritating oil, we shouldn't make the mistake of avoiding cinnamon altogether. There are many benefits of this classic spice and essential oil.
In this article, you will learn all about:
While we know cinnamon as simply sticks, powder, or oil, there is much more to it than a simple cinnamon source. The flavorful “sticks” we know are derived from the inner bark of a Cinnamomum tree, of which there are many different varieties. In fact, cassia essential oil comes from a cinnamon tree – Cinnamomum cassia. This is a cheaper version of cinnamon and doesn't contain the heath benefits that cinnamon does, even though it has a pleasant smell and is nice for aromatherapy.
As always, variety effects composition, and cinnamon essential oil most commonly comes from the Cinnamomum zeylanicum tree. From there, either the inner bark or the leaves can be harvested for distillation. This should be indicated as either “cinnamon bark” or “cinnamon leaf” on your bottle of essential oils.
And yep, you guessed it: the bark and leaf oils have their own composition, as well.
Cinnamon bark essential oil, on the other hand is steam distilled from cinnamon bark, is reddish/ brown in color and contains mostly cinnamaldehyde (63.1-75.7%) and much less eugenol (2.0-13.3%). It's a known sensitizer and irritant.
Cinnamon leaf essential oil, for example is steam distilled from cinnamon leaves, is yellowish in color and contains high amounts of euge Continue reading

New stick-on diabetes device offers a break from finger pricking

Diabetics who must prick their fingers to test blood sugar levels every day often end up with sore and calloused hands – which is why needle-free devices are always a welcome arrival in the treatment market.
A gadget developed under British scientist Jared Watkin is now on the scene that can be worn on the back of the upper arm and monitors glucose levels for up to 14 days. The Libre sensor can work for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, Express reports, and it continuously monitors blood sugar levels from a 5mm-long prong that is nestled under the skin and reacts with bodily fluids.
“This system will help people considerably because it will be so much easier for them to work with," said Dr. Gerry Rayman, who recently started a trial with the device on patients in Ipswich Hospital in Suffolk. "I have a 12-year-old patient who has had diabetes for five years. She has been very good but has just hit a brick wall and cannot continue with finger-sticking. Her fingers are all calloused and painful."
Device could lead to better diabetes management
Finger pricking can lead to poor diabetes control if patients struggle to prick often enough due to irritation or inconvenience, Rayman explained.
“Finger-pricking is a hassle and can be embarrassing," he said. "Many people forget to do it so don’t have a complete picture of their condition. Failing to control long-term diabetes can cause diabetic retinopathy, renal failure and foot complications that can lead to amputation."
Without consistent readings, patients can't get an accurate picture of their daily blood sugar patterns � Continue reading

Type 2 Diabetes and Aging: What You Need to Know

When you become older, there are some conditions that you need to begin to worry about more, such as type 2 diabetes.
For people who have not been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes but who struggle with weight problems or prediabetes, age can make a big difference in diagnosis. However, age is also an important factor for someone already struggling to manage his or her diabetes.
Higher Risk of Type 2 as You Age
Research has shown that the risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases with age. One reason for this is because as we age, we tend to gain weight and become more sedentary. However, there may be another factor at play besides weight gain and lack of exercise. Recent research conducted by the Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., examines the role of beta cells and the pancreas, and their relation to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in the elderly. This study specifically looks at the decline in production of beta cells in the pancreas that comes with age.
These cells store and release insulin, and they are essential to helping our body process this hormone. Researchers at Vanderbilt speculate that with age, these beta cells no longer reproduce at the same rate, and that they also experience apoptosis (cell death) at a higher rate as we age. Researchers say that one of the reasons this might occur is because the body is unable to process key nutrients such as potassium and calcium, which are key to beta cells. This could also be due to the fact that most organs lose their regenerative capacity with age. The study concludes that more research must be conducted Continue reading

A Diabetes Drug Has 'Significantly Reversed Memory Loss' in Mice With Alzheimer's

A drug developed for type 2 diabetes has "significantly reversed memory loss" in mice with Alzheimer's disease, and researchers now want to test it on humans.
The treatment is exciting for scientists because it works by protecting the brain cells attacked by Alzheimer's disease in three separate ways, rather than relying on a single approach.
And seeing as the drug has already been tested and approved for use in humans, it's something that could hit the market a lot faster than other experimental treatment options.
The results have only been seen in mice so far, but the drug "holds clear promise of being developed into a new treatment for chronic neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease," said senior author Christian Hölscher of Lancaster University in the UK.
"With no new treatments in nearly 15 years, we need to find new ways of tackling Alzheimer's," said Doug Brown from UK organisation, Alzheimer's Society.
"It's imperative that we explore whether drugs developed to treat other conditions can benefit people with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. This approach to research could make it much quicker to get promising new drugs to the people who need them."
Previous research had already established a link between type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's - type 2 diabetes is a risk factor for Alzheimer's, and it also appears to make the disease progress more rapidly.
This could be a result of insulin not getting to the cells properly - insulin is a growth factor which is known to protect brain cells, and insulin resistance has been observed in Alzheimer's disea Continue reading