Study: Statins Do More Harm Than Good And Increase Memory Loss, Diabetes And Cancer Risk

Study: Statins Do More Harm Than Good and Increase Memory Loss, Diabetes and Cancer Risk

Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, with approximately 610,000 Americans dying from it every year. It has become a popular theory that high cholesterol levels can have an adverse impact on your heart health, so, to combat this, many people turn towards cholesterol-lowering drugs to lower their risk of heart disease.
However, it turns out that one of America’s most popular cholesterol-lowering drugs, statins, are not only ineffective at reducing the risk of heart attack in certain populations but also cause a variety of unpleasant side effects and has even been linked to cancer.
Are Statins bad? Cholesterol And The Body
Cholesterol is classified as a sterol, which is a combination of a steroid and alcohol and not technically a fat. There is a lot of confusion when people talk about “cholesterol levels, ” and it’s important to understand that you don’t actually have cholesterol in your blood.
For cholesterol to be transported around the body in our blood and blood vessels, it has to be carried around by special little proteins called lipoproteins which are made in the liver. Different types of lipoproteins are classified according to their density. You may be familiar with the two most important lipoproteins in regards to cardiovascular disease low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL).
Kris Kresser uses a great analogy of cars on a highway to get an understanding of how lipoproteins impact heart disease. If you imagine your bloodstream is like a highway, the lipoproteins are taxis that carry the cholester Continue reading

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How Aboriginal Plant Extracts Might Treat Diabetes

A new study has found that traditional Aboriginal and Indian plant extracts could be used to manage type 2 diabetes by reducing instances of weight gain, hypertension and immune suppression.
Diabetes is one of the fastest growing metabolic diseases in the world, so coming up with better treatment options has never been more important. Especially since current drugs are known to cause weight gain, making them far from optimal for patients to use long-term. So Vandana Gulati, a pharmacologist at the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, investigated the anti-diabetic potential of seven Australian Aboriginal medicinal plants and five Indian Ayurvedic plants to see if they could offer a new solution.
Seven of these extracts have widespread use in Aboriginal communities, while the other five are used in traditional holistic Indian medicine known as Ayurveda. Ayurvedic medicene evolved in India more than 5,000 years ago, with many considering it the world's oldest healthcare system.
Gulati wanted to see the plants' influence on how our body processes glucose and forms fatty tissues - a process known as adipogenesis. "The Australian Aboriginal plants were selected on the basis of availability and their known medicinal activities," she writes in the BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, while the Indian Ayurvedic plants were selected based on their reported anti-diabetic potential.
Ethanolic extracts of the plants were derived and tested on the fat cells of mice. "We found that some of the plant extracts stimulated glucose uptake in fat cells while others reduced f Continue reading

Johnson & Johnson’s new diabetes drug linked to coma and death

A Philadelphia man is suing Johnson & Johnson, claiming the pharmaceutical giant’s diabetes drug, Invokana, damaged his kidneys. Invokana is made by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary.
The commonly-prescribed drug had only been on the market for two years before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration determined it caused “too much acid in the blood and serious urinary tract infections,” according to reports, resulting in the required placement of a warning label on its packaging last month.(1)
Enforced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the new drug warning applies to an entire class of diabetes medication called SGLT2 (sodium-glucose co-transporter) inhibitors, for which Invokana is included. SGLT2 inhibitors work by preventing sugar from being reabsorbed into the bloodstream.
Series of side effects plague common diabetes drug, yet it remained on the market
On Dec. 4, 2015, the FDA forced Johnson & Johnson and other manufacturers of SGLT2 inhibitors to warn consumers via labeling that the drugs may cause ketoacidosis, a serious condition that can cause diabetic comas and death, according to the American Diabetes Association.(2)
Invokana has been linked to other complications, as well. In 2015, it was reported that Invokana could increase the risk for developing kidney problems, including “kidney failure or impairment, dehydration and fluid imbalances, kidney stones, urinary tract infections and abnormal weight loss.”
In 2013, shortly after the drug’s release, the ADA determined that Invokana increased men and women’s risk for develo Continue reading

Trooper with Type 1 Helps Motorist with Diabetes During Bad Hypo

New Jersey Trooper Reinaldo Cruz said he was in the right place at the right time.
Dennis Huntley was in trouble, and it wasn’t because of the police lights flashing behind his car. Huntley, who has diabetes, was pulled off on the side of the road of the New Jersey turnpike on a August day because he was suffering from a dangerous bout of hypoglycemia. His meter read 47 mg/dL, and he had called 911. A call went out to the New Jersey State Police, who arrived quickly, but it would still take time for paramedics to reach him.
Luckily for Huntley, Trooper II Reinaldo Cruz heard the call. Cruz, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes just a few years ago, was off-duty nearby. He decided to rush to the scene because he knew that there was a race against time to get Huntley help.
“I could only imagine that [his levels were] probably now lower than the 47,” Trooper Cruz said in a telephone interview with Insulin Nation.
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When he arrived at the scene, he found Huntley shaking severely and having trouble with his speech. Cruz put some glucose gel on the side of Huntley’s mouth and tested his blood glucose. Huntley’s number climbed to 57 mg/dL. He gave Huntley some more, as well as some chocolate, and Huntley stabilized. Soon, the driver was well enough to be escorted to the next service station, where Cruz and his fellow troopers purchased him something to eat. They stayed with him until he was out of danger.
Trooper Cruz said he is grateful that he could be in the right place at the right time. Like anyone who has received a Type 1 diagnosis, he has struggled at tim Continue reading

Fight Diabetes With Turmeric

Turmeric. We have all read many many things on how it helps cure so many ailments. And for diabetes, people just wont stop talking about it! Do you wonder why it is so beneficial? That is what this article is about! We’ll tell you all about that. But before that we have a little we want to share with you on turmeric and diabetes.
Turmeric
A native of South Asia, turmeric is hailed for its culinary and medical benefits since ancient times. It is the root or rhizome of Curcuma Longa which is a perennial plant of the ginger family. The prime constituent of this herb is curcumin which renders the dark orange-yellow color, slightly bitter and hot taste and the mustard-like aroma to this spice. It is a highly acclaimed spice and is used extensively in cooking, especially in Indian cuisine, because of its taste and exotic fragrance; as an effective colouring or dying agent which renders the yellow shade to clothes, threads, foodstuff etc; and is also considered scared and used in ceremonial practices in the Hindu and Buddhist religion.
Apart from its culinary, industrial and ceremonial usages turmeric has immense therapeutic and medicinal benefits. This rhizome is packed with healing benefits and medicinal properties that help in treating diseases like allergies, aches, infections, inflammations, heart problems, osteoarthritis, indigestion, diabetes etc, effectively. It holds a vital importance in traditional medicinal treatment system like Ayurveda and the Chinese medicine system.
Turmeric is available in the form of a rhizome, powder, capsule, tincture and oil. It does not gen Continue reading