Important information for diabetics....

Today's Post: Thursday, 9-3-2009

Information I got this morning struck me as quite important for people with diabetes -- either type 1 or type 2.

That’s a bit unusual as in many ways they are quite different and the best way to deal with them is often quite different.

In both, the dangerous or damaging problems they can cause are from destruction of or damage to blood vessels & possibly to nerves directly when blood sugar levels get too high, particularly as the HBA1C readings begin to rise above 7.0 & for sure at even higher readings.

Clearly using metformin and possibly insulin shots to keep the readings in the 6.1 to 6.9 range can help if it’s needed. But if that can’t be done or isn’t working – or it wasn’t done because you had no previous clue you had excessively high blood sugar readings, you might get some damage from higher readings – or, for whatever reason, you have already had some damage, it would be really, really helpful to have a way to prevent or reverse this damage.

There may be some ways to do that it now appears!

I get a health info email from a company called HSI, the Health Sciences Institute of Baltimore. (For more info or to subscribe see: http://www.hsibaltimore.com .)

1. Today they included information that taking the supplement resveratrol may prevent or reverse damage to the mitochondria in blood vessels in diabetics when their blood sugar level is too high. Since the main cause of damage by high blood sugar is by damaging your capillaries and other blood vessels, that’s extremely significant.

Here are the two references they list.

“ "Resveratrol Blocks High Glucose-Induced Mitochondrial Reactive Oxygen Species Production in Bovine Aortic Endothelial Cells: Role of Phase 2 Enzyme Induction?" Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, Vol. 10, No. 4, April 2008, blackwell-synergy.com

"Grape Skin Compound Fights the Complications of Diabetes" Press release from The Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, 3/14/08, eurekalert.org “

They also state that resveratrol has separately been found to protect your blood vessel walls, or endothelium, by “....prevention of LDL cholesterol from depositing arterial plaque” and by reducing inflammation.

And, I’ve also read separately that resveratrol has been shown to protect your heart and keep it from aging, possibly from those same effects.

Resveratrol is in red wine, red and purple grapes and their juice, and in supplements.

But since it’s only safe, good for you, and affordable to drink moderate amounts of red wine and it only has modest amounts of resveratrol – and, for type 2 diabetics drinking grape juice often may not be wise, resveratrol supplements clearly make sense to get these beneficial effects.

The trans resveratrol form is the one that delivers the benefits while the cis form apparently does not. Source Naturals sells capsules with 100 mg of trans resveratrol each for a price I find reasonable & are available in most health food stores. (I’ve been taking one a day of those for the proven heart protection from resveratrol and for any of the possible increase in longevity and slowing of aging that resveratrol may also provide.)

2. They also point out that the anthocyanins also found in grapes -- and in cherries and berries as well -- help prevent damage to your blood vessel walls, the endothelium, in part due to their superb antioxidant ability.

Eating grapes, red cherries, and berries—notably blueberries—is good. And, you can get both grape seed extract supplements and bilberry supplements for more anthocyanins.

3. And, they included this: “Studies show that regular exercise is the ideal way to stimulate and repair mitochondria.”

Exercise also provides your blood vessel walls with exercise by stretching them periodically, increases your circulation generally, lowers the kind of small particle LDL that harms your blood vessel walls, and lowers inflammation.

Exercise can also help turn off type 2 diabetes, reverse insulin resistance, and lower blood sugar levels that are too high in normal people and type 2 diabetics.

Exercise has far more unpredictable effects on blood sugar in type 1 diabetics however. So, while type 1 diabetics should exercise, they need to be far more careful of its effects on their blood sugar levels.

4. If you are older, you can also help restore the health of your mitochondria directly by taking CoQ10 or its active form, ubiquinol. Ubiquinol is four to eight times more potent and stays in your blood stream for 8 hours while CoQ10 boosts the level in your blood for far shorter periods of time.

5. Lastly, you can directly boost the health of your endothelium by taking l-arginine supplements. L-arginine helps relax your blood vessels and helps your body release growth hormone. It’s best taken on an empty stomach and either just before you exercise or just before you go to bed. (NOW supplements sell 500 mg capsules. Taking one a day might help. But since taking more can help lower high blood pressure and may be more protective, I take six of those capsules just before I exercise each day and another four of them each day just before I go to bed.)

6. You can also take other antioxidant supplements such as eating a lot of yellow and orange vegetables and greens to get mixed carotenes, taking vitamin C, taking mixed tocopherol, natural vitamin E or eating nuts and avocados, and by taking 200 mg a day or more of alpha lipoic acid.

For type 2 diabetics and for people with blood sugar readings in the high normal range, taking alpha lipoic acid also tends to help lower your blood sugar readings. And, I’ve read it has had some success in reversing some cases of diabetic neuropathy.

7. You can also do other things that protect your heart and blood vessels directly such as:

eating a Mediterranean diet (see our last post on Tues, 9-1); taking omega 3 supplements, exercise; and taking niacin and sterol supplements if your LDL is too high or your triglycerides are too high or your HDL is too low as well as NOT ingesting ANY hydrogenated vegetable oils or trans fats.