Natural Foods and Supplements Can Keep Your Vision Healthy

Nearly everyone who has diabetes is concerned at some time or other about managing their sight. Whole Foods Market magazine offers some helpful natural ways to stave off eye disease that seems to accompany aging. Below are some tips on eye health:

Diabetic Retinopathy - usually a complication of advanced diabetes where blood vessels of the are damaged.

• Follow a low-fat diet, as recommended by the American Diabetes Association
• Some animal trials suggest that a 2 percent increase in omega-3 fatty acids could cut disease severity in half.
• In addition researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that users of vitamin C and E had decreased risk of diabetic retinopathy.
  

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Coffee before breakfast boosts blood sugar - UPI.com

Coffee before breakfast boosts blood sugar - UPI.com

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I came across a great online magazine I thought I would share with you. The magazine is called the Diabetic Gourmet. If you want to treat your family to some tasty and fun meals check this mag out. It is free, has a monthly giveaway, a recipe article archive, forums, contests, tools and calculators and much more. Take a look.

PS: I don't get any revenue from the magazine. I just think it is a great user-oriented resource.

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Eggs may Raise the Risk of Mortality in Those With Diabetes

THURSDAY, April 10 (HealthDay News) -- A new study suggests that consuming more than six eggs a week seems to raise the risk of dying from all causes.

And diabetics seem to face an even higher mortality risk, according to the study that was limited to men.

Djousse and his team analyzed egg consumption and mortality data among more than 21,000 men who had participated in a Physician's Health Study that explored heart disease and cancer prevention among American male doctors.

Participants ranged in age from 40 to 86. Over an average of 20 years, all the doctors completed annual written questionnaires on daily egg consumption, stroke and heart attack incidence, diabetes status, cholesterol levels, alcohol and smoking habits, and general dietary information.

Overall, egg consumption wasn't found to be associated with heart attack or stroke risk. And consumption of up to six eggs a week also wasn't found to be associated with a higher risk of death from all causes.

Even more striking was the finding that mortality risk was much higher among those doctors with diabetes. Consuming seven or more eggs a week doubled their risk of death from all causes, compared with diabetic doctors who ate just one egg each week.

The findings were published in the April issue of
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and elevated LDL ("bad") cholesterol is a prime risk factor for cardiovascular trouble. And while eggs are rich in cholesterol -- and circulating cholesterol is related to the risk of cardiovascular disease -- the relationship between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol is complex.

On the other hand, eggs are a source of minerals, folate, B vitamins, protein and monounsaturated fats -- all of which have the potential to lower overall risk. And it's one of the cheapest sources of protein as well. There are some good things in the yolk as well.

To explain the finding on diabetic men, the researchers theorized that diabetics might somehow convert dietary cholesterol more readily into blood cholesterol than people without diabetes.

In an accompanying editorial published in the journal, Dr Robert H. Eckel, a professor of physiology and biophysics at the University of Colorado and co-chair of both the Cardiometabolic Health Congress and the Committee on Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases, echoed some of McNamara's comments and called for more research to validate the study findings.

For additional information on nutrition and diabetes, visit the American Diabetes Association.

My note: The article mentions that egg whites are one of the best sources of protein. Personally, I eat egg whites with just a bit of yolk for coloring. Or you can just scramble egg whites and spinach in olive oil or one of the new omega-3 margarines.

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"Is Freedom From Diabetes Around the Corner?" Scientists Finally Answer...

REVEALED: The Root Cause for Diabetes - And How To Slowly But Surely Trigger Your Body To Produce More Insulin! Get the Diabetes Miracle Breakthrough, lower your blood sugar levels, watch your units of insulin drop... and eventually be free from shots altogether.
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Tea May Help Diabetes. More Research Scheduled.

DRINKING tea could help combat diabetes, Scottish scientists claim. The potentially therapeutic properties in black tea have been discovered by scientists at the University of Dundee.

Green tea too has long been held to possess various health benefits.

Dr Graham Rena, of the university's Neurosciences Institute, said his team's research into tea compounds is at a pre-clinical, experimental stage, but added: "There is definitely something interesting in the way these naturally occurring components of black tea may have a beneficial effect, both in terms of diabetes and our wider health."

People with diabetes should continue to take their medicines as directed by their doctor, Dr Rena said.

He added: "This is something that needs further research and people shouldn't be rushing to drink masses of black tea, thinking it will cure them of diabetes – we are still some way from this leading to new treatments or dietary advice."

They have discovered that several black tea constituents, known as theaflavins and thearubigins, mimic insulin action.

"What we have found is that these constituents can mimic insulin action on proteins known as FOXOs," said Dr Rena. "FOXOs have previously been shown to underlie associations between diet and health in a wide variety of organisms including mice, worms and fruit flies. The task now is to see whether we can translate these findings into something useful for human health."

Source: The Scotsman Digital Archive

WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT VITAMINS THAT MAY HELP YOUR BODY TO BECOME "SYMPTOM" FREE? Click Here!

Go to Wonder Laboratories and enter "Tea" in the search box to receive up t0 70% discount for a limited time period on loose teas and tea capsules.

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Stevia and Diabetes

Stevia is a genus of about 150 species of herbs and shrubs in the sunflower family (native to subtropical and tropical South America and Central America. Stevia commonly known as sweetleaf, sweet leaf, sugarleaf, or simply stevia, is widely grown for its sweet leaves. As a sugar substitute, stevia's taste has a slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar.

With its extracts having up to 300 times the sweetness of sugar, stevia has garnered attention with the rise in demand for low-carbohydrate, low-sugar food alternatives. Stevia also has shown promise in medical research for treating such conditions as obesity and high blood pressure. Stevia has a negligible effect on blood glucose, even enhancing glucose tolerance; therefore, it is attractive as a natural sweetener to diabetics and others on carbohydrate-controlled diets.

Rebiana is the trade name for a stevia-derived sweetener being developed jointly by The Coca-Cola Company and Cargill with the intent of marketing in several countries and gaining regulatory approval in the US and EU. You can find stevia in most health-food stores and some supermarkets.

Safety Concerns. Stevia is sold in the U.S. as a dietary supplement and not as a food or food additive. In 1994 the USDA gave permission to manufacturers to market stevia as a food supplement. SOme foreign studies have found decreased sperm production in mice after being administered stevia, however there is no evidence that stevia is harmful to humans.

Sources:

1. ^ PubMed research articles related to treatments of obesity
2. ^ PubMed research articles on stevia's effects on blood pressure
3. ^ PubMed articles on stevia's use in treating hypertension
4. ^ Curi, R; Alvarez M, Bazotte RB, Botion LM, Godoy JL, Bracht A (1986). "Effect of Stevia rabaudiana on glucose tolerance in normal adult humans". Braz J Med Biol Res 19 (6): 771-4. 
5. ^ Gregersen, S; Jeppesen PB, Holst JJ, Hermansen K (January 2004). "Antihyperglycemic effects of stevioside in type 2 diabetic subjects". Metabolism 53 (1): 73-76. 

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Reduce Mid-section Weight for Improved Diabetes Management

Diabetes Care reports that diets rich in monounsaturated fats (MUFA) may help manage midsection body weight thus reducing the severity of type 2 diabetes.

Foods that are MUFA rich include:

Olives and olive oil (Extra virgin is best)
Canola oil
Nuts and nut oils (peanut, walnut)
Seeds and seed oils (sesame, flaxseed)
Grape seed oil
Soybean oil
Avocados

For maximum diabetes management, get plenty of exercise to help with midsection body weight reduction.

Monounsaturated fats (MUFA) Help Manage Diabetes

Diabetes Care reports that a diet rich in monounsaturated fats (MUFA) may help reduce mid-section body fats better than carbohydrate-rich diet. Maintaining a lower mid-section weight is a major factor in successfully managing Type 2 diabetes.

Foods that contain MUFA's include:

Olives and olive oil (Extra Virgin works best)
Canola oil
Nuts and nut oils (peanut, walnut)
Seeds and seed oils (sesame, flaxseed)
Grape seed oil
Soybean oil
Avocados

Doctor's also recommend increasing exercise to reduce your midsection.

Vitamin E May Help Reduce Diabetes Risk

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A daily dose of vitamin E may help delay the onset of type 2 diabetes in people at high risk of the disease, preliminary research suggests.

Researchers in New Zealand found that high-dose vitamin E appeared to temporarily improve insulin resistance -- a precursor to type 2 diabetes -- among 41 overweight adults.

"These results suggest that vitamin E could have a role to play in delaying the , in at-risk individuals," Dr. Patrick J. Manning and colleagues at the University of Otago in Dunedin report in the journal Diabetes Care.

The researchers found that at both the three- and six-month marks, plasma peroxides, which are markers of oxidative stress, had fallen in the vitamin E group. After three months, blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity had also improved, but the gains did not remain through the sixth month.

On the other hand, the researchers found, there was a lasting decline in blood levels of alanine transferase liver enzymes, elevations of which have been tied to a heightened diabetes risk. The liver, the authors note, plays a key role in sugar and insulin metabolism, and is the main site of insulin clearance from the blood.

According to Manning's team, vitamin E may boost insulin sensitivity and decrease diabetes risk in a number of ways, including by reducing oxidative stress to cells and by improving liver function

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, September 2004.
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