Diabetes. Vitamins help. Part I.

The endocrine disorder called diabetes actually refers to two different illnesses with a common attribute: high blood-glucose levels. The type of diabetes which usually develops in childhood (juvenile diabetes, or diabetes Type 1) arises because body cells may sometimes develop an insulin production collapse due to a virus infection or under the influence of chemical toxins. Without enough insulin, the hormone that controls the concentration of sugar in the blood, the organism can not assimilate the calories received from food, and they are excreted from the organism as "sugar in the urine". This form of diabetes will cause the patient to lose weight; have a voracious appetite, an unquenchable thirst and frequent urination. Diabetes Type I also demands regular injections of insulin and the supervision of a qualified physician. Of course, the condition can be improved by means of a suitable diet and regular exercise; however, one cannot manage this illness simply by dietary means without some form insulin replenishment.

Another type of diabetes, which almost always affects adults (adult diabetes, or diabetes Type 2), occurs when the insulin in the body loses its potency. Normally, after we eat, blood-glucose levels rise. This serves as a signal for the pancreas to start producing insulin. Insulin influences certain sensitive formations in the tissue, which enable them to extract sugar from the blood and use it at once or store it for future use. By this process, the blood-sugar concentration in the body goes back to normal. In some individuals, the pancreas reacts too vigorously to an increase in blood-sugar level and produces insulin in excessive quantities. Constant, elevated levels of insulin can damage the above mentioned sensitive formations in the tissue, desensitizing them to the effects of insulin. Therefore, the pancreas is compelled to produce more and more insulin to cause the necessary reactions to bring the concentration of sugar in the blood to normal levels. While the pancreas is able to produce this increasing amount of insulin, the level of sugar in blood can be adjusted within acceptable limits. However, eventually the sensitive formations in the tissue become seriously damaged, and even the maximum quantity of insulin which the pancreas is able to produce becomes insufficient to return the concentration blood-sugar to normal. From that moment on, the concentration of sugar in the blood starts to rise and the individual develops diabetes Type 2.

Excess insulin, as in the case of Type II diabetes, can cause other troubles as well, e.g. production of cholesterol and triglycerides (other fats present in blood), heart diseases, hardening of the arteries, high blood pressure, excessive accumulation of salts, liquids and fat in the organism. If the disorder is quickly diagnosed, duly treated, and correctly managed by diet and exercise, the patient can maintain a healthy outlook. But one should not forget that diabetes is an incurable illness and demands continuous attention, control and a vigilant observance in diet. The condition can be controlled, but the tendency of a diabetic body to produce too much insulin in reaction to increasing blood-glucose levels will remain forever. If your diet is consistently inadequate, the symptoms of diabetes will show at once, together with a large set of previously latent diseases, some of which were mentioned above.

To summarize, if you are an adult suffering from diabetes and already use injections of insulin or corresponding pills, you should keep to the same diet and treatments and be under supervision of your physician who can help you choose safe doses of the medication that allows you to effectively maintain normal blood-glucose levels. If you rigorously adhere to such a regimen, drug-induced action will be prompt enough. You should acquire devices to measure your blood pressure and blood-glucose levels, learn to use them and to measure these parameters frequently, since they can change rather quickly. By doing this, you will be able to trace changes in these parameters, record them and inform your physician who can help reduce your medication without incurring a health hazard. If you do not continuously monitor these parameters, you may unintentionally provoke an insulin-induced coma or intolerable decrease of the blood-glucose level or blood pressure.

For adults suffering from Type II diabetes, an adequate diet can work wonders. However, the diet which is frequently recommended to treat this disorder could actually worsen the condition of the patient. For many years doctors and nutritionists believed that the ideal diet for diabetics should contain 55-60% complex carbohydrates, 30% polyunsaturated fats and 10-15% proteins. Even a superficial analysis of such diet, starting from the recommended amount of proteins, shows that this strategy is misconceived. The following example should suggest the pitfalls of this treatment.

Consider an average adult, weighing 85 kg. His weight, minus the adipose tissue (fat free weight) comes to about 65 kg. This person needs at least 70 g of non-animal protein, a day, to support the work of his muscles and other organs. On average, ach gram of protein has a value of approximately 4 calories, hence his minimum protein requirement is about 280 calories. If this constitutes 10% of the caloric content of his daily diet, he is going to need about 2,800 calories a day! And how will he get 60% of those 2,800 calories in the form of complex carbohydrates (starches), which comes out to be 1680 calories of starch? Similar to protein, each gram of starch equals 4 calories, therefore the average person should eat 420 g of complex carbohydrates a day. The rest of the calories come from fats, which, generally speaking, do not influence insulin activity.

Now let us look at this from a different angle. Consider an adult suffering from diabetes. His diabetes is a result of long-term elevated levels of insulin. It is the carbohydrates (starch or sugar) that are the dietary components which cause an increase in insulin. Less than 80-100 g of starch a day will cause intensive production of insulin. How would the body react if it consumes five times more starch than that as the traditional diets recommend? I’m sure you will agree that the results will not be positive. Would you be surprised if following such diet your diabetes was accompanied by an increase in blood pressure, increase in weight, fatigue, risk of heart diseases and cataract formation? The question, then, should be what are the alternatives?