Type 2, or “adult onset” diabetes comes about through high levels of of fat being in the bloodstream over a sustained period of time. Eventually the cells begin to no longer use insulin properly to draw glucose into them, and develop a resistance to it. To compensate for this, the pancreas attempts to produce more insulin, but gradually lose the ability to do so and produces less and less insulin as time goes by.
The result is high levels of glucose in the blood and no way to draw it into the cells to give them energy. This also leads to complications that include heart and kidney failure, inflammation, strokes, blindness and organ damage.
Drugs designed to increase insulin levels have often caused more harm than good, including a significantly higher risk of heart attack.
Resveratrol, however, has shown an ability to increase glucose metabolism in diabetics and lower their overall blood sugar levels. The interest thing is resveratrol does this in a way that does not involve insulin, or any increase of insulin production.
In a study performed at Brock University by Danna Breen and her associates in 2008, they discovered that resveratrol increased the absorption of glucose in muscle cells through a mechanism that involved sirtuins and was not dependent on the action of enzymes typically needed to allow glucose to enter the cell.
The potential consequences of this for diabetics are significant. Using resveratrol, diabetics may be able to lower their blood sugar levels and avoid the life threatening complications of diabetes, without the high risk of heart attack from using insulin boosting drugs, and without the daily insulin shots.
There is still more research to be done before resveratrol could be approved as a bona fide treatment for diabetes. The early indications though are very promising and certainly sufficient to warrant further investigation.
]]>Insulin
All types of diabetes are linked to insulin production within our bodies. Insulin is the hormone which causes the cells in our bodies (specifically in the liver, the fat tissue, and in muscle) to take up glucose from the blood. This glucose is stored in the liver and muscle, and comes from the food our digestive system breaks down.
Type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is diagnosed when there is a high level of glucose found in the blood of patients. The glucose is still present in the blood because the insulin has not been able to do its job triggering the uptake of energy into the liver and muscle. This can occur for one of two reasons:
Sirtris Experiments
Early clinical experiments conducted by Sirtris, the company started by Harvard professor and researcher Dr. David Sinclair, have shown that resveratrol may relieve many of the problems faced by diabetics.
The experiments focused on patients with Type 2 diabetes. 67 were given resveratrol extract, and 31 were given a placebo. After 28 days, tests were administered to determine the body’s ability to break down and use sugar, as facilitate by insulin. These tests showed that while the placebo group saw no changes in their glucose tolerance, the diabetics taking resveratrol were better able to process glucose and had lower glucose levels in their blood.
A Foundation to Build on
If these findings continue to hold in future tests, it means a whole new world for those suffering from Type 2 diabetes. Current treatments tend to be somewhat invasive as well as hard to maintain, and cause serious side effects as well. If resveratrol can help keep stable levels of glucose in the blood of diabetics, it could mean the elimination of many of the problems common to sufferers of this disease.
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