Showing posts with label Diabetes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Diabetes. Show all posts

Saturday, 5 March 2011

Foods That Decrease Blood Sugar


Diabetes is an ailment that needs good control over the diet and lifestyle of the affected person. People with high blood sugar levels are often left with very few options to choose from, when it comes to food. However, you should know that there are many foods, which help decrease blood sugar also. While some of the foods that help lower blood sugar are rich in fiber, others have nutrients that help keep the level of blood sugar steady. Such food items are recommended by the dieticians and doctors as well. In case you want to know more about the foods that help decrease blood sugar, the list given below will prove useful.

Best Foods To Lower Your Blood Sugar

Avocado
Avocado is packed with nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. It contains vitamin E in a recommended amount, which is needed for the regulation of blood sugar and thus lowering the blood sugar. It contains vitamin E, magnesium, vitamin C, folate, and zinc which are excellent for diabetics. Take a cup of freshly cut avocado every day.

Barley
Barley is a whole-grain product, which is high in soluble fiber and contains low glycemic index (GI) with certain types of indigestible carbohydrates. Taking barley in breakfast is a good way to keep your body healthy and to lower your blood sugar.

Broccoli, Spinach, and Green Beans
According to the diabetic experts, having plenty of vegetables, such as broccoli, spinach, and green beans are good for people with high blood sugar. As these vegetables are non-starchy, high in fiber, low in carbs, these are an ideal food for a person suffering from high blood sugar. Incorporate these foods in your diet on a regular basis.

Berries
Generally, fruits are high in fructose, which makes them unsuitable for a hypoglycemic diet. However, fruits especially all types of berries are low in sugar, high in antioxidants and packed with nutrients, which makes them ideal for someone suffering from low blood sugar. Include berries such as strawberries, blueberries, acai berries etc in your diet.

Fish (Tuna, Salmon, Halibut, and Herring)
Fishes such as tuna, salmon, herring, halibut contain onega-3 fatty acid improves the body’s response to insulin and helps in regulating blood sugar. These fishes also contain selenium, which helps in lowering the blood sugar. Incorporate these fishes in your diet.

Flaxseed
Flax seed and its flax seed oil both have omega 3, an essential fatty acid that helps in regulating blood sugar level. It also contains mucilage, which is good for lowering blood sugar. They are also rich in protein, fiber, and are a good source of magnesium, which is very good for blood sugar control.

Green Tea
Green tea contains antioxidants and has been used to control blood sugar in the body from time immemorial. Studies also show that green tea helps in preventing the development of diabetes and slow the advance once a person has developed it. Green tea also helps in regulating glucose in a person’s body. 
Some other foods that help in lowering blood sugar are:
  • Brown Rice
  • Cabbage
  • Canola Oil
  • Carrots
  • Cinnamon
  • Lean Meat
  • Lentils
  • Low-Fat Dairy Products
  • Nuts
  • Olive Oil
  • Wheat Bran

Insulin Pill Against Diabetes Undergoes Testing


One of the most cumbersome and inconvenient aspects of diabetes is the fact that patients suffering from advanced forms need to inject insulin into their bloodstream each day. Their own body is unable to produce the hormone, and they cannot survive without it. Delivering insulin has become big business, and many research groups have been looking for a method of making the entire process simpler and more efficient. Now, the Denmark-based Novo Nordisk has been found to engage in phase 1 clinical testings of a new pill, which may deliver insulin without the need for painful shots.
The pharmaceutical corporation has been a leader in the field of diabetes care for most of its 87-year history, delivering numerous products and therapies to sufferers. The new effort, if successful, would additionally consolidate its position, while at the same time providing diabetes patients with the Holy Grail of all cures, the insulin pill. Encapsulating the hormone in an easy-to-swallow dose is not exactly a walk in the park, but the fact that Novo is so advanced in its research can only mean excellent news for the company and patients alike, Technology Review reports. 

In addition to the added comfort associated with receiving insulin in this manner, the pill would also entail other, more important benefits. If ingested, it reaches the stomach directly, from where it can easily go to the liver, mimicking the action of its naturally-produced counterpart. Generally, diabetes sufferers who have daily injections tend to insert the hormone in muscles or fat, which means that the substance is fairly far away from where it needs to go. This is why even patients who take their insulin shots at the correct time of day can develop hypoglycemia at any given point. 

There are several hurdles associated with delivering insulin orally. They include the highly-acidic nature of gastric liquids, the complex nature of the insulin molecules, the rate at which epithelial cells absorb the compound and so on. In order to circumvent most of these problems, the Novo team turned to protein engineering, so as to modify insulin according to needs. “You can't use human insulin [for developing orally-delivered pills]. ]It doesn't work,” explains Novo's chief scientific officer, Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen. The team is currently still tweaking its final product, details of which are currently kept under wraps.
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