Medical News

Many commentators on natural health and healing claim that taking supplemental vitamin D may do type 2 diabetics just as much good as the leading diabetes drug that actually works, metformin. Vitamin D is becoming the go-to remedy for a wide range of health conditions ranging from osteoporosis to breast cancer to heart disease. This sunshine vitamin that was once only thought to treat rickets… is now believed to have profound benefits in almost all aspects of human health.

As for the real benefits of vitamin D for type 2 diabetes, the original research was conducted in the 1980’s in Sweden. Fair-skinned Scandinavian men with type 2 diabetes were found to get better control over their blood sugar levels when given vitamin D supplements, but only if their vitamin D levels were already deficient. In a northerly location like Sweden, vitamin D deficiency has always been a problem. Type 2 diabetic men in the study who already had adequate levels of vitamin D, did not get a similar benefit, although their blood pressure levels went down slightly.

In 2010, scientists now know that people with different skin tones have different requirements for vitamin D. Persons of African or Australian aboriginal descent for instance, need less vitamin D than people from Iceland or Greenland. Giving people with black skin color supplemental vitamin D, can have the unwelcome side effect of storing calcium in the cholesterol plaques that may have formed in the linings of their arteries. For African-Americans and descendants of native Australian peoples, supplemental vitamin D may lower blood sugars but cause atherosclerosis.

If you have dark skin tones, it is best you take no more than 400 IU of vitamin D a day, even if you are on temporary assignment to Antarctica. People with dark skin tones usually also have genes that make vitamin D work very efficiently. If you have dark skin, only take vitamin D supplements when you don’t have any opportunity to get outdoors in the daytime at all, three days a week or more.

About Vitamin D:

Vitamin D is produced as a result of your skin being exposed to sunlight… it helps you to absorb calcium amongst other things. It is usually a good idea to spend 15 to 20 minutes daily outside. If you are able to do this, usually you do not need to take supplementation.

Another method to absorb vitamin D is through nutrition… vitamin D deficiency also results partly from poor nutrition. This is one of the challenges for people with type 2 diabetes.

Food sources include:

• milk
• juices fortified with vitamin D
• soy milk, for example Silk
• certain fortified cereals, for example Kix and Kellogg’s low-fat granola with raisins

Vitamin D strengthens bones and helps prevent osteoporosis: might lower the risk of colon cancer, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. A study from Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri found that vitamin D also played a part in the prevention of cholesterol buildup.
Maintaining a good supply of vitamin D will help in preventing those long-term complications that accompany type 2 diabetes.

Getting sick is such a burden. Thinking about hospital bills, maintenance medications, follow-up check-ups, physical therapies give us a terrible headache. There are some individuals who are not able to benefit from the different health care services being offered by the hospitals due to poverty and racial discrimination. Poor people especially the indigent just simply rely on herbs and from the free medicines given by the government. It is best that the government will give much attention with regards to the availability and accessibility of health care services to poor individuals.

There are just so many diseases in the world that we can acquire genetically or through close contact with the virus or bacteria. Hereditary diseases are difficult to avoid. Why? Because when your ancestors have the disease, it can be passed on to the next family generations. You can never escape that disease if it runs in the family’s blood. If there are hereditary diseases in the family, better that you perform early detection that way you will know the necessary interventions and measures to treat the disease.

One very common genetically acquired disease is diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus is a disorder affecting the biochemical reactions of the body and having a tendency for developing above normal levels of sugar in the blood. Medically, the disorder is characterized as hyperglycaemic glycosuria. Hyperglycaemic means that the blood sugar is elevated while glycosuria means that glucose is present in the urine.

The greek word diabetes which means siphon refers to the excessive urination. While the latin word mellitus means honey sweet this refers to sugar-sweet urine. Diabetes mellitus is a disease occurring in almost any parts of the world. It affects all races and even all age groups.

The most common signs and symptoms of diabetes mellitus include that of weight loss, excessive urination, thirst and extreme hunger. If not corrected, this may lead to several complications and will eventually lead to early death.

It is important that we know the normal blood sugar levels that way we can determine if the blood sugar reading that we have is below or above normal. The normal fasting blood sugar level is 70-100mg/dl. If the test is done without fasting, the normal reading is 70-140mg/dl. Any reading above 140mg/dl is called hyperglycemia and any blood sugar reading below 70mg/dl is named as hypoglycemia. Hyperglycemia blood sugar levels are determined though taking a blood sample. Few drops of blood is enough to determine whether an individual sugar is at high range.

The diabetes treatment depends upon the type of diabetes that you have. There is the insulin dependent type, noninsulin dependent diabetes mellitus and the gestational diabetes. From the name itself, insulin dependent which means insulin injections are needed to sustain life whereas noninsulin dependent which means that exercise, oral medications and a strict diabetic diet is needed to control the disease. Gestational diabetes is the type of diabetes which occurs during pregnancy. Exercise and diabetic diet needs to be observed and maintained.

Diabetes is a very serious disease that should be given attention. Since it is hereditary, early detection must be made in a much earlier time so as to provide treatment and implement interventions.

Diabetes, officially called Diabetes Mellitus, is one of the present day’s biggest causes of death around the world. Ranked number seven on a list of chronic diseases, people who have diabetes will suffer from one form of it or another. If the pancreas is unable to produce or use insulin in the proper way, diabetes is the result and must be treated accordingly.

Sugar is ingested with every meal taken, since a part of it is converted to sugar. After that the sugar makes its way into the bloodstream where it enters the cells by way of insulin, which is a hormone made by the pancreas. Normally the pancreas makes enough insulin to handle the amount of sugar present in a persons system. Diabetes causes a persons pancreas to either produce little or no insulin, or the cells won’t respond as they should to insulin. This will allow sugar to build up in the blood that presents even more problems. It passes unused through the urine of the affected. As time goes by, the high blood sugar levels can cause eye damage that will lead to diabetic retinopathy and blindness if not properly cared for. Since diabetes compromises vascular health, strokes, myocardial infarctions (heart attacks), and peripheral artery disease are all associated with diabetes. Diabetes has also been found to have a connection with impotence and digestion issues.

Type 1 (insulin dependent) and Type 2 (non-insulin dependent) are the two main types of diabetes. Type I diabetes, known as insulin dependent, usually affects younger people under 20 years of age whose pancreas doesn’t produce insulin. Type II, known also as non-insulin diabetes, has a reduced amount of insulin produced by the pancreas or cells that no longer respond or both.

Known to be genetically based, Type I diabetes is coupled with an abnormal immune response. Medical experts believe that Type II diabetes is caused by genetics, its causes are still mostly unknown.

The symptoms of Type I diabetes are usually obvious. Symptoms of Type II diabetes is opposite of Type I. A lot of Type II diabetics don’t know they this illness until they need help for heart problems, blood vessel ailments, stroke, go blind, skin outbreaks, kidney issues, nerve irritation or sexual problems.

A person can take steps to improve the chances of avoiding diabetes but there is no foolproof way to prevent diabetes. It means doing such things as exercising, managing weight, eating right, not smoking, and not drinking alcohol to excess.

Is there a cure for this dreadful problem? Are we to blame for this metabolism problem?

I was once told “we are what we eat” I am not so sure that is 100% right however there are a number of factors that should be looked at:

We have moved from horses, horse and cart to cars and all the modern conveniences you can imagine.

Things that have changed, in a woman’s life and some to some extent, modern day men:

FLOORS: Previously we swept, scrubbed, and polished our floors that were once either dirt, concrete, wooden and if we were well off/rich, the floors covered with linoleum.

TODAY we have carpet or tiles reducing the need for manual work with a vacuum cleaner and a modern day mop, all this taking a fraction of the time needed to clean

LAUNDRY/WASHING: The bane of every mother was washing day, the same day each week. The clothes put in a copper full of water and detergent under a raging wood fire. They would be agitated with an old broomstick because the water was so hot. When the clothes were in that boiling liquid for a period it was time to move them to a tub of cold water. The stick moved the clothes a few at a time. The clothes then rinsed and wrung out and if you were especially rich you might have a hand driven wringer and, the clothes would end up in the next tub of water often with a bluing bag. They rinsed in that clear blue water, wrung out, and then hung on the clothesline to dry.

When it rained or snowed, it created extra problems.

TODAY we just put the clothes into our fully automatic washing machine add some detergent and press a button. 45 minutes later the clothes washed, and spun dried. We take the clothes out of the washing machine and place them into our automatic tumbler dryer and in 30 minutes, you have soft fluffy dried clothes saving a huge amount of time and energy.

Therefore, we have some of the cleaning chores out of the way.

FOOD: How about food we needed to cook that on a wood-fired stove but first we needed to have the woodcut to size and split into the proper size so it would fit inside the burning compartment. Then there was the kindling needed, someone needed to cut that up from the wood stick. The cook usually the mother would prepare the meal for everyone, usually at the turn of the century, as many as 20 people in the family. Then someone needs to wash and dry all the dishes. They would get the hot water from the kettle on the wood-fired stove.

TODAY we have hot and cold water tapped into our kitchen sink. We are now able to put those dirty dishes in our automatic dishwasher, and in an hour we have, the dishes all washed and ready to put in a cupboard.

TODAY we have frozen foods of all types reducing cooking times by huge amounts. These foods are so convenient

PERSONAL CLEANLINESS: Bath time was a chore because the water needed heating by the wood-fired stove and several children would share the same bath water.

TODAY we have warm showers to cleanse our self-much better than a bath. Who wants to wash their face after their bottom has been sitting in the water? We have a washbasin in our bathroom these days. We have a water flush toilet saving the walk out back helping us remain clean.

LIGHTING: Not everyone had electric lights until 50 years ago and there are many parts of the country not serviced with electricity because of the remoteness. In days gone by some needed to light up the kerosene light and the associated things you do to light up the nighttime house.

TODAY we flick a switch for our lights.

HEATING: In days gone by, we cut up wood and put it in either the furnace or the fireplace to keep warm.

TODAY we flick a switch to turn on our air conditioning unit maintaining a constant temperature within our home.

UP until 50 years ago, things started to change rapidly where a huge percentage of families lived on family dairy farms, milking 80-100 cows twice a day, feeding pigs and cows and horses and other animals. During the summer months, all the family helped with the baling of hay, preparing for the long cold months especially in the cold climates.

TODAY a very small percentage of people reside on farms and they supply all the food to the city folk. The family farm now consists of 400 head of cattle with all the motorized equipment such as the wide disc ploughs, seeding machines, combine harvesters, grass cutters, and hay balers relieving the farmer of much hard work. One man can operate a very large farm and its equipment on his own these days.

Do you see where we are heading…?

How things have changed with reduced household chores and the massive reduction in the size of the family. The family farm has increased dramatically in size but now only requiring one man to do the job of many. One man can milk 400 head of cows on his own in less than 2 hours.

TODAY In our homes, we have the car parked inside; we have a vacuum cleaner to look after the floors. We have a washing machine to look after the laundry. We have a clothes dryer to look after the drying of the clothes. We have hot and cold running water reducing our showering times. We have many prepared foods today, and we have a microwave. We have a remote on our television set. We have an electric oven and hot plate to cook our food. We have electric mixers and blenders if we still use them.

We don’t exercise like we once did around the house.

And guess what… there is a huge increase in DIABETES…there is a huge increase in size of most people. We are now seeing 6 foot high Asians grown up in the west that once were less than 5 feet

Do you think that our lifestyle might have something to do with the huge increase in diabetes?

And weight gains

YOU BE THE JUDGE

WHAT IS DIABETES? WHY DO WE NEED TO CUT DOWN OUR SUGAR INTAKE?

As we know, millions of citizens all over the world have tried to let go of their mouth-watering and tasty sugary products. People don’t have any option but to leave their in-taking of sweets because their health is at risk. That is why doctors tell diabetics to shun away from sugary foods to prevent unhelpful reactions. Insulin is a substance that breakdown our sugars into tiny particles to be able to maximize by our body to produce fuel and energy, so we can do our day to day activities. When glucose builds up in the bloodstream, the cells become starved for energy since they do not have access to the glucose and in short term and long term frequent glucose build-up speeds the acidity of the blood, hurting several of the body’s organs, such as the eyes and kidneys.

TYPES OF DIABETES

Gestational diabetes could occur in women who are the age 24 years old or older, but certain women have increased risks in developing gestational diabetes. Nerve damage can cause your hands and feet to hurt, tingle or feel numb. The two key types are the Type 1 diabetes and Type 2 diabetes. Type-1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes since it affects children. There are many types of diabetes and each one differs from each other. Finally, the pancreas can weaken from working overtime to create more insulin and can no longer be able to create enough to keep a person’s blood sugar levels in a regular range.

DIABETES TREATMENT

To help your condition, eating healthy and sustaining a balanced diet will help you feel better. With correct treatment, people who have type 1 diabetes can expect to live longer and healthier lives. For type 2 diabetes, begin by eating healthy foods, and include physical activity in your every day routine and continue a healthy weight. Stay at a healthy weight and maintain a good body weight will help you keep your body going and have better energy levels.

ALTERNATIVE DIABETES CURES THROUGH THE HERBAL WAY

If diabetes is not treated, it could lead in complications like renal failure, impotence, hypoglycemia and a nervous breakdown. Once we struggle taking in sugar, diseases like diabetes may be at hand. Although this can mean future medications, there are other possible ways on how alternative diabetes cures could help you. Carbohydrates can be found in foods like pasta, rice, cereals, bread and potatoes. To name a few herbal cures, people who use bitter melon (ampalaya) or momordica charantia usually use these cures imported from the Orient. As we all know, it is still true that prevention is always better than cure. In order for the glucose to get through inside our cell, it needs the help of insulin (which is produced by the pancreas).