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This vitamin could be a type 2 diabetic’s best friend
By Jenny Thompson on 05/14/2011
Glucophage, Onglyza, Januvia...
If those words are Greek to you, count yourself lucky.
Millions of diabetics know those words all to well. They're three of the most common drugs prescribed to patients with type 2 diabetes or patients in danger of developing diabetes.
The shame is that many doctors will prescribe those drugs in goose-step without ever even knowing about the enormous role that vitamins may play in controlling blood sugar.
One vitamin in particular appears to be a medical must for complete diabetes care.
Letting go of the sacred cow
We'll start with prevention...
In a study I first alerted you to in 2009, healthy subjects with the lowest blood levels of vitamin D were more than THREE TIMES more likely to have metabolic syndrome risk factors--a sure path to type 2 diabetes.
Those factors included high triglyceride levels, low HDL levels, and excess abdominal fat compared to subjects with high D levels.
Subjects with high D levels were much less likely to have any of those risk factors. In addition, subjects in this group also had higher HDL and lower triglycerides.
With results like that--and virtually no side effects--you can be sure that if vitamin D were a drug with a name like Onglphage or Glucovia, doctors couldn't reach for their prescription pads fast enough to give it to their type 2 diabetic patients.
Jump forward two years and we have another study that shows excellent results for diabetic patients who supplement with D.
In this trial, 90 adults with type 2 diabetes were divided into three groups. Each group drank a yogurt beverage daily for 12 weeks. One group received plain yogurt, one received yogurt fortified with 500 IU of vitamin D, and the other group's yogurt contained 500 IU of D and extra calcium.
Even the researchers were surprised by the results: Blood sugar levels in the plain yogurt group increased while sugar levels in both supplement groups dropped significantly.
More importantly, hemoglobin A1C went up in the plain group and down in the supplement groups. As I've shown you before, A1C gives an accurate assessment of blood sugar control over a span of several weeks.
As an added bonus--a bonus that's very important for diabetics--subjects in the supplement groups lost two-to-five pounds on average over three months, while weight in the plain yogurt group stayed about the same throughout.
As tradition seems to require, one of the study leaders felt it necessary to warn against interpreting the study's results. He told Reuters Health that there was no reason for all of us to be eating yogurt with extra vitamin D yet.
And I couldn't agree more. You don't need to rush out and buy vitamin D fortified yogurt. There are many better ways to get your D without the added sugar, dairy and calories.
But if you DO want to stay on the low side of D, you can take this additional suggestion from that same researcher: Follow the current Institute of Medicine recommendation for daily D intake: 600 IU.
Oh brother--these hardcore mainstreamers just hate to let go of their sacred cows.
You can go here to find out why 600 IU of vitamin D daily is only a laughably small fraction of the total D most of us need daily--especially those with blood sugar control concerns.
Printer-friendly versionAbout the author
Jenny Thompson is the Director of the Health Sciences Institute and editor of the HSI e-Alert. Through HSI, she and her team uncover important health information and expose ridiculous health misinformation, most notably through the HSI e-Alert.
Visit www.hsionline.com to sign up for the free HSI e-Alert.
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Comments
Anonymous
Why do you think they recommend 600 IU, now, they consider themselves heroes after they increased the intake, obviously is not nearly enough and they probably know this, but as usual they are not concerned for our health all that matters is that we will always be in need of Big- Pharma controlled medications or at least that is their plans. JAM
Mehmur
As I diabetic I'm reading hundreds of articles like this one but a most simple question remains to be answered: is increasing blood vit D level by supplementation as good as the body naturally reaching that blood vit D level itself? Or, is vit D supplementation any good at all?? If a person's blood vit D level is at a certain high level, his/her body has reached that status as a result of numerous complicated mechanisms in the body, several intricate mechanisms in the body are functioning in a healthy way. When you do the supplementation, you're increasing the blood vit D level ARTIFICIALLY... It's like directly injecting vit D to the person's blood vessels... Of course his/her blood levels will show high, since you just injected it, but everything else that were wrong in the body are still wrong and unchanged... It's like putting into a poor man's pocket some money. How is your money position? Bad, I have none. OK, put this $10,000 into your pocket and how is your monetary status now? Fine, I have money in my pocket... That is bogus... It's not his money, the guy is still poor and in real bad monetary status...When the money you gave is taken back he is the same. It's self-deceit. How about that objection?
Joann Bryant
I concur with the idea of Big-pharma controlled medications control of information concerning medications are becomming out of control and we as consumers are suffering dearly with all these drugs and side effects. I am sick of being tired of being sicker because of all these medications and their side-effects.
Tom CHHC
Mehmer, there's no doubt that Vit D from sun exposure is the best way for us to get it, rather than from supplements. There is also some debate over whether orally ingested Vit D is very well absorbed in the intestine. Sublingual pills or liquids, which are absorbed through the veins under your tongue, seem to be the most effective supplemental way of getting Vit D.
However, if you choose to get your D from sun exposure, it is important to remember not to use a sunscreen, and not to take a shower for at least two hours afterwards. Also anyone on cholesterol-lowering meds such as Lipitor will have a severely impaired ability to produce Vit D, as it is manufactured from a derivative of cholesterol that is on our skin.
kjforce
I am type II diabetic and switched from Avandamet to Januvia because of side effects. Have been taking 5,000 units Vit D, cinnamon caps, Magnesium, and B1 for a year and watch everything I eat or drink and my sugar does not flucuate..but it is not low..I am at my wits end..I excercise daily, stationaary bike, water excercises for 1 -2 hours daily sugar reading remain the same..so any ideas? Cardboard and peanut butter are not an option.
Gaudencio
Before you jump to any other prescribe medications. l would suggest to take a combinations of herbal products which consist of Gymnema,bitter melon,cinammon,alpha lipoic acid etc. and they can in all one capsule. Some have tried Tumeric with sucess.
Anonymous
Here is what I suggest I bought a book by Suzy Cohen and her book is fantastic. Get it it is called Diabetes Without Drugs and it sure has a lot of truth to it. Look how our food has been changed and how it has been processed.
I am going to try her suggestions and then will tell later how it works. Caroa
kjforce
I wrote a comment in May of 2011..it is now July 2011..and no longer take Januvia...I have since added Alpha lipoic acid, to my B1 ( benfotiamine)and B12, grape seed extract and bilberry juice along with my cinn.turmeric..NO processed foods and water with fresh lemon..plus work out in my pool 2-3 hours a day...sitting in the sun ( never burn) and raising my body temp has corrected muscle/joint pain..I sleep thru the night and I have lost 20 lbs..( IN ONLY 2 MONTHS)...my skin has gotten softer and my circulation improves daily..I still must use a walker but I can feel my self getting stronger everyday..I also just joined HSI this week and look forward to my e-mails alerts...
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