“Naturally Managing Diabetes: The Nutrients and Strategies You Need”

In Korea, the prevalence of diabetes is high because carbohydrates are a staple food. This is because when you eat a lot of carbohydrates and the supply of sugar increases, insulin sensitivity decreases and glucose cannot be used properly and remains in the blood. In fact, according to the Korean Diabetes Association, there are 5.26 million diabetic patients over the age of 30 in Korea, and an estimated 15 million pre-diabetes patients, making about 20 million people exposed to the risk of diabetes.
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Diabetes is diagnosed when fasting blood sugar is 126 mg/dL or more and postprandial blood sugar is 200 mg/dL or more, and diabetes medications are required to lower blood sugar. There is no special treatment for the pre-diabetic stage, where blood sugar is lower than this. According to the Paul K Crane research team at the University of Washington, the United States, the lower the blood sugar level, the lower the risk of dementia.
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■ Diabetes medications temporarily lower fasting blood sugar levels
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To lower fasting blood sugar, it is common to take diabetes medications such as metformin, sulfonylurea, and alpha glucosidase. Metformin acts on AMPK, which helps glucose absorption, or reduces glucose absorption in the intestine. Sulfonylureas stimulate beta cells in the pancreas to promote insulin secretion to lower blood sugar, and alpha-glucosidase acts as a mechanism to delay the absorption of sugar in the gastrointestinal tract to lower blood sugar.
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However, since these diabetes drugs only temporarily lower blood sugar, the more you take the drug, the more dependent you become, and if you stop taking the drug, diabetes will inevitably be triggered and intensified again. In addition, as much as it affects the gastrointestinal function, there are side effects such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, and heartburn. It causes malabsorption and produces the toxic amino acid homocysteine, which causes stroke and memory loss due to vitamin B depletion, which is fatal to health.
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■ Insulin resistance, corosolic acid, chromium, and vitamins help
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In order to properly manage fasting blood sugar levels, insulin resistance, the fundamental cause of diabetes, must be improved. Insulin resistance is a case in which the body’s response to insulin is reduced than normal, and promoting glucose absorption through nutrients and activating glucose transporters help improve insulin resistance.
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A representative nutrient is corosolic acid in banaba leaves. Corosolic acid in banaba leaves activates AMPK and glucose transporters, which absorb glucose and move glucose into cells with a mechanism similar to that of metformin, so it is also called ‘natural insulin’ or ‘plant insulin’. In fact, there is also a clinical paper that showed that banaba extract standardized with 1% corosolic acid was administered daily for 2 weeks and blood sugar levels decreased by 30%.
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Chromium, vitamin D, and vitamin K2 are also necessary nutrients to improve insulin resistance. Chromium increases the insulin receptor and increases the insulin signaling pathway and the binding to insulin, so when chromium is insufficient, insulin sensitivity is inevitably reduced. Vitamin D and vitamin K2 also promote insulin secretion in the pancreas and activate the osteocalcin hormone, which increases insulin sensitivity in fat cells, to help with insulin resistance.
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■ Active oxygen and inflammation that cause diabetes complications must be managed
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When insulin resistance occurs, there is no choice but to have a lot of free radicals and inflammation in the body. Free radicals damage blood vessels and organs, and our bodies produce cholesterol to treat wounds and inflammation. Therefore, it is essential to manage active oxygen and inflammation as well as blood sugar levels.
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First, there are nutrients such as coenzyme Q10, omega 3, vitamin C, vitamin E, and selenium as anti-inflammatory nutrients. In particular, coenzyme Q10 and omega 3 inhibit the NF-κB signaling pathway that regulates the inflammatory response and suppress the production of cytokines, which are inflammation-inducing substances. For example, according to Jonada Hodgson’s research team at the University of Western Australia in Australia, taking 200 mg of coenzyme Q10 for 12 weeks reduced glycated hemoglobin by 0.37%.
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Antioxidant nutrients that remove active oxygen in our body include vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, manganese, coenzyme Q10, and glutathione. Vitamin E eliminates active oxygen and is oxidized. Vitamin C regenerates oxidized vitamin E, and glutathione acts on vitamin C. As such, they are involved in each other’s oxidation and regeneration and form an antioxidant network, so it is recommended to consume at least 2-3 at a time.
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In addition, it is also good to remove homocysteine, which acts like an active oxygen. Homocysteine ​​is a substance produced in the process of making glutathione or same, an antioxidant component, from methionine to other proteins. In order for homocysteine ​​to be converted to glutathione or same, vitamins B2, B6, B9, B12, zinc, etc. are required as coenzymes, and they can be supplemented.
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■ Natural diabetes treatment nutrient ‘Bloodix’
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In order to manage diabetes, there must be various nutrients such as vitamins B·C·D·E·K2, omega 3, coenzyme Q10, chromium, and corosolic acid. It is not easy to take care of these nutrients every day, but recently, many health foods using ‘Bloodix’ raw materials have been released, which is helpful. Bloodix refers to a raw material that combines nutrients related to blood sugar, active oxygen, blood, and insulin resistance.
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It contains the aforementioned vitamins, banaba leaf extract, chromium, selenium, manganese, coenzyme Q10, and omega 3, so you can easily supplement all nutrients that are good for blood sugar. In fact, looking at products using Bloodix ingredients, they have obtained functionality from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety that can help suppress blood sugar rise, improve blood circulation, antioxidant, and improve blood cholesterol.

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