Insulin not only moves glucose into the cells, but it also escorts Vitamin C. Blood sugar hogs the seats on the bus in most diabetics, therefore reducing the amount of Vitamin C we can absorb. This is the premise of The GAA Theory: high glucose levels hinder vitamin C entry into cells.

Vitamin C is vitally important for many functions throughout the body - a big one being metabolism. Glucose and Vitamin C are similar in the way they enter the cells. Both molecules require help from insulin. The name for the process that brings glucose and Vitamin C through cell membranes is insulin-mediated uptake. The insulin-mediated uptake of glucose and vitamin C uses white blood cells. White blood cells have more insulin pumps and they may contain 20 times the amount of vitamin C as ordinary cells.

So does increasing your Vitamin C help boost your glycemic control? Diabetes Health cited a study that confirms daily doses of 2,000 mg of absorbic acid improved both fasting blood glucose and HbA1c readings in patients with type 2 diabetes. Next time you swing by the store - see if some Emergen-C can help you achieve better glycemic control. With 1,000 mg of Vitamin C per packet - their homepage says: Feel The Good. Little did they know how good it could be for Type 2 diabetics!

It's common knowledge that diabetes and heart disease are linked. If you have diabetes, you are much more prone to heart disease than are your non-diabetic counterparts. I've sometimes wondered: why should that be? And here comes the answer, courtesy of a recent Netscape health article.

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been examining the issue. Their conclusion? It all comes down to how the body metabolizes fat. The heart cells of diabetics lose a lipid (cardiolipin) designed to provide the heart with energy to function properly. Says Dr. Richard Gross, "Diabetic hearts run mostly on fats for fuel because glucose isn't readily available to them." Problem is, the absence of cardiolipin screws up the heart's cell membranes, both in terms of structure and function.

It's all downhill after the cardiolipin disappears. For one thing, the heart muscle cells begin to be starved of energy. Second, harmful substances form in the cells. Both these factors contribute to heart problems down the road. Observes Dr. Gross, "The pieces of the puzzle of diabetic heart disease are now rapidly falling into place. We hope that these kinds of studies will enable physicians to diagnose diabetic cardiovascular disease sooner and treat it earlier."

In reality, even though we watch our diet, blood sugar is not a perfect science. However it is known that some foods are more influential than others. These foods are mostly carbohydrates - and they can affect more than just our blood sugar. Carbohydrates can affect our moods and appetite through a neurotransmitter called serotonin.

Serotonin is unique in that it is indirectly controlled by foods, specifically carbohydrates. It's not surprising that eating foods like chocolate cake and potato chips can lift your spirits for a moment or two - but the aftermath doesn't always seem as exhilarating. This becomes a fattening trend, after a while. Why do we get a spiritual uplift from indulging in these no no yum yums?

There is an explanation for this fattening fix. Different sugars affect the brain in different ways. Beware of sugars that are more processed like: glucose, dextrose, and sucrose. These sugars enter the bloodstream quickly, reaching high levels in a short time. This triggers the release of large amounts of insulin. The evolution of man has not adapted for highly refined sugars. This type of sugar is quickly ushered to the cells. Depending on how active a person you are - this energy may not be used up and therefore results to fat storage. A good indicator to use when choosing carbs is the glycemic index. The lower you stay on the index, the less the overall impact on your blood sugar rise. Checkout Fifty50 glycemic index for a list of everyday foods.

For athletes with type 1 diabetes, technological advances have opened up a whole new world. Tell your doctor you want to run a marathon? In past decades, the announcement might have been met with words of caution, even dismay. Exercise wasn't even part of the equation when it came to diabetes management. Being diagnosed with diabetes was a death knell for the careers of budding young athletes. Today, however, docs (well-informed ones, at least) are more likely to say, 'okay, let's come up with a plan.'

Diabetes-related technology is a big reason for this shift in attitudes. An article just out in The New York Times. looks at the extent to which technology has made life easier for type 1 diabetics. Devices like digital meters and automated pumps are not cheap. But they are increasingly efficient, safe, and sleekly high-tech. Above all, they give athletes the tools they need to control blood sugar levels with absolute precision - the kind of precision that was impossible in the days of the urine-glucose test. The down-side, I guess you could say, is the mixed blessing of all that control: "We are essentially the CEOs of our own bodies," observes type 1 diabetic and long-distance cyclist Paul Southerland, "and we don't get a break from them."

A major player in the world of diabetes management, Medtronic Inc., has just released a new product: CareLink Pro Software. The product is part of Medtronic's CareLink line for diabetes management. Designed for use by physicians, CareLink Pro Software is intended to help docs - specifically, endocrinologists - with what seems to be an increasingly impossible task: juggling all the information on diabetic patients without dropping any balls - that is, without losing anything, without making mistakes, and just generally making it more likely patients will get optimal care. So, your doctor can store and retrieve patient info from the Internet, and can store data from a patient's continuous glucose monitoring device, among other things. All this info is located in one place so docs can quickly scan through and assess each patient's state of health. Says Chris O'Connell, president of Medtronic's diabetes division, "Due to large patient case loads, many endocrinologists are often overburdened and have less time to spend with each patient, so we believe that better information and closer communication between physician and patient will help improve diabetes management and therapy outcomes."

On the one hand, it makes so much sense that this kind of technology would, as Medtronic claims, optimize patient care. And as diagnosis and treatment becomes ever more complex, data management will need to evolve and become more sophisticated and, as in this case, better tailored for specific uses. On the other hand, however, how are most medical professionals going to find the time to set it up and learn how to use it? I have to wonder how doctors greet these kinds of new technology releases. "Oh great, more gadgets to eat up my time."

When my older brother Mark was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at the age of 13, I was nine years old. I absorbed the basic science of high and low blood sugars, and how he needed daily insulin to regulate his blood sugar. But little did I expect an awaiting surprise.

One day my mom returned home from grocery shopping and pulled out two giant bags of Jolly Rancher hard candies. I remember the scene clearly. You see, I was a candy addict (still am). Big bags of watermelon Jolly Ranchers had my full attention.

My mom explained how this candy was purchased for Mark, in case he had low blood sugar at school. I nodded my head in full agreement, then began stuffing handfuls of them in my pocket every day or so thereafter. Yet, whenever the bag of Jolly Ranchers was nearly empty, my hand wavered, unable to steal the last candies. Deep inside my sugared-up, pre-adolescent consciousness, I knew better. Jolly Ranchers were my brother's mini-life preservers, just in case he floundered in the seas of low blood sugar.

The J.F.K. assassination. The whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa. Causes of major disease. What do all three have in common? Questionable theories to explain each of them. Leaving my own questionable theories out on the first two, I came across a theory on the third one -- related to a person's risk for developing diabetes.

While your eyes may be the window to your soul, your eyebrows apparently are the window to your health. That's because German scientists recently concluded that eyebrow color may tell of a person's risk of diabetes. After examining the blood glucose levels of 100 men with gray hair, they found that those of them who had dark eyebrows, 76 percent had diabetes. This was compared against the mere 18 percent of men with gray eyebrows who had diabetes.

Doctors wonder if diabetes may delay the graying in the eyebrow follicles. They suggested that if your hair is turning gray but your eyebrows are still showing their more youthful colors, you may want to have your blood sugar tested.

Anyway, it's a theory. Then again, so is the idea that a single bullet can strike someone in the back of the head and...you know what, never mind.

A new study led by the folks over at the Joslin Diabetes Center further proves that tight blood sugar control can considerably reduce one's risk of developing such complications as heart disease, eye problems, nerve damage, and kidney problems. But, the downside is that the researchers also found that tight glucose control was sometimes associated with frequent and/or severe hypoglycemia.

With blood sugars running low, people with type 1 can suddenly find themselves feeling disoriented, distressed and in some extreme cases, convulsing and losing consciousness. With respect to these much-more sudden complications, the researchers wondered if hypoglycemia could, over time, impair a person's cognitive ability.

Following type 1 patients for 12 years, all of which who experienced hypoglycemia countless times over that time span, the researchers found that there did not appear to be any long-term damage to cognitive function. So, definitely a big victory there. Still, doctors wonder if hypoglycemic episodes in young children have any lasting cognitive effects -- not only because a child is still in a developmental phase at that stage in their life, but also because there were not any patients under 13 years of age who were analyzed for the aforementioned study.

At the request of the Regulatory Affairs Manager at Generex, I am posting the following to defend the accuracy of the packaging and the claim of the product. The initial blog addressed a product called Glucose RapidSpray. The reader feedback, as well as the regulatory affairs response, is listed below. In no way, does Generex imply this product is to be used to treat hypoglycemia.

The comment to the original post stated:

The nutritional label on the product (available as a PDF on their web site) says the product has 188mg of carbs (or .188g) per serving (5 sprays). A typical glucose tablet has 4g... that's about 21x more carbs in a single glucose tablet than in 5 sprays of RapidSpray. Considering you typically use at least 15g of carbs to treat hypoglycemia, you would need around 80 sprays to get 15g of carbs into your system! When you take into account the amount of sprays you need, the calorie count isn't very much different from glucose tablets.

Read the label carefully, and be very careful using this!

The response from the Manager of Generex Regulatory Affairs states:

The product, Glucose RapidSpray™, is to be taken at the first sign of needing additional glucose in the diet, either between meals, during exercise, and/or before bedtime. It is not intended to take people out of full hypoglycemic states that normally a full tube of glucose gel or a full dose of Glucose tablets would be needed for. Glucose RapidSpray™ product is meant to be a complement to meals in order to help with glucose levels. As such, a direct correlation of carbs associated with Glucose RapidSpray™ and typical glucose tablets or gel is not warranted based on the intended use of the product. If usage of the product is maintained by taking Glucose RapidSpray™ at the first sign of needing additional glucose, then the Nutritional Facts stated on the package labeling is adequate for determining caloric intake (be it 5 sprays, 10 sprays, 15 sprays or whatever is taken to address the situation).

I consider the proactive response of Generex a good sign of how a company is run. Without needing to do so, Generex went above and beyond the call to address an open forum about the efficacy and accuracy of the product. This is the kind of interaction that convinces me a company cares! Good job, Generex! Lest I NOT hold my breath for Eli Lilly to return my call about Super Insulin. Novo Nordisk was far more receptive to address my interests, as a diabetic. Stay tuned for my follow-up on the Eli Lilly vs. Novo Nordisk – Who Love You, Baby!?!

I love the Geico commercial with the Caveman-- the one where he's in the therapist's office and his phone rings . He says, "My mother's calling. I'll put it on speaker." According to a recent study published in the medical journal Diabetes Care, researchers have found that family communication and problem-solving skills are important for helping young people with type 1 diabetes to manage the condition. Specially tailored family therapy can help teens with type 1 diabetes keep their blood sugar levels under control.

A family-based behavioral therapy program was specifically tailored to address diabetes-related family issues. The program consisted of 12 sessions offered over six months, and included training in "behavioral contracting" techniques for family members and a 1-week parental simulation of living with type 1 diabetes. For their study, the researchers randomly assigned 104 families of teens with poorly controlled type 1 diabetes to the behavioral family therapy program, standard care, or a multifamily support group that included educational elements. While levels of A1C, a measurement of long-term blood glucose control, fell in all three groups over the first six months, A1C levels climbed again in the standard-care and support-group kids, but remained low for the behavioral family therapy group up to 18 months after the program began.

Researchers concluded that the efficacy of a family-based behavioral therapy approach is more effective in improving diabetes control. There is power in numbers especially when it comes to any family affair. See mom and dad - told you so!

If you're avoiding refined carbs, you probably already know that you should be. Whether it's because their effect on blood sugar is the reason, and/or if is more for the purpose of merely trying to eat healthier, avoiding starches such as white bread, rice, pasta and simple sugars such as sweets and juices is a smart move.

New evidence has surfaced connecting excessive refined carb consumption with an increased risk of kidney cancer. According to a study published in the International Journal of Cancer, when the diets of 767 kidney cancer patients and 1,534 healthy people were compared, it was discovered that patients who ate the most white bread (7 ounces or more daily) were almost twice as likely to have kidney cancer than those who ate 3.5 ounces or less.

Moreover, people who ate 2 or more cups of regular pasta were one-third more likely to have kidney cancer than those who ate half that much.

Foods such as white bread, regular pasta and other refined carbs cause glucose levels in the blood to spike, as most people with diabetes know. Being that insulin plays a significant role in the development of kidney cancer, the researchers knew where to look in making this connection.

The company making oral insulin a reality is distributing a teaser product to give you a hands-on example of the efficacy, ease and convenience their drug delivery system offers. Feast your buccal cavity on Glucose RapidSpray! The reality of oral-insulin is coming soon to the US - but its sugar stabilizing sister is here today!

Glucose RapidSpray can be taken at the first sign of the need for glucose, during exercise, between meals, or even before bedtime. It is simple to use and easy to carry. It comes in two different flavors, orange and raspberry, and there are no artificial colors. The main ingredient in Glucose RapidSpray is D-Glucose (dextrose), which is a simple monosaccharide sugar. Keep Glucose RapidSpray in your home, office, pocket, purse, or car (as long as it does not stay in sub-zero temperatures for too long). Interested in getting your hands on it?

The product is now available in over 2,500 stores in the United States at Aurora Pharmacy, Inc., Bi-Mart Corporation, The Diabetes Place, Fruth Pharmacy, Inc., Hy-Vee, Inc., Kerr Drug, Inc., The Medicine Shoppe® Pharmacy, Meijer, Inc., and ShopKo Stores. It is also available for purchase online at Glucose Rapid Spray and Diabetic Express.

This might be the first product from Generex you'll use, but it certainly won't be the last. Generex's flagship product is oral insulin, brand name Oral-lyn™. It is available for sale in Ecuador for the treatment of patients with Type-1 and Type-2 diabetes, and is in various stages of clinical trials around the world. For more information, visit the Generex site or call 1-800-391-6755.

Here we go round the mulberry bush -- you know the nursery rhyme but did you have any idea how influential the center of attention could be? Well, regardless of Mother Goose, Roman Poets and silkworms staple diet - the mulberry has more to offer than you might think.

Mulberry leaves are reported to lower blood sugar, blood pressure, reduce fever and exhibit anti-inflammatory effects. A study showed the fasting blood sugar of diabetic rats eating a diet with mulberry leaf was reduced by 50% when compared to the diabetic control. The mulberry leaf rats also showed a drop of 30% in their HbA1c. Studies have shown that prolonged intake of mulberry leaves may further reduce HbA1c levels and probably help in achieving better glycemic control. Mulberry leaves also helped control the intracellular balance and reduced the activity of glucogenesis, both telltale signs of uncontrolled diabetes. Glucogenesis is when the body breaks down proteins and fats for glucose.

The mulberry bush should be celebrated. What if drinking a cup of white mulberry tea before a meal could reduce the total sugars absorbed? Researchers in Japan found white mulberry leaves have certain nitrogen-containing sugars (1-deoxynojirimycin) that strongly inhibit the intestinal metabolism of sugars from entering the circulation. Bottom's up for lower post meal numbers.

The FDA has approved sitagliptin phosphate tablets to improve blood glucose levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. The drug, named Januvia, is proudly presented to the diabetic community by Merck and Co.

JANUVIA, a once-daily pill, enhances your body's natural ability to balance blood sugar levels. Your body sends important messages to your pancreas to try to balance high blood sugar. In response, your pancreas makes more insulin and signals the liver to make less sugar. But a substance in your body called DPP-4 blocks some of these important messages. JANUVIA works by blocking DPP-4, so more of the important messages get through. It also helps your pancreas make more insulin and signal your liver to make less sugar. Another feature of this new drug is the ability to prevent your sugar from going too low. JANUVIA works only when your blood sugar levels are high, or out of balance. When your blood sugar levels are at a healthy balance, JANUVIA doesn't have an effect. Because JANUVIA stops working before your blood sugar gets too low, it is not likely to lower your blood sugar to a potentially dangerous level (hypoglycemia). One more bonus to JANUVIA is the fact that this drug did not show weight gain in most patients during clinical trials.

Could this be the answer for your diabetes dilemma? Next time you swing by your doctor's office, mention that new drug Merck released. I'm sure your doctor will be as thrilled to see your numbers controlled as you'll be to see your natural ability to control them restored. Best of luck to those who find their diabetic solution in JANUVIA!

Despite claims by zinc supplement manufacturers that the pills can help prevent type 2 diabetes, clinical trials do not support this hypothesis.

Laboratory research suggests that zinc helps promote the production and action of insulin. A four-week study of 56 obese women found that zinc did not have an effect on factors associated with the development of diabetes. This study was an example of one trial that treated 56 people with either zinc or a placebo for four weeks and found no effect. This single trial is too small and too short to tell us anything about the effectiveness of zinc in preventing the development of type 2 diabetes.

Research does support that zinc plays a key role in the regulation of insulin production and glucose utilization. Diabetics have shown a zinc deficiency, which impairs their ability to use glucose. However this fact does not confirm zinc as a supplement to prevent the development of diabetes. I apologize it's a nonevent insofar as news. But look at it this way – it's one trial. Nobody says you have to cross it off your list because 56 obese women didn't see a change in their risk factors for developing diabetes. One study is not gospel.