Search This Blog

Friday, August 21, 2009

Oral Treatment for Diabetes Discovered?

University of Haifa researchers in the Biology Department of Faculty of Science and Science Education uncovered a matter that may treat diabetes and its accompanying complications orally. This substance is a derivative of a yeast called GTF, an acronym for Glucose Tolerance Factor.

They tested this substance on rats that had diabetes which subsequently have been found to have lowered the lipids and sugar levels in their blood. The one conducting the research is Dr. Nitsa Mirsky who said that the next step is to assess if GTF will work successfully as well on people.

Acknowledged as a world-wide health crisis, diabetes has an effect on 5-10% of people in developed countries and has been declared an epidemic in developing countries. A lasting illness with no cure, it has many complications like blindness, heart disease, kidney failure and others.

About half of people with diabetes are injected with insulin while the others take oral medications that are not easy to control and frequently with side effects. Treatment with insulin may not be effective because resistance to it can slowly develop.

There is another problem with insulin in the sense that it has to fit the diabetic's activities and sometimes it doesn't to the point that taking a large dose before meals could trigger hypoglycemia which could lead to coma and even death.

Dr. Mirsky's research involved two levels, first on rats that were diabetic and on the molecular cells. The findings showed that GTF reduced the glucose level and the bad cholesterol and raised the good cholesterol. This glucose tolerance factor kept back the process of oxidation that could lead to atherosclerosis that in turn could result in heart attacks and strokes.

And here's even better news. If GTF is given early, it could stop or at least slow down renal problems. It has also shown to stop damage to the retina and could help prevent cataracts. It also helps improve the efficacy of insulin. There is a need though for more research to combine both insulin and GTF treatment for diabetics.

I tried to get updated information on this discovery and found that glucose tolerance factor is an agent for diabetic treatment and healing development. Chromium which is considered the central part of Glucose Tolerance Factor improves the effect of insulin in the body.

Chromium is known as a trace element that is necessary for human nutrition because it improves insulin efficacy as well the glucose tolerance. It can be obtained from the diet but inadequate amount is said to lead to symptoms that are found in cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

The over processing of foods makes for less dietary consumption of chromium. Many diets have less than 60% of the recommended consumption. The estimated and safe everyday consumption of chromium is 50 to 200 micrograms. There is more info on this at Treatments for Diabetes.

Those with diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance when given supplemental chromium have shown improvement in blood sugar, insulin and lipids. Reaction depends on the amount and form of supplement. Over the past thirty years there has not been any report of chromium toxicity in studies on the supplements.

No comments: