Foods that (might) help with blood sugar levels part 2.

As we've stated in earlier posts; we are not health practitioners. if you have found anything in this post that you are interested in incorporating into your health regime check with your health practitioner to make sure that it is safe and suitable for you before incorporating into your health regime.

4) Gymnema sylvestre


Another one of the seven promising herbs mentioned in Yeh et al's (2003) review was gymnema sylvestre. Commonly used in Ayurveda, it's Hindi name (gurmar) translates to "destroyer of sugar". After showing promise in animal studies (see Yeh et al's, 2003, review for more info.) groups of patients with type 1 diabetes (Shanmugasundaram et al., 1990) and type 2 diabetes (Baskaran et al., 1990) showed an improvement in glycemic control using a gymnema sylvestre extract along with convential treatment compared to a control group who received conventional treatment alone. It has also been found that gymnema extract can stop increases in blood sugar by reduce glucose absorption from the intestine in guinea pigs (Shimizu et al., 1997).

The mechanisms underlying gymnema's effects are unknown, a 2004 study suggested that in diabetes liver and kidney tissues are more vulnerable to oxidative stress and that gymnema montanum leaf extract may have eliminated reactive free radicals that might affect cell functioning (Ananthan et al., 2004). However it's unclear whether gymnema montanum is the same gymnema sylvestre.

References
Ananthan, R., Latha, M., Ramkumar, K.M., Pari, L., Baskar, C., & Narmatha Bai, V., (2004). Modulatory effects of gymnema montanum leaf extract on alloxan-induced oxidative stress in wistar rats. Nutrition. 20 (3): 280-285 http://www.nutritionjrnl.com/article/S0899-9007(03)00284-3/abstract  



Yeh, G.Y., Eisenberg, D.M., Kaptchuk, T.J., & Phillips, R.S., (2003). systematic review of herbs and dietary supplements for glycemic control in diabetes. Diabetes care. 26(4): 1277-1294


Baskaran K, Ahamath BK, Shanmugasundaram KR, Shanmugasundaram ERB. (1990). Antidiabetic effect of a leaf extract from Gymnema sylvestre in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus patients. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 30:295–305.

Shanmugasundaram, E.R.B., Rajeswari, G., Baskaran, K., Kumar, B.R.R., Shanmugasundaram, K.R., Ahmath, B.K., (1990). Use of Gymnema sylvestre leaf extract in the control of blood glucose in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 30:281–294,.



Shimizu, K., Iino, A., Nakajima, J., Tanaka, K., Nakajyo, S., Urakawa, N., Atsuchi, M., Wada, T., & Yamashita, C., (1997). Suppression of Glucose Absorption by some fractions extracted from Gymnema sylvestre leaves. Journal of Veterinary Medical Science. 59(4): 245-251. http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jvms/59/4/245/_pdf

5) Alliums

image borrowed from www.free-stockphotos.com

Onions, garlic, shallots and chives are in just about every kitchen in one form or another and they are full of medicinal properties. they have been found to help with lowering cholesterol levels, regulating blood pressure, and boosting the immune system. It's safe to say that we could all benefit from eating more raw garlic.Many studies have confirmed garlic's blood sugar-lowering capabilities;

• Augusti & Sheela (1996) found that a garlic antioxidant extract aided in regulating blood sugar in diabetic rats, and
• a 2006 study found that garlic extract significantly decreased blood sugar while increasing insulin levels in diabetic rats to the extent that the antidiabetic effect of garlic extract was found to be more effective than that of glibenclamide (Eidi et al., 2006)
• El-Demerdash et al., (2005) found that regular doses of garlic and onion juice (either one or the other) exerts antioxidant effects while regulating blood sugar. such that the researchers suggested that these effects might help to alleviate liver and renal damaged caused by diabetes.
• In a 2009 review, onion extract was found to be effective for lowering blood sugar levels and body weight. (kook et al., 2009), whereas this study found that only garlic was able to reduce blood sugar significantly (Jelodar et al.,2005)

It has even beed suggested that aged garlic extract might be able to prevent diabetic complications (ahmed & ahmed, 2006). For tips on incorporate raw garlic into your diet click here, we added our own recipe in the comments.
We make fresh toum every few days, it’s delicious and it’s not harsh on your tummy! It’s helped us lots and is thanks to my housemates (em) mum who, like Toum, is from lebanon:

• 4 or more cloves of garlic (peeled)*
• ¼ cup olive oil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• salt to taste (Funnily enough, the salt is actually necessary to temper the harshness of the lemon and garlic.)

You can either use a mortar and pestle or a blender, we’ve done it both ways and it’s come out fine.

1) Crush or blend the garlic cloves and salt until smooth (if you’re using a blender, adding the lemon juce at this point will make the process faster).

2) Once you have a smooth paste, gradually add the oil and blend until mayonnaisey.

* If you want to increase the garlic, remember to increase the olive oil accordingly.

References

Ahmed, M.S., & Ahmed, N., (2006). Antiglycation properties of aged garlic extract: possible role in prevention of diabetic complications. The Journal of Nutrition. 136: 796S-799S. http://jn.nutrition.org/content/136/3/796S.abstract

Augusti, K.T., Sheela, C.G., (1996). Antiperoxide effect of S-allyl cysteine sulfoxide, an insulin secretagogue, in diabetic rats. Experientia, 52(2):115-120

El-Demerdash, F.M., Yousef, M.I., & El-Naga, N.I., (2005). Biochemical study on they hypoglycemic effects of onion and garlic in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Food and Chemical Toxicology. 43(1):57-63 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15582196

Eidi, A., Eidi, M., & Esmaeli, E., (2006). Antidiabetic effect of garlic (Allium sativum L.) in normal and streptozotocin-induced rats. Phytomedicine. 13 (9-10): 624-629. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17085291

Jelodar, G.A., Maleki, M., Motadayen, M.H., & Sirus, S., (2005). Effect of fenugreek, onion and garlic on blood glucose and histopathology of pancreas of alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Indian Journal of Medical Sciences. 59(2): 64-69. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15738612

Kook, S., Kim, G.H., & Choi, K., (2009). The antidiabetic effect of onion and garlic in experimental diabetic rats: meta-analysis. Journal of medicinal food. 12(3): 552-560. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19627203

6) Apple Cider Vinegar

image borrowed from http://www.goodnessdirect.com/

Apple cider vinegar contains acetic acid, a compound with antiglycemic effects, one small study found that adults with well-controlled type 2 diabetes benefitted from consuming 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar before bed, helping to reduce waking blood sugar levels (White & Johnston, 2004), Johnston et al., (2004) also found that type 2 diabetics (or people with insulin resistance) that consumed 20g apple cider vinegar 2 minutes before eating a high-carbohydrate meal helped to improve insulin sensitivity. Last year further research found that type 1 diabetics who consumed 2 tablespoons of vinegar prior to eating showed reduced levels of hyperglycemia when compared with a control group (Mitrou et al., 2010).

Another study found that apple cider vinegar reduced bad cholesterol (Low Density Lipids), increased good cholesterol in normal and diabetic rats (Shishehbor et al., 2008).
References
Johnston, C.S., Kim, C. M, & Buller, A.J., (2004). Vinegar improves insulin sensitivty to a high-carbohydrate meal in subjects with insulin resistance or type 2 diabetics. Diabetes care. 27(1): 281-282.
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/27/1/281.full?ijkey=d8b73f9bea10c7ea684b14d7c19e35bf8fe567f8&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha

Mitrou, P., Raptis, A.E., Lambadiari, V., Boutati, E., Petsiou, E., Spanoudi, F., Papakonstantinou, E., Maratou, E., Economopoulus, T., Dimitriadis, G., & Raptis, S.A., (2010). Vinegar decreases postprandial hyperglycemia in patients with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes care. 33(2): e27.
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/33/2/e27.full

Shishehbor, F., Mansoori, A., Sarkari, A.R., Jalali, M.T., & Latifi, S.M., (2008). Apple cider vinegar attenuates lipid profile in normal and diabetic rats. Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences. 11 (23): 2634-2638.

White, A.M., & Johnston, C.S., (2004). Vinegar Ingestion at bedtime moderates waking glucose concentrations in adults with well-controlled type 2 diabetes. Diabetes care. 30(11): 2814-2815.
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/30/11/2814.full.pdf+html
Thanks for reading!
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