NutraSource E-Zine

The importance of regulating blood sugar is clear: stabilizing blood sugar can prevent many health problems, one of the most obvious being diabetes, which is often a result of years of unstable blood sugar. Fortunately, for most of us it is within our power to take control of our blood sugar levels by remaining active and making the right food choices and also by drinking camomile tea (甘菊茶).

Camomile tea has long been prized for its ability to calm and relax, making it a favored tea for bedtime, but now a recent study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry shows camomile may serve another purpose: regulating blood sugar.

Camomile tea lowers blood glucose in research study

At the University of Toyama in Japan and at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research in the United Kingdom, researchers studied the effect of camomile tea on diabetic rats. Half of the rats were given a dose of camomile extract for three weeks. Another set of diabetic rats was given a normal diet with no addition of camomile.

The study observed that when camomile was given to the rats, a lesser amount of glucose was turned into sorbitol (a sugar alcohol). Excess sorbitol can cause damage to kidneys, eyes and nerve cells. The enzymes primarily responsible for this kind of damage in diabetics were also inhibited in the camomile rats. The rats who were fed camomile extract also showed an overall decrease in blood glucose compared to the other rats.

The authors of the study stated there is a clear link between the daily consumption of camomile tea and preventing the progression of diabetes and hyperglycemia. As usual there are those who say more research needs to be done to determine just how effective this treatment can be, but to anyone searching for a natural way of regulating blood sugar, the results of this study are more than enough encouragement to start drinking camomile tea.

Maintain regular blood sugar levels to stay healthy

Camomile tea’s benefits aren’t only for those with diabetes. For diabetics, stabilizing blood sugar is crucial for good health, but the truth is even people without diabetes can benefit from maintaining normal blood sugar levels. Blood sugar swings are associated with fatigue, sugar cravings and insulin resistance, among other symptoms. Taking measures to regulate blood sugar can actually prevent the onset of diabetes in healthy individuals, and it will also help you feel more energetic and maintain a healthy weight.

Of course, if you’re considering drinking camomile tea solely to regulate your blood sugar, keep in mind it’s a healthy addition to an overall lifestyle that naturallly contributes to healthy blood sugar. Other steps which should be included in this lifestyle are regular exercise, eating balanced meals, avoiding refined foods and getting plenty of sleep.

Herbal Medicine blood, camomile, diabete, enzyme, glucose, grassland, hyperglycemia, institute, insulin, kidney, sorbitol, tea, toyama, univeristy

A lot of food packaging have a label marked with "Low GI". GI is the short-form of glycemic index. It is the rate at which carbohydrates affects our blood glucose level. The index was created in 1980 to categorize which food is best for diabetic patients.

Carbohydrate increases blood glucose level

Carbohydrate in food after being absorbed through digestion increases blood glucose. The rate at which blood glucose increases depends on the type of carbohydrate. Food with high GI releases glucose in the bloodstream faster and in larger quantities, while low GI food increases blood glucose slower and in a steadier pace. Glycemic index is a number between 0 to 100. High GI is ranked between 70 to 100, such as watermelon, white rice, white bread and glucose. Medium GI is ranked between 56 to 69, including whole wheat and brown rice. Lastly, low GI is anywhere between 0 to 55 representative of most fruit and vegetables and milk.

When considering items of equal carbohydrate, patients with diabetes is suggested to consume foods with low GI value to increase the effectiveness of insulin and blood glucose regulation in target cells. Studies have shown that the intake of high GI foods compared to low GI foods produces more fat body mass and fewer lean body mass, and can also lead to other metabolic dysfunctions. Parts of the study suggested that by regularly eating a low GI diet, we can decrease our lipid level and lower the rate of having heart disease.

Now we know the upside, so what’s the downside?

Low GI foods seem to have a wonderful array of health benefits. However, they don’t necessary mean low calorie or low fat. There are products such as chocolate, chips and cakes that may have low GI but high calorie and fat. The fat content of these type of food stay in the stomach for a longer period of time, thereby decreasing the rate of which glucose is released. So even with a low GI rank, they are rather unhealthy for the body. The next time you go grocery shopping, in addition to watching for the glycemic index, be aware of the total amount of calorie, fat and carbohydrate as well.

Medical News blood, carbohydrate, diabete, fat, glucose

A clinical trial report in U.S. made a surprisingly stunning statement: the common believe that drinking water helps our body to clear waste, reduce weight and increase metabolism is in fact, not exactly correct.

This report also rejected another popular believe taught in many households by our mothers since childhood; it claims drinking 1.5 liters of water is beneficial for our health is in fact, also another misconception.

Most people should drink the necessary amount of water that is suitable for their body. For example, people who performs a large amount of exercise should of course drink a greater amount of water; and those who sit quietly in the office daily would not have the same necessity to drink two large bottles of water. So ideally, drink only when you feel thirsty; there’s no reason to forcibly drink water just to meet the quota. A healthy functioning body should send signals to your brain telling you when your body needs to refill H2O.

Looking down on the people living in the 21st century, we are very capable of being early adopters; we can turn our lifestyles around at an annual-basis with portable computers, mp3 players and PDA phones. But some health concepts established centuries ago that should have been rectified are still being used today. Possibly, we care about our health so much that instead of going through the trouble of verifying every single message we receive, we would rather choose to accept them all if it sounds reasonably correct.

I believe some people still thinks that spinach is rich in iron, and you should eat more spinach to replenish your iron level (maybe after a loss of blood).

Oyster, clam shells and red meat are rich in iron

A hundred grams of spinach leaves contain only 2.1 miligrams of iron. It is not a surprisingly high number compared to other food groups such as oysters, clam shells, and even red meat (including beef and pork), which all have higher iron content than spinach. In fact, iron contained in vegetables are not as easy to get absorbed by our body than iron contained in meat. So unless you are a vegetarian, spinach is not the best choice when wanting to replenish iron levels in your body.

The misbelieve that spinach is high in iron wasn’t start by Popeye the Sailor, the cartoon character and his big can of spinach that rose in popularity in the early 19th century; the idea came over a hundred years ago, made by a tiny typo in a scientific report.

In 1870, a German scientist Dr. E von Wolf published a nutritional report on various food. The mistake came when writing the iron content for 100 grams of spinach. The decimal point was placed incorrectly which multiplied the numerical amount by tenfold. This mistake continues when it was referenced by Professor Dr. Gustav B. von Bunge in Basel, Switzerland, who used it as the amount of iron in dried spinach, instead of fresh spinach. And then lastly came Popeye the Sailor, who popped a can of spinach every episode, led all the caring mothers in the world to believe their child should eat the bitter-tasting spinach leaves regardless of how much they whined and complained.

Some health blogs and forums today still contain posts that suggest spinach is rich in iron without having heard of the story behind.

Spinach has other wonderful properties though. It should be noted for the rich in fiber, various vitamins and minerals, as well as lutein and zeaxanthin that is good for the eyes and antioxidant properties; iron should be at the very bottom of this list.

We should know that spinach can be harmful too. It contains oxalate, which can easily cause people who suffered from urolith (urinary calculus) or nephrolith (renal calculus) to have a relapse, and create metabolic arthritis (gout). Spinach requires a large amount of nitrogen fertilization to cultivate, so it often contains nitrogen that is harmful for humans.

The wrong ideas advertised by health food manufacturers

The French magazine Que Choisir had an issue that reported on false advertisements in health supplements. Many commercial nutritional products were tested for its promoted claims including weight loss and vitalizing components. It clarified and explained many of the misconceptions and misinterpretations included in advertisements, one being vitamin C.

The research found that taking vitamin C will not sooth the symptoms of a cold; the real benefitis of vitamin C is antioxidant and delay the ageing process.

According to French laboratory AgroParisTech researcher Ines Birlouez, there is no need to take a vitamin C pill every day, unless you are deprived of vegetables. If you don’t eat much vegetables, it is highly suggested that you change your eating habits to obtain a balanced diet instead of supplementing with nutritional products, because the body is better capable of absorbing vitamin C from vegetables.

Prolonged overdose causes early ageing

According to the recommendations from the French food safety agency (AFSSA), taking unnecessary nutrients can cause the human organs to malfunction. Some nutrients can even be harmful for the body.

An overdose of vitamin C can cause urolith (urinary calculus) and dyspepsia (indigestion); prolonged overdose can even cause early ageing.

An old Chinese saying had once said: medicine can be a double-edged sword, depending on how you use it. Today, we should supplement that by saying: learn to choose your sources wisely, and get the facts right.

Medical News blood, clam, iron, metabolism, spinach, vitamin, water