For years, the main nutrient diabetics heard about was chromium. Chromium can work wonders if you are deficient, but it does not work across the board for every diabetic. Big Pharma makes its share of dangerous drugs to treat the condition. While the drugs work to fill Pharmas coffers, they raise morbidity and mortality for diabetics.
Ive found that two nutrients work extremely well for my diabetic patients. One is a spice. And the second is a nutrient Ill tell you about in a moment. Now science is catching up to what Ive observed.
This study actually created a realistic animal model. It took obese mice and gave them a low-fat (4%) diet or a high-fat (35%) diet. The latter is comparable to what the average American eats. After 15-17 weeks on the respective diets, the researchers gave the mice a 3% admixture by weight of curcumin or no curcumin.
They found that curcumin improved their blood sugar, insulin sensitivity, and hemoglobin A1C levels. The latter is a marker doctors use to measure high blood sugar damage. Furthermore, the curcumin also improved many metabolic markers of inflammation and deranged metabolism.
Like vitamin D, the information on curcumin (from turmeric) just continues to get better and better. If you have diabetes or any chronic inflammatory condition, please consider a curcumin supplement. Take 500 mg, up to three times daily. I also recommend that you cook with curry powder (has turmeric). You can use as much as you want — I do.
Ref: Weisberg, S.P., R. Leibel, et al. Dietary Curcumin Significantly Improves Obesity-Associated Inflammation and Diabetes in Mouse Models of Diabesity, Endocrinology, 2008 April 10; [Epub ahead of print].