John Arts Abundant Living www.johnarts.co.nz

The endocrine system is a network of glands that produce chemical messengers called hormones which exert a major influence on all body systems.

The most common endocrine disorder is diabetes mellitus (DM). The hormone insulin is produced by the pancreas in response to rises in blood glucose after eating. Insulin is responsible for taking glucose into cells, where it is used to create energy. DM is a group of diseases that are caused by the inability of the pancreas to produce insulin or where cells have developed insulin resistance, preventing glucose entering cells.

Type 1 DM is an autoimmune disease that attacks and destroys insulin producing pancreatic beta cells. Once these are damaged, the pancreas loses the ability to produce insulin and people with Type 1 DM must take insulin for normal metabolism. With Type 2 DM, the pancreas generally continues to produce some insulin but the main problem is that cells develop insulin resistance. While medicine has all the tools to help diabetics manage blood sugar, the main concern is the much higher risk of a risk of health problems, especially cardiovascular disease, neurological disease and eye disease.

Research (Pop-Busui et al 2005) has demonstrated a clear relationship between oxidative stress and diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage). They found that those with elevated blood glucose had very high levels of oxidative stress, which damages nerves and blood vessels. If oxidative stress is a primary body response to diabetes, this indicates a strong place for targeted antioxidant therapy alongside the medical measures to control blood sugar.

Like most, I recommend the base diet of a diabetic has a low Glycaemic Load, is antioxidant dense and anti-inflammatory. To this I would add by supplements all the main antioxidant groups, as the synergy of antioxidants is more important than taking huge doses of just a few. In particular I would target those extracted from grape seeds (proanthocyanidins) and green tea (catechins) along with the usual suspects like vitamin C and E to help reduce the free radical damage to blood vessels and nerves. Give me a call if you need help. To join my weekly newsletter go to www.johnarts.co.nz and visit www.abundant.co.nz

John Arts is the founder of Abundant Health. To contact John phone (local) 5789051 or 0800 423 559.