Natural Help for Diabetes

Studies suggest that resveratrol may help increase insulin sensitivity, treat symptoms of diabetes, and perhaps even prevent some of the more serious effects of this debilitating condition. Diabetes is a metabolic disease that develops when the pancreas does not produce enough (or any) of a hormone called insulin, necessary for metabolism of dietary carbohydrates and fats. In Type I diabetes, the pancreatic cells that produce insulin are actually destroyed. Type II diabetes typically begins when the body’s cells develop resistance to insulin, which can eventually lead to inability of the pancreas to produce enough insulin.^85-86

Factors that Cause Diabetes

Type II diabetes is far more common than Type I, and is growing in prevalence around the world. Risk factors include greater age, being overweight or obese, lack of physical activity, and genetics.⁸⁶

Evidence from animal and human studies indicates that shorter telomeres are linked to diseases associated with aging, such as Type II diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease. Telomeres are the ends of chromosomes, which are the threadlike structures in cells that contain DNA.⁸⁷ Researchers recently uncovered evidence in one animal study that suggests a cause of the sugar metabolism problems that characterize diabetes could be shortened telomeres in the pancreatic cells that produce insulin.⁸⁸

Effects of Diabetes

The chronic excess glucose in the bloodstream from either type of diabetes can cause a multitude of other health complications:⁸⁶

• Coma
• Diabetic ketoacidosis
• Foot ulcers and other skin problems
• Greater prevalence of bacterial, fungal, and viral infections, some with increased severity
• Heart attack
• Liver and kidney disease
• Loss of eyesight
• Memory and cognitive problems
• Nerve damage

How Can Resveratrol Help?

Results from animal studies involving rat models of diabetes have demonstrated that resveratrol confirmed that resveratrol may offer the following overall benefits to diabetics:

• Lower non-fasting blood glucose levels, as demonstrated by repeated administration of even low levels of resveratrol in diabetic rats.⁴⁵
• Increase glucose metabolism by cells without raising insulin levels.⁴⁵
• Increased insulin sensitivity.²¹

Multiple studies have indicated that these effects, along with resveratrol’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, may also alleviate some of the negative health outcomes from specific conditions that chronic high blood sugar levels can lead to:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• Cardiovascular disease
• Cerebrovascular disease (up to four times greater risk with diabetes)
• Erectile dysfunction
• Fatty liver disease
• Nephropathy
• Neuropathy
• Retinopathy, cataracts, and glaucoma