Diabetes and Glyconutrients
Glyconutrients such as, mannose, n-acetylglucosamine, galactose, glucosamine, fructose, have been found to have stimulatory effect on the pancreas, which increases insulin secretion (Matschinsky, 1975).
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes Mellitus is a cellular malfunction which causes the body to have a defect in handling glucose. Glucose is a monosaccharide that is an essential source of energy found in the food we eat and after digesting the food it gets stored in the liver primarily.
Two hormones that maintain the transaction and use of glucose are, insulin and glucagon. Diabetes Mellitus happens when there is not enough insulin from the pancreas and it does not transport the glucose properly to the cells which can cause two things to happen:
1. Cells will get starved which means they will not be able to take the glucose and make it into energy.
2. Instead of the cells receiving the glucose the blood accumulates all the glucose. To much in the blood can be dangerous for diabetes mellitus.
There are two major forms of diabetes:
1. Type I- insulin dependent juvenile diabetes: The body simply is unable to produce the insulin it needs to deliver glucose from the bloodstream to the cells.
2. Type II- non-insulin dependent adult-onset diabetes: The pancreas is still producing insulin but for some reason cells become resistant to glucose and it cannot transport it. This occurs mostly in middle age people that are obese.
Did you know?
Half of the people that have diabetes don't even know they have it according to the American Diabetes Association. In fact one in every 20 people in the United States is diabetic and it afflicts approximately 14 million Americans reported Kahn (1994). Working age people, diabetes is the leading cause of nontraumatic amputations, blindness, and end stage kidney disease. These types of problems my not manifest until it is too late that is why it is so important to prevent it from happening. Since 1950 diabetes has gone up 700% and one of the major causes spells out O-B-E-S-I-T-Y.
How can glyconutrients help with diabetes mellitus?
Matschinsky, in "Hexoses and Insulin Secretion" found that n-acetylglucosamine, mannose, fructose, galactose, and glucosamine have all been found to increase insulin secretion. Galactose had a very important effect in stimulating insulin secretion, Ercan found as well ("Effects of Glucose, Galactose and Lactose Ingestion on the Plasma and Insulin Response in Persons with Non-insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus").
Harvard University researchers at the Opthalmology Department discovered that one of the monosaccharides, mannose might be able to replace the pathway of glucose. This would allow the mannose molesule to create the energy and simultaneously prevent the substance that causes cataract formation and retinal damage (Cheng, "Modifying Rat Lens Glucose Metabolism with Exogenous Substrates"). Right now there are studies being done at Harvard University in regards to mannose. This means mannose would stimulate the pancreas as well as prevent cataract formation.