The people of the Mediterranean have long maintained that wine is essential to good health. New research is lending credence to this belief. A large-scale study showed that over 40,000 people following a traditional Mediterranean Diet which included 1-2 glasses of wine per day were 30% less likely to die of cardiovascular disease than those who followed more typical western diets. In short, wine appears to work with rather than against the other healthy foods and eating habits of the Mediterranean Diet.

For most people on diabetic diets, however, the simple pleasure of a glass of wine or beer with dinner is a thing of the past. The belief is that the sugars in many alcoholic beverages can spike blood-glucose to dangerous levels. While this is true for many sweet and high-carbohydrate drinks, recent studies show that dry wines can actually reduce blood glucose levels, improve insulin resistance and dramatically lower the risk of coronary artery disease and other heart problems for people with diabetes.

Does wine spike blood sugar?

Because high blood sugar (hyperglycemia) is a characteristic of diabetes, diabetic diets are primarily concerned with stabilizing blood glucose levels. Recent studies have shown that moderate consumption of wine, however, can actually help lower blood sugar. Because of their high sugar content, however, sweet wines should be avoided in favor of dry ones. Some low-carbohydrate beers may also be safely added to diabetic diets. Furthermore, women who drank small amounts of alcohol also lowered their peak levels of insulin. This is a significant benefit to people with diabetes since high peak levels of insulin are known to increase blood fat and cholesterol and increase the risk of heart attacks.

Does wine lower cholesterol?

Many studies have shown that alcohol has a profound effect on regulating cholesterol and protecting the body against heart attacks, coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis and other heart complications. This effect appears even greater in people with diabetes. A recent study showed that people with diabetes who drank a moderate amount of alcohol daily reduced their risk of coronary heart disease by 60% compared to a 40% reduction in people without diabetes. This is because alcohol helps increase the levels of "good" HDL-cholesterol in the body. What's more, the flavonoids found in red wine inhibit the oxidation of "bad" LDL-cholesterol which causes fatty buildup in the arteries (atherosclerosis).

How much wine should I drink?

Adding 1-2 glasses of wine per day to diabetic diets is enough to gain the health benefits outlined above. Care should be taken not to overdo it, however, as over consumption of alcohol can lead to other health risks and actually worsen diabetic symptoms. Diabetes should always be managed with the advice and care of a trained medical professional. Consider the heart-healthy benefits of wine and other foods in the Mediterranean Diet when exploring the various diabetic diets available to you.

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The symptoms, the diagnoses and managing diabetes.

Fast food, sweets, soda, you name it I ate it. For the first 38 years of my life I consumed enough sugar for 10 people and then it happened. I knew something was wrong but I could not figure out what was happening.

I was tired all the time and so dehydrated I constantly felt like I had walked for days through the desert with nothing to drink. I was tired and just wanted to sleep. My vision got blurred and I mean so blurred I could not make out facial features on people standing in front of me. Luckily for me my sister worked in the medical field and happened to be talking to a nurse about me one day and told her of my symptoms. The nurse looked at her and said "Tell him to get to a doctor right now, he has diabetes. Sure enough I went to the doctor and explained how I had been feeling.

The first thing the doctor did was take a blood sugar. My glucose level was 480 and so the fun began. The doctor gave me a test meter, some lancets and test strips, showed me how to use them and directed me to start testing four times a day immediately and write down my test results in a notebook.

We started off on Metformin two times a day and made immediate changes to my diet. I tested when I woke in the morning, two hours after each meal and right before bed. Slowly over the next two weeks we modified the pills and adjusted my diet until my glucose levels started to level off in the proper range.

So started my experience with managing diabetes. It is an education of a lifetime and one that determines the course of the rest of my life. You earn what you can eat and when to eat it. How to pay attention to what your body is telling you because it will let you know what is going on all the time.

The interesting thing with people managing diabetes is you learn to become very in tune with your body and you notice things that most people would not even notice. The slightest shaking of the hands or being more tired than you normally would for no apparent reason. Managing diabetes requires a life long commitment and ultimate it determines how long that life time will last.

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This is one you do not hear about very often. Why is it that more is not said about chromium? With all that it is capable of doing,it appears to me that diabetics everywhere should know about it. Diabetes is one first class headache. Especially in America these days. The central focus appears to have been shifted from a cure, but is centered on sustaining life while living with the sickness

Once it was considered to be a sickness for older people but that has changed with our eating habits. Chromium is a trace mineral important in the maintenance of normal blood sugar levels. Good also for the transport of sugar to muscle cells for metabolism.

Why is it we are not scratching and clawing our way to the stores looking for chromium? With something like this at our disposal I think the shelves in stores should be empty. Chromium improves the function of insulin, the pancreatic hormone responsible for the regulation of sugar. Two hundred micrograms a day works wonders if you are diabetic.

Chromium has been shown to lower total cholesterol levels but raises HDL...the good cholesterol. It has the ability also to help in weight loss. I would advise if you are diabetic to take more than the usual dose per day. The increase in dose for diabetics is because they resist the effects of chromium. But now you must be thinking: What is chromium?

Chromium is a substance manufactured by the body to regulate sugar metabolism. Get up,get dressed and get right to the store. It may not be any chromium left when you get there. Minerals from the garden play a mighty important factor in keeping us healthy. It is not easy to understand why we got away from them,but for what ever reason we left,it is very easy to get back to them.

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Type 1 diabetes is caused by autoimmune destruction of pancreatic stem cells and is characterized by absolute insulin insufficiency. The monocellular nature of this disease and endocrine action of insulin make this disease an excellent candidate for cellular therapy. Furthermore, precedent for cellular therapies has been set by successful cadaveric whole pancreas and islet transplantation. In order to expand the supply of cells to meet current and future needs, several novel cell sources have been proposed, including human stem cells or islets expanded in culture, islet xenografts and pancreatic ductal progenitor cells. Surrogate stem cells derived from hepatocytes, intestinal K cells or non-endodermal cell types have also been suggested. Stem cells found in bone marrow and umbilical cord blood have been used extensively to repopulate the haematopoietic system and offer the possibility of autologous transplantation.

Recent studies have suggested that these stem cells may also have a broader capacity to differentiate, possibly into other cells.

Stem cells from embryonic sources, such as human embryonic stem and embryonic germ cells, have the ability to proliferate extensively in culture and have an inherent developmental plasticity that may make them a potentially unlimited source of cells that can sense glucose and produce mature insulin. The wide range of proposed cell sources and our increasingly clear picture of pancreatic development suggest that novel cellular therapies might one day compete with non-cellular glucose sensing and insulin delivery devices.

The current best medical practice for those with type 1 diabetes includes insulin by multiple daily injections or continuous pump infusion. Recently developed insulin analogues have helped to more closely approximate normal glucose homeostasis and have been especially beneficial in reducing hypoglycaemia while tightly controlling blood glucose. Glargine insulin provides nearly twenty four hours of low level basal insulin activity, while meal-time peaks in activity can be mimicked by administration of rapid acting insulin can be paused to avert hypoglycaemia.

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