By Michael Biamonte, C.C.N.
Much has been written about Diabetes so this article will only address the new data available to us that I feel needs to be more broadly known by practitioners and patients. Diabetes is essentially a disease affecting the sugar controlling mechanism of the body. The pancreas is the main gland controlling sugar. It produces and releases a hormone called insulin, which carries sugar to the cell and then encourages the sugar to be used as fuel. Insulin also can carry sugar to fat cells and encourages its storage as fat. In Diabetes the mechanism fails and blood sugar levels can go 2 to 6 times their normal level.
Medical treatment of Diabetes generally is limited to reduction in the amount of starches, sugars and total calories along with either insulin taken by injection or drugs taken orally. In either case the drugs help lower the blood sugar. Insulin injections have usually been reserved for more extreme cases.
In nutrition many vitamins and nutrients have been sighted as being a great help to diabetes. The B complex vitamins have always been utilized in Diabetes as they help convert food into energy. Zinc is an essential mineral to the pancreas as it is involved in insulin production. Chromium been long established as an important mineral in insulin utilization by the cells. Vanadyl sulfate a recent discovery has been found to greatly enhance the actions of insulin. It helps boost insulin’s actions and helps to regulate fats. There is al lot of data available about these nutrients and many others. However in order to achieve a greater understanding of diabetes we must look all the possible relationships.
PARASITES
Eurytrema pancreaticum is a parasite found in the pancreas. It is the type of parasite referred to as a fluke and comes from cattle and pigs. Some researchers claim that its presence causes diabetes due to the damage it creates in the pancreas. This parasite digs right into the gland destroying large amounts of its tissue. In our own practice some patients who were diabetic found that their blood sugar normalized and they were able to stop their medication after completing a parasite-killing program. While this is a real possibility it is very difficult to test someone for this. The only way to see if it is the culprit would be to undertake a parasite-killing regime.
TOXIC METALS
This is usually a totally ignored cause of most illnesses. Cadmium and Mercury are to toxic metals which we can encounter daily. They can be found in our food, beverages, personal care items and so forth. Both of them cause an excretion of zinc from the body and also block its functions. Iron, an essential nutrient responsible for red blood cell production is another possible toxin to the pancreas. It is quite common to find excessively high levels of iron in the tissues of diabetics. In excessive, it will damage and destroy the cells in the pancreas, liver and spleen.
MINERAL IMBALANCES
Guyton, a well known physiologist and author of medical textbooks, long observed a relationship between calcium, magnesium and insulin. Their precise relationship still has not been fully explained. Calcium seems to have a stimulating effect on insulin. Patients with hyperinsulism meaning excess insulin release have been observed to have higher levels of calcium in their tissues. The opposite is also true, diabetics who have been tested for insulin first thing in the morning and who have shown to have low levels have also been found to have excessively high magnesium levels in their tissue.
Some researchers feel that it is the imbalance between the two that is key. It has been sighted that very high calcium and very low magnesium also occur in diabetics. It is not my purpose here to argue either but to point out that in diabetes these two very important minerals are grossly imbalanced. I have observed that when patients are put on a program that is correct and causes and improvement in their sugar level as evidenced by either a urine or blood test that these two minerals do improve in their balance to one another.
MEDICATIONS
Believe it or not there actually exist prescription medications whose known side effects are elevated sugar. I would not attempt to list them here but would advise you to carefully check with your doctor regarding this. You may have to look it up yourself if the doctor is too embarrassed to discuss this point.
THE AMERICAN DIET
It is a known fact that Diabetes as a disease is common to the civilized races of the world and unheard of amongst primitive people. Dr. Weston Price in his book DIET AND PHYSICAL DEGENERATION made a very interesting observation. Dr. Price studied and examined people for all over the world. He noted very clearly that those people who did not have access to modern packaged foods had much better health, better teeth (Dr.Price was a Dentist) than those people who lived only a short distance away but who ate a diet filled with modern sugar and fat loaded foods.
Raw foods have been found lower the requirement of insulin to control blood sugar. In 1975 vol.82 of the ANNALS OF INTERNAL MEDICINE, John M.Douglass found that a diet high in raw uncooked foods actually lessened the demand for insulin to keep sugar levels normal. This means to me that the American diet, which tends to be very low in raw food, would cause a greater need for insulin. Man living naturally in the wild or any culture that tends to “live off the land” would normally eat more raw food.
My theory is that part of the actual cause of diabetes is that man becoming civilized has been including less raw food in his diet over the period over hundreds of years. This could be proven rather easily. But this being the case would cause a greater need for insulin then the body once had. Many people’s bodies may not be able to adapt to cooked food diets making them more susceptible to diabetes. The proof is that when many diabetics go on a diet of at least 60% raw food the blood dramatically improves.
ALLERGIES
There is also very sound research and cases histories that show improvement in blood sugar form the avoidance of allergens. Dr. Jonathan Wright M.D. Routinely checks all patients with high blood pressure and diabetes for allergies. While I am not aware of specific data that explains the relationship has been shown the patients will experience sometimes a dramatic improvement in blood sugar by avoiding allergens.
OBESITY
This is a known fact and nothing new but it does need to be included. Probably the most common prescription for any diabetic will be weight loss and exercise. It remains as effective as any treatment mentioned.
Insulin dependent diabetes usually occurs in people below 30. These people are not necessarily overweight. They will show very low levels of insulin in their blood. Non-insulin dependent diabetes attacks those over 30 who may have a weight problem. Interestingly enough they do show insulin in the blood but the secretions are low relative to the amount of incoming sugar. Their sugar appears to be resistant to insulin. Juvenile Diabetes is the name given to this illness when it strikes a child. They most always end up on insulin.
MINERAL DEFICIENCIES
We touched on this at the beginning and there is no doubt that vitamin, mineral and herbal programs have helped many diabetics. However as always I will warn strongly recommend proper testing to determine which nutrients you need. AN EXCESS OF ANY NUTRIENT CAN CREATE THE SAME SYMPTOMS AS IT WILL WHEN IT IS DEFICIENT. This one point can make a very big difference between success and failure. The most commonly needed nutrients by diabetics are vitamins E, B1, B6, and B3. All have been found essential in controlling blood sugar. The minerals Zinc, Chromium, Vanadium, Molybdenum and Selenium are all involved in the regulation of sugar, each in a different way.
HYPOTHYROIDISM
This problem when addressed can be like a miracle to the diabetic patient. Although it has received little attention in orthodox medicine I have seen numerous cases of diabetes, which responded to programs, aimed normalizing thyroid function.
PINEAL INSUFFICIENCIES
This is a topic that few nutritionists could explain. The pineal gland and the posterior pituitary gland are involved in balance sugar. They do so by producing hormones that affect the kidneys. These hormones tell the kidneys how to balance sugar and water in the body. They direct the kidneys to eliminate water and sugar in different proportions. If these glands malfunction due to a lack of the vitamins or minerals that they depend on they can contribute to blood sugar elevations. It takes a very sharp nutritionist to fix this one.
WHATS THE SOLUTION?
This is always my favorite part of an article, giving you solutions. This article is actually a checklist for detecting if a diabetic can be helped by alternative treatment. A diabetic should be checked out on every one of these items to see which apply. At my offices we specifically test a diabetic to see which of these apply to him. It could be all or none. Usually it is most of them. So we begin by having the person do a seven to twelve day parasite cleanse to make sure they do not have Eurytrema pancreaticum. I know of very few people who wouldn’t benefit from a parasite cleanse.
In fact the only people I can think of who wouldn’t benefit are deceased. After the parasite cleanse we would have the person do an intestinal cleansing program. This would be done for several reasons. The most important is that unless we detoxify the body it will not be able to proper absorb the needed nutrients. We would also increase the amounts of raw foods thus adjusting the diet. This would tend to assist the cleansing process anyway. At this time we would also test the person for toxic metals and allergies and begin to handle these if they are present. We would also now begin to add any nutrients that we found to be low that might effect blood sugar. At this point weight loss would have occurred as a natural result of more raw foods and the intestinal cleansing program.
THE FOUR STEPS
THE LAST STEP
The last step involves balancing every gland and organ involved in the metabolism along with every nutrient that the gland or organ uses. This is done by a computer analysis of the entire body. The goal of this approach is simply to rule out every possible cause and in doing so correct any causes found. By the time we finish we undoubtedly have a healthier body. As time passes and more possible underlying causes are found that can be categorized within these four steps and included in this program. This means that there is hope that something other then drugs can be done for diabetics!
Michael Biamonte holds a Doctorate of Nutripathy, and is a New York State certified Clinical Nutritionist. He is a professional member of the International and American Association of Clinical Nutritionists,The American College of Nutrition and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Clinical Nutrition Certification Board. He is listed in “The Directory of Distinguished Americans” for his research in Nutrition and Physiology.
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