The Everything Guide to Herbal Remedies (15 page)
Read The Everything Guide to Herbal Remedies Online
Authors: Martha Schindler Connors
Diabetes is a chronic, incurable disease involving elevated levels of blood sugar, or
glucose.
Rates of diabetes are skyrocketing. According to the CDC, about 24 million Americans now have diabetes, which is more than three million more than just two years ago; that’s nearly 8 percent of the population. What’s to blame: a high-calorie, high-fat diet and lack of physical exercise.
Diabetes is a disease involving insulin, which is a hormone produced in the pancreas that regulates glucose. Insulin helps move the sugar from your gastrointestinal tract (it comes from the carbohydrates you eat) to the cells throughout your body.
Doctors have identified a milder type of diabetes, known as prediabetes, which involves blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not as high as a diabetic’s. Prediabetes is still serious, however. It significantly increases your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, as well as heart disease and stroke.
There are two main types of diabetes: type 1 (also known as insulin-dependent diabetes), which usually develops in childhood and involves an inability to produce insulin, and type 2 (or adult-onset diabetes), which develops in adulthood. Type 2 is significantly more common—it represents more than 90 percent of all cases of diabetes—and typically begins with
insulin resistance,
a disorder in which the cells stop using insulin properly and continually signal the pancreas to produce more. As the demand rises, the pancreas gradually loses its ability to meet it and full-blown diabetes sets in.
Diabetes is associated with insulin shortfalls, which can be the result of insufficient production, inefficient action, or both.
Without enough insulin, glucose stays in your blood, where it can create short-term problems like fatigue and thirst. Over time, excessive glucose can cause blindness, kidney damage, CVD, and circulatory problems that can lead to lower-limb amputations.
Conventional medicine treats diabetes with insulin, which is given to some people with type 2 diabetes and everyone with type 1. Diabetics also get oral medications such as metformin (Glucophage, Riomet) and glipizide (Glucotrol), which are hypoglycemics (they lower blood glucose levels); other drugs increase insulin sensitivity and decrease carbohydrate absorption.
In recent years, scientists have tied excessive consumption of refined carbohydrates, such as sugar and white bread, with diabetes and insulin resistance. These foods are digested and converted to glucose quickly, which creates a big demand for insulin. Experts advise diabetics and non-diabetics alike to load their plates with unrefined carbohydrates, which don’t create blood sugar surges.
People who take insulin (sold under the brand names of Apidra, Humulin, Novolin, and others) can experience mild allergic reactions or low blood sugar, the symptoms of which can include sweating, anxiety, nausea, and rapid heartbeat. Side effects of hypoglycemic drugs can include diarrhea, nausea, stomach pain, and vomiting. Herbal therapies for diabetes, prediabetes, and insulin resistance include these:
| • Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum, C. aromaticum) | Some studies show that this popular spice can lower blood glucose levels by increasing insulin receptor sensitivity. |
| • Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) | The seeds of this plant are used as a diabetes remedy in India and other parts of the world. They seem to slow carbohydrate absorption and lower glucose levels. |
| • Ginseng (Panax ginseng, P. quinquefolius, Eleutherococcus senticosus) | All of the major varieties of ginseng—Asian, American, and Siberian (eleuthero)—have been shown to lower blood sugar levels. |
| • Gymnema (Gymnema sylvestre) | In Hindi, this Indian plant is known as gur-mar, or “sugar destroyer." Research shows that diabetics who take a gymnema extract can cut their insulin doses in half and can reduce or even discontinue taking conventional hypoglycemic drugs. |
| • Konjac (Amorphophallus konjac, A. rivieri) | This tuber, also known as devil’s tongue, contains a substance called glucomannan, which is a type of indigestible fiber that can regulate glucose levels in diabetics (it also seems to help reduce cholesterol). |
| • Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) | A key chemical constituent in milk thistle, silymarin, has been shown to decrease insulin resistance and stabilize blood sugar and lipid levels in diabetics. |
| • Psyllium (Plantago ovata, P. psyllium) | Psyllium can significantly lower glucose levels in people with diabetes (both type 1 and type 2). |
| • Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum, O. sanctum) | Preliminary research shows that extracts of this Ayurvedic herb can lower blood glucose levels in people with type 2 diabetes. |
| • Prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) | Studies show that this cactus, also known as nopal, can significantly reduce blood sugar levels in some type 2 diabetics. |
The liver processes blood as it leaves the stomach and intestines, breaking down nutrients and drugs and filtering out toxins. Chronic liver disease affects one in ten Americans and kills 27,000 of them each year. Any disease of the liver can inhibit its ability to process and eliminate drugs—both pharmaceuticals and medicinal herbs—meaning they can accumulate and reach toxic levels. If you’ve got any liver issues, talk with your doctor about taking any medicine or supplement, and avoid alcohol (your liver won’t be able to process that drug properly, either).
If you regularly drink more alcohol than your liver can handle, the alcohol overload can cause several diseases.
• Fatty liver disease
affects almost all heavy drinkers and involves the accumulation of excess fat cells. Symptoms can include abdominal discomfort, although many people won’t see any signs at all. It will improve if you stop drinking.
• Alcoholic hepatitis
affects up to 35 percent of heavy drinkers and creates nausea, abdominal pain, fever, and jaundice (a yellowing of your skin and the whites of your eyes). The damage can be reversed if you eliminate the alcohol but can lead to progressive and permanent liver damage if you don’t.
• Alcoholic cirrhosis
affects about 20 percent of heavy drinkers, most often after ten or more years of serious imbibing. In cirrhosis, normal liver tissue is replaced with scar tissue. Symptoms are similar to those of alcoholic hepatitis (see above), but the damage is irreversible.
This is caused by a virus—commonly known as hepatitis A, B, or C—and typically produces fever, headache, fever, and jaundice. Symptoms and treatments vary:
• Hepatitis A
(HVA), which is generally transmitted through contaminated food or water, typically clears up after six months without causing permanent damage.
• Hepatitis B
(HVB) can be acute (short-term, without any lasting problems) or chronic (ongoing and possibly leading to cirrhosis, cancer, or liver failure). It’s transmitted through bodily fluids and from mother to baby during childbirth.
• Hepatitis C
(HVC) is transmitted via blood and often produces no symptoms (meaning it can go undetected for years). Hepatitis C damages the liver and can lead to potentially fatal liver diseases.
Hepatitis A is generally treated with a vaccine, which can help thwart the infection. Doctors typically let an acute hepatitis B infection run its course without any drug treatments; chronic HVB and HVC infections may be treated with antiviral drugs called
interferons,
which can cause muscle pain and other side effects.
The most common cause of acute liver failure in the United States is overdosing on acetaminophen (Tylenol). Taking more than the recommended doses or combining the drug with alcohol can create more toxic byproducts than your liver can handle. Excessive doses of other OTC and prescription drugs can also cause liver toxicity.
If you’ve got liver disease, you should definitely follow your doctor’s advice (and take the meds that are prescribed), but you can also use herbs to support your liver and its functioning. For example:
| • Artichoke (Cynara cardunculus, C. scolymus) | Artichoke is a choleretic (it enhances the flow of bile) and rich source of antioxidants. It helps the liver process fats and cholesterol and protects it from oxidative damage. |
| • Cordyceps (Cordyceps sinensis) | Extracts of this mushroom can improve liver function in people with infectious hepatitis. It also improves triglyceride and blood sugar levels in diabetics, which could help prevent fatty liver disease. |
| • Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) | Milk thistle extracts support liver function and can improve the symptoms of alcoholic liver disease and infectious hepatitis. They also stimulate liver regeneration and the formation of new liver cells. |
| • Schisandra (Schisandra chinensis) | Schisandra extracts can protect the liver and have been shown to improve liver function in patients with viral and drug-induced hepatitis. |
The 100-plus diseases known as cancer share a common cause: the growth and spread of abnormal cells, which are created when the cells’ genetic material is mutated though a process called
carcinogenesis.
This upsets the normal balance between the birth and death of cells—termed
apoptosis—
and creates a process of uncontrolled proliferation and tumor formation.
Cancer can be traced to internal factors (genetics, immune conditions, or hormonal problems) and external factors (smoking or exposure to chemicals, radiation, or infectious agents). All of these things can act together or sequentially to create disease.
Who is at risk for cancer?
Cancer can strike anyone, but more than three-fourths of all cancers occur in people over fifty-five. When experts talk about risk, they’re most often talking about lifetime risk: the likelihood that you’ll develop cancer over the course of your lifetime. In the United States, men have a slightly less than 50-percent lifetime risk; for women, it’s roughly one in three.