The BLOOD SUGAR connection

[Norm]

Boy, that is hard to do! I work in a fast paced industry and I normally get one meal a day, two if lucky. Most of our job sites are remote and the best you can do is to remember some crackers or chips, none of which is good for blood sugar. If I could plan the day, it would work. But when I walk in the door, I have no idea where the next time-bomb will go off. What do you do?  

[funnyfarm]

Thank you george.  It sounds like I need to follow the same dietary guidelines as a diabetic person. And thank you for distinguishing between glycemic index and load.  I will definitely eat more often and in smaller quantities.

[funnyfarm]

George, I also noticed increased inflammation during and after going to the gym, especially in the evening.   It is much less pronounced vs after eating but I was curious if exercise also increases blood sugar / insulin response similar to food ?  

[MattFoley]

Norm, consider doing what I do:

When I'm out for the day, I mix a protein drink in a sealed shaker bottle and bring a bunch of beef jerky. I have them in a backpack with me. Keep the carbs low and keep the protein high. I eat every 2.5-3.0 hours and do exactly as George does in eating small frequent meals. Works really well for me.

[George999]

George, I also noticed increased inflammation during and after going to the gym, especially in the evening.   It is much less pronounced vs after eating but I was curious if exercise also increases blood sugar / insulin response similar to food ?

Aerobic exercise actually reduces both blood sugar and insulin levels.  I really don't know about the non-aerobic stuff.  - George

[skunkworks]

The Relationship Between Exercise and Inflammation (and What It Means for Your Workouts)

https://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-relationship-between-exercise-and-inflammation-and-what-it-means-for-your-workouts/

[George999]

VERY FASCINATING!  A quick read indicates to me that IN THE SHORT TERM exercise CAUSES ACUTE inflammation BUT OVER THE LONG TERM exercise results in LOWERING BASE LINE inflammation.  And in my mind that makes exercise a GOOD thing.  You have to endure the short term TRANSIENT negative in order to achieve the long term ENDURING positive.  - George

[skunkworks]

He advises against chronic cardio though. Long runs, jogs etc as is it in effect chronic inflammation.

[funnyfarm]

Thank you Skunk. I appreciate the interesting and fact filled article you linked.  It is nice to collect some info that is not focused on supplementation or drugs for a change.  It is easy to forget the important effects that lifestyle, diet, and exercise have on treating Peyronies Disease.

I guess the one good thing about having chronic flacid soreness is you get immediate feedback of what is helping or hurting.  A few things I have noticed from the daily journal I keep, just in case it helps someone:

-after a workout or even just a long walk, I have a small increase in inflammation for 15-20 min.  Then it drops and I also have less anxiety for the rest of the day.
-tight pants, especially jeans are a definite no-no.
-applying any type of heat to my penis makes it worse.
-eating a large meal, especially one high in refined carbs, causes a spike in inflammation that last about an hour.  The effect is worse at night vs the morning.  Eating too quickly also exasperates this problem.
-getting too little sleep will increase my baseline inflammation the entire day, often substantially.
-Stress will raise pain immediately and at times distressingly, but it subsides quickly once I relax.
-Yoga, mediation, massage, and acupuncture sometimes eliminate the inflammation completely.  However it returns once I resume normal activity.
-inflammation is worse for 2 or 3 days after masturbation (so I avoid it).
-with pentox I get more or a sore pain, vs a pinching pain I get when not taking it.
-fish oil, vit E, nattokinase, and other supplements that thin my blood increase soreness for a few hours.  I generally avoid them, but occasionally take one at bed time to promote general health.
-"traumeel" tabs and "nervefix" caps will sometimes provide short term relief (ie reduce soreness 50% for an hour or two).   I have tried dozens of natural pain relief remedies and all the others did nothing.
-Benedryl helps (but I don't take it due to side effects and also due to the fact it can reduce blood flow).
-tylenol, advil, ect, do nothing.

[MattFoley]

Aerobic exercise actually reduces both blood sugar and insulin levels.  I really don't know about the non-aerobic stuff.  - George

George, I'm assuming you mean lifting weights when you mention the "non-aerobic stuff".

Yes, even weight lifting has aerobic value but obviously not as much as running, jogging, etc. If you move through your weight lifting routine as fast as I do, you get additional value.

Since aerobic exercise tends to lower testosterone, I stick to weight lifting using smaller rep sets.

[Hawk]

By the same token, obviously running can be anaerobic if you are sprinting.

[MattFoley]

Excellent point, Hawk.

Most importantly, sprinting can increase testosterone levels as opposed to long distance running which can lower it. Heavy weight lifting will raise testosterone levels, especially exercises that focus on the lower body.

[George999]

I guess I should have used the term resistance exercise instead of non-aerobic.  Resistance exercise tends to require longer rest periods between exercise or it becomes counter productive.  Intense resistance exercise may require a few days or a week of rest from that particular resistance exercise.  That is why body builders have a schedule of different forms of resistance exercise that they rotate through.  The same problem comes up in a different way with aerobic exercise.  Aerobic excercise needs to be in the form of intervals of intense and relaxed pace.  People who do flat land running for example all day long are not going to get a lot of value out of it.  It needs to shift from fast to slow and back and up hill and down hill, etc.  Otherwise you end up with the inflammation issues.  - George

[funnyfarm]

George, I found switching to smaller meals was logistically difficult for me.  Instead I have altered my diet so I am primarily eating grassfed beef, pastured eggs, vegetables, and high quality fats that have minimal omega 6.  I have reduced grains, sugars and other refined carbs to close to zero.  Basically a paleo diet.  I can now eat a large meal without getting the inflammation afterwards.  I can't tell you how much of a relief it is to eat without the fear of suffering in pain afterwards.  

I am slightly concerned all this protein and fat may stress my liver, but at least glycemic load is low with this diet, and my mood is more stable.  

[MattFoley]

funnyfarm, as far as I'm concerned, that's as close to a perfect diet as you can get. Well done. My whole life turned around when I switched to that type of diet. For me though, I'm able to arrange smaller meals every 3 hours. That helps maintain a constant stream of protein into my body.

[rd]

Have you all ever thought about adding intermittent fasting(IF) to your diet? Someone brought it up on the forum awhile back so I started researching it. I have found studies indicating that it lowers inflammation and actually helps improve insulin resistance. I follow Paleo as strictly as I can, I'm probably 95% strict paleo if not more. But while researching it and IF it made since to me that our bodies probably evolved to go through periods of no food intake. Maybe a day here and there if not more. I have will do 24 hour fast sometimes once a week and sometimes 2 a month. The first one was hard but after that its so easy and I really feel refreshed after it.

[George999]

Sounds like all you guys are really on the right track.  - George

[funnyfarm]

rd yes I think a weekly fast would be ideal for me.  With the peyronies I have gravitated toward depressed and lack the mental focus and discipline to maintain a healthy diet.  I would occasionally fast when I was younger and in fact my overall nutrition was much better before I got Peyronies Disease.  Hopefully I can maintain the willpower to keep this up, now that I feel a little better.

Also I agree with your point,  I doubt primitive man ate nearly as often as we do, another good argument to fast and thereby detox, which hopefully will lower inflammation.

Matt, thanks for the encouragement.  I would also like to incorporate more anaerobic and less aerobic exercise as you guys suggested on another thread.  Since the Peyronies Disease struck I almost eliminated weight training, but in retrospect that was a bad choice.

I think in my case the Peyronies Disease is due to multiple bad influences.  So it will require several changes, rather than a silver bullet,  if I really see a large regression in the symptoms.

[MattFoley]

funnyfarm, I can understand why you put proper nutrition and weight lifting aside when you first got hit with Peyronie's. Like others here, I was so depressed that it happened to me that I often would smoke cigarettes to deal with the stress. Considering smoking was one the main reasons I got Peyronie's, talk about pure stupidity!!

When I started getting my bearings about me, I got back into a good diet and started weight lifting again. I feel enormously better. As you know, staying positive is so important to our journey through this darkness.

[rd]

Speaking of diet, I have recently made some changes to mine, and I have had some improvements recently. I also had the stem cell treatment as well but that will be 2 years ago come august so I wouldn't think that my results are still from that but I could be wrong. I started doing my diet after doctors told me I would be suck with peyronies for life. The funny thing now is I look back and what I thought was healthy wasn't. I had always had what I thought was a healthy diet low fat and little junk food, boy was I wrong. I didn't realize how much process crap I ate until I started researching. After starting my research, I started out buying into the whole raw plant based diet. That I felt great on but was always hungry and lost a ton of weight and strength. This wasn't ideal for me because I am a avid lifter and already lean before the diet. As I started to research more, I found out about grass fed meats and slowly started to incorporate them into my diet. About 1.5 months ago I made the switch to having all my meats 100% grass fed after reading how much healthier it is. I also discovered by mistake which caused me to do more research into the issue, that when I upped my saturated fat intake from the meats I felt SO much better. I had been fighting fatigue forever, and had become injury prone it seemed. I work in IT so I don't expend much energy, but I was always so exhausted by the time I went home I would just pass out. I could hardly keep my eyes open on my drives home.

Not to long ago when buy grass fed meats I bought a new cut I hadn't had before well it turned out to be a really fatty cut and I was never one that liked fat on my meat, plus I had always been told it was bad for you. Well I cooked it and ate it anyways because the grass fed was expensive. Well the next few days I noticed I had so much more energy. So I started to play around with it and the days I ate more fat I felt better. I also started researching and found out according to DR Peter Attia and a few other doctors that fats were actually good for you and help to keep you health.  I have since been adding fattier cuts of meat to my diet and cutting back the carbs even naturally occurring. I still eat fruits but just not as much before(I was eating lots of fruits). I also eat these with the fatty cuts of meat so that I can absorb all the fat soluble vitamins and minerals in them better.  

Since doing this my energy seems to be so much higher I feel better over all. My strength has improved much in a small amount of time. I kinda feel like I use to before having all this energy loss. I feel better mentally as well, I remember things better and that's great for me because my memory sucks. I don't have the same aches and pains anymore either after working out. I still get sore which is what I want, but before sometimes I would be lifting and tweak something here and there. The thing I'm most happy about its that one of my remaining lumps on the right side is almost undetectable. It's still there but hard to find it use to be really easy. The area also starts to itch at times which I'd like to think it caused by healing. Now I still have a slight dent where the lump is but until it gets to the point where I can't find it at all I would assume the dent will be there. It has gotten smaller though. My pain is also pretty much gone as well. Even after masturbation which would leave me in pain for a few days.

I really think diet can play a major role in keeping us healthy as well as reversing health issues, we just need to cut through all the BS and politics and find out what we really should be eating.

PS Sorry for the long winded post its been awhile since I have been on here and just wanted to share what I thought may be helping me to recover.

[Hawk]

I think opinions are a lot like butt holes and I have one too.  I think modern diets crammed sugar, transfats, and other things like salt (which is not my main focus) into foods to make people crave them and buy more.  They wrecked our health.  As a counter to this however, a lot of fad diets came out that are equally unnatural.  I am not a primitive man.  I was made to eat large amounts of vegetables and fruit.  Whether you contend God created me or that I evolved for many millions of years, I am not a cave man.  Those that try these diets in my opinion feel better for a few obvious reasons that have little to do with the hype and new found "secrets" the diets promote.  When people feel better they often become almost like religious zealots defending fad diets and refusing to hear reason.

Why do people feel better on these diets.

1. They get rid of or greatly reduce REFINED carbohydrates.
2. They include some healthy fats and protein
3. In some cases they may benefit a fair minority of people that are gluten intolerant
4. People generally feel better about making informed choices and taking charge of their health.
5. They generally improve in areas of rest, exercise and other life style changes all which further convince them this one diet is the answer.

Many of these diets however error from a truly natural diet by falling off the other end of the spectrum and minimizing healthy vegetables and fruits which should be 5 to 7 servings per day.  It is the source of most anti-inflammatory compounds that prevent heart disease and cancer not to mention a host of other conditions.

I don't hesitate to eat a couple slices on nitrate/nitrite free bacon and a couple of organic eggs or some cheese, but I also do not hesitate to eat a fruit smoothy with a whole apple, whole orange, a mixture of berries, and fresh pineapple mixed with a little Atkins shake or soymilk, and whey protein.  I also eat a LARGE mixing bowl full of salad including Cruciferous vegetables 3 or 4 types of greens (no iceberg lettuce) and a little roasted chicken.  That salad is my meal.  I crave cooked kale and turnip greens.  These things are all necessary to good health.  Beware of the no / low fat; or the no / low carb diets.  They all identify a flaw in one end of the spectrum, then they get you to jump off the other end of the spectrum.

I would literally just as soon smoke a cigarette as eat a hotdog or fries and feel only slightly better about white bread.  Carbs are not the culprit.  Refined carbs are the culprit.  Fat is not the culprit.  Trans fats, nitrates, large amounts of saturated fats are the culprit.  

[skunkworks]

I was made to eat large amounts of vegetables and fruit.

What do you base that on?

[rd]

I would also like to know what you based statement "I was made to eat large amounts of vegetables and fruits." came from? I do agree however that eating as much non processed foods(Refined Carbs) are the main idea of these diets and rightfully so.

[George999]

I would literally just as soon smoke a cigarette as eat a hotdog or fries and feel only slightly better about white bread.  Carbs are not the culprit.  Refined carbs are the culprit.  Fat is not the culprit.  Trans fats, nitrates, large amounts of saturated fats are the culprit.

That statement needs to be engraved on a mountain somewhere.  It says it all.  Beyond that one has to realize that people are different and their diets will vary to some degree.  Some will need a bit more veggies, others a bit more fruit, and others perhaps a bit more HEALTHY meats.  Personally, like Hawk, I have found there is little out there that beats a huge green salad for the evening meal.  I like to add some olive oil and avocado to make it a bit more tasty.

While I don't know either where the idea "I was made to eat large amounts of vegetables and fruits." came from, I DO know that there are countless studies that I have seen go by that indicate that more is better in this regard, especially in the case of vegetables.

- George

A couple of additional points:

1 - Saturated fat has gotten a bad rap in part because much of the saturated fat people eat comes from heavily corn fed feed lot livestock.  There is growing evidence that things like grass fed beef and free range chicken eggs are not so bad after all.  What the animals eat makes a huge difference.  Cows in their natural setting don't and corn and neither do chickens.  You feed a chicken flax seed instead of corn and the inflammatory Omega 6 content in their eggs goes way down and the Omega 3 content goes way up.  Ditto for cow fat.

2 - Wheat is not bad in and of itself.  The PROBLEM is wheat that has been selectively bred over millenia to produce quantity rather than quality.  Domestic wheat has been shown to have a pro-diabetic effect on the human genome.  But now at least one new study is indicating that primitive wheat has just the opposite effect AND tastes great.  It does cost more because it does not produce nearly as proficiently.

[Hawk]

Skunkworks and RD, Thats a good question    It made me smile

I largely base it on the medical and and scientific data we have about our need for the vitamins and enzymes found in a diverse diet of fruits, vegetables, and meats, not to mention the the needs for soluble and insoluble fiber.  The needs for these macro and micro nutrients are pretty well established.  I also base it in part on the agricultural habits of mankind for the last thousand years.  Finally it is when I feel my very best.  I spent the first decades of my life largely as a big meat eater.  I have also spent short periods of my life as a pescetarian (lacto,ovo vegeterian plus fish).  I have fasted from all food for 5 days straight and typically fast one day a month.  I have friends that are raw vegiterians so I have exposed my body to the full gambit of diets.  Since I have often run 25 miles a week and done some strength training and body building I know how my body performs on various diets.

Although this has nothing to do with my point, one of the most interesting things I ever experienced was setting my best time at a 5 mile run while I was on the 5th day of a five day fast.  I had a mentor that told me I possibly would.  To me it defied every thing I thought I knew up to that time (decades ago).

I find it interesting that we talk about certain restrictive "natural or traditional" diets here then load up on food supplements.

PS: George I also go with avocados and black olives and reduce the shrimp of chicken sometimes.  It making me hungry to think about.

[rd]

I agree George I think everyone will vary slightly in there diets and what they need. Just like we all have unique finger prints are bodies all act uniquely to a degree when it comes to diet. I think we all just need to really pay attention to our own bodies and how we feel. I kept a log of my foods and monitored how I felt from day to day. My answer was upping my saturated fats. It gave me the biggest improvements. I felt really good on just raw plant based as well, but my body seems to do better on more fats. My cousin is the opposite he does better on vegan and has lost a ton of weight and feels better. There's not one right answer unfortunately.

[rd]

Hawk, I fast as well once or twice a month and have noticed how much better I feel during and after. My first 24 hour fast was hard but after that it was a breeze. I know I feel more alert and mental clarity when fasting as well. I can't do it to often as I lose way to much weight and people think I'm sick or something. But I do believe occasional fasting is also good for ones health.

[George999]

Note, I just modified my previous post to touch on saturated fat and wheat issues.  - George

[George999]

I have found that Mackeral goes very good with green salads.  Great flavor and quite healthy.  LOTS of Omega 3s.  - George

[Hawk]

I think I am drifting off direct Peyronies Disease issues but anyone that has fasted for 24 hours has done the hard part.  That is when you are the most hungry.  After that, my experience was that my body just got the idea that I was not eating and stopped expecting it to a large degree.  I too felt great.  I almost felt bionic.  

Unfortunately company came to town and took us out to eat and I broke that fast about as badly as a person could and that was not such a positive experience.  

[George999]

Unfortunately company came to town and took us out to eat and I broke that fast about as badly as a person could and that was not such a positive experience.

A lot of our poor food habits are based on social demands.  Not too long ago a nurse at my doctors office commented to me that it was really hard for her to maintain a healthy diet because donuts were always being served in the office.  The problem pervades our modern culture.  The least healthy of foods are the ones that are always understood to be appropriate for company or for parties.  Not a good scene and it is contributing to all sorts of diseases.  - George

[skunkworks]

It is the omega 3 to omega 6 ratio that is important, not whether it is saturated or unsaturated. With regards to inflammation that is, which I have been obsessed with for awhile now. And because my fiancee is a doctor I can get her to order me bloodtests to check my markers of inflammation whenever I want. n=1 experiments are fun.

But now at least one new study is indicating that primitive wheat has just the opposite effect AND tastes great.

Have you got a link to that study?

[George999]

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/234089352_Characterization_of_Khorasan_wheat_%28Kamut%29_and_impact_of_a_replacement_diet_on_cardiovascular_risk_factors_cross-over_dietary_intervention_study


PS - (An off topic goodie)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21572686

[George999]

Aside from the Omega 6/Omega 3 ratio, some saturated fats, such as coconut oil are proving to be extremely healthy.  They were never really examined before, but simply branded "unhealthy" because all saturated fats were assumed equal and, at the time, trans-fats were pushed as being healthy.  I will never forget the case of an uncle who suffered from heart disease.  He always was eating hard stick corn oil margarine because his doctors insisted that he use it liberally and not touch butter because the margarine was "very healthy for his heart".  And the advertising everywhere at the time was touting its great health benefits.  Here we had saturated fat killing people because livestock were being fed omega 6 saturated feed and so we switch people to omega 6 saturated corn oil and hydrogenate it to boot!  Coconut oil and palm oil among others can have significant health benefits.  One of the other stupid moves people made aside from replacing butter with margarine, was to replace coconut oil with hydrogenated vegetable oil shortening.  And plenty of people are still following that old ill conceived advice.  - George

[Hawk]

Since we are off of Peyronies Disease onto general health, I also want to add that I have read, and I am intuitively concerned about cotton seed oil that is found in many products.  Cotton is obviously not a food product.  It is heavily covered in insecticide dusts and sprays.  I know because I have put out thousands of pounds of it in my youth.  I probably ate pounds of it.  All of my boyhood friends from the farm are dead of cancer, some as young as 23 years old at death.  I am a cancer survivor.  Even the girls are all dead of cancer except one cancer survivor.

I realize all of this is anecdotal information but I think research (that I never took time to do) would reveal that consuming cotton seed oil is not a good idea.  

[Jonbinspain]

Personally, I don't eat fast foods, pre prepared meals, or anything like that. I cook food fresh. Having said that, I'm no health food nut, I love a good curry on a Saturday night after a couple of beers, etc.
Also, what you need to put into your body will also be dictated by how much you take out of it. Although I no longer work, I'm in the gym 4-5 days a week, and I work hard. Therefore my body needs the necessary amount of fuel.  

[skunkworks]

PS - (An off topic goodie)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21572686

Been aware of it for a long time now but still gets me every time I read about it again.

My diet is perfect (according to my interpretation of the data available)**, but i rarely get more than 5 hours sleep a night.

** Ever noticed how everyone says they eat the way the science has shown them is the best way, but the diets vary wildly?

[George999]

Hawk,  Excellent point on Cottonseed Oil.  It really bothers me that a quite a few food products on the market today are actually unwanted byproducts looking for someone to consume them, an extra buck on the side for a non-food product industry.  The same issue disturbs me in case of fluoride (a byproduct of the chemical fertilizer industry) and chlorine.  There just has to be a better way.  - George

[Jonbinspain]

Same here re sleep. As I've gotten older i find I sleep far less. 5-6 hours max. I can sometimes almost force myself to sleep longer, but then I wake up feeling very lethargic.

[George999]

LDN is the premiere solution to the sleep disturbance problem.  It produces deep sleep quite naturally.  - George

[George999]

http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=673930

[Skjaldborg]

I was finally convinced to get on the low blood sugar diet bandwagon due to a lot of extra stress lately and the worry that this would cause a Peyronie's flare up. I'm trying the "slow carb" diet where you eat greens, lean proteins like beans, chicken, pork or grass-fed beef but almost no sugars, starches or grains except for one "cheat" day per week where you can eat anything you want. I am already at a healthy weight and reasonably fit so I'm hoping this will help me put on muscle and gain strength, besides the anti-inflammatory benefits. I don't imagine this will reverse anything Peyronie's-wise but it could reduce the chance of a flare up since I'm going through some really tough family/life issues. Couldn't hurt, right? I'll post if I notice any positive changes

-Skjald

[skunkworks]

As far as I am concerned, anything that can decrease systemic inflammation is going to help with Peyronie's.

[skunkworks]

http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=673930

That is quite an interesting piece. I'll have to find the full study/raw data to be sure, but that article does seem to suggest that they have taken into account amount of calories so they would be comparing diets with very similar calories, just different sources making up the total.

[Jonbinspain]

There are studies that strongly suggest that Alpha Lipoic Acid can lower blood sugar levels. The stabilised form, whilst more expensive, is far more effective. It further suggests that ALA combined with ALC is even more effective.  

[funnyfarm]

I have taken ALC and ALA for years and if they had any effect on blood glucose it certainly was not significant.   The only way to stabilize levels is by monitoring what you eat, how much, and how fast you eat it.  I don't think any drug or supplement will do the heavy lifting in this regard, otherwise everyone who is diabetic would be on board already.   Just like you can not drink a daily protein shake, avoid the gym, and expect to build muscle mass.  

[Jonbinspain]

Agreed -  But that wasn't what I was advocating. Nevertheless, the scientific evidence is there to strongly suggest that ALA, especially stabilised R - ALA, can help lower blood sugar.

[funnyfarm]

Correct me if I am wrong but it sounds like you are advocating ALC and ALA supplementation to lower blood sugar.  As I stated, I do not believe this is an effective strategy.

[George999]

There are, in fact, a number of supplements that lower blood sugar.  The ONLY one that I know of that lowers blood sugar significantly is Berberine.  Berberine is a rough analog of the old generic prescription drug metformin.  It lowers blood sugar by the same mechanism which is to modulate glucose resistance.  Most doctors refuse to prescribe Metformin to a patient unless they have uncontrolled diabetes.  Berberine is available as a supplement but should be used with doctor oversight since it can lower blood sugar pretty radically.  It took mine down to 70 from 94 in no time.  All the other diabetes medications are problematic because they lower glucose by increasing insulin which is fraught with long term danger (which is why doctors fear diabetes meds in general unless absolutely necessary).

Expert Opin Biol Ther. 2012 Aug;12( 8 ):1113-24. doi: 10.1517/14712598.2012.704014.
Berberine on metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors: an analysis from preclinical evidences to clinical trials.
Derosa G, Maffioli P, Cicero AF.
Source

University of Pavia, Department of Internal Medicine and Therapeutics, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico S. Matteo, P.le C. Golgi, 2-27100 Pavia, Italy. giuseppe.derosa@unipv.it
Abstract
INTRODUCTION:

Type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypercholesterolemia have proven to give an increased incidence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Recent studies have suggested that the natural alkaloid berberine could have pharmacological activities potentially useful in diabetes and hypercholesterolemia management.
AREAS COVERED:

The aim of this review is to evaluate the metabolic properties of the natural alkaloid berberine, and its potential application to the treatment of diabetes and CVD prevention.
EXPERT OPINION:

Berberine proved to be effective in improving glycemic control and lipid profile. The modern investigation on berberine pharmacological activity is actually developing and numerous scientific evidences are actually in progress and reported in international congresses. The near future perspective is the isolation or neo-synthesis of berberine analogs with a higher bioavailability. The anti-hyperlipidemic and anti-diabetic effects of berberine have to be related to markers of improvement in organ damage in humans; longer trials are needed to better evaluate the safety profile of the molecule, when administered alone or in association with other anti-hyperlipidemic or anti-diabetic drugs, especially in the European population.

PMID:
   22780092
   (PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE)

[funnyfarm]

Thank you for correcting me George, I noticed it is sold on the internet as a supplement.  Any idea if it can be taken only when needed, or do you have to take it daily ?