Are Blood Sugar Levels and Diabetic Complications Helped by Garlic?
Whenever your blood sugar level soars to many points higher than normal, that sugar has a way of damaging your organs and tissues. In most people, blood sugar levels higher than 150 to 160 mg/dL (8.33 to 8.9 mmol/L) are usually a serious concern because it is at this point damage leading to complications is believed to begin.
High levels of blood sugar binds to proteins in your skin and causes rapid aging… you look far older than your physical age. You can see the early aging of your skin but aging also takes place where you can’t see it. High blood sugar levels also binds to:
proteins and nerve cells in your brain and causes aging changes leading to memory loss and dementia
nerve cells in your legs and causes neuropathy… the feeling of numbness and not being aware just where your legs are in space
the lens, macula and retina of your eyes and contributes to vision loss, diabetic retinopathy, cataracts and macular degeneration
Free radicals produced in your body from high blood sugar levels, contribute greatly to the usual diabetic complications: cataracts, peripheral neuropathy, immune system changes, poor healing, dementia and psychological changes, and also your susceptibility to infections.
High levels of antioxidants contribute to reversing these diabetic complications to an extent.
Scientists in Korea at the Biohealth Product Research Center, Inje University, decided to test two different types of garlic to see which one had the greatest ability to quench these free radicals. To do this, they used mice that had type 2 diabetes. There is a standard test used in research studies for this type of measurement, one called the trolox-equivalent antioxidant capacity or TEAC assay for short.
The food scientists tested regular garlic against aged black garlic. Even though both types of garlic were successful at quenching the free radicals, the aged black garlic had greater activity than the regular garlic. Both groups of mice that consumed the garlic had evidence of strong antioxidant activity compared to the placebo group.
These scientists concluded that the use of both garlic types, but especially aged black garlic, had such strong antioxidant action that it could be useful in preventing diabetic complications. Their official research report results can be found in the journal, Nutrition Research Practices, Summer 2009 issue.
Garlic (Allium sativum) may be one of the most valuable foods to aid in reversing type 2 diabetes and it’s many complications. Garlic was first mentioned as a medicine about 6000 years ago and has been used widely in human medicines throughout the world. Garlic has a significant and consistent effect on cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and has also been known to modify extremes in blood sugar levels.
