If you suffer from diabetes, it’s vital you protect your liver. Your liver plays an instrumental role in removing toxins from your body. If your liver weakens, toxins can wreak havoc on your body. And diabetes can cause severe damage to your liver. The damage comes when excess fat builds up in your liver.
Fortunately, two studies suggest one particular supplement can treat your diabetes and protect your liver at the same time. In fact, one of the studies suggests this supplement will even protect the diabetic’s heart.
The first study looked at whether the dietary fiber konjac mannan (glucomannan) can lower liver antioxidant enzymes and serum enzymes. Elevated liver enzymes are an indicator of liver disease. High serum enzymes indicate liver damage. The researchers fed the glucomannan to rats and found the results highly significant. The fiber prevented the elevation of both enzymes. This indicates the fiber protects the liver from disease and damage.
In the second study, researchers wanted to know if glucomannan would improve the metabolic markers of high-risk type-2 diabetics. Specifically, they wanted to know if it would affect their blood sugar levels, their cholesterol levels, and their blood pressure.
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The study followed 11 hyperlipidemic and hypertensive type-2 diabetic patients. Each of the patients was eating a low-fat diet and drug therapy to treat their condition. The researchers gave each of them either a glucomannan fiber-enriched test biscuit or a placebo wheat bran fiber biscuit every day for two three-week treatment phases. They separated the two phases with a two-week washout period. They didn’t change anything else about their diet or drug treatment.
The glucomannan was highly effective at lowering all three metabolic symptoms. Compared to the placebo, it lowered blood sugar by 5.7%, total cholesterol levels by 10%, and systolic blood pressure by 6.9%.
The researchers found the result so significant they said the fiber could even improve the effectiveness of conventional treatment in type-2 diabetes. I suspect it will improve alternative treatments as well.
You can find glucomannan readily available at most health food stores and on the Internet.
Your insider for better health,
Steve Kroening
Steve Kroening is the editor of Nutrient Insider, a twice-a-week email newsletter that brings you the latest healing breakthroughs from the world of nutrition and dietary supplements. For over 20 years, Steve has worked hand-in-hand with some of the nation's top doctors, including Drs. Robert Rowen, Frank Shallenberger, Nan Fuchs, William Campbell Douglass, and best-selling author James Balch. Steve is the author of the book Practical Guide to Home Remedies. As a health journalist, Steve's articles have appeared in countless magazines, blogs, and websites.
Sources:
Guochun HE and Yoritaka AOYAMA, “Effects of Adding Some Dietary Fibers to a Cystine Diet on the Activities of Liver Antioxidant Enzymes and Serum Enzymes in Rats”, Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem., Vol. 67, 617-621 (2003); http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/bbb/67/3/67_617/_article/-char/en.
Diabetes Care. 1999 June;22(6):913-9.