Dear Friends and Valued Customers,

The "diabetes epidemic" continues to rage in the U.S. and throughout the world. A news item in USA Today earlier this year stated: "Uncontrolled diabetes wreaks havoc on the body, often leading to kidney failure, blindness and death. A new study shows that the nation's unchecked diabetes epidemic exacts a heavy financial toll as well: $174 billion a year. That's about as much as the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and the global war on terrorism combined. It's more than the $150 billion in damage caused by Hurricane Katrina."

The article goes on to report: "The incidence of diabetes has ballooned—there are one million new cases a year—as more Americans become overweight or obese. The cost of diabetes—both in direct medical care and lost productivity—has swelled 32% since 2002." And, diabetes killed more than 284,000 Americans last year.

Because of the relevance of this topic, I am reporting on two studies today that promise new hope for diabetics. The first involves the important roles vitamins C and E can play in the life of diabetics. The second discusses a niacin-bound chromium that may benefit heart health in diabetics. I am sure you will find both reports to be very helpful.

As always, I wish you the very best of health.

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Memory loss in diabetics may be reduced by vitamins C and E

Supplementing with vitamins C and E may reduce memory loss in type 2 diabetics, a population at risk of increased impaired memory.

Daily doses of 1,000 mg of vitamin C and 800 IU of vitamin E improved mental function after carbohydrate-rich meals and may protect against memory loss, according to a small study with 16 diabetics published in the journal Nutrition Research.

“Results from this study suggest that postprandial (after eating) oxidative stress is a potential contributor because deficits in [cognitive performance] after test meal consumption could be minimized by co-consumption of the test meal with high doses of antioxidant vitamins," wrote Michael Chui and Carol Greenwood from the University of Toronto.

According to Chui and Greenwood: “Type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with chronic oxidative stress, a major contributor to cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. Meal ingestion can induce acute elevations of free radicals, with higher susceptibility observed in patients with type 2 diabetes compared with healthy individuals."

The Toronto-based researchers recruited 16 type 2 diabetics with an average age of 63.5 and fed them a high-fat meal (50.4 g fat, 63 g carbohydrate and 25.4 g protein), the same meal with the added vitamins, or just water. The meals were fed on three separate occasions and none of the subjects were regular consumers of high-dose antioxidant supplements.

The results of a battery of cognitive tests showed that consumption of the high-fat meal produced poor performance in verbal recall and working memory, compared to water consumption.

Consumption of antioxidant vitamins lessened the detrimental effects of the high-fat meal and cognitive performance was "indistinguishable from that after water intake," wrote Chui and Greenwood.

Nutrition Research 28(7):423-429, 2008

Chromium ingredient may benefit diabetics

Supplements of niacin-bound chromium (III) may reduce inflammation in diabetics and benefit heart health, a new study with rats suggests.

The benefits were greater than those observed with the more established chromium picolinate, according to results presented at the American Diabetes Association's 86th Annual Scientific Session. "This suggests that [niacin-bound chromium] is the more effective form of [chromium (III) ion] in preventing vascular inflammation in diabetic rats, and thereby, can potentially reduce risk of CVD (cardiovascular disease) in diabetes," wrote the researchers in their conference abstract.

The new study, funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), used obese rats that were genetically modified to become diabetic by 10 to 12 weeks of age. The animals were divided into three groups and fed the same diet. One group acted as the control, while the other two were supplemented niacin-bound chromium (Cr-N) or chromium picolinate (Cr-P) for eight weeks. Both chromium doses provided 400 mcg of chromium per kg of body weight.

The cardiovascular health of the animals was assessed by measuring levels of certain compounds in the blood, such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) and C-reactive protein (CRP), as well as cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Attendees at the scientific sessions were told that animals receiving the Cr-N supplement (ChromeMate®) had lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels than the Cr-P group, which were both significantly lower than the control group.

Moreover, TNF-alpha and MCP-1 levels were lower in the Cr-N group than in the controls, but not in the Cr-P group.

American Diabetes Association’s 68th Annual Scientific Sessions Abstract 1690-P

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