- You may want to think twice before eating your next sandwich
on white bread. Studies show that alloxan, the chemical that makes white
flour look "clean" and "beautiful," destroys the beta
cells of the pancreas. That's right; you may be devastating your pancreas
and putting yourself at risk for diabetes, all for the sake of eating "beautiful"
flour. Is it worth it? Scientists have known of the alloxan-diabetes connection
for years; in fact, researchers who are studying diabetes commonly use
the chemical to induce the disorder in lab animals. In the research sense,
giving alloxan to an animal is similar to injecting that animal with a
deadly virus, as both alloxan and the virus are being used specifically
to cause illness. Every day, consumers ingest foods made with alloxan-contaminated
flour. Would they just as willingly consume foods tainted with a deadly
virus? Unless they had a death wish, they probably would not. Unfortunately,
most consumers are unaware of alloxan and its potentially fatal link to
diabetes because these facts are not well publicized by the food industry.
-
- How does alloxan cause diabetes? According to Dr. Hari
Sharma's Freedom from Disease, the uric acid derivative initiates free
radical damage to DNA in the beta cells of the pancreas, causing the cells
to malfunction and die. When these beta cells fail to operate normally,
they no longer produce enough insulin, or in other words, they cause one
variety of adult-onset type 2 diabetes. Alloxan's harmful effects on the
pancreas are so severe that the Textbook of Natural Medicine calls the
chemical "a potent beta-cell toxin." However, even though the
toxic effect of alloxan is common scientific knowledge in the research
community, the FDA still allows companies to use it when processing foods
we ingest.
-
- The FDA and the white flour industry could counter-argue
that, if alloxan were to cause diabetes, a higher proportion of Americans
would be diabetic. After all, more consumers consume white flour on a regular
basis than are actually diabetic. This point is valid, but it does not
disprove the alloxan-diabetes connection. While alloxan is one cause of
adult-onset type 2 diabetes, it is of course not the only cause. As the
Textbook of Natural Medicine states, "current theory suggests an hereditary
beta-cell predisposition to injury coupled with some defect in tissue regeneration
capacity" may be a key cause. For alloxan to cause injury to an individual's
beta cells, the individual must have the genetic susceptibility to injury.
This is similar to the connection between high-cholesterol foods and heart
disease. Eating high-cholesterol foods causes heart disease, especially
in people who have family histories of heart disease. The link between
alloxan and diabetes is as clear and solid as the link between cholesterol
and heart disease.
-
- If you've been eating white bread for years and you have
a family history of diabetes, all hope is not lost for you. Studies show
that you can reverse the effects of alloxan by supplementing your diet
with vitamin E. According to Dr. Gary Null's Clinicians Handbook of Natural
Healing, vitamin E effectively protected lab rats from the harmful effects
of administered alloxan. Now, you're not a lab rat, but you're a mammal
and vitamin E is definitely worth adding to your daily regimen of nutritional
supplements, especially if you have a history of eating foods made with
white flour and are at high risk for diabetes.
-
- Even if you are already diabetic, some simple changes
to your diet can help treat your diabetes. First of all, stop eating foods
made with white flour. Even though you already have diabetes, vitamin E
supplements can still help you, as can many common foods. Garlic, for example,
does wonders for diabetes. As Dr. Benjamin Lau states in his book Garlic
for Health, "When fed garlic, the rabbits' elevated blood sugar dropped
almost as much as it did when they were given the antidiabetic drug tolbutamide.
Researchers postulated that garlic may improve the insulin effect."
-
- If you can't handle the taste of natural garlic, you
can take it in widely available supplements. Aloe vera is a traditional
diabetic remedy in the Arabian Peninsula, and its therapeutic characteristics
are now gaining worldwide acceptance in the treatment of diabetes. According
to both human and animal research studies, aloe vera lowers blood glucose
levels by an unknown mechanism. According to the Clinicians Handbook of
Natural Healing, this natural hypoglycemic effect extended over a period
of 24 hours. Adding onions to your diet (along with the garlic) can also
significantly reduce your blood sugar level. Additionally, as Dr. Michael
T. Murray writes in The Healing Power of Herbs, studies show that ginseng
controls glucose in both diabetic humans and diabetic laboratory animals.
-
- It all comes down to asking if putting yourself at risk
for diabetic coma, blindness, limb amputation and death is worth eating
white bread. If you're willing to risk your quality of life and your life
itself, then go ahead and eat all the foods made with white flour you want.
However, if you want to stop poisoning yourself with alloxan, a known toxic
chemical, then make a few simple dietary changes. Eat groceries (see related
notebook on groceries) made with whole-grain wheat flour, not processed
white flour
-
- Animal experiments have shown that animals which have
their Beta cells destroyed by alloxan are able to regenerate Beta cells
after a few months when taking GS, a herb grown in India. The Beta cell
is the cell that produces insulin. Diabetics needing insulin treatment
(Type 1) have been able to decrease their insulin after GS therapy.
- A Physicians Guide to Natural Health Products That Work
By James Howenstine MD, page 112
-
- In the mid-1980s, however (when herbal remedies again
were popular), pata de vaca's continued use as a natural insulin substitute
was reiterated in two Brazilian studies. Both studies reported in vivo
hypoglycemic actions in various animal and human models. Chilean research
in 1999 reported the actions of pata de vaca in diabetic rats. Their study
determined that pata de vaca was found to "elicit remarkable hypoglycemic
effects," and brought about a "decrease of glycemia in alloxan
diabetic rats by 39%." In 2002, two in vivo studies on the blood sugar-lowering
effects of pata de vaca were conducted by two separate research groups
in Brazil. The first study reported "a significant blood glucose-lowering
effect in normal and diabetic rats."
- The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs by Leslie Taylor,
page 382
-
- When beta cells in the pancreas fail to secrete enough
insulin, the body loses its ability to metabolize carbohydrates and to
reduce glucose levels in the bloodstream. Researchers believe that some
people have weak free radical defenses in these beta cells, and that free
radical damage to DNA in beta cells, resulting in dysfunction or cell death,
helps cause maturity-onset diabetes. It is known, for example, that many
chemicals including alloxan, paraquat, and certain chemotherapeutic agents
can stimulate excessive production of oxy radicals in the nuclei of beta
cells.
- Freedom From Disease by Hari Sharma MD, page 94
-
- ...nearly two decades later, researchers at RNT Medical
College in India induced diabetes in rabbits with intravenous injections
of alloxan. When fed garlic, the rabbits' elevated blood sugar dropped
almost as much as it did when they were given the antidiabetic drug tolbutamide.
Researchers postulated that garlic may improve the insulin effect by either
increasing the pancreatic secretion of insulin or by releasing bound insulin.
- Garlic for Health by Benjamin Lau MD PhD, page 22
-
- Commercial yeasted breads, even the whole-grain varieties,
often have other problems. They typically contain flour bleach, which forms
alloxan, a compound known to cause diabetes in animals by destroying the
beta cells of the pancreas (Clinical Nutrition Newsletter, Dec. 1982).
- Healing With Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford, page 452
-
- Insulin dependent diabetes mellitus is generally recognized
to be due to an insulin deficiency.1 Although the exact cause is unknown,
current theory suggests an hereditary beta-cell predisposition to injury
coupled with some defect in tissue regeneration capacity. Causes of injury
are most likely hydroxyl and other free radicals, viral infection, and
autoimmune reactions. alloxan, the uric acid derivative used to induce
experimental diabetes in animals, is a potent beta-cell toxin, causing
destruction via hydroxyl radical formation.
- Textbook of Natural Medicine Volumes 1-2 by Joseph E
Pizzorno and Michael T Murray, page 1197
-
- In this study, mice received intraperitoneally melatonin
in doses ranging from 100 to 450 mg/kg. Results showed that such treatment
proved plasma glucose increase due to alloxan-induced pancreatic toxicity.
- The Clinicians Handbook of Natural Healing by Gary Null
PhD, page 88
-
- Bleached white flour. Not only have the bran and germ
been stripped away, but bleached flour also contains a substance from the
flour bleach (alloxan) which causes diabetes in animals. Unbleached white
flour should also be avoided since it is stripped of essential nutrients.
- The Enzyme Cure by Lita Lee with Lisa Turner & Burton
Goldberg, page 123
-
- Aloe vera also exhibits a hypoglycemic effect in both
normal and alloxan-induced diabetic mice. A small human study shows benefit
in diabetics. Five patients with non-insulin dependent diabetes ingested
half a teaspoonful of aloe 4 times daily for 14 weeks. Fasting blood sugar
in every patient fell from a mean of 273 to 151 mg/dl with no change in
body weight. The authors concluded that aloe lowers blood glucose levels
by an unknown mechanism.
- Textbook of Natural Medicine, volumes 1-2 by Joseph E
Pizzorno and Michael T Murray, page 587
-
- Results of this study showed that rats given vitamin
E before being administered either streptozotocin or alloxan provided protection
against the diabetogenic effects of each. It was also observed that rats
with a depleted antioxidant state due to a vitamin E and selenium-deficient
diet showed increased diabetogenic susceptibility to normally nondiabetogenic
doses of streptozotocin.
- The Clinicians Handbook of Natural Healing by Gary Null
PhD, page 312
-
- Noting that the dried sap of the aloe plant to be a traditional
diabetic remedy in the Arabian peninusla, this study examined its ability
to reduce blood glucose levels in 5 non-insulin-dependent diabetics and
in Swiss albino mice made diabetic with alloxan. Results showed that the
intake of 1/2 teaspoon of aloes daily for 4-14 weeks significantly reduced
the fasting serum glucose level fell in all patients. Fasting plasma glucose
was significantly reduced in diabetic mice by glibenclamide and aloes after
3 days.
- The Clinicians Handbook if Natural Healing by Gary Null
PhD, page 369
-
- This study examined the effects of exudate of Aloe barbadensis
leaves (oral administration of 500 mg/kg) and its bitter principle (ip
administration of 5 mg/kg) on plasma glucose levels of alloxan-diabetic
mice. Results showed that the hypoglycemic effect of a single oral dose
of aloes on serum glucose level was insignificant in while that of the
bitter principle was highly significant and extended over a period of 24
hours.
- The Clinicians Handbook of Natural Healing by Gary Null
PhD, page 369
-
- Ginseng exerts numerous pharmacological effects in humans
and laboratory animals, including improved glucose control in humans and
diabetic (alloxan-induced) rats;
- The Healing Power of Herbs by Michael T Murray ND, page
269
-
- Per: Zeus Information Service 4th June 2005
- Alternative Views on Health
- www.zeusinfoservice.com
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