The Healthy Blogger

Exercise and antioxidants

An interesting health article today discussed vitamins and exercise.  Though experts are always urging us to eat a well-balanced diet in order to receive all our daily nutrients without the use of supplements, it is not an easy task.  I know people who eat healthy, but I really don’t know anyone who eats everything that is recommended in order to get all their vitamins and minerals.  Most of us are set in our ways as far as diet is concerned, with very little variation in our meals.  When the diet consists of the same thing day after day, it is likely that many nutrients are missing and many others are in excess.

I had never heard of people taking vitamins, especially C and E, after exercising in order to reduce what’s called “oxidative stress”.  This oxidative stress is created by harmful chemicals, called “free radicals”, which are released when we exercise.  Free radicals are believed to cause cancer and heart disease, amongst other things.  Vitamins C and E are antioxidants, which block these free radicals and protect the body from its damage.  Interesting, logical concepts, though I had never heard about doing this.

But scientists have now found that antioxidants after exercising may not be good.  Apparently, these free radicals can reduce the risk of diabetes by increasing insulin sensitivity.  Most diabetes caused by obesity is related to insulin insentivity.  That is, the body cannot respond to insulin, so the blood sugars remain elevated.  Muscles, when they respond to insulin, take glucose up and use that as energy.  When they don’t respond, the muscles have to use other sources of energy.  Antioxidants block these good effects of free radicals.

As always in health, there is a delicate balance that needs to be preserved.  Vitamins are good, but they should not be taken in excess.  The study highlights some negative effects of vitamins, but it only talked about vitamins taken after exercising.  There was no comment about its effects if taken at other times.  Will it help protect against free radicals in cancer and heart disease or harmful in diabetes?  Also, it did not discuss threshold levels that can help or harm.

Diabetes linked to inadequate sleep

The dangers of inadequate sleep have been stressed by scientists, but it seems that doctors do not discuss the risks with their patients as much as warning them against alcohol and cigarettes or advising on diet and exercise. This may be because many doctors themselves have lack of sleep and see it as a normal part of daily life.

Anyhow, for several years now, it has been pointed out that inadequate sleep, which some people had assumed would make them lose weight, actually caused weight gain. It is the same with stress. Though at some point in the past people had associated weight loss with stress, the reverse is now becoming true. As obesity becomes more pervasive, it just seems that it enters into every aspect of daily living. Because of this tendency to gain weight, researchers have found that those who do not get adequate sleep are at risk of developing pre-diabetes, or impaired fasting glucose, a state where the body makes excessive insulin but the body is not responding to it. There are many theories, and one is that the body makes insulin in response to stress and insulin is known to cause weight gain.

The study set the limit on sleep at six hours, which is less than the previously recommended eight hours, which many of us are struggling to get every night. So, besides all the dangers of fatigue and lack of concentration due to inadequate sleep, now everyone needs to be warned about the dangers of developing diabetes. Will the bad news ever end?

Viruses can trigger diabetes

An interesting new finding indicates that infection with enteroviruses may be the trigger that sets off a response leading to development of diabetes. Though most of this applies to childhood diabetes, they have also found a link to adult-onset diabetes. They plan to further study the connection, determining which viruses are involved, how it attacks the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas and hopefully, formulate a vaccine that can prevent this disease in those who are predisposed.

There is a genetic predisposition to developing diabetes, but there are environmental factors as well. However, these environmental factors have not been well-defined, except for obesity, until now. It was discovered after 25 years of research by a pathologist who examined pancreatic tissue from children who died after a year of developing diabetes as well as some adults. He compared it to tissue from unaffected children and found that most of the children with diabetics had been infected with enteroviruses.

There are 100 different strains of enteroviruses so it will take time to find which ones are the real culprits before a vaccine can be produced. Enteroviruses cause gastrointestinal complaints such as vomiting and diarrhea, and are very common.

It is good news for diabetics. It seems we may be on the road to a cure, at least for some.

Rise in diabetes worldwide

If mass stays constant, and people are gaining weight in the UK and US, where are they losing it?  It doesn’t seem that human mass stays constant with the rise in obesity worldwide (not to mention the population boom).  This obesity has led to an increase in the incidence of diabetes.  And diabetes will lead to further health problems.

Though many can treat and control their diabetes with a strict regimen of diet and exercise to lose weight, this does not work for all.  Those who go on to full-blown diabetes will find that with time, the condition gets harder to treat.  Even as they use diet to modify their disease state, it creates other problems.  Complications will develop whether the diabetes is controlled or not.

This, however, should not give diabetics the sense that it is completely out of their control; therefore, they should not be duly concerned about their blood sugars.  In fact, they need to be extra careful.  That is because good control of diabetes will slow the progression to complications, even if it can’t prevent it.  No one wants to have a heart attack or stroke at a young age.  It may be normal to think of elderly people suffering those, but uncontrolled diabetics will be prone to them at a young age.  Kidney dialysis is another end-point that is rather unpleasant.  Once on dialysis, especially hemodialysis, your lifespan will be shortened.

It is a gloomy thought and once given a diagnosis of diabetes, it may be very unnerving.  I know, because my mother was a diabetic and I’m constantly worried about if and when I will get it.  Diabetes, especially the Type II, does run in families.  The best way to prevent it, though, is good diet and exercise.  It seems the world has not been listening as it turns to junk food and TV/computer, while it puts on more weight.  Now, you have a tremendous increase in diabetes, which will cost billions in medical care in the future.

While treating diabetics is important, emphasis needs to be placed on educating young children on healthy eating and exercise.  Genetics has played its part, the environment now needs to take a role.