Top Reasons Why Ginger is a Diabetic’s Best Friend

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Type II diabetes is an increasing problem, not only in the United States but around the world and some health professionals have estimated that by 2030, there will be an astounding 366 million Type II diabetics worldwide. Many people in healthcare have labelled it an epidemic. That is why a newly-published study on the benefits of ginger for treating health problems secondary to diabetes offers such hope for so many people: ginger is wide available, affordable and lacks the side effects of many main stream diabetes medications.

The New Study

This new paper was published in the journal Complementary Therapies and entitled “The Effect of Ginger Powder Supplementation on Insulin Resistance and Glycemic Indices in Patients with Type II Diabetes: a Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.” The researchers behind this study sought to determine if ginger was effective in improving insulin resistance, a term that describes the inability of cells to respond to insulin and allow for the transport of glucose into the cells themselves. Insulin resistance in Type II diabetics causes the characteristic rise in blood sugar that leads to so many complications secondary to the diabetes itself.

In this trial of 81 Type II diabetic patients, participants were randomly assigned to the study group (which received the ginger supplementation) or the control group (which received a placebo). The control group was given a dosage of 3 grams of ginger for eight weeks. At the end of those eight weeks, the treatment group showed better fasting insulin, fasting blood glucose, insulin sensitivity and B-cell function (these are the cells in the pancreas that produces insulin). In short, then, many parameters which characteristically mark out diabetes had improved.

What is also hopeful about the use of ginger is that it appears to be nontoxic even at high levels and, apart from mild digestive problems in patients who are sensitive, it has not side effects either. This is a marked improvement over many antidiabetic drugs whose side effects can be serious.

Confirmation of Other Studies

Another recent study seems to confirm the results of this one. This paper, published in the Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, showed that when ginger was administered to Type II diabetics at the dosage of 1600mg a day, after twelve weeks this patients showed improvement in eight different diabetic markers. This included fasting blood glucose, AIC (a test which measures the average blood sugar for the past 3 months), insulin, triglycerides, total cholesterol, and several markers for inflammation, including c-reactive proteins and prostaglandin EP.

While further, more wide-ranging research needs to be done, these two separate studies certainly have preliminary findings that are hopeful for those trying to develop new therapies to treat, combat or even cure diabetes.

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Christine . S
Christine has written articles on most health-related topics, including traditional medicine, alternative and naturopathic and natural treatments, wellness, medical marijuana, diets and fitness.