How to Prevent Diabetes Naturally

Speaker: We should be good to go. Dr. Carolyn Dean: Okay. That's great. Yes, we are talking about diabetes today and there are a number of slides. So, we wanted to move through as quickly as possible, seventh-leading cause of death in the U.S. affecting a quarter of the population. But what's even more of concern is that 54 million people have pre-diabetes and don't even know it. There's been 70% rise in diabetes in 30-year-olds and children are developing Adult Onset Diabetes. The three types, Type I, that's the children's diabetes that usually develops before teenage years, in 10% of the diabetic population. The possible cause is viral infection of the pancreas or this paper from Finland showed that drinking cow's milk is associated with juvenile diabetes. So that's of interest to people who are concerned about feeding cow's milk too early. The second type, the adult-onset, gestational diabetes, we'll be passing over that. That's the high blood sugar during pregnancy. We will be focusing on the Type II diabetes, which is 90% of the adult-onset diabetic and the non-insulin dependent usually, people who are overweight and often between 50 and 70 years old, but we have a huge shift in that, because more children are developing adult-onset diabetes. The causes of Type II diabetes, now what's interesting is allopathic medicine and diabetic associations will say that diabetes is caused by diminished insulin production or insulin resistance at the cell level, which prevents glucose from getting into the cells, but they don't explain why this happens. Often, nobody talks about sugar being a cause of diabetes. Personally, I'm convinced that the three most important causes of diabetes are diet, diet and diet. We've had so much added sugar in our diet, high-fructose corn syrup, low fat foods that are high in simple carbs, so many white flour products, fast foods, sports drinks and dairy products and they all affect our blood sugar. In Type II diabetes, insulin is often available and even elevated. So, giving insulin or forcing more insulin production isn't the answer. The job of insulin is to open up the receptor sites on the membranes of our cells to allow glucose to enter. The cell needs this glucose as a source of fuel. But when cells appear to be resistant to insulin, and the cell membranes won't open up to receive the glucose, insulin then creates fat cells to store this excess sugar. So, this is where you have insulin resistance and weight gain happening at the same time. Cells that no longer respond to insulin, refuse the entry of glucose are called insulin-resistant. The blood sugar levels rise and the body has to produce more insulin, but even that doesn't work. The question is why do these cells develop insulin resistance? This hasn't been answered -- when I went to medical school, we didn't learn any of this fairly new information, this Dr. Brownlee talks about a situation at the cell receptor level, similar to overloading an electrical fuse. When you're taking in too much dietary sugar, the electron transport system that allows the sugar to move into the cell, just stops working. It gets overloaded. You blow a fuse. Some of the lipid membrane is fried. The anti-oxidative capacity of glutathione is lowered, super oxide free radicals are released. These three radicals are known to further damage the lipid layer of the cell and the mitochondrial membranes inside the cell. So, it's this vicious cycle. This damage that makes it more difficult for glucose to enter the cells is induced by too much sugar, free radials, low thyroid and not enough magnesium and potassium. Unfortunately, none of these effects are taken into consideration when someone is diagnosed with high blood sugar. The receptor on the cell membrane that allows glucose to enter is called the PPar receptor and it's activated by thyroid hormone. This is also fairly new information that doctors are learning about. Hypothyroidism will slow down your electron transport system, allowing the sugar to build up at the receptor sites and overload the whole system. Factors associated with low thyroid function also predict the higher incidents of diabetes. So, as we get older, in females with high estrogen levels, metal overload-lead, mercury and arsenic, and yeast overgrowth, all of these block thyroid function and increase the incidents of diabetes. Most of this information is new research I'm getting from Dr. Roby Mitchell who's MD, PhD. Reversing diabetes, when cell energy is low and the thyroid is sluggish, more insulin is required to maintain normal blood sugar levels. So, long before sugar levels rise, you have an elevation of fasting insulin levels, and deposition of abdominal fat. So to reverse the diabetic state and we'll talk more about this later, but just to set the stage, as opposed to just trying to push your blood sugar levels down with more insulin or diabetic drugs, what we're looking at natural medicine is to heal the cell membranes by supplying them with the nutrition they need to work properly and to restore normal cell function. This would be essential fatty acids to build up the lipid layer around the cells, magnesium and potassium, thyroid hormone, and glucose metabolism facilitators like the B vitamins, chromium and magnesium is in there as well. Also, reducing yeast overgrowth, because it steals glucose and nutrients from the body. We had a previous webinar on yeast that you can access at Jigsaw. Magnesium is very important when it comes to trying to reverse insulin resistance as many of you know, I've written a book on magnesium, and when I was doing the research for the book, 'The Magnesium Miracle' I was surprised that up to 40% of diabetics are magnesium-deficient. Diabetics need more magnesium but they lose more through increased urination, one of the symptoms of diabetes. Magnesium is necessary for the production, function and transport of insulin and it detoxifies those free radicals, heavy metals and yeast toxins that can damage the cell membrane. Three independent studies, totaling a 160,000 people with the highest levels of magnesium in their diet have the lowest risks of diabetes. People on diuretics for blood pressure lose high amounts of magnesium in the urine, putting them at increased risk for diabetes. Magnesium is the first supplement for preventing and treating diabetes. So, that's where I stand on magnesium -- [Note: Audio ends abruptly]