There is a lot of talk nowadays about pre-diabetes, but not everyone is exactly sure just what that terms means. Medically speaking, someone is considered to be pre-diabetic if they have risk factors for diabetes, such as abdominal obesity and increased insulin resistance but do not yet have the full-blown version of the disease, where the body can no longer control its blood sugar levels.
The good news is that if pre-diabetics can alter their lifestyle by losing weight, eating healthy and increasing their exercise levels, they can reverse their condition more easily and prevent themselves from developing diabetes to begin with. And as part of this healthy lifestyle, pre-diabetics might want to include turmeric based on the study discussed below.
The Effects of Turmeric on Pre-diabetic Patients
This new research on turmeric is coming out of Thailand. Scientists there wanted to test the effectiveness of turmeric and more specifically, its active ingredient curcumin – on pre-diabetic patients with a view to seeing if it could help prevent the onset of full-blown diabetes.
The study looked at 250 patients, randomly assigned to be either in the control group, which received a placebo, or an intervention group, which received treatment with 250mg of turmeric extract daily. This study lasted 9 months; it was found, at the end of this time period, that while 16.4% of patients from the control group had been diagnosed with diabetes during this time period, none from the intervention group had received a similar diagnosis.
The researchers, based on these findings, drew the conclusion that the curcumin did in fact have the ability to prevent the onset of diabetes in pre-diabetic patients and that this impact was significant.
More on Turmeric
Mostly what people have heard about the medicinal use of turmeric is that it is a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory and that the curcumin it contains has been tested for its efficacy as a treatment for a variety of serious conditions including cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and depression, just to name a few. It is likely that at least part of the beneficial effects for pre-diabetic patients stems from its anti-inflammatory properties, as chronic, low-level inflammation has been linked to the onset of diabetes.
Turmeric is also an affordable and accessible treatment. Turmeric supplement can be purchased at any health food store and, increasingly, many pharmacies and conventional grocery stores are offering it on their shelves as well. It can also be used as spice to jazz up any number of dishes, including curries, pastas, stir-fries and casseroles or even used in teas or smoothies. Its versatility is another thing which makes turmeric so attractive.
In short, those who are diagnosed with pre-diabetes would do well to consider adding turmeric supplementation to their plan of exercise, healthy eating and weight loss in order to reduce their chance of developing a full-blown case of diabetes.
Sources: everydayhealth.com, diabetes.org, care.diabetesjournals.org
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