Can Resistance Exercise Improve Insulin Function?
By Michael A. Smith, MD Lean, toned muscle not only looks good, but also improves sugar metabolism . It does this by helping your body respond better to the all-important hormone, insulin. If you remember from our previous blog posts, insulin is the hormone that directs blood glucose into cells. Once inside a cell, glucose can either be burned for immediate energy or stored as glycogen. However, with age, poor diet and lack of exercise , your body can resist the positive effects of insulin, allowing the buildup of blood sugar. It turns out that this “resistance” to insulin is the hallmark of type 2 diabetes. Exacerbated by lack of exercise, sarcopenia , the loss of muscle tissue due to aging, has recently been linked with insulin resistance. 1 So this begs the question: Can muscle-toning resistance exercises improve insulin sensitivity and help people with diabetes better manage their blood sugar? Skeletal Muscle Dictates Insulin Sensitivity So here’s the theory: Most of the cellular receptors for insulin are found on skeletal muscle. Of course that makes sense when you consider that skeletal muscle is very active and requires a lot of energy. If you keep your skeletal muscles healthy and strong, the muscles’ sensitivity to insulin will improve. The result will be optimal uptake of glucose from the blood. But if you lose muscle mass (sarcopenia) and you get a little flabby, you could experience the opposite effect — reduced insulin sensitivity and a buildup of sugar in your blood. To overcome this, your body will produce more and more insulin. Over time this could have a dampening effect on your insulin’s effectiveness. This means that managing blood sugar for diabetics, even with drugs, could be way more difficult. Please note: Improving insulin resistance through muscle-toning resistance exercises may not work for obese people, as they seem to have different physiological responses to exercise than normal- weight people. 2 Resistance Exercises for Improved Insulin Function Resistance exercises are all about toning major muscle groups. Adults should try to exercise each major muscle group two or three days a week using a variety of exercises and equipment. Very light or light intensity is best for older people or previously sedentary adults who are just starting to exercise. Typically, two to four sets of each exercise will help you improve your strength and power. Here are the major areas to focus on: Biceps Triceps Shoulders Chest Stomach Legs Resistance exercises use relatively light weights and a high number of repetitions. For instance, 20 repetitions in 3 sets is a great way to improve muscle tone and endurance. Adults should typically wait at least 48 hours between resistance training sessions to rest and recover. Circuit Training is a more Advanced Option Now this is a workout! And it should only be done by people already in an exercise program with approval from their doctors. We like circuit training because it is a form of conditioning combining resistance training and high-intensity aerobics. It’s designed to be easy to follow and targets strength building as well as muscular endurance. An exercise “circuit” is one completion of all exercises in the program. When one circuit is complete, you begin the first exercise again for another circuit. Typically, the time between exercises in circuit training is short, often with rapid movement to the next exercise. Benefits of circuit training include: An effective means of improving strength endurance (or muscular endurance). May be easily structured to provide a whole body workout. May not require expensive gym equipment. Participants normally work in small groups, allowing beginners to be guided by more experienced individuals, as well as benefiting from the supervision of the instructor. Can be adapted for any size workout area. Can be customized for specificity; easy to adapt to your sport. Ready to give it a shot? After you get the go-ahead from your doctor, give our health advisors a call at 1-800-226-2370 – they’ll be happy to help you design your own personalized circuit training regimen. So if you’re taking diabetes medications and sticking to your diet plan but are STILL having problems controlling blood sugar, Perhaps muscle is your missing link. Talk to your doctor to see if resistance exercises are right for you! References: Endocrine. 2012 Apr 21. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22527891 Sports Med. 2012 May 1;42(5):415-31.
Dark Chocolate Lowers Blood Pressure
By Michael A. Smith, MD Who would have thought that a dark chocolate bar could lower blood pressure? Well, it can. Now don’t just run off and scarf down any old chocolate candy bar. There are rules to follow for eating them, and we’ll get to that in a moment. First, let’s take a look at the study. Cocoa Antioxidants Lower Blood Pressure Like all plants, cocoa contains antioxidants widely known as polyphenols . In particular, cocoa is rich in epicatechin, a polyphenol belonging to a class of antioxidants called flavonoids. These powerful compounds can support your heart by reducing risk factors, including high blood pressure . Researchers from the University of Bonn in Germany showed that a daily intake of 25 mg of epicatechin could lower systolic blood pressure by 4.1 points and diastolic pressure by 2.0 points. 1 By the way, we know that these changes probably seem trivial, but any reduction in blood pressure is a good thing. Mull this one over in your brain: A retrospective, population-based analysis of 26 million people revealed a 200–400% higher mortality rate in hypertensive people between the ages of 20–49 when compared to a healthy population. 2 Can you see our point? Even seemingly trivial reductions in blood pressure can have a major impact on health and longevity. Additionally, the researchers claim that a reduction of systolic pressure by just 2 points can reduce the risk of death after a stroke by 10% and reduce the risk of death from ischemic heart disease by 7%. In the end, small drops in blood pressure actually produce big drops in risk. So, here are the details of the cocoa study: The German researchers analyzed the effects of cocoa, specifically epicatechin, on blood pressure by looking at several randomized clinical studies. It was kind of like a “mega” review. They found that the potential blood pressure-lowering effects of cocoa antioxidants were linked to the dose consumed. The more you eat the greater the drop in pressure. They discovered that at least 25 mg of epicatechin is needed to produce a reduction in blood pressure. The scientists involved with the study believe that cocoa polyphenols increase the production of nitric oxide, which dilates blood vessels and drops pressure. The researchers concluded, “Even if the blood pressure-reducing effect by epicatechin is restricted to pre-hypertensive and hypertensive subjects, we have to be aware that these are the primary groups who may benefit from this measure for prevention of and therapy for high blood pressure.” Healthy Dark Chocolate Candy Bars Let’s start off with a disclaimer: All candy bars, including ones made with dark chocolate, have a lot of sugar and fat. So enjoy them, but only occasionally. Now, let’s look at the kind of chocolate bar you’ll want to eat. Dark chocolate, also called plain chocolate or black chocolate, is produced by adding fat and sugar to cocoa liquor (liquefied pure chocolate). The U.S. has no official definition for dark chocolate but European rules specify a minimum of 35% cocoa solids. However, you’ll want to eat dark chocolate that’s at least 70% cocoa solids. Because the higher the percentage of cocoa solids, the more antioxidants, specifically epicatechin, it provides. Some of our favorite brands with at least 70% cocoa are listed below. But always double-check the label, as manufactures can change their cocoa bean sources and percentage of cocoa solids: Amano Amedei Cocoa Puro Endangered Species Rainforest Olive & Sinclair NibMor Santander Please note: If you purchase candy bars from Japan or Europe, they call dark chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa solids, “Pure Chocolate Material.” The only guarantee is that the cocoa solids are greater than 35%. So if you’re looking for a higher percentage, like you should, stick with our choices above. Give it a try and let us know what you think! References: American Journal of Clin Nutr. Published ahead of print doi:10.3945/ajcn.111.029330 Robitaille C, Dai S, Waters C, et al. Diagnosed hypertension in Canada: incidence, prevalence and associated mortality. CMAJ. 2011 Nov 21.
Benzene – the Hidden Carcinogen That’s Everywhere
By Michael A. Smith, MD Benzene was first discovered in the 1800s when it was isolated from tar. It didn’t take long for chemists to find out it was a very powerful compound. What’s amazing about it is its ringed chemical structure — which gives it stability and makes it a good medium for performing chemical reactions. The ringed structure also means it can stay in our environment (and our bodies) for a decent amount of time, around 10 days. Benzene is made mostly from petroleum. Because of its wide use, benzene ranks in the top 20 for chemicals produced in the United States. Various industries use benzene to make other chemicals, such as Styrofoam®, plastics, resins, nylon and synthetic fibers. Benzene is also used in the manufacturing of some types of rubbers, lubricants, dyes, detergents, pesticides and even drugs. So as you can see it’s all over our environment. And this is the point we want to make. The FDA and EPA have decided that products containing less than 10 micrograms of benzene are safe. But when it’s used in so many products, our exposure goes well beyond 10 micrograms. Why does all of this matter? Because benzene is a known cancer-causing chemical. Benzene’s Toxic Life Cycle Benzene can pass between different environments very readily. It moves from the soil into water droplets and then into the air without much of a problem. Once in the air, benzene reacts with other chemicals. These newly formed chemicals can destroy ozone and cause disease in animals — including us — as they return from the air and back to the soil. Benzene doesn’t have to react with other chemicals to become dangerous, however. It can enter into your body unchanged through your lungs, gastrointestinal tract and across your skin. When you’re exposed to high levels of benzene in the air, about half of it passes through your lungs into your blood. And because it’s found in plastics, it can enter into your body through your gut. Your body will store benzene in your bone marrow and body fat. The Negative Health Effects of Benzene After exposure to benzene, several factors determine whether harmful health effects will occur, as well as the type and severity of such health effects. These factors include the amount of benzene to which you’re exposed and the length of time of the exposure. Most information on effects of long-term exposure to benzene is from studies of workers employed in industries that make or use benzene. These workers were exposed to levels of benzene in the air far greater than the levels normally encountered by the general population. But given the fact that benzene is everywhere, we believe that we can extrapolate the results of those studies to everyday life. A low level of exposure can cause drowsiness, dizziness, rapid heart rate, headaches, tremors, confusion, and unconsciousness. In most cases, people will stop feeling these effects when they are no longer exposed and begin to breathe fresh air. Eating foods or drinking liquids containing high levels of benzene can cause vomiting, irritation of the stomach, dizziness, sleepiness, convulsions, rapid heart rate, coma, and death. The health effects that may result from eating foods or drinking liquids containing lower levels of benzene are not known. Benzene causes problems in the blood as well, specifically in the bone marrow, where blood cells are made. A decrease in red blood cells can lead to anemia. Reduction in other components in the blood can cause excessive bleeding. Excessive exposure to benzene can be harmful to the immune system, increasing the chance for infection and perhaps even lowering the body’s defense against cancer. Long-term exposure to benzene is linked to leukemia. Exposure to benzene has also been associated with development of a particular type of leukemia called acute myeloid leukemia (AML). How to Detox Your Body from Deadly Benzene Your liver is responsible for metabolizing and detoxifying the synthetic chemicals that enter your body — like benzene. Although we suggest an occasional liver detox program , a daily liver support product like milk thistle is suggested for maximum benefit. Milk thistle is rich in polyphenols, which are plant-based antioxidants. There are two broad categories of polyphenols in milk thistle — silymarin and silybinin. These powerful antioxidants offer protection against food toxins, alcohols and environmental toxins by ultimately supporting liver function. Silymarin , for instance, has been shown to significantly reduce liver-related mortality in patients with alcoholic liver damage. 1,2 Also, silymarin extracts have produced improvements in general well-being in patients with viral hepatitis as well. 3 And of course, avoiding benzene exposure as much as possible is also a good idea. Don’t use plastics, nylon, synthetic fibers or Styrofoam cups if possible. Be aware of your environment. If you work with paints, adhesives, lubricants and petroleum products, be sure to support your liver detoxification pathways with foods like artichokes and beets and supplement with B vitamins. Please note: Information on benzene came from the Toxicological Profile for Benzene by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a United States Public Health Service. References: Drugs. 2001;61(14):2035-63. J Pharm Belg. 2003;58(1):28-31 Dig Liver Dis. 2004 Nov;36(11):752-9.
Dr Jane Groman
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