Many manufacturers of supplement products will try to convince you that they have a miracle cure for whatever condition you have. This is just as true with diabetes as it is with other conditions.
It is amazing after so many years of companies making false claims that people still believe the claims these companies make. It is true some people may get a placebo effect from these products but the majority of people are simply misled into wasting time and money on unproductive attempts to improve their diabetic conditions.
A couple of products that have been recently touted for their positive effects on people with diabetes are aspirin and chromium. We should be very careful to investigate the validity of the claims.
Does Aspirin Help with the Symptoms of Diabetes?
Aspirin has not been proven to show any improvement in the health of people with diabetes. It is true that in some cases aspirin may cause a decrease in blood glucose levels but this only happens when aspirin is combined with sulfonylurea drugs. Even in these situations, however, the results are sporadic. The effect may be from something entirely unrelated that is yet to be pinpointed.
Does Chromium Help with the Symptoms of Diabetes?
A survey of the news media will show that there are a lot of articles being written about chromium as a treatment for diabetes. However, almost all of these articles are based mostly on a single study that was done in China on type 2 diabetics. In this study, very large doses of chromium did seem to provided diabetics with lower levels of blood glucose, leading to lower insulin requirements. The study participants also had improvements in their cholesterol levels and hemoglobin A1C.
What Diabetics Should Make of these Findings
In the case of the chromium study, it would seem that there is a lot of hope for the diabetic patient. However, some intelligent researchers noted that the participants in the studies were not first tested for chromium deficiency, which is common in China. When similar studies attempted to repeat these findings in countries with fewer nutritional deficiencies, the patients did not receive the same health benefits to taking chromium. Apparently, all that we can learn from the study done in China is that a chromium deficiency can make the symptoms of diabetes worse.
This shows the importance of carefully looking at the claims made by individual health studies. If you are considering taking chromium because you have type 2 diabetes, you may first want to get tested to find out if you have chromium deficiency. If not, then the chromium will be of no benefit. Furthermore, high levels of chromium in the body can be toxic. You should consult with your doctor before taking chromium supplements.
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