Diabetes: Have You Checked The Chromium Front Lately?
Julia Hanf
Although diabetes is far from a new age phenomenon, modern-day lifestyles and flawed food habits have had a large part to play in influencing the onset of diabetes in the vulnerable, while making management a lot more difficult for those who have already fallen prey to this disease. Until recent times, diabetes treatment was largely limited to medication and insulin injections, which have drawn themselves equal numbers of detractors as they have attracted followers. In light of the often detrimental side and after-effects allopathic medication can have on he overall health and wellbeing of diabetics, researchers have begun to pay a lot more attention to supplementing diabetes treatment with nutritional aids and overall lifestyle changes to make management and recovery a less tedious and a lot more effortless. One such nutritional supplement that has caught the eye of researchers is chromium.
Chromium is an integral part of every living organism and is most commonly found in its biologically active form, which is termed as Chromium Picolinate. Chromium picolinate helps the body respond better to the insulin that is produced by the pancreas, thereby making for a more effective conversion of blood glucose into energy. Although chromium is such a vital component of the digestive process, it is found only in trace elements in the body, a deficit of which can have palpable negative implications. And this is why even a small imbalance in the chromium levels in the body can spur the onset of diabetes, while supplementing your diet with chromium can play a significant role in regularizing your blood glucose levels.
Chromium Picolinate is particularly valuable in stabilizing the blood glucose levels of individuals diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and obesity. Insulin resistance is rampant in this category of individuals which is easily reversed by chromium where it negates the resistance with heightened insulin sensitivity. After chromium is ingested, either as a supplement or a part of your diet, it is absorbed by your body through the small intestine is very minute quantities. This is to ensure that only that much chromium is absorbed as is needed by your body to maintain the requisite 6 mg. diabetics, however, find it difficult to absorb this chromium due to the high glucose levels excreted in the urine, bringing about a deficiency of this mineral.
The American Institute of Medicine has also established that chromium is one of the few minerals, whose administration does not require an upper limit to be set, which indicates the absence of any safety concerns about chromium supplements. Chromium has also been found to directly influence the number of receptor cells that are dedicated to the insulin produced in the body, which has led researchers to believe that making up for the deficiency of this mineral in diabetics with supplements can also increase, or even reserve Type 2, or insulin-resistant diabetes.
However, all is not quite as pleasant when it comes to whether chromium can be approved for wide-scale use. A certain number of experts point out the effect chromium has on neurotransmitters, making its use dangerous for those who are clinically depressed, suffer from bipolar disorders or even schizophrenia. Chromium is also known to cause skin irritation in individuals when their body cannot cope with the undulating chromium levels it is subject to.
You can give your diet a chromium boost by including foods and condiments like black pepper, broccoli, dry beans and whole grains. For other sources, you can try supplements which contain chromium by itself, or as a combination with other vitamins and minerals.
In spite of the huge body of research that has been devoted to chromium, it has yet to find its niche as a popular nutritional supplement. However, this is soon changing with many medical practitioners embracing the high success ratio of this mineral and granting it their expert approval. If you intend to include chromium as a part of your diabetes management program, ensure that your physician is well-aware of your decision and is kept regularly updated about the progress you are making. Diabetes management may seem like a daunting process at first appearances. However, it really is a matter of how easily you can incorporate the changes diabetes demands of you into your daily routine. If you are still grappling with your diabetes control, remember that help is always readily available and close at hand. All you need to do is make the first attempt the results which follow, will have plenty to talk you into sticking with this way of life!
Julia Hanf author of the book How To Play the Diabetes Diet Game and Win Through a real life crisis Julia figured out how to live diabetes free. Visit http://www.yourdiabetescure.com and learn more about your solution for diabetes.
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