Posted on 07/14/2010 9:00:04 AM PDT by decimon
New study published in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research journal
This release is available in French.
Montreal, July 14, 2010 – Cashew seed extract shows promise as an effective anti-diabetic, according to a new study from the University of Montreal (Canada) and the Université de Yaoundé (Cameroun). Published in the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, the investigation analyzed the reputed health benefits of cashew tree products on diabetes, notably whether cashew extracts could improve the body's response to its own insulin.
Diabetes is caused when a person has high blood sugar because their body does not respond well to insulin and/or does not produce enough of the hormone. The illness, which affects nearly 220 million people worldwide, can provoke heart or kidney disease. The goal of the study was to examine the impact of leaves, bark, seeds and apples from cashew trees, native to northeastern Brazil and other countries of the southern hemisphere, on cells that respond to insulin.
"Of all the extracts tested, only cashew seed extract significantly stimulated blood sugar absorption by muscle cells," says senior author Pierre S. Haddad, a pharmacology professor at the University of Montreal's Faculty of Medicine. "Extracts of other plant parts had no such effect, indicating that cashew seed extract likely contains active compounds, which can have potential anti-diabetic properties."
Cashew tree products have long been alleged to be effective anti-inflammatory agents, counter high blood sugar and prevent insulin resistance among diabetics. "Our study validates the traditional use of cashew tree products in diabetes and points to some of its natural components that can serve to create new oral therapies," adds Dr. Haddad, who is also director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Team in Aboriginal Anti-Diabetic Medicines at the University of Montreal.
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About the study:
The article "Hydro-ethanolic extract of cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale) nut and its principal compound, anacardic acid, stimulate glucose uptake in C2C12 muscle cells," published in the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, was authored by Leonard Tedong, Padma Madiraju, Louis C. Martineau, Diane Vallerand, Louis Lavoie and Pierre S. Haddad of the University of Montreal (Canada) as well as John T. Arnason, Dzeufiet D. P. Desire and Pierre Kamtchouing of the Université de Yaoundé (Cameroun).
Partners in Research:
This study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Institute of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods.
On the Web:
* Cited article from Molecular Nutrition & Food Research: www.wiley-vch.de/publish/en/journals/alphabeticIndex/2216/ * University of Montreal: www.umontreal.ca/english * Université de Yaoundé: www.uy1.uninet.cm
Media contact: Sylvain-Jacques Desjardins International press attaché University of Montreal Telephone: 514-343-7593 Email: sylvain-jacques.desjardins@umontreal.ca UdeM on Twitter: http://twitter.com/umontreal_news
Not nuts ping.
I expect more from a medical journal. The disease in question here is NOT diabetes, but ‘insulin resistance’.
Diabetes is when the islet of langerhorn cells in your pancreas stop making insulin. What this is caused by is an open question even today, since tests done with capscacin on diabetic rats ‘cured’ the rats and allowed their pancreas’ to make insulin again.
It is WAY PAST TIME for the medical community to give insulin resistance its own name. Type 1 diabetics are increasingly painted with the same cultural brush that Type 2’s are.
Guarantee you some idiot is going to print some article about a ‘cure for diabetes’ when it will probably only be a cure for insulin resistance.
What the heck happened to science in this country? I’ll actually tell you what happened - we outsourced it. Most of the doctors in our clinic either really like curry, or have very Asian names. I say good on them too.
We had a school board member just resign because he had the stones to point out that some races are genetically more predisposed to doing well in school. Had he instead said, “Some races are predisposed to doing better in school because of their cultural make up”, he’d still have a job today, because he’s dead right.
another name I’ve heard is metabolic syndrome
“Thought I-Resistance was just type 2 diabetes.”
It’s a process. You first develop insulin resistance, and your pancreas compensates by producing more insulin to keep your blood sugar under control. You probably have no outward symptoms, and you would need a blood test to even know you have a problem.
But unless treated, your insulin resistance will worsen. You will need more and more insulin to process the same amount of sugar in your bloodstream. Eventually your pancreas will no longer be able to produce enough insulin to keep up. You will begin experiencing abnormally high blood sugar after eating carbohydrates. Your body may overreact to high blood sugar by releasing more insulin, which may cause your blood sugar to fall below normal. When your insulin resistance is so severe that your body can no longer maintain your blood sugar within normal ranges, it’s called type 2 diabetes.
This is the problem. Most journalists can’t tell the difference between type 1 and 2 diabetes. They aren’t the same disease in the least.
Thank-you for pointing this out to people. I get so tired of people thinking they know something how I should care for myself when they don’t have a clue about type 1 diabetes. Next month I will have been type 1 for 40 years( diagonised at 9yo). I wish more people knew that not all diabetes is the same.
ping
OOOpppssss I meant this for you:
Thank-you for pointing this out to people. I get so tired of people thinking they know something about how I should care for myself when they don’t have a clue about type 1 diabetes. Next month I will have been type 1 for 40 years( diagonised at 9yo). I wish more people knew that not all diabetes is the same.
WOW!
My son was diagnosed at 19 months, and he’s about to turn 7. He has ZERO idea of how good he has it.
We went to a Children With Diabetes conference in Seattle last year. One of the men who works with that group is a guy named Joe, and he’s nearly 50, and has had it about as long as you have. We call him ‘Joe the Great’.
He’s absolutely fabulous with kids, and has a wonderful Brooklyn accent. The last conference was on technology, and he gave a powerpoint about how the technology of diabetes care and testing has changed over the last 40 years.
I don’t have words to express how much respect I have for people like you who have had Type 1 for this long. It is absolutely a miracle that you aren’t completely hosed medically at this point.
It’s way past time for them to separate the two diseases. I suspect that $$$ are the reason why they don’t - research dollars and charity dollars.
I’ll tell you what else needs to happen - these foundations need to start publicly accounting for where the research dollars are going. It’s why we only give to the JDRF and not the ADA.
I will be 50 at the end of Sept. Yes treatment has come a very long way/ I wear a pump now and am in the process of applying for a 24 hour glucose monitor. When you relaize that they only discovered insulin in 1922 and that that breakthough was less than 100 years ago we all have it fairly good now. So far I’ve only had a few fixable complications and I hope to keep it that way.
Fiscal, thank you for that insight!
My boy has the continuous glucose monitor. I’d recommend it, but I would also advise setting the correct expectations for it.
We find its great at trends, and tends to lag behind actual BGC by anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours.
It’s fabulous at catching the lows you get from hard exercise that happen 4 to 12 hours after the session. Your monitor will catch that fast enough for the alarm to wake you and for you to eat something to blunt the low.
One thing’s definitely for sure, and that is if you use the continous monitor, you can really fine tune the basal levels and do your own mini-fasts to check them. Your A1C can be maintained pretty easily between 6.8 and 7.5%.
My 7 year old’s is 7.1%. That was unheard of before pumps and CGM’s.
My last A1C from last month was 6.2 and that is higher than they have been for the past 3 years.Mine usually runs in the 5.2-5.8 range.The CGM I’m trying to get will eventually work with the pump I have (Animus Ping and Dex Com CGM) and reads every 5 mintues and is testing as usually within 2 points of what the real BG is.This is a new one on the market that is supposed to be state of the art.I have the most trouble with lows I caught one last night at 25 and was just beginng to feel something wasn’t right.It sure will beat testing 8 times a day!
OPPPSSS hit post too fast. My Dr and I are hoping that we can keep my A1C’s in the 5.5 or less range by using the CGM. I do have a lot of trouble with lows during the night so hopefully that will help there too. It will also make it so I can sleep in once in awhile without hubby waking me to make sure I am ok. I’m glad he does that but boy would I love uninterupted sleep!
You do an unbelieveable job keeping the A1C in line! You must be an extremely disciplined eater/exerciser.
Thanks but I’m not as good as I could do. I could use a lot more exercise than what I get. I do keep track of my carb to insulin ratio closely. Hopefully once I get the CGM I will be able to exercise more. As it is now it does not take much to send my BG to under 30 and it would be nice to head it off when I see it start to drop.
Your sensitivity to insulin must be very high. We have the opposite problem (as does the vast majority of Type 1’s) which is too many highs.
I don’t know? My insulin to carb ratio is fairly low as in every 5 carbs I need a unit of insulin. Mostly I just try to limit how many carbs I eat so I don’t have to take a lot of insulin.I can swing high really fast so that is why I check so often. I’m just really glad we have really good prescription coverage!
I’d like to see some research into coconut-based health care, specifically, the Mounds bar.
Most journalists can't tell the difference between selling liberal ideology and reporting facts.
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