Don’t Have Diabetes Yet? Don’t Get It!
Since being overweight is an important risk factor for diabetes, a herb that prevents diabetes in overweight people would be an important discovery.
Curcumin has enjoyed some powerful recent research for preventing and treating diabetes. One intriguing feature that has emerged is the ability to prevent prediabetes from advancing to diabetes. An earlier double-blind study found that, while 16.4% of prediabetics went on to develop diabetes when given a placebo, none did in the curcumin group (Diabetes Care 2012;35:2121-7).
A recent meta-analysis of people with type 2 diabetes, prediabetes or metabolic syndrome demonstrated that curcumin significantly reduces fasting blood glucose, insulin resistance and HbA1c (PLoS One. 2023;18(7):e0288997).
This new 12 week double-blind study gave either a placebo or curcumin extract to overweight adults who were borderline normal/prediabetic. The curcumin group had significantly lower C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation, and, importantly, significantly better HbA1c. That’s important because hbA1c is the most important marker of long term blood sugar and diabetes control.
The curcumin group also showed significant improvement in after eating blood glucose and in insulin sensitivity.
This study suggests that curcumin can improve insulin resistance and blood glucose levels, meaning that it could lower your risk of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.
Front Nutr. 2024 Jan 29:11:1324196.
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For much more on preventing and treating diabetes, see our books The Family Naturopathic Encyclopedia and, happily, Chocolate: Superfood of the Gods.
For much more on curcumin, see our book Healthy Herbs: Your Everyday Guide to Medicinal Herbs and Their Use.
For comprehensive natural help with your health, including diabetes, make an appointment to see Linda Woolven now. Linda’s clinic is now open for virtual appointments.
The Natural Path is intended for educational purposes only and is in no way intended for self-diagnosis or self-treatment. For health problems, consult a qualified health practitioner for a comprehensive program.
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