Acarbose stabilizes blood sugar and suppresses appetite
Acarbose slows down the absorption of sugars and starches, curtailing sugar ‘highs’ and leaving you feeling full.
After eating, our bodies digest sugar and starches from the food to produce a rush of sugar in the blood that leads to feelings of lethargy and mood swings. Slowing down the rate at which the sugar and starches are digested reduces this peaking effect and stabilizes blood sugar levels throughout the day, preventing any fluctuation of energy and temperament.
Furthermore, the reduced rate of digestion leaves one feeling full for longer. In this way, Acarbose can aid weight loss by acting as a powerful appetite suppressant.
Acarbose also has important implications for the ageing process. Excess insulin is one of Sear’s four pillars of pro-aging, (for more information on this see Dr. Dean and Professor Vladimir's Neuroendocrine Theory of Aging). As we become older our bodies produce more insulin to combat the higher levels of blood sugar (see graph showing increased insulin release with age). Using Acarbose to reduce the amount of sugar the body produces will in turn reduce the levels of insulin produced. For this same reason, Acarbose is often used in the treatment of diabetes.
Acarbose – Effective treatment for diabetes with a weight loss benefit
Diabetes mellitus is a huge problem. According to the American Diabetic Association, in the United States 17.9 million children and adults have been diagnosed with the disease, but alarmingly it is estimated that a further 5.7 million people have diabetes but are totally unaware of it. This means that in the US a total of 23.6 million people are diabetic (or 7.8% of the population) but that around 1 in 4 of them are failing to receive the proper treatment because their condition has not been diagnosed. If you add to this the 57 million Americans who have pre-diabetes (see below) you get an idea of just what an enormous health issue diabetes is. And it’s a problem that is set to get worse - diabetes is now the world’s fastest growing chronic disease.
What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a condition where your body is no longer capable of automatically regulating blood glucose levels which results in there being too much glucose in the blood. Glucose is your body’s preferred source of energy. It comes from foods that contain carbohydrate (starches and sugars), such as, breads and cereals, milk and dairy foods, fruits and some vegetables. Glucose travels via the blood stream to the muscles and other organs where it is needed as fuel. Insulin effectively “unlocks” cells allowing glucose to enter them. Any excess glucose is detoured to the liver where it is stored for future use.
If your body either fails to produce insulin or fails to properly use the insulin that it does produce, you end up with too much glucose in your blood and you have diabetes. Diabetes is a serious, progressive, chronic condition - once you have developed diabetes you are likely to suffer from it for the rest of your life.
There are 2 main types of diabetes:
Type 1 diabetes: This results from the body’s failure to produce insulin. Your pancreas stops insulin production altogether and if you don’t inject yourself with insulin, you will die. This type of diabetes used to be called juvenile diabetes but this name was a little confusing because, although Type 1 diabetes often strikes children and young adults, it can develop in adulthood. It is estimated that 5-10% of Americans who are diagnosed with diabetes have Type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes usually develops fairly quickly and causes the classic symptoms of diabetes (thirst, excessive urination, and sweet-smelling urine).
Type 2 diabetes: This results from insulin resistance. Although your pancreas still produces insulin (indeed, it usually over-produces it), your body is unable to respond properly to it. As can be seen from the figures above, the vast majority of Americans with diabetes have Type 2 diabetes. Indeed, Type 2 diabetes accounts for around of 95% of diabetes in western, industrialized countries.
Pregnant women are also at risk of developing gestational diabetes. About 3% of non-diabetic women are affected by this temporary form of diabetes, but, as with so many conditions linked to pregnancy, gestational diabetes clears up after delivery. It requires careful medical management because it can cause severe problems for both the mother and her unborn child. If you are over 35 and overweight, you are most at risk of developing gestational diabetes although it can strike any pregnant woman.
As mentioned previously, a condition known as ‘pre-diabetes’ also exists. This describes the situation where someone’s blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes.
What causes diabetes?
Unfortunately, the actual cause of diabetes remains a mystery. Type 1 diabetes is thought to be an auto-immune condition. It appears to develop when something goes wrong with the body’s immune system which leads to the destruction of the pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin. The reason why this should happen is not clear, but Type 1 diabetes often develops after a viral infection such as a cold or flu. There also appears to be a genetic factor at play because those with close relatives with the disease are known to be at increased risk of developing it themselves.
Type 2 diabetes on the other hand is strongly associated with lifestyle - in particular, a diet high in sugar, fat and animal products but low in fibre and a lack of exercise. This type of diet and inactivity tend to go hand in hand with obesity so it comes as no surprise to find that almost all Type 2 diabetics are overweight and lead sedentary lives. Whilst being overweight and inactive does not inevitably cause Type 2 diabetes, just about everyone with Type 2 diabetes falls into this category.
The reason for this strong association lies in the fact that as weight increases, especially abdominal fat, cells begin to secrete a hormone that makes them become insulin resistant. This means that the insulin that you produce cannot work effectively and has difficulty in enabling glucose to enter insulin resistant cells. This in turn causes the pancreas to produce even more insulin. This solution only provides a temporary fix and slowly but surely cells become even more insulin resistant and more and more glucose fails to enter cells. This results in rising blood glucose levels.
Type 2 diabetes can take many years to develop and does not produce the more dramatic symptoms of Type 1 diabetes. Indeed, this slow, gradual development is the reason why so many people have the disease but are not aware of it.
Other factors also increase your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes:
Family history: If one of your parents has Type 2 diabetes, you have a 20-25% chance of developing the disease. This increases to about 70% if both your parents have Type 2. Your risk also increases if siblings, grandparents, or blood-related aunts and uncles are diabetic.
Gestational diabetes: 5-10% of women who have gestational diabetes are found to have diabetes (usually Type 2) immediately after pregnancy. Gestational diabetes also indicates a tendency towards insulin resistance and, even if you do not develop diabetes immediately, you are at increased risk of developing Type 2 later in life.
Age: Generally Type 2 diabetes develops in people over the age of 40 but overweight and inactive people may develop it an earlier age. It has even been diagnosed in children.
Ethnicity: Although anyone can develop Type 2 diabetes, incidence rates amongst African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, and Asian Indians are particularly high.
So why is having diabetes such a problem?
The fact that so many people have undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes is alarming, not just because of the numbers of people involved but also because, if left untreated or treated poorly, diabetes may cause significant organ damage to the heart, blood vessels, kidneys, nerves and eyes. It can also cause impotence.
Complications caused by diabetes can prove to be fatal. Diabetes is one of the major causes of death in the US. To put it bluntly, if you have diabetes then your risk of dying is about twice that of a non-diabetic person of the same age.
Type 2 diabetes is one of the leading causes of:
Cardiovascular disease: Atherosclerosis is the underlying cause of cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke) and having diabetes significantly increases your risk of developing it. Atherosclerosis refers to the clogging of your blood vessels with plaques. Compared with non-diabetics, people with diabetes have three times the risk of heart disease and five times the risk of stroke. Heart disease and stroke are, respectively, the first and third leading causes of death in the US.
Kidney failure: Diabetes causes the blood vessels in the kidneys to narrow (diabetic nephropathy), which in turn leads to the kidneys becoming over worked. Eventually they may stop working altogether - a life-threatening condition that requires dialysis or kidney transplantation.
Limb amputations: Diabetes leads to the narrowing of the blood vessels in the legs and feet which means that even minor wounds can take a long time to heal. Wounds to the feet are particularly problematical - being very slow to heal or even failing to heal at all (diabetic foot syndrome). These wounds can develop gangrene and require amputation.
New onset blindness in adults: Diabetes narrows the blood vessels in the eyes (diabetic retinopathy), which can cause bleeding and blindness. Diabetics are 4 times more likely than non-diabetics to go blind. After having diabetes for 15 years, 97% of diabetics display some signs of retinopathy.
Nervous system impairment: Diabetes narrows the blood vessels that nourish the nerves (diabetic neuropathy). This can result in tingling, numbness, and persistent pain, particularly in the hands and feet. If neuropathy occurs in the digestive tract, it can lead to gastric problems such as constipation, diarrhoea, nausea, or vomiting. It may even result in diabetic sex problems such as erection difficulties for men and the loss of vaginal lubrication in women.
How can Acarbose help?
Early detection and management of the diabetes is essential if the potentially devastating effects of the disease are to be ameliorated. Launched worldwide in 1990, Acarbose (sold under the brand name Glucobay) belongs to a class of drugs known as alphaglucosidase inhibitors. It works in the small intestine where it reversibly inhibits the actions of enzymes responsible for the breakdown of complex carbohydrates (for example starch) into simpler sugars such as glucose. These simple sugars are then absorbed into the blood stream through the intestinal wall. By inhibiting the alphaglucosidases, Acarbose slows down the digestion of carbohydrates and extends the period of time over which glucose is absorbed into the blood stream. This results in much better blood glucose control.
The actions of Acarbose can easily be demonstrated. After we’ve eaten, we receive a rush of sugar in our blood streams from the starches and sugars that our bodies have digested. This can produce mood swings and fluctuations in energy levels. However, by taking Acarbose, we can slow down the rate at which these sugars and starches are digested. This results in a levelling-out of energy and mood highs and lows as blood sugar levels become much more stabilized throughout the day.
Acarbose can either be prescribed as a monotherapy – especially for those also receiving lifestyle modification advice (e.g. changes in diet and exercise habits; Or it can be used in conjunction with other diabetic treatments. With over 100 studies establishing the efficacy of Acarbose, its benefits as a treatment have been well established. In particular, it has been demonstrated that Acarbose can help to delay the progression of diabetes as well as providing significant help in the fight against cardiovascular complications. For example, clinical trials involving Type 2 diabetics have established that Acarbose can reduce the risk of any cardiovascular event by 35% and of myocardial infarction (heart attack) by 64%. Furthermore, glycaemic control, triglyceride levels, body weight and systolic blood pressure have all been shown to improve during Acarbose treatment.
Acarbose therapy may also be of benefit to those suffering from pre-diabetes. Researchers have shown that Acarbose can significantly reduce the risk of progressing from pre-diabetes to Type 2 diabetes by as much as 36%.
Can Acarbose help with any other conditions?
Weight Loss.
As we have seen, Acarbose mainly influences our blood sugar levels after eating. An added benefit of reducing the rate at which we digest carbohydrates, is that we feel fuller for longer. Acarbose, therefore, acts as a powerful appetite suppressor and can aid weight loss.
Aging.
As we age, our bodies naturally produce more insulin to help cope with increasing blood sugar levels (caused by cells gradually becoming more insulin resistant - a sort of pseudo diabetes). By reducing the amount of blood sugars our in the body, Acarbose facilitates a concomitant reduction in insulin levels. And as we have seen, the consequences of having too much insulin circulating in your body can be dire. Many of the diseases that we looked at earlier such as cardiovascular disease become more prevalent with age. It therefore makes sense to keep insulin levels to a low but healthy level in order to help keep our bodies healthier and stronger for as long as possible.
Dosage
For anti-aging and appetite suppression take one 50mg Acarbose tablet once, twice or three times daily.
For the treatment of diabetes the dosage should be established with your doctor. A ‘start low, go slow’ dosing regimen, with the drug dosage increased gradually over time, is recommended for optimal success.
The tablets should be chewed and swallowed prior to a meal or with the first mouthful of food.
Side effects
Because Acarbose acts in the small intestine and is minimally absorbed into the body, it has an excellent safety record. Acarbose also remains effective during long-term therapy for at least 5 years.
Side effects, with initial use, may include flatulence, diarrhoea and abdominal pain. If this happens, you should reduce (or stop) the dosage then gradually increase the dosage and these problems should disappear.
Caution: Do not use Acarbose if you have any liver or kidney conditions. Avoid use if you suffer from intestinal, inflammation or ulceration disorders. If you are diabetic, only take Acarbose after having sought the advice of your physician.
What our customers say...
What a difference Acarbose makes to controlling my blood sugar, for the first time in a long time I don't feel tired after a meal, thanks for making me aware of this product.
A.M. San Marino
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