We know that diabetes is at the top of the list of the biggest health concerns in the country. That’s why we’re bringing you another new development on the disease. This time it involves an obscure fruit.
Diabetes is a problem that seems to be getting out of control in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of 2002, 18.2 million people in this country have diabetes. That’s 6.3% of the population! And that was five years ago — the problem is not going away. It’s getting worse.
Type 1 diabetes is when your body is unable to produce insulin. It’s theorized that an overactive immune system could be the culprit. Insulin is a hormone that transports glucose into cells throughout the body. The glucose is used as fuel for your body’s many different functions. Type 2 diabetes is the more common type of the disease. It is most often found in obese adults. It occurs when the pancreas doesn’t produce sufficient insulin, or when the body doesn’t make proper use of the insulin produced. So, again, the furnishing of energy to cells is disrupted. Both forms of diabetes could lead to serious complications — heart disease, kidney disease, vision problems, and nerve damage, for example. The disease can also be fatal. In 2000, diabetes was ranked the sixth leading cause of death in the country. If deaths due to heart disease and other conditions caused by diabetes are facto! red in, that ranking would be even higher.
Diabetes is manageable and even preventable. If you make the proper lifestyle changes and follow your doctor’s instructions on treatment and monitoring, you could live a happy and long life. Diet is an important factor, as obesity and blood sugar fluctuations can lead to diabetes or the worsening of symptoms or complications.
That’s where the latest food finding comes in. Researchers in China have found that a fruit could hold the key to diabetes prevention. They also discovered that it could help get blood sugar under control in diabetics.
The study involved 12 rats that were induced to have a condition identical to type 1 diabetes in humans. Twelve healthy rats were used as controls. The diabetic and healthy rats were assigned to one of two groups. One group was fed a regular diet. The other group ate the regular diet, plus was given an extract made from the “Cucurbita ficifolia” fruit.
Cucurbita ficifolia is a vine plant that produces a melon- type fruit. Other names for the plant include chilacayote, Thai marrow, shark-fin melon, and pie melon. It probably originates in Mexico or Peru, and it’s still cultivated in the Americas. But it’s now also grown in many parts of Europe and Asia. If you live in the southern regions of the U.S., you might have heard of it, but most likely it’s a stranger to your kitchen table. Depending on when you harvest it, it can be cooked as a vegetable or fruit.
In the study, once 30 days were up, the researchers examined the rats. They found that the diabetic rats that had been given the Cucurbita ficifolia extract were comparable to the healthy ones. The extract-fed diabetic rodents had only five percent less blood sugar than the normal rats. Plus, they had only eight percent fewer insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.
The researchers believe that this significant effect of the Cucurbita ficifolia extract on diabetic rats is due to two things. The first is antioxidants in the plant. The second is a substance called “D-chiro-inositol.” This is a molecule involved in the control of insulin. It’s believed that the extract increases the level of insulin in the blood, which means blood sugar levels go down. This means less oxidative damage to the insulin-producing cells. And that leads to prevention of more damage and gives the body time to repair itself. If this process is caught early, the researchers think that it could help prevent either type of diabetes. They also think that it could help keep diabetes under control in those who already have the condition. Keeping diabetes under control equals fewer complications and better quality of life.
However, you should note that these findings are preliminary. Large studies on humans need to be done to confirm whether Cucurbita ficifolia extract could be beneficial in the fight against diabetes.
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Tags: glucose, healthy fruits, obesity
