December 21, 2007

Can Taking Aspirin Or Supplementing With Chromium Fight Off Diabetes?

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You have to be extremely careful about marketing tactics used by supplement companies and other over-the-counter drug products which make claims about curing diabetes or the conditions connected with this disease. So many drugs...


You have to be extremely careful about marketing tactics used by supplement companies and other over-the-counter drug products which make claims about curing diabetes or the conditions connected with this disease.

So many drugs have been claimed as a cure during the past 10 years or so it is amazing people still fall for the hype. Some of these drugs and supplements may have helped a few people, which is the basis for their claims, however these cases are few and far between.

To help you with your due diligence when it comes to products out there that make claims of curing diabetes, we have listed 2 popular products below. These are just brief summaries and you should always consult with your doctor before deciding to combine your medications with any over-the-counter drugs or supplements which claim to help with diabetes.

Aspirin

When taken by itself, aspirin has not shown to have any positive effects on treating diabetes. However, the reason why some aspirin companies have made claims in their product's advertising about helping diabetics is because aspirin does have a slight effect in terms of dropping blood glucose, but only if the patient is taking any type of sulfonylurea drugs. Unfortunately, this affect of aspirin when mixed with sulfonylurea drugs is very rare and completely inconsistent.

Chromium

Magazines, newspapers, and online press releases have all provided articles that give nothing but praise for chromium as a supplement which can help control diabetes. These claims were largely based on a study that was made in China with people who have type 2 diabetes. These people were given large doses of chromium which improved their blood glucose, hemoglobin A1C, and cholesterol, all while reducing how much insulin they needed to take.

Sounds promising, doesn't it?

The study would definitely be exciting news except for the fact that these people were already deficient in chromium in the first place. When the same type of experiments are done with people who live in the United States and other countries where chromium is abundant in the foods they eat, patients do not show the same type of improvement in their blood glucose when supplemented with chromium.

So as you can see, these findings are a bit skewed in the larger picture of things. There is no current evidence that shows that using chromium can help people with diabetes. Should you choose to take chromium for the possibility that it will improve your diabetes, be sure to consult your doctor first as well as a dietitian to avoid overdosing on too much chromium, which can become toxic in your body.

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