The Truth About Blood Sugar

By Dr. Rick Dina D.C.

The consumption of abundant quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as other whole, natural, unprocessed plant foods, helps those who consume them to have better blood sugar control than those who consume more processed and high fat animal foods.

As glucose, aka blood sugar, travels through the bloodstream, it interacts with various protein structures, such as the protein carriers around cholesterol (known as lipoproteins), and the protein structures lining our artery walls, such as collagen. As a result of these interactions, glucose ends up acting as a molecular “glue,” altering both the form and function of these proteins. The proteins have now become “glycated,” or “cross-linked,” as a result of their interactions with glucose, causing them to 1) change shape, and 2) become stiffer and less flexible than they were previously. As a result of glucose causing cross linking of artery walls, for example, the elesticity of the arteries is diminished, which is thought to be a contributing factor to high blood pressure, one of the major risk factors for vascular disease.

When LDL (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol becomes glycated as a result of its interactions with glucose in the bloodstream, its structure changes to the point where the LDL receptors, designed to help rid the body of excess cholesterol, no longer recognize it. This raises levels of LDL, or “bad” cholesterol within our bloodstream, which is another major risk factor for vascular disease that leads to heart attacks, strokes, erectile dysfunction, angina (chest pain), intermittent claudication (leg pain with physical exertion) decreased brain function, etc. For additional information about how to maintain a healthy cholesterol level, please see my article on cholesterol.

The higher the average blood sugar level, the more these reactions occur. Given the two examples above, it should come as no surprise to know that in people with diabetes, who have elevated blood sugar levels, there is a far greater likelihood of dying from a heart attack when compared with their cohorts without diabetes.

Diabetes (mellitus) is roughly broken into two major categories, Type I (aka juvenille onset) and Type II (aka adult onset). Because approximately 95% of diabetics fall into the Type II category, we will use that as our focus as our discussion continues. The primary reason that people with Type II diabetes have elevated blood sugar levels is not from consuming soda, candy, cookies, pastries or other refined “carbs,” not from eating fruit, and not even from eating foods high on the glycemic index. The primary reason that people with Type II diabetes have elevated blood sugar levels is due to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is when the cells of the body do not respond effectively to the hormone insulin, whose job it is to escort glucose from the bloodstream and into the cells. When the action of insulin is blocked in this way, the glucose, aka blood sugar, remains in the blood, as insulin is unable to get the glucose from the blood into the cells, thus causing a backup of glucose in the bloodstream, leading to elevated blood sugar levels.

When the body detects that the glucose level in the bloodstream is still elevated, it makes additional insulin in order to overcome the cells resistance to insulin. Depending upon the degree of insulin resistance, the extra insulin eventually helps to get much of the glucose out of the blood and into the cells. In the meantime, the elevated blood glucose levels caused more glycating and cross linking of various protein structures. As elevated insulin is associated with a whole host of its own problems, such as telling the body to make and store fat, synthesizing cholesterol, and damaging blood vessels, we can see how people with Type II diabetes have an additional physiological challenge to deal with.

Another issue of concern with excess levels of insulin is that insulin “upregulates,” or speeds up the activity of an enzyme that creates an omega 6 fat known as arachidonic acid. The more insulin resistant one’s cells are, the more extra insulin their body has to make, and therefore the more arachidonic acid is created. Arachidonic acid is the initiator of a complex “inflammatory cascade” within the body. Excess inflammation in our artery walls, for example, is another contributing factor to the development of vascular disease, as well as several other issues such as the development of Alzheimer’s disease and cancer, and the aggravation of inflammatory diseases such as arthritis.

This brings up the whole issue of fatty acids, which is a fascinating topic in and of itself. We will save that for our upcoming telecourse…

For additional information on how to successfully maintain a high raw food diet, please click here and sign up for our Raw Food Science TeleCourse starting August 4th, 2009 (Limited Space!)

Best wishes for abundant health!
Rick Dina, D.C.
www.rawfoodeducation.com