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  • "Flaxseed vs. Diabetes"

  • Drug companies are hoping to capitalize on the fact that the consumption of certain plants

  • appears to lower the risk of diabetes by isolating the active components for use and sale as pharmacological agents.

  • Though not as profitable, why not just eat the plants?

  • One plant in particular that's now been tested is flax.

  • We've known for 20 years that having ground flaxseeds in your stomach can blunt the blood sugar spike from a meal,

  • but it's never been tested in diabetics until now.

  • "An open-label study on the effect of flax seed powder supplementation in the management of diabetes".

  • A tablespoon of ground flaxseeds every day for a month

  • and compared to the control group, a significant drop in fasting blood sugars,

  • triglycerides, and cholesterol, as well as the most important thing:

  • a drop in A1c level, and this was just after a month.

  • Though if one's sugars are already well-controlled, there may be no additional benefit.

  • No weight gain was reported in people adding a quarter cup of ground flax a day to their diets for 3 months.

  • In fact, the flax group ended up with a slimmer waist than the flaxseed oil or control group.

  • Even up to nearly a half cup a day (more than I'd recommend), still no significant weight gain,

  • though this was only after month.

  • How does flax help control diabetes?

  • Flaxseed consumption may improve insulin sensitivity in people with glucose intolerance.

  • About after 12 weeks of flax there was a small but significant drop in insulin resistance --

  • perhaps related to the drop in oxidant stress, given the antioxidant qualities of flaxseed phytonutrients.

  • Now this was a small unblinded study -- it's hard to come up with a convincing fake flaxseed placebo--

  • so if this was some drug they were testing, I'd never prescribe it based on this one study. But it isn't a drug!

  • It's just flaxseeds. There's just good side-effects!

  • So even if this study was a fluke or fraud, flaxseeds have other benefits.

  • So even in the worst case scenario, I'd still end up benefiting my patients not quite ready or able

  • to reverse their diabetes completely with a completely plant-based diet.

"Flaxseed vs. Diabetes"

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