Articles of Interest   Cut Sugar Cravings, Reduce Fat Storage by Cathy Oats   “Faulty carbohydrate metabolism may be a principal cause for an obesity epidemic that has left 2 out of 3 adult Americans—over 100 million people—in the overweight or obese categories.”   In fact, if you’re over 40, I can almost guarantee that you may be one of the people with glucose (blood sugar) imbalances. It doesn’t matter where you’ve come from, East or West, the inhabitants of this planet love sweets. From infancy to old age, our diets have been saturated with carbohydrates: pasta, bread, sweet rolls, cake, candy, ice cream. However, can you blame any one of us? Simple sugars are so gratifying—they calm us down, they give us energy. They’re like magic, with the power to reverse our mood 180 degrees. That’s the upside of sweets. The downside is that the more you eat them, the more you want them—as a prevalent hormonal imbalance, which leads to carbohydrate cravings and weight gain, literally turns your body into a fat making/fat storing machine.   However, cheer up. I’ve got good news for you. You can get off the fast track to diabetes. And you can do it naturally. But first let’s talk about how years of dietary/lifestyle abuse can lead to a condition called insulin resistance—a physical imbalance that makes the body respond abnormally to carbohydrate-rich foods and plays a causative role in the American tendency to gain weight.   The Road to Insulin Resistance In the past, insulin was most often associated with diabetes, which is how it was first identified; but more current research shows that insulin may, indeed, be the key hormone in regulating a great deal of what we refer to as “the metabolism”.   Among its jobs, insulin works hard at helping your body conserve food energy and it does this in three ways. First, insulin “calls” your body to eat, and if you follow those cravings, insulin rewards you by causing you to experience carbohydrate rich foods as extremely satisfying. Second, insulin ushers the food energy from these foods (which has been turned into blood sugar) to wherever it is needed in the body, and it signals the liver to turn any excess energy into blood fat (triglycerides) so it can be stored in the fat cells. And third, it signals the body to keep the food energy locked inside the fat cells, not burning it for energy, but storing it up for a time when no food is available.   Under ideal conditions, this insulin blood sugar regulation mechanism works perfectly in our bodies. When you’re a kid and you eat ice cream or drink a soda loaded with sugar, your blood sugar starts to rise and your pancreas releases a little insulin, which drives your blood sugar back down rapidly. The pancreas releases just a little insulin to force the sugar back down to normal, because in childhood the cells are extremely sensitive to insulin. Due to this delicate sensitivity, small amounts of insulin easily handle even the outrageous amounts of sugar and carbohydrates kids stuff themselves with—but not without a price. That price is developing a loss of sensitivity in the sensors to insulin—a condition known as insulin resistance.   Thus begins a vicious cycle of requiring ever more insulin to keep the system going. As the body releases more and more insulin in an attempt to push through the resistance and force the insulin and precious blood sugar to the muscles and organs that need it, the extra insulin leads to carbohydrate cravings. With the eating of carbohydrate-rich foods, even more insulin is released. In an attempt to protect itself from too many “insulin insults” the body becomes even more insulin resistant. Eventually, the fat cells may even “shut down” while the insulin and the sugar it accompanies get stuck in the bloodstream and lead to adult-onset diabetes. This process could be compared to our tendency to get used to someone’s loud chatter. After a while, it takes an even higher level of communication to get our attention. In the same way, as the years go by, our bodies require higher and higher levels of insulin in order to use food energy appropriately and keep our blood sugar in the normal range.   How Can the Cycle Be Broken?   Control insulin response and you may well be on the road towards controlling appetite, sweet cravings and between-meal lethargy. Foods and nutrients which help control blood sugar—by making insulin more effective and which mimic insulin’s actions in the body—can therefore be crucial to a successful weight management program and can play an important role in helping to prevent Type II (non-insulin dependent) diabetes.   Insulin Potentiators   Since one of the key goals for enhancing weight loss is to increase the sensitivity of cells throughout the body to the hormone insulin, substances like chromium that are involved in carbohydrate metabolism can be used to good advantage to improve insulin response. Chromium plays a critical role in maintaining blood sugar levels—as it was found to be a central ingredient in a substance which triggers the GTF (glucose tolerance factor). GTF plays an important role in controlling blood sugar levels because it enhances the absorption of glucose into the cells, making it more available and useful for energy. At the same time, GTF potentiates insulin, diminishing the amount of release, thereby helping stabilize blood sugar levels. The dieter benefits because energy drop-offs, sweet cravings and hunger urges associated with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) are eliminated. The benefits to a diabetic are equally obvious. In some clinical studies of diabetics, supplementing the diet with chromium has been shown to decrease fasting glucose levels, improve glucose tolerance, lower insulin levels, and decrease total cholesterol and triglyceride levels, while increasing HDL-cholesterol levels.   The exact molecular structure of GTF has never been determined, but following a series of well published experiments by Dr. Mertz (past director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Human Nutrition Research Center), it was concluded that niacin was the key to chromium’s biological activity. Subsequently, a unique, patented IH818 oxygen-coordinated, niacin-bound chromium complex was developed and called ChromeMate®. Researchers at New Zealand’s Massey University found this unique complex to be 18 times more bioactive than other forms of niacin-bound chromium.   Following is a summary of the research on ChromeMate®:   Cholesterol Study In 1993, researchers at Auburn University found that male athletes taking ChromeMate® IH818 significantly reduced serum cholesterol levels and improved total cholesterol/HDL ratios compared with those taking a placebo.   Bioavailability Study In 1994, researchers at the University of California, Davis, found that ChromeMate® IH818 was absorbed and retained 672% greater than chromium chloride and 311% more than chromium picolinate in mice. Hypertension Study In 1995, researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center found that ChromeMate® IH818 prevented sugar-induced hypertension in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). In 1997, Georgetown researchers found that ChromeMate® IH818 prevented sugar-induced hypertension, lowered glycosylated hemoglobin and reduced liver and kidney lipid peroxidation in SHR rats.   Weight Loss Study In 1997, researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, showed that young obese women taking ChromeMate® IH818 while exercising resulted in significant weight loss and lowered insulin response to an oral glucose load, while those taking chromium picolinate resulted in significant weight gain.   Aside from the research, what I want you to remember is that even though chromium occurs naturally in many of our foods, today’s scientists are finding out that as many as nine out of 10 of us have diets that do not supply us with adequate amounts of chromium. So, if you have a sweet tooth, chromium deficiency may be at the root of the problem. To make matters worse, many of the foods we eat regularly, including refined and processed foods, milk, sweets and sodas—even those foods which are often considered “healthy” such as fruits and juices—can literally rob us of our vital chromium stores.   Lipogenesis Inhibitors Inhibitors of lipogenesis are substances which slow down the production of fats from the metabolism of carbohydrates and proteins. This means inhibiting, for instance, the synthesis of triglycerides and/or cholesterol, and likewise preventing the storage of fat in fat cells. Some known drugs, such as Triton, inhibit lipogenesis, but these usually have many side effects and they lose their effectiveness with continued use.   However, one such natural source may be an extract of the plant Garcinia Cambogia, also known as brindall berry, a native of southern India. The ingredient in this plant, (-)-hydroxycitrate (HCA), is only beginning to become widely known in the health food industry—although specialists in plant compounds became aware of the remarkable qualities of HCA in the late 1960s (at which point they began to learn this compound can reduce the body’s protection of fats from carbohydrates). This startling finding prompted the pharmaceutical giant Hoffman-LaRoche in 1970 to begin to investigate the physiological effects of HCA. These studies continued for many years, and the patents which they generated were still being accepted as late as 1984.   The intensive research conducted on HCA over the last several decades tells you something about the promise which this compound holds with regard to health issues. As a diet aid, HCA works primarily by increasing the production and storage of glycogen, and this fact provides the key to increasing the compound’s appetite-suppressing effects. The hormone insulin plays a significant role in all aspects of glucose metabolism. It works, in part, by increasing the ability of glucose to cross cell membranes; and, in part, by activating the pathways of carbohydrate metabolism within the cells, including the pathway to glycogen production. Therefore, supplements which support the role of insulin in the body should support the actions of HCA—since individuals with weight control problems are somewhat insensitive to the effects of insulin.   Aside from appetite suppression, there is also the possibility of increasing thermogenesis with HCA. Thermogenesis is another aspect of carbohydrate metabolism which is insulin sensitive. For example, whereas a lean individual’s meal may stimulate up to a 40% increase in thermogenesis, an overweight (insulin-insensitive) person often displays only a 10% or less increase in heat production—with the food energy stored instead of being burned for energy. Therefore, nutrients like HCA and even DHEA (known to increase the insulin sensitivity of cells), likewise, go a long way toward re-establishing “normal” thermogenesis and “resetting” the set point in overweight individuals.   In conclusion, studies show HCA appears to be more effective in suppressing appetite and in improving energy levels when combined with nutrients like chromium—which themselves influence blood glucose regulation and glycogen production and storage. The two human trials pursued by A. Conte1 did not test the effects of (-)-hydroxycitrate alone, but rather in combination with niacin bound chromium as an adjunctive supplement to HCA. Conte’s trials also limited the consumption of fats in the diet and encouraged the drinking of large amounts of water. Over an eight-week period, subjects lost almost three times as much weight as controls (11.1 pounds versus 4.2 pounds).   So whether you’re a dieter who is concerned about controlling your weight or just an individual that has problems with elevated blood fat levels—this latest research and information can help empower you to improve your metabolism. God Bless! ___________________________________ 1 Anthony A. Conte, “A Non-Prescription Alternative in Weight Reduction Therapy”, The Bariatrician (Summer 1993) 17-19. Additional References Available on Request   Main Article Index click here Our copyright and Privacy statements / Medical Disclaimer © 2000, Makena Werks, Int'l, All Rights Reserved.