Like every November 14, we remember an event that is very important to keep in mind because it calls us to reflect on awareness of the complications of a disease that should put governments on alert.
We are talking about World Diabetes Day.

To get a little more into the subject, we tell you that the World Diabetes Day logo is a blue circle and was created as part of the “United for Diabetes” campaign in 2007 to commemorate the approval of this day by the United Nations.
The meaning of this symbol has nothing but positive connotations.
In many cultures, the circle symbolizes life and health.
In addition, the color blue represents the sky that unites all the nations of the world, and is the color of the UN flag.
Thus, the blue circle symbolizes the unity of the international community in response to the diabetes pandemic.

A bit of history

The history of diabetes mellitus is replete with many therapies, almost all of them – including insulin – administered at first without any knowledge about the mechanism of action.
According to the Ebers Papyrus of 1500 BC. In the 1st century BC, early Egyptian physicians prescribed a kind of marzipan made from wheat grains, fresh semolina, lead, soil, and water.

In medieval times, a recipe for Galega officinalis (also known as French lilac or Italian ivy), was said to relieve the intense urination that accompanied diabetes.
This herb turned out to be the antecedent of the metformin we know today and which is one of the fundamental pillars in the pharmacological treatment of type II diabetes.

Getting into the subject

Type II diabetes is a heterogeneous syndrome characterized by abnormalities in carbohydrate and fat metabolism. Glucose metabolism is regulated by a feedback loop that includes the β cells of the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas and insulin-sensitive tissues, in which the sensitivity of the tissue to this hormone affects the magnitude of the response of the β cells.
If insulin resistance is present, β cells maintain normal glucose tolerance by increasing insulin production.
Only when β cells are unable to release enough insulin in the presence of insulin resistance do glucose concentrations rise.

Diabetes is a disease that occurs when the blood glucose level is too high

The importance of its early detection and effective treatment comes from the fact that it has currently become one of the most complex public health problems globally due to the increase in prevalence, morbidity and mortality caused by its complications.

Although genetic elements have been found in its pathophysiology, in type II diabetes, environmental changes play an essential role.
Modern research approaches have helped establish the important role that hexoses, amino acids, and fatty acids play in insulin resistance and β cell dysfunction, and the potential role of changes in the microbiome.

Different treatment perspectives

Berberine is a quaternary ammonium salt extracted from the root of Berberis vulgaris L., and was an ancient herbal medicine for the treatment of diarrhea and dysentery in traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda.
Ongoing clinical and experimental studies have revealed great potential for berberine in regulating glucose and lipid homeostasis, cancer growth, and inflammation.
In addition, the lipid-lowering effect of berberine is comparable to that of conventional antilipid drugs, but with low toxicity.

One study indicates that berberine has a comparable therapeutic effect on type II diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension without serious side effects.
The study used a dose of 0.9 to 1.5 g orally per day.
Twenty-seven randomized controlled clinical trials involving 2569 patients were included in this study.
There were seven subgroups of the meta-analysis: berberine versus placebo or berberine with intensive lifestyle intervention.
In the treatment of type II diabetes mellitus, we found that berberine with lifestyle intervention tended to decrease fasting plasma glucose and postprandial glucose by 15 and 34 mg/dl, respectively, and A1C by 0.7% compared to lifestyle interventions alone. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2014.09.049

Berberine may help prevent metabolic syndrome

Another study showed that berberine lowered blood glucose in patients with type II diabetes mellitus by increasing insulin receptor expression.
In addition, the same study recommends its use in cases of type II diabetes, with a different mechanism than metformin and rosiglitazone.
Liver function was greatly improved in these patients by showing a reduction in liver enzymes. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metabol.2009.07.029

Metformin and berberine share many aspects in actions and mechanisms despite their different structure.
It is postulated that the synergistic action of berberine and metformin is attributed to similar antidiabetic mechanisms despite the different transporters and metabolism.
Therefore, the combination of these two drugs could allow for the reduction of the dose of each individual drug to solve problems such as the oral bioavailability of berberine and the side effects of each alone. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.20807

On our website, you will find a product that we have called Active Berberine that meets all the requirements and that we have already talked about at length in other articles.

Attacking oxidative stress

It has been shown that oxidative stress and inflammation are fundamental in the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus, especially type II diabetes and that is why if there is a supplement that could help, it would be very beneficial.
The fermented papaya preparation is a phytonutraceutical product derived from the fermentation of the yeast of Carica papaya Linn that favorably modulates the parameters of damage due to immune, hematological, inflammatory, vascular and oxidative stress. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mrfmmm.2014.04.007

Another study cites the ability of fermented papaya preparation to influence signaling cascades associated with cell growth and survival and that it presents a rational chemopreventive adjunct that can be used in combination with traditional redox therapies that target oxidative stress in the cancer microenvironment concomitant with diabetes.
In addition, it is suggested that the efficacy demonstrated by fermented papaya in controlling blood glucose, excessive inflammation, and modulating oxidative damage induced by free radicals, which are triggers of liver, bladder, breast, and prostate cancers in type II diabetics, may favorably mitigate the side effects of diabetes. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mrfmmm.2014.04.007

Immun’Âge is an antioxidant that helps reduce oxidative stress

In a different study, erythrocyte membranes were found to be favorable models for studying the relationship between diabetes and erythrocyte susceptibility to oxidative stress damage.
Thus, we aimed to evaluate its effect on human antioxidant status and erythrocyte integrity in a multiethnic prediabetic population.
The in vivo effect of fermented papaya was compared with its free radical scavenging potential in vitro.
The preparation exhibited potent free radical scavenging activities in vitro that are thought to be attributed to compound phenolic compounds or residual flavonoids.
At low doses, the susceptibility of human red blood cells to free radical-induced hemolysis was significantly reduced.

The Immun’Âge fermented papaya preparation from the Osato laboratory is the only one that follows the ancestral Japanese recipe and on which all the studies cited in this article have been carried out.

Conclusion

As we can see, the issue of diabetes – especially type II diabetes – could have more treatment alternatives than the traditional ones offered by the industry today.
This would include fewer adverse effects and the possibility that the same agent can also treat other conditions and, above all, collaborate in the prevention of future diseases.

Therefore, beyond our recommendations about nutritional supplements, the migration of patients towards this type of product on their own is not the objective of this article (or the blog).
We must always have the clear indication of a health professional who understands and handles these issues so as not to fall into simplism and magical thinking.

While these discoveries may be novel and economically feasible, diabetes is a complex disease that must be treated from several angles in order to reach a favorable outcome.

This is our small collaboration for this November 14th, more treatment options, more scientific research, fewer adverse effects and more health.