So I was at the diabetes doctor the other day and had my best A1C reading ever. My previous one (8 months ago) was 7.0. 6 months before that was 6.5 (my previous low was this or possibly a 6.0 a long time ago, but I think 6.5 was my record).
Anyways I’ve been wondering what I could have been doing that caused this. Around 6 months to a year ago I had been having serious problems with overnight hyperglycemia and I think this contributed a lot to the 7.0 I had around that time.
It has since faded away in the past few months, and while this may contribute a little to the 5.5, I just don’t think it is the entire explanation. 5.5 is seriously low.
So I’m looking to my diet for a possible explanation as I have added many new things to it lately that could have effects on my glycemia. One thing I have been taking lots of recently that I never took are nootropics, especially piracetam and Power Drive (for choline support) and now vinpocetine. Although I question whether they would have such a powerful effect on my blood sugar levels.
I’ve also been buying Superfood and eating a few scoops daily the past few months. This supplement represents a dramatic change to my diet as I have always not ate much fruit & vegetable (not that I avoided them or anything though).
I’m wondering if anyone else has noticed a similar effect? Or if I can suggest to any diabetics out there to give superfood a try for a few months and then get their A1C checked, go for it and see if anything happens.
Damn that is awesome!
From the limited reading I’ve done antioxidants seem to play a protective role in regards the oxidative stress (duh) and accelerated glycation in diabetes, so it makes sense.
Need to do some more research on the individual antioxidant H-bombs that Superfood contains to see what effects they have, though.
Very interesting, stuff! Thanks for sharing.
I wanted to add one thing about Superfood.
It is giving me tremendous energy.
I have been taking it every day, only one scoop, for about 3 weeks now.
One scoop of Superfood, creatine 2.5 g and 7.5g of flax all mixed into some greek yogurt.
Makes a great breakfast and a great way to start your day.
coenzyme Q10, alpha-tocopherol, and phenols have been found to lower glycated hemoglobin levels. A variety of herbs and spices have also been shown to help lower inflammation and tissue damage associated with advanced glycation end products.
How did you counter the “dawn effect”?
Well I still get the dawn effect no matter what. My personal belief is that glucagon is the main instigator of the dawn effect and that if you can block the glucagon receptor with an antagonist, perhaps you can give diabetics an effective alternative therapy to this problem. I personally hate having to take insulin in the morning because I usually don’t want to eat for a few hours anyways, so taking even 1 or 2 units of insulin to stave off the dawn effect usually ends in hypoglycemia at some point in the morning. It’s really a pain to deal with. You guys don’t know how easy you have it. =P
Anyways I’ve been hard at work perfecting my glucagon antagonist in the lab and time will tell if the dawn effect can be p0wned by a feisty graduate student. =)
For the hyperglycemia, I was referring to more of an overnight issue where I would go high as I slept. I don’t know if it was my diet or some late growth spurt type of thing or what, but it seems to have lessened a lot in recent months thankfully. I was getting tired of waking up in the middle of the night in the 300s. Worst thing about that is it makes you have to pee but we all know what happens to guys when they need to pee at night… imagine dealing with it every night. =/
Actually that’s not the worst part, the worst part is taking insulin at 4 AM and going back to sleep then waking up in the 30s-60s!
As for the Superfood I guess the real test will be when I go back in 6 months to get another A1C. I mean 5.5 is really low. I will continue to down the stuff though, I don’t know why but I like it a lot. I like fruit a lot, but I’m just not much of a food preparer and that mixed with a tight budget ends in me not wanting to buy expensive (ie, the good, fresh stuff) fruits and vegetables at the grocer.
The Superfood mixes great in my protein shakes. Hell for all we know it could just be a little bit of some raspberries for the odor and a bunch of dirt. I hope that’s not what you are doing Biotest! Even if you are though I’ve gone through a solid 10-15 cartons already and will continue to do so as long as our favorite supplement company continues to manufacture edible crack mixed with heroin, err I mean freeze-dried super-concentrated food extracts.
Another oh yea, what I’d really like to see is a controlled study of diabetics taking this stuff. I mean if antioxidants are all some people have cracked them up to be, then this would be the ideal type of study to look for it.
So all I’m saying is that if Biotest was smart they would take a little risk, get some diabetics together, feed them Superfood for 4-6 months and then check their A1Cs. One simple study… one possibly magnificent result. Think about it Biotest, I know you’re out there… lurking the forums… watching, awaiting the opportunity to capitalize on our ideas in silence. This could be your greatest find yet.
Beyond your improved health markers, did you see any change with your physique or strength?
[quote]Rusty Barbell wrote:
Hell for all we know it could just be a little bit of some raspberries for the odor and a bunch of dirt.
[/quote]
As of late 2009, every supplement made must meet GMP standards.
I believe there will be random testing.
I am sure that the minimal risk would be well worth the possible reward. Do you have any idea how many orders they would receive if their product was shown to lower A1C levels at ANY level of significance? They would have to build an entire production plant just for Superfood to keep up with the demand, period.
And yea other companies with similar products would want to jump on the bandwagon, but if you’ve got a patented formula and it is the original one shown to do the job, I have a feeling the future would look quite bright.
Then again it remains to be determined whether I am just some special case where all the right things came together in the recent months to get my A1C down (at age 24) or it was actually the supplement that made the difference. Perhaps we’ll just have to see what my next A1C is… =P