Type 2 diabetes can be a 'devastating diagnosis' says expert
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Type 2 diabetes is caused by impaired insulin production. Your body struggles to either produce enough of this hormone, or the one that it does produce doesn’t work properly. Deprived of this key mechanism, your blood glucose levels can be soaring high. However, onion extract could help retrieve your glucose from the danger zone, according to research.
While you might not give too much credit to this cheap vegetable, research suggests that it has powerful effects on blood sugar levels.
In fact, the extract of the onion bulb, Allium cepa, was found to “strongly” lower high blood glucose.
What’s more, the onion bulb is available to buy in local markets.
However, the lead researcher Anthony Ojieh said it is usually purified to obtain only the active ingredients for adequate dosage.
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Ojieh said: “Onion is cheap and available and has been used as a nutritional supplement.
“It has the potential for use in treating patients with diabetes.”
The researchers gave metformin and different doses of the onion extract to three groups of diabetic rats.
The research team’s goal was to observe whether the extract would enhance the drug’s effects.
In case you’re not aware, metformin is one of the main medicines used to treat diabetes.
Ojieh and his team also administered metformin and onion extract to three groups of non-diabetic rats with normal blood sugar levels.
The trial included control groups as well, with one receiving just metformin while the other wasn’t given anything at all.
The extract was provided based on their body weight and measured at either 200, 400 or 600 milligrams per kilogram of the weight.
Out of all the doses given to the animal models, two proved especially potent.
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The 400 and 600 mg/kg/day dose of onion extract were able to strongly lower blood sugar levels in diabetic rats.
In fact, the researchers saw a whopping 50 and 35 percent reduction, respectively.
Ojieh added: “We need to investigate the mechanism by which onion brought about the blood glucose reduction.
“We do not yet have an explanation.”
While the study results are very promising, it’s important to note that the research wasn’t conducted on humans but only on animal models.
This means that more studies are currently needed to further establish the benefits.
The study results were presented at The Endocrine Society’s 97th annual meeting in San Diego.
What are the symptoms of type 2 diabetes?
The main symptoms of type 2 diabetes include:
- Peeing more than usual (especially at night)
- Feeling thirsty all the time
- Feeling very tired
- Unintentional weight loss
- Itching around your genitals, or repeatedly getting thrush
- Cuts or wounds healing slowly
- Blurred vision.
The NHS urges seeing a GP if you suffer from any of these symptoms or you’re worried that you may have a higher risk of type 2 diabetes.
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