About Diabetes

  1. A chronic metabolic disease, characterized by high levels glucose in the blood
  2. It occurs either because the pancreas stops producing insulin (type 1 diabetes) or through a combination of the pancreas having reduced ability to produce insulin alongside the body being resistant to its action (type 2diabetes).
  3. According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), there are an estimated 8.4 million people with diabetes in Bangladesh and a similar number of people with prediabetes. The IDF projected that the number of people with diabetes will increase to 16.8 million by 2030, placing Bangladesh among the top ten countries globally in terms of number of people livingwith diabetes.
  4. Diabetes kills 1.5 million people every year worldwide.

Insulin that is produced in the pancreas is considered the “most powerful” hormone in the body. This hormone allows glucose to get into the cells of our body and helps to produce energy for the body through the metabolic activity known as Glycolysis. Insulin also helps to balance our blood glucose levels. When there’s too much glucose, insulin signals our body to store the additional/excess glucose as glycogen in our liver. The stored glucose isn’t released until your blood glucose levels decrease. If this hormone is not sufficiently excreted from the pancreas or the produced insulin becomes inactive in the cells, due to deficiencies or if the body insulin is inactive, therefore, the amount of glucose in the blood or the level of blood sugar compare to its normal value increases and Glucose goes out with urine from the body. This is the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus (DM – Diabetes Mellitus) or diabetes.

Types of Diabetes

  • Type 1 diabetes: Type-1 or insulin-based diabetes. The pancreas lost the ability to make insulin
  • Type 2 diabetes: The most common form of diabetes, insulin-independent diabetes

Reason for Diabetes:

  • Type 1 diabetes is caused by genes and environmental factors, such as viruses, that might trigger the disease.
  • Type 2 diabetes is caused by several factors, including lifestyle factors and genes (Due to excess weight, obesity, lack of physical labor, high sugar and low-fiber diet, hereditary reasons such diabetes can increase the risk. Parents raise the risk of someone having diabetes)

Research works based on diabetes are increasing worldwide every year. In this article, we are trying to accumulate some research findings to understand the effect of acetic acid, which exists as a major component of Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) on the diabetes mellitus. In order to understand this article very well, you should know what is Glycemic index (GI).

The glycemic index or glycaemic index (GI)

  1. A number associated with the carbohydrates in a particular type of food indicating the significance of these carbohydrates on a person’s blood glucose A value of 100 represents the standard, an equivalent amount of pure glucose.
  2. It represents the rise in blood sugar level two hours after consumption of the food.
  3. Foods with a GI value of less than 55 are considered to be low-GI foods, whereas food with a GI value of 70 or more are high-GI foods.
  4. High-GI foods contain rapidly digested carbohydrate, which produces a rapid and large rise and fall in the level of blood glucose. In contrast, low-GI foods contain slowly digested carbohydrate, which produces a gradual, relatively low rise in the level of blood glucose and thus control the postprandial glycemic response.

Literature reviews

  1. H. Liljeberg et al. reported that the presence of acetic acid, given as vinegar, significantly reduced the postprandial glucose (GI=64) and insulin responses (II=65) to a starchy meal. According this research, Fermented foods or food products with added organic acids should preferably be included in the diet in order to reduce glycaemia and insulin demand( Liljeberg H, Björck I. Eur J Clin Nutr. 1998 May; 52(5):368-71).
  2. The potential of acetic acid supplementation as a means of lowering the glycaemic index (GI) of a bread meal was investigated details by E. Osman et al. Supplementation of a meal based on white wheat bread with vinegar reduced postprandial responses of blood glucose and insulin, and increased the subjective rating of satiety(Ostman E, Granfeldt Y, Persson L, Björck I. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2005 Sep;59(9):983-8).
  3. The effects of cold storage and vinegar addition on glycaemic and insulinaemic responses to a potato meal in healthy subjects were investigated by M. Leeman et al. According to the research findings, the high glycaemic and insulinaemic features commonly associated with potato meals can be reduced by use of vinegar dressing and/or by serving cold potato products (Leeman M, Ostman E, Björck I. J Diabetes Res. 2015; 2015:175204. doi: 10.1155/2015/175204. Epub 2015 May 6).
  4. The effect of vinegar on glucose metabolism in muscle which is the most important tissue for insulin-stimulated glucose disposal was investigated by P. Mitrou et al. According to this I nvestigation, vinegar reduces postprandial hyperglycaemia, hyperinsulinaemia, and hypertriglyceridaemia in Diabetes 2 without affecting lipolysis. The effect of vinegar on carbohydrate metabolism may be partly accounted for by an increase in glucose uptake, which demonstrated an improvement in insulin action in skeletal muscle (Mitrou P, Petsiou E, Papakonstantinou E, Maratou E, Lambadiari V, Dimitriadis P, Spanoudi F, Raptis SA, Dimitriadis G. Sci Rep. 2017 Jul 27;7(1):6664. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-06235-7).
  5. Acetic acid (AcOH), a main component of vinegar, lately was found to suppress body fat accumulation in animal studies. The effects of vinegar intake on the reduction of body fat mass in obese Japanese were investigated by T. Kondo et al. in a double-blind trial. Body weight, BMI, visceral fat area, waist circumference, and serum triglyceride levels were significantly lower in vinegar intake groups than in the placebo (no intake vinegar) group (Tomoo Kondo , Mikiya Kishi, Takashi Fushimi and Takayuki Kaga, Journal of Bioscience, Biotechnology and Biochemistry, Volume 73(2009)1837-43).
  6. Bouderbala et al. reported the Anti-obesogenic effect of apple cider vinegar in rats subjected to a high fat diet. The study reveals that the metabolic disorder caused by high fat diet are thwarted by taking apple cider vinegar , which proves to have a satiating effect, antihyperlipidemic and hypoglycemic effects and seems prevent the atherogenic  risk(H. Bouderbala, H. Kaddouri, O. Kheroua, D. Saidi, Ann Cardiol Angeiol (Paris). 2016 Jun; 65(3): 208-13).
  7. The addition of vinegar or peanut products to a high-glycemic load meal significantly reduced postprandial glycemia(Johnston CS, Buller AJ , J Am Diet Assoc. 2005 Dec; 105(12):1939-42.).
  8. According to Carol S. Johnston et al, vinegar can significantly improve postprandial insulin sensitivity in insulin resistant subjects.( CS Johnston, CM Kim, AJ Buller, Diabetes Care 2004 Jan; 27(1): 281-82
  9. Beheshti et al. recently investigated the influence of apple cider vinegar on blood lipids. This study indicated that the consumption of apple cider vinegar can reduce the LDL (bad), triglyceride and cholesterol level in patients with hyperlipidemia, which is a known risk factor for atherosclerosis. According to them, apple cider can be used to prevent and even treat this complication and probably other heart problems (Z. Beheshti et al, Life Science Journal, 2012; 9(4): 2431-40

Rules of Drinking

  1. 1tsp of ACV + 1 cup of water (the amount of water can be increased if you want)
  2. Drink this solution before meals one time a day (up to 2 weeks). After 2 weeks; you can drink up to three times a day at least three months continuously.

Taking “apple cider vinegar drink” with balanced foods regularly will reduce weight. However, those who do not want to control food (frozen food, junk food, carbonated beverages), they will not get any benefit from this vinegar. However, in order to get excellent result by using ACV, walking 45 mins/per day is also suggested.

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