White flour contains diabetes-causing contaminant alloxan
Thursday, June 02, 2005 by: Dani Veracity
You
may want to think twice before eating your next sandwich on white
bread. Studies show that alloxan, the chemical that makes white flour
look "clean" and "beautiful," destroys the beta cells of the pancreas.
That's right; you may be devastating your pancreas and putting yourself
at risk for diabetes, all for the sake of eating "beautiful" flour. Is
it worth it?
Scientists
have known of the alloxan-diabetes connection for years; in fact,
researchers who are studying diabetes commonly use the chemical to
induce the disorder in lab animals. In the research sense, giving
alloxan to an animal is similar to injecting that animal with a deadly
virus, as both alloxan and the virus are being used specifically to
cause illness. Every day, consumers ingest foods made with
alloxan-contaminated flour. Would they just as willingly consume foods
tainted with a deadly virus? Unless they had a death wish, they probably
would not. Unfortunately, most consumers are unaware of alloxan and its
potentially fatal link to diabetes because these facts are not well
publicized by the food industry.
How does alloxan cause diabetes? According to Dr. Hari Sharma's Freedom from Disease,
the uric acid derivative initiates free radical damage to DNA in the
beta cells of the pancreas, causing the cells to malfunction and die.
When these beta cells fail to operate normally, they no longer produce
enough insulin, or in other words, they cause one variety of adult-onset
type 2 diabetes. Alloxan's harmful effects on the pancreas are so
severe that the Textbook of Natural Medicine calls the chemical "a potent beta-cell toxin." However, even though the toxic effect of alloxan
is common scientific knowledge in the research community, the FDA still
allows companies to use it when processing foods we ingest.
The FDA and the white flour industry could counter-argue that, if alloxan were to cause diabetes,
a higher proportion of Americans would be diabetic. After all, more
consumers consume white flour on a regular basis than are actually
diabetic. This point is valid, but it does not disprove the
alloxan-diabetes connection. While alloxan is one cause of adult-onset
type 2 diabetes, it is of course not the only cause. As the Textbook of Natural Medicine
states, "current theory suggests an hereditary beta-cell predisposition
to injury coupled with some defect in tissue regeneration capacity" may
be a key cause. For alloxan to cause injury to an individual's beta
cells, the individual must have the genetic susceptibility to injury.
This is similar to the connection between high-cholesterol foods and
heart disease. Eating high-cholesterol foods causes heart disease,
especially in people who have family histories of heart disease. The
link between alloxan and diabetes is as clear and solid as the link
between cholesterol and heart disease.
If
you've been eating white bread for years and you have a family history
of diabetes, all hope is not lost for you. Studies show that you can
reverse the effects of alloxan by supplementing your diet with vitamin
E. According to Dr. Gary Null's Clinicians Handbook of Natural Healing,
vitamin E effectively protected lab rats from the harmful effects of
administered alloxan. Now, you're not a lab rat, but you're a mammal and
vitamin E is definitely worth adding to your daily regimen of
nutritional supplements, especially if you have a history of eating
foods made with white flour and are at high risk for diabetes.
Even
if you are already diabetic, some simple changes to your diet can help
treat your diabetes. First of all, stop eating foods made with white
flour. Even though you already have diabetes, vitamin E supplements can
still help you, as can many common foods. Garlic, for example, does
wonders for diabetes. As Dr. Benjamin Lau states in his book Garlic for Health,
"When fed garlic, the rabbits' elevated blood sugar dropped almost as
much as it did when they were given the antidiabetic drug tolbutamide.
Researchers postulated that garlic may improve the insulin effect."
If you can't handle the taste of natural garlic, you can take it in widely available supplements. Aloe vera is a traditional diabetic
remedy in the Arabian Peninsula, and its therapeutic characteristics
are now gaining worldwide acceptance in the treatment of diabetes.
According to both human and animal research studies, aloe vera lowers
blood glucose levels by an unknown mechanism. According to the Clinicians Handbook of Natural Healing,
this natural hypoglycemic effect extended over a period of 24 hours.
Adding onions to your diet (along with the garlic) can also
significantly reduce your blood sugar level. Additionally, as Dr.
Michael T. Murray writes in The Healing Power of Herbs, studies show that ginseng controls glucose in both diabetic humans and diabetic laboratory animals.
It
all comes down to asking if putting yourself at risk for diabetic coma,
blindness, limb amputation and death is worth eating white bread. If
you're willing to risk your quality of life and your life itself, then
go ahead and eat all the foods made with white flour you want. However,
if you want to stop poisoning yourself with alloxan, a known toxic
chemical, then make a few simple dietary changes. Eat groceries made
with whole-grain wheat flour, not processed white flour.
The experts speak on alloxan
Animal
experiments have shown that animals which have their Beta cells
destroyed by alloxan are able to regenerate Beta cells after a few
months when taking GS, a herb grown in India. The Beta cell is the cell
that produces insulin. Diabetics needing insulin treatment (Type 1) have
been able to decrease their insulin after GS therapy.
A Physicians Guide To Natural Health Products That Work By James Howenstine MD, page 112
In
the mid-1980s, however (when herbal remedies again were popular), pata
de vaca's continued use as a natural insulin substitute was reiterated
in two Brazilian studies. Both studies reported in vivo hypoglycemic
actions in various animal and human models. Chilean research in 1999
reported the actions of pata de vaca in diabetic rats. Their study
determined that pata de vaca was found to "elicit remarkable
hypoglycemic effects," and brought about a "decrease of glycemia in
alloxan diabetic rats by 39%." In 2002, two in vivo studies on the blood
sugar-lowering effects of pata de vaca were conducted by two separate
research groups in Brazil. The first study reported "a significant blood
glucose-lowering effect in normal and diabetic rats."
The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs by Leslie Taylor, page 382
When
beta cells in the pancreas fail to secrete enough insulin, the body
loses its ability to metabolize carbohydrates and to reduce glucose
levels in the bloodstream. Researchers believe that some people have
weak free radical defenses in these beta cells, and that free radical
damage to DNA in beta cells, resulting in dysfunction or cell death,
helps cause maturity-onset diabetes. It is known, for example, that many
chemicalsincluding alloxan, paraquat, and certain chemotherapeutic
agentscan stimulate excessive production of oxy radicals in the nuclei
of beta cells.
Freedom From Disease by Hari Sharma MD, page 94
...nearly
two decades later, researchers at RNT Medical College in India induced
diabetes in rabbits with intravenous injections of alloxan. When fed
garlic, the rabbits' elevated blood sugar dropped almost as much as it
did when they were given the antidiabetic drug tolbutamide. Researchers
postulated that garlic may improve the insulin effect by either
increasing the pancreatic secretion of insulin or by releasing bound
insulin.
Garlic for Health by Benjamin Lau MD PhD, page 22
Commercial
yeasted breads, even the whole-grain varieties, often have other
problems. They typically contain flour bleach, which forms alloxan, a
compound known to cause diabetes in animals by destroying the beta cells
of the pancreas (Clinical Nutrition Newsletter, Dec. 1982).
Healing With Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford, page 452
Insulin
dependent diabetes mellitus is generally recognized to be due to an
insulin deficiency.1 Although the exact cause is unknown, current theory
suggests an hereditary beta-cell predisposition to injury coupled with
some defect in tissue regeneration capacity. Causes of injury are most
likely hydroxyl and other free radicals, viral infection, and autoimmune
reactions. alloxan, the uric acid derivative used to induce
experimental diabetes in animals, is a potent beta-cell toxin, causing
destruction via hydroxyl radical formation.
Textbook of Natural Medicine Volumes 1-2 by Joseph E Pizzorno and Michael T Murray, page 1197
In
this study, mice received intraperitoneally melatonin in doses ranging
from 100 to 450 mg/kg. Results showed that such treatment proved plasma
glucose increase due to alloxan-induced pancreatic toxicity.
The Clinicians Handbook Of Natural Healing by Gary Null PhD, page 88
Bleached
white flour. Not only have the bran and germ been stripped away, but
bleached flour also contains a substance from the flour bleach (alloxan)
which causes diabetes in animals. Unbleached white flour should also be
avoided since it is stripped of essential nutrients.
The Enzyme Cure by Lita Lee with Lisa Turner & Burton Goldberg, page 123
When
fed garlic, the rabbits' elevated blood sugar dropped almost as much as
it did when they were given the antidiabetic drug tolbutamide.
Researchers postulated that garlic may improve the insulin effect by
either increasing the pancreatic secretion of insulin or by releasing
bound insulin.
Garlic for Health by Benjamin Lau MD PhD, page 22
Aloe
vera also exhibits a hypoglycemic effect in both normal and
alloxan-induced diabetic mice. A small human study shows benefit in
diabetics. Five patients with non-insulin dependent diabetes ingested
half a teaspoonful of aloe 4 times daily for 14 weeks. Fasting blood
sugar in every patient fell from a mean of 273 to 151 mg/dl with no
change in body weight. The authors concluded that aloe lowers blood
glucose levels by an unknown mechanism
.
Textbook of Natural Medicine Volumes 1-2 by Joseph E Pizzorno and Michael T Murray, page 587
Results
of this study showed that rats given vitamin E before being
administered either streptozotocin or alloxan provided protection
against the diabetogenic effects of each. It was also observed that rats
with a depleted antioxidant state due to a vitamin E and
selenium-deficient diet showed increased diabetogenic susceptibility to
normally nondiabetogenic doses of streptozotocin.
The Clinicians Handbook Of Natural Healing by Gary Null PhD, page 312
Noting
that the dried sap of the aloe plant to be a traditional diabetic
remedy in the Arabian peninusla, this study examined its ability to
reduce blood glucose levels in 5 non-insulin-dependent diabetics and in
Swiss albino mice made diabetic with alloxan. Results showed that the
intake of 1/2 teaspoon of aloes daily for 4-14 weeks signficantly
reduced the fasting serum glucose level fell in all patients. Fasting
plasma glucose was significantly reduced in diabetic mice by
glibenclamide and aloes after 3 days.
The Clinicians Handbook Of Natural Healing by Gary Null PhD, page 369
This
study examined the effects of exudate of Aloe barbadensis leaves (oral
administration of 500 mg/kg) and its bitter principle (ip administration
of 5 mg/kg) on plasma glucose levels of alloxan-diabetic mice. Results
showed that the hypoglycemic effect of a single oral dose of aloes on
serum glucose level was insignificant in while that of the bitter
principle was highly significant and extended over a period of 24 hours.
The Clinicians Handbook Of Natural Healing by Gary Null PhD, page 369
Ginseng
exerts numerous pharmacological effects in humans and laboratory
animals, including
improved glucose control in humans and diabetic
(alloxan-induced) rats;
.
The Healing Power of Herbs by Michael T Murray ND, page 269
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