TRUessence ESSENTIAL OILS & DIABETES

Help With Diabetes

Diabetes is a modern plague that continues to escalate in modern societies.  Nearly 25 million Americans have diabetes and another 57 million have pre-diabetes symptoms.   Diabetes Type 1 is a condition brought about by the pancreas ceasing to produce insulin.  It is considered primarily hereditary.  Diabetes Type 2 has identical symptoms but is caused, not by the lack of insulin production, but rather by the inability of cells to utilize naturally-produced insulin, a condition referred to as insulin resistance.  The net result in both cases, without treatment, is that blood glucose rises to dangerously high levels, which increases oxidation, inflammation and can result in damaged circulation, cardiovascular disease, blindness, and death.

To prevent these conditions, most diabetics take insulin intravenously to help reduce serum glucose.  Some diabetics have been able to reduce or eliminate their insulin intake using careful nutrition. Surprisingly, research is showing that some essential oils have an insulin-like effect when taken internally.

Several experiments on the effect of essential oils on diabetic mice were conducted at the University of Ulster in England during the 1990’s.  In an initial trial, 11 different plants were tested that had a traditional reputation for helping with diabetes.  Of the eleven, only 5 were shown to have any effect in reducing serum glucose.  Among those five were three aromatic plants, commonly distilled for essential oils:  eucalyptus globulus, coriander and juniper berry.  All of these showed the ability to retard the development of streptozotocin-induced diabetes in mice.

In two subsequent studies by the same research team, eucalyptus globulus was found to be antihyperglycemic (glucose lowering), and coriander was found to be both antihyperglycemic and insulin-releasing, meaning it stimulated the pancreas to secrete higher levels of insulin.

Similar research was done using coriander seed extract in 2009 in Iran on diabetic rats.  The results also showed that coriander produced a “significant reduction in serum glucose . . . and increased insulin release from the beta cells of the pancreas.”

Dill weed, another aromatic plant, has also been tested for its effect on diabetic rats.  Research was conducted at Devi Ahilya University in India in 2008 which concluded that diabetic rats which received a dill weed extract showed a decrease in serum glucose, a normalization of serum insulin and a decrease in thyroid hormones, all indicating a normalization of glucose metabolism.

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