Diabetes
(See also Cardiovascular Diseases, Detoxification, Digestion, Obesity and Weight regulation)
The growth of Type 2 diabetes is the kind linked to unhealthy diet and insufficient exercise.
“A child born in the USA in 2000 has a 1 in 3 chance of contracting diabetes in their lifetime; an African American has a 2 in 5 chance; a Latina 1 in 2. The condition is causing children to succomb to heart disease, blindness and kidney failure and is well on the way to reducing overall life expectancy in the USA. Diabetes costs the US an estimated $92bn in medical expenses and a further $40bn in indirect costs like lost productivity. The American Diabetes Association estimates the disease now accounts for 19% of all US health spending” (102).
In diabetic patients on insulin, iodine supplementation improved control of the condition and in some cases it was alleviated without resort to insulin (122).
It is relevant here that Seagrens® is certified free of environmental contaminants. In 2006, Korean researchers found that diabetes was over 5 times more prevalent in people carrying higher concentrations of a variety of pesticides and other chemicals. All the chemicals in question (eg. dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls) were lipophilic, which means they tend to collect in body fat (199). More fat means more storage of environmental pollutants.
Research co-operation between Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam Universities and Technostics Ltd, England in 2008 demonstrated the potential of seaweed alginate to offset preclinical metabolic syndrome symptoms including insulin resistance, to treat type 2 diabetes mellitis and hypercholesterolemia, and consequently to reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease (200).
Subsequent research studied the efficacy of the alginate in modulating energy intake, suggesting that it may modulate appetite by reducing postprandial glucose spiking and be highly effective in overweight and obese subjects.
These findings highlight the efficacy of “medium to long term use of a daily sodium alginate formulation (already a significant component in whole food Seagreens® without extraction) along side suitable healthy lifestyle changes, may help individuals to achieve this target reduction in (excess) energy intake (201).
As a whole food Seagreens® has the natural advantage of delivering multiple benefits in obese, diabetic and weight regulation subjects: detoxifying the body in a variety of ways, reducing body fat and fats in the blood, improving weight regulation without the de-nutrifying effects of dietary weight control.