DIABETES MELLITUS, NUTRITION, FUNCTIONAL FOODS AND NUTRACEUTICALS A HANDBOOK

In somewhat just a generation, diabetes mellitus has gone from oddment to epidemic being the most common endocrine metabolic disorder, affecting millions of people worldwide.

The Ancient Greeks were probably primary to advocate diet and lifestyle management for people with diabetes mellitus. Until the discovery and use of insulin in the 1920s and suphonylureas and other oral therapeutic drugs in the 1940s, diet and lifestyle intervention were the primary treatment options available. While for people with Type 1 diabetes mellitus only this was woefully ineffective due to body’s innate ineffectiveness to produce insulin, lifestyle and dietary intervention did supportively aid in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus. But active research focus shifted to newer therapeutic regimens and pharmacotherapies for people with diabetes mellitus, and dietary and lifestyle modifications took a back seat. Some earlier pharmacologic agents had serious side effects with certain agent withdrawn from the market because of renal toxicity and an association with lactic acidosis; the currently available pharmacotherapeutic agents in long duration may propel impaired renal failure or risk lactic acidosis, increased risk for probable liver as well as coronary artery diseases. This is a cataclysmic conclusion to half a century of public health efforts, but if we are to have any hope of reversing these epidemics, we must accept this possibility, begin to explore the alternative science contained in this book, and start on a new path of inclusion of varied bioactive nutrients backed by science, and for better health. During the past two decades, the concept and understanding of physiological as well as pathological effects of functional food has expanding. Diabetes Mellitus with low levels of insulin causes decreased utilization of glucose by body cells, increased mobilization of fats from fat storage cells and depletion of proteins in the tissues of the body, due to Beta cell dysfunction or impaired insulin signalling as well as cases of insulin resistance, increased oxidative stress and sub clinical inflammation keeps the body in crisis. Among the multiple risk factors accentuating the incidence and progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus, diet and lifestyle management are main modifiable risk factors. A growing number of epidemiological investigations reflect that diet rich in foods with high content of phytochemicals, high total antioxidant capacity and polyphenolic compounds may be related to lower risk of diabetes and predisposing factors.

Thus far it is perceptible from all the available global preventive studies that a simple lifestyle change makes a big difference towards health. If this research can be effectuated to bring a change in individuals and in the communities, we may be able to prevent, manage, and probably even reverse prediabetes, diabetes as well as their associated risks in a considerable amount of population. This will not only improve the quality of life but also support substantially to reduce the financial burden on the individuals and respective Governments.