Posts Tagged ‘glucose’

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences report today that vitamin C and vitamin E supplements may counteract the beneficial affects of exercise on diabetes and glucose metabolism. The University of Jena and Harvard University study shows that exercise induces bursts of free radicals that cause our body to activate and metabolize carbohydrates more efficiently, which can prevent type 2 diabetes and other conditions that may lead to stroke, coronary artery disease and kidney failure. Mitigating these free radicals with antioxidant vitamins could, therefore, block the health effects conferred by exercise.

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Had a “senior moment” lately? You know, those sudden, momentary lapses when you just can’t seem to remember the most common things. For most of us, we will experience what physicians term normal cognitive aging. Now, Columbia University researchers say that elevated blood glucose levels that occur naturally when we age may contribute to age-related cognitive decline. “This is news even for people without diabetes since blood glucose levels tend to rise as we grow older. Whether through physical exercise, diet or drugs, our research suggests that improving glucose metabolism could help some of us avert the cognitive slide that occurs in many of us as we age,” reported the lead investigator. Although regularly checking your blood sugar level isn’t recommended for non-diabetics, daily exercise is recommended for everyone (especially diabetics) because it contributes to normalization of blood glucose.

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A new study is challenging the notion that the human brain uses only glucose as its sole energy source. Researchers in Denmark and The Netherlands have found that during strenuous exercise the brain is able to metabolize lactate, a byproduct of metabolism. In addition they discovered that the brain can actually shift into a higher gear of activity. This may explain why the brain continues to function well even during times of high energy demand for the body.

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