Acarbose – Effective treatment for diabetes with a weight loss benefit
Diabetes mellitus is a huge problem. According to the American Diabetic Association, in the United States 17.9 million children and adults have been diagnosed with the disease, but alarmingly it is estimated that a further 5.7 million people have diabetes but are totally unaware of it. This means that in the US a total of 23.6 million people are diabetic (or 7.8% of the population) but that around 1 in 4 of them are failing to receive the proper treatment because their condition has not been diagnosed. If you add to this the 57 million Americans who have pre-diabetes you get an idea of just what an enormous health issue diabetes is. And it’s a problem that is set to get worse - diabetes is now the world’s fastest growing chronic disease.
Diabetes is a condition where your body is no longer capable of automatically regulating blood glucose levels which results in there being too much glucose in the blood. Glucose is your body’s preferred source of energy. If your body either fails to produce insulin or fails to properly use the insulin that it does produce, you end up with too much glucose in your blood and you have diabetes. Diabetes is a serious, progressive, chronic condition - once you have developed diabetes you are likely to suffer from it for the rest of your life.
There are 2 main types of diabetes:
Type 1 diabetes: This results from the body’s failure to produce insulin. Your pancreas stops insulin production altogether and if you don’t inject yourself with insulin, you will die. This type of diabetes used to be called juvenile diabetes but this name was a little confusing because, although Type 1 diabetes often strikes children and young adults, it can develop in adulthood. It is estimated that 5-10% of Americans who are diagnosed with diabetes have Type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes usually develops fairly quickly and causes the classic symptoms of diabetes (thirst, excessive urination, and sweet-smelling urine).
Type 2 diabetes: This results from insulin resistance. Although your pancreas still produces insulin (indeed, it usually over-produces it), your body is unable to respond properly to it. As can be seen from the figures above, the vast majority of Americans with diabetes have Type 2 diabetes. Indeed, Type 2 diabetes accounts for around of 95% of diabetes in western, industrialized countries.
Pregnant women are also at risk of developing gestational diabetes. About 3% of non-diabetic women are affected by this temporary form of diabetes, but, as with so many conditions linked to pregnancy, gestational diabetes clears up after delivery. It requires careful medical management because it can cause severe problems for both the mother and her unborn child.
As mentioned previously, a condition known as ‘pre-diabetes’ also exists. This describes the situation where someone’s blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes.
The fact that so many people have undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes is alarming, not just because of the numbers of people involved but also because, if left untreated or treated poorly, diabetes may cause significant organ damage to the heart, blood vessels, kidneys, nerves and eyes. It can also cause impotence.
Complications caused by diabetes can prove to be fatal. Diabetes is one of the major causes of death in the US. To put it bluntly, if you have diabetes then your risk of dying is about twice that of a non-diabetic person of the same age.
Type 2 diabetes is one of the leading causes of:
Cardiovascular disease
Kidney failure
Limb amputations
New onset blindness in adults (diabetic retinopathy)
Nervous system impairment (diabetic neuropathy)
Early detection and management of the diabetes is essential if the potentially devastating effects of the disease are to be ameliorated. Launched worldwide in 1990, Acarbose (sold under the brand name Glucobay) belongs to a class of drugs known as alphaglucosidase inhibitors. It works in the small intestine where it reversibly inhibits the actions of enzymes responsible for the breakdown of complex carbohydrates (for example starch) into simpler sugars such as glucose. These simple sugars are then absorbed into the blood stream through the intestinal wall. By inhibiting the alphaglucosidases, Acarbose slows down the digestion of carbohydrates and extends the period of time over which glucose is absorbed into the blood stream. This results in much better blood glucose control.
The actions of Acarbose can easily be demonstrated. After we’ve eaten, we receive a rush of sugar in our blood streams from the starches and sugars that our bodies have digested. This can produce mood swings and fluctuations in energy levels. However, by taking Acarbose, we can slow down the rate at which these sugars and starches are digested. This results in a levelling-out of energy and mood highs and lows as blood sugar levels become much more stabilized throughout the day.
Acarbose can either be prescribed as a monotherapy – especially for those also receiving lifestyle modification advice (e.g. changes in diet and exercise habits; Or it can be used in conjunction with other diabetic treatments. With over 100 studies establishing the efficacy of Acarbose, its benefits as a treatment have been well established. In particular, it has been demonstrated that Acarbose can help to delay the progression of diabetes as well as providing significant help in the fight against cardiovascular complications. For example, clinical trials involving Type 2 diabetics have established that Acarbose can reduce the risk of any cardiovascular event by 35% and of myocardial infarction (heart attack) by 64%. Furthermore, glycaemic control, triglyceride levels, body weight and systolic blood pressure have all been shown to improve during Acarbose treatment.
Acarbose therapy may also be of benefit to those suffering from pre-diabetes. Researchers have shown that Acarbose can significantly reduce the risk of progressing from pre-diabetes to Type 2 diabetes by as much as 36%.
Acarbose has also been shown to help treat other conditions:
Weight Loss - As we have seen, Acarbose mainly influences our blood sugar levels after eating. An added benefit of reducing the rate at which we digest carbohydrates, is that we feel fuller for longer. Acarbose, therefore, acts as a powerful appetite suppressor and can aid weight loss.
Aging - As we age, our bodies naturally produce more insulin to help cope with increasing blood sugar levels (caused by cells gradually becoming more insulin resistant - a sort of pseudo diabetes). By reducing the amount of blood sugars our in the body, Acarbose facilitates a concomitant reduction in insulin levels. And as we have seen, the consequences of having too much insulin circulating in your body can be dire. Many of the diseases that we looked at earlier such as cardiovascular disease become more prevalent with age. It therefore makes sense to keep insulin levels to a low but healthy level in order to help keep our bodies healthier and stronger for as long as possible.
What our customers say...
 What a difference Acarbose makes to controlling my blood sugar, for the first time in a long time I don't feel tired after a meal, thanks for making me aware of this product.
A.M. San Marino |
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