Gyroscopic Investing

D1984 wrote: Benko,

I am having labs done in late January for HgA1c and FBG, among others (I have not had any lab work or blood testing done for over a decade and a half at the moment). If they come back showing me as diabetic or pre-diabetic then I am wondering which I should start taking and which would have the least long-run bad effects. I am considering any of the following: berberine, metfomin, mulberry leaf extract containing at least 6 mg 1-DNJ per dose, or bitter melon.

Have you heard about the jewish telegram?  Start worrying, details later.

It doesn't sound very likely you're diabetic, and you've just lost weight which makes it less likely (since we're not talking about type I diabetes).

Thanks for letting me know about mulberry leaf though, long use in TCM (chinese medicine).

In the unlikely event your labs come up different, post again as there are other issues.

D1984, please read the article below. It is a great article on reversing and preventing diabetes and improving overall health.

http://www.wellnessresources.com/health ... ion_fails/

Pay special attention to the remarks concerning the importance if increasing one's soluble fiber intake both to lower blood glucose as well as reducing elevated cholesterol levels. I use a product called ClearFiber, sold by Lucky Vitamins and find it to be a very high quality product to accomplish these goals. It is partially hydrolyzed guar gum, which totally dissolves in water when mixed. I take it before most meals.

Desert wrote:

Reub wrote: D1984, please read the article below. It is a great article on reversing and preventing diabetes and improving overall health.

http://www.wellnessresources.com/health ... ion_fails/

Pay special attention to the remarks concerning the importance if increasing one's soluble fiber intake both to lower blood glucose as well as reducing elevated cholesterol levels. I use a product called ClearFiber, sold by Lucky Vitamins and find it to be a very high quality product to accomplish these goals. It is partially hydrolyzed guar gum, which totally dissolves in water when mixed. I take it before most meals.

Reub, that's a very interesting article.  Thanks for posting.

+1

I have a question for those in the know.  The diet described in the link is what I feel best eating - protein (meat, fish, chicken), green complex carbs, not much sugary stuff or pasta.  My wife feels best when eating lots of pasta like carbs and rather less protein - she is a sugar-holic in most any sweet form.  Both of us have blood glucose levels that run 85 to 100 for the past 20 years.  My A1c runs 4.8 to 5.0, my wife's 5.0 to 5.5.  My question:  how do you interpret that data?  At risk of type 2?  This info seems to indicate minimal risk for us:  http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedu ... C-20012585

... M

You're both doing great! I'm not sure of your ages but sometimes these problems creep up on a person over time. If your wife is consuming large amounts of simple and refined carbs I wouldn't think that would be good for her long term as it will probably stress her pancreas and liver, which may begin to perform less optimally.

Reub wrote: You're both doing great! I'm not sure of your ages but sometimes these problems creep up on a person over time. If your wife is consuming large amounts of simple and refined carbs I wouldn't think that would be good for her long term as it will probably stress her pancreas and liver, which may begin to perform less optimally.

Reub,

We are each a on the farside of 2.2 billion heartbeats.  I'm not sure how much creeping time remains.  We have gone from leaping tall buildings in a single bound, to running, to walking, to creeping.  I guess crawling and slithering are next.  Shall I tell my wife to go ahead and have a couple of Snickers bars, washed down with some sweet tea or a bottle of chardonnay?    Just kidding a little, thanks for the response.

... M

As a very healthy 28 year-old, is there going to be any kind of benefit to taking berberine? I'm not overweight (in fact I struggle to gain weight) but I am interested in high longevity.

Pointedstick wrote: As a very healthy 28 year-old, is there going to be any kind of benefit to taking berberine? I'm not overweight (in fact I struggle to gain weight) but I am interested in high longevity.

PS,

I would say that for you, the benefits are far from certain and the risks not zero.  So I would do things that are more likely to be helpful and/or with better risk/benefit ratio as have been mentioned in this thread and prior ones in this forum i.e. exercise: aerobic with intervals/lifting, making sure your iron levels aren't high, diet, etc.

PS congrats

I think that you're better off increasing your fiber, especially soluble as this will solve a multitude of sins.

Pointedstick wrote: All kinds of interesting information here: http://www.gwern.net/Longevity#metformin

This person is pretty positive on Metformin. Thoughts, MG or those in the medical field?

The dose is too large to be practical and it costs too much overseas without a prescription.  I'd stick to berberine or other herbal AMPK activators.

Also, side effects with diabetes may have a larger buffer zone than with a non-diabetic.

D1984 wrote: Anything to be seriously concerned about or is the person who wrote that post just pulling up spurious correlations and hypothetical maybes about effects and using it to try and incite people not to use berberine?

I'm more concerned the blogger thinks supplements are unregulated.  If a blogger has as delusion like that, why should I trust anything else they say? 

Usually herbs have a wide variety of positive actions so just isolating one or two in vitro effects that might or might not be problematic is cherry picking fearmongernig. 

But let's face it...  taking a concentrated supplement is essentially a drug.  The safety profile is better if only because its not tweaked to be a patentable synthetic and a foreign molecule to the body.  So weigh the potential costs and benefits carefully.

Mountaineer wrote: We are each a on the farside of 2.2 billion heartbeats.  I'm not sure how much creeping time remains.  We have gone from leaping tall buildings in a single bound, to running, to walking, to creeping.  I guess crawling and slithering are next.  Shall I tell my wife to go ahead and have a couple of Snickers bars, washed down with some sweet tea or a bottle of chardonnay?    Just kidding a little, thanks for the response.

Comes down to quality of life issues.  If you're fat or obese contributing to arthritis, cardiovascular disease, get out of breath moving, can't exercise, have mood swings, brain foggyness, sleep a lot after meals, etc. then its a problem that should be fixed.  I would bet even money your wife is addicted to the dopamine / serotonin rush that comes from eating a lot of carbs.

Pointedstick wrote: As a very healthy 28 year-old, is there going to be any kind of benefit to taking berberine? I'm not overweight (in fact I struggle to gain weight) but I am interested in high longevity.

Why the hell would you want to if you have no insulin resistance issues?  Just eat in an 8-hour window and fast the other 16-hours and you'll get the same or stronger effect without popping any pills.