Would Glucose Stop Heart Attack?

Heart attack is something that people cannot take it lightly. If a person having a heart attack does not receive medical care within the shortest period, the person might experience severe damage to heart tissue or in some serious cases, even end up dead. Unfortunately, timely medical help does not always available to save a heart attack victim.

According to the many studies carried out previously on acute cardiac care in emergency departments and hospitals, more people die of heart attack outside the hospital than inside the hospital.

Laboratory studies had suggested that in the setting of cardiac ischemia, immediate intravenous a mixture of glucose, insulin and potassium (GIK) could reduce ischemia-related arrhythmias and myocardial injury. The potential benefit of GIK is supposed to be related to timeliness of administration after cardiac ischemia begins, especially to prevent cardiac arrest. The risk for cardiac arrest is believed to be the highest during the first hour of acute coronary syndromes (ACS).

In order to test out-of hospital emergency medical service (EMS) administration of GIK in the first hours of suspected ACS, researchers from Tufts Medical Center started a study on 911 patients in 13 United States cities, between December 2006 and July 31, 2011 involving trained paramedics, who used electrocardiograph (ECG)-based instruments to determine if a patient was likely having a heart attack.

The findings showed that GIK given to patients showing heart attack symptoms had not reduced their risk of progressing to a heart attack and no improve 30-day survival though GIK was associated with lower rate of cardiac arrests or in-hospital deaths.

Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the study was presented in March 2012 at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Chicago, and was subsequently published on May 9, 2012 in ‘The Journal of the American Medical Association’ (JAMA).

Researchers felt that there is a need to carry out further studies to assess out-of-hospital use of GIK as therapy for patients with ACS.

Can Resistance Exercise Really Help Those With Type-2 Diabetes?

When a person is diagnosed with diabetes, his or her body would have problem making or using insulin. Insulin is required for moving glucose (blood sugar) into cells, where it is stored and later used for energy.

An estimated 24 million people in the Untied States have diabetes, with 90 percent of them are diagnosed as Type-2 diabetes, which typically develops after the age of 45. And, it could be the result of unhealthy lifestyle habits.

The glucose levels found in patients with Type-2 diabetes are high because of insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency. Insulin resistance means that fat, liver, and muscle cells do not respond normally to insulin. As such, blood sugar does not get into cells to be stored for energy.

Once sugar fails to enter cells, abnormally high levels of sugar will accumulate in the blood stream. This will often trigger the pancreas to produce more and more insulin, but can never be enough to keep up with the body's demand.

Diabetes is already a chronic disease by itself. If it is not managed appropriately, it can surely place patients at a higher risk of developing other serious complications including heart disease, blood vessel disease, kidney failure, nerve diseases and even blindness and amputation of legs.

In September 2007, a paper published by Canadian researchers in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that Type-2 diabetics, who exercised regularly, could have better blood-sugar control, especially if they did aerobic exercises as well as lifted weights.

According to most doctors and health experts, exercise is another powerful way to reduce blood sugar, in addition to strict diet control and medication. In general, exercise would help diabetics reduce insulin resistance by allowing cells in the body to have a higher uptake of glucose in the blood stream. This certainly would improve blood sugar control.

Besides aerobic exercise, Type-2 diabetics are advised to perform resistance training at least 3 times a week. Resistance training is one that includes exercises conducted using weights, weight machines or elastic bands. Its purpose is to improve strength by slowly and progressively overloading the muscles over a series of exercise sessions.

Nevertheless, diabetics should be aware of some risks in overdoing exercise. The most common one is patients might experience low blood sugar after drastic exercise. As such, patients should have their blood sugar checked before and after performing their exercise.

Meanwhile, patients with diabetes over long period of time, or kidney, eye or feet complications from diabetes might encounter problems when exercising. So, it is better to consult a physician before starting to engage any training program.

How Is GI Related To Heart Disease?

GI stands for glycemic index, and it is a measure of how fast the sugar in a food raises one’s blood sugar level compared with glucose.

A recent study conducted by the American College of Cardiology Foundation suggested that people should go low on the GI in order to reduce the risk of developing heart disease. The study was carried out on the food intake of over 17,000 people over a period of 5 years. It was found that those who ate large amounts of high GI foods increased their risk of developing heart disease.

GI ranks carbohydrate foods on a scale of 0 to 100, calculated according to the rate at which they break down and convert to glucose in the body. The higher the GI value, the more it raises the body's sugar level when it is digested. A GI value of 70 and above is considered high.

People consuming food of high GI value are prone to weight gain and diabetes This is because meals with high GI (hence high carbohydrates) tend to increase blood sugar levels, suppress good cholesterol and predispose one to obesity and diabetes. All of these are risk factors for heart disease.

The findings from the study also suggested that people taking foods with high GI-value may end up with colon and breast cancers. Nevertheless, more research needs to be done to be certain.

Foods with high GI value breaks down more quickly in the body, thus raising one's blood-glucose levels at a faster rate. Some of the favorite foods prefered by most people ranks high on the GI, for example, white bread (70), doughnuts (76) and cookies (77).

On the other hand, low-GI foods break down more slowly in the body so the blood-sugar levels raise at a steadier pace. People consuming low-GI foods can sustain energy levels for a longer period of time and do not feel hungry easily. This will actually prevent overeating and overweight in the long run. Soy beans (18) and beans (29) are two good examples of low-GI foods.

Researchers at Hammersmith Hospital in the UK have also found that eating 1 additional low-GI item per meal helps lower one's blood-sugar levels.

Paying attention to the type of foods we eat is not enough, we should also gauge the quantity. For example, white rice is the main food for most Asians. If one wants to take extra rice during the meal, then he or she should cut down the amount of dessert he or she intends to eat after the meal. Alternatively, they may consider replacing white rice with wholemeal bread, if they are comfortable with wholemeal bread.