Research News
More Hot Peppers Please!A compound that makes peppers hot effectively lowers blood sugar in dogs, say researchers from Jamaica, suggesting that it might someday be used to treat diabetes in humans. The compound is also used in the US to treat painful nerve damage called diabetic neuropathy.The investigators tested the effects of capsaicin on blood sugar and insulin levels in dogs and report their results in the August issue of Phytotherapy Research. Beginning 2 hours after receiving a sugary treat, blood sugar levels in the dogs that received capsaicin were well below those in dogs that did not receive the pepper protein, the authors report.The levels of insulin--the hormone that controls the body's handling of sugar--were higher after 2.5 hours in the dogs that received capsaicin, the report indicates, even though the insulin appeared to stick less strongly to blood cells.The researchers note that they are not sure whether the pepper extract increases the release of insulin or slows down its breakdown.SOURCE: Phytotherapy Research 2001.
Aspirin Helps
Researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center and the University of California in San Diego (UCSD published a study in this week’s Science, reporting that high doses of salicylates (aspirin) reverse high blood sugar, high insulin and high blood fat levels in obese rodents.
"If a drug could be developed with this capacity to lower blood sugars, but without high-dose aspirin's side effects, we could potentially have a potent new treatment for type 2 diabetes," says Steve Shoelson, M.D., Ph.D., a researcher at Joslin in Boston and senior author of the study.
Aspirin has never been pursued as a long-term treatment for diabetes because the effect wasn’t sufficiently understood and there can be serious side effects of high-dose aspirin therapy, which in adults is taken in dosages of 6-8 grams per day to have a pronounced glucose lowering effect. Side effects of high-dose aspirin include dizziness, a ringing sensation in the ears, and gastrointestinal upset including nausea and vomiting. High-dose aspirin can also cause gastrointestinal bleeding, if taken for prolonged periods of time as would be required of a treatment for diabetes. For these reasons patients with diabetes should not attempt to treat high blood sugars with aspirin.