More and more foods with beneficial health effects are being found to work through probiotic or prebiotic activities in the GI tract (cranberries and walnuts, for instance). And this mechanism may be key for influencing human digestion, metabolism, and nutrition—and ultimately health and longevity.
But stress hormones, inflammation, and some prescription drugs—especially antibiotics—can poison the normal GI microbiome. And, as I reported in the October issue of Insiders’ Cures, there’s also evidence that intolerance to wheat and other grains may not be due to gluten sensitivity, but rather from pesticides that poison the probiotics in our GI tracts.
On the other hand, Metformin (originally an ancient European folk remedy called “French lilac”) has recently been suggested to treat diabetes through its influence on the probiotics in the GI tract involved in carbohydrate and sugar metabolism.
Why is this important? Well, if a treatment can lower the amount of sugar in the GI tract and also reduce its absorption into the blood, this would be a great way to lower blood sugar—by never allowing it into the bloodstream in the first place.
Insulin and insulin-type drugs reduce sugar in the blood by driving it into tissues, where it creates more calories and has other metabolic effects—which can lead to weight gain and other negative health consequences.
Blocking sugar from even getting into the blood in the first place, as Metformin now appears to do, would account for the lack of negative side effects widely observed with this “drug.”
These probiotic connections serve to illustrate how closely our bodies are linked to the natural environment, both externally and internally, in ecological relationships. In fact, a metaphor in Chinese medicine views “the body as a garden.” We must nurture it as such.
For more information on natural techniques for lowering blood sugar and commonsense strategies to prevent and reverse Type 2 diabetes, keep an eye out for my upcoming online learning protocol. I’ll let you know as soon as it’s ready, so stay tuned for more information!