[background: Dr. Charles Jarowski, formerly Director of Research and Development at Pfizer and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at St. John's University until his retirement, was motivated in his research by the fact that members of his own family experienced deteriorating health and death stemming from blood-sugar complications. At the age of 69, his father lost a leg due to loss of circulation, and his sister, too, lost a leg at the same age, 69. Both passed away at a young age.
By contrast, Dr. Jarowski lived almost to 93 in good health, until an accident, having followed his own diet and supplement strategies. Even as a young man, his research led him to carefully supplement his own diet, and he devoted his life to finding ways for all of us to enjoy good health. Six decades of research and four patents later, Dr. Jarowski made his findings available for all of us.]
How does "normal" blood-sugar erode your health?
mericans have become calloused. We have become accustomed to hearing the news of our fellow citizens being carried away, 800,000+ (1) per year due to cardiovascular disorders, and 500,000+(2) per year due to cancer. Only the nurses and relatives see the hopeless, downward progression. To the rest of us, it all seems like just another made-for-TV drama.
Sad to say, we can only hide from such statistics for so long. To anyone who reads about health, it is now becoming common knowledge that we are sliding deeper into yet another crisis.
The important part to understand is that you do not need to be diagnosed with a disease to suffer irreparable damage from "normal" roller-coaster blood sugar.
As explained by Dr. Steven Joyal, MD, most aging people are never diagnosed with a bloodsugar disorder, but in time your health is eroded by the daily blood-sugar ups and downs that are considered "normal." This is where modern medicine fails to see the danger. As Dr. Jarowski has demonstrated, we all need to follow basic blood-sugar strategies to protect against the most common age-related disorders.
When you consume a meal, especially a highcarbohydrate meal, your blood sugar becomes elevated, then later comes down. How elevated and how often are the key concerns, and these blood-sugar oscillations often increase with age. This is commonplace in our society, given our heavy dependence on breakfast cereals, fructose -saturated "health" drinks, and a diet loaded with grains, potatoes, starch and sugars.
Blood glucose is important, but it is only one indirect measure of what is actually taking place. Less well-known to the public are the dangers of high insulin levels, hemoglobin A1c, and the production of other harmful waste-products.(7)
To take an example, it could be that you have normal fasting blood-sugar levels. In this case, your pancreas may be healthy and strong, but it may be pounding your cells with high levels of insulin… pushing glucose and other nutrients into your liver, muscle, and fat cells – despite strong opposition from your cells. This may go on for years, but you are paying a price.
Hemoglobin A1c is different. Unlike insulin, hemoglobin A1c is not made by your body. It is an accident that happens inside your body. As such, hemoglobin A1c is only one well-known waste-product of a process called "glycation."(10)
Glycation and Aging
Glycation is defined as the random, uncontrolled reaction of sugar with proteins and fats. This reaction sometimes is known as the "browning" reaction – the same browning that happens when you cook a steak or toast your bread. This happens in the foods you cook, and it happens in you. The effect is the same.
According to researchers in the field of aging, glycation end-products, known as AGEs, are one of the most important contributing factors in aging. As explained by the noted cosmetology expert, Dr. Nicolas Perricone, MD, the effects of glycation slowly show up in your skin. Even before you see dark discolorations, you skin becomes tough, leathery, and wrinkled.
Unseen, though, is the damage to your nerves and blood vessels.
One of the most closely studied of these destructive chemicals is hemoglobin A1c. When your blood sugar rises in response to a meal, glucose molecules bind with the oxygen-carrying protein in your blood called hemoglobin, producing hemoglobin A1c. This molecule can stay in your blood, damaging small capillaries and causing havoc, for up to four months – the lifespan of a red-blood cell – before being eliminated from your body.
You may feel normal; your blood glucose may appear normal, but according to Dr. Jarowski and researchers of his stature, daily blood-sugar fluctuations create molecules that, in a sense, grind away at the smallest, most fragile capillaries in your eyes, kidneys, and brain, long after you have finished the meal that created them… long after your blood-sugar level has stabilized.
What needs to be understood is that the very same destructive processes go on undiagnosed in all of us. We all are cutting our lives short by not doing a better job of controlling the sugar roller-coaster we provoke, several times a day, by our poor dietary choices.
