24 Million Americans have Diabetes

24 million Americans have Diabetes and another 57 million have pre-diabetes for a total of 81 million Americans with blood sugar problems. Over 1/4 of Americans have blood sugar problems while 2/3 of Americans are overweight.

Since the last survey 2 years ago the amount of people effected by blood sugar problems has increased by 3 million. Some of that increase can be accounted by better awareness because awareness has increased by 5 %.

Over 25 % of Americans over 60 years of age have Diabetes. When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at race; the closer the race is toward poverty the higher the rate of diabetes.

The general trend for a healthy America looks bleak. We are getting fatter while staying hooked on sugar. The Atkins Diet was our Cold-Turkey desperate try to break our addiction to sugar. America is still looking for the silver bullet. Americans are gaining more weight while they satisfy their short-term desires while throwing away sound nutritional advice about long-term quality of life.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/CDC_About_8_percent_of_Americans_ha_06242008.html

Dark Chocolate vs. Milk Chocolate: Which is Healthier

Dark Chocolate has many antioxidants, the antioxidants known as polyphenols and catechins.

The polyphenol families of procyanidins & epicatechins are strong antioxidants also found in many plants and vegetables including red grapes & wine. Proanthocyanidins play a role in the making of collagen & elastin and can lead to a stronger circulatory system. Proanthocyanidins are also shown to speed up recovery from plactic surgery. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proanthocyanidin

Catechins, in particular epicatechin found in dark chocolate, can reduce the risk of four of the major health problems: stroke, heart failure, cancer and diabetes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catechins

Milk Chocolate has no antioxidant activity due to milk binding the antioxidants. To take advantage of the antioxidant activity of chocolate you need to have 70% cocoa solids and no milk.
http://www.med.umich.edu/UMIM/clinical/pyramid/chocolate.htm

 

Chocolate’s Secret Ingredient Can Strengthen your Cardio System

[http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/content/abstract/51/22/2141]
Researchers concentrated the antioxidant flavanols from Chocolate and gave them to Diabetics to see if the flavanols can strengthen their veins.

Functional chocolate not only tastes great but is healthy for your cardiovascular system.

“Conclusions: Diets rich in flavanols reverse vascular dysfunction in diabetes, highlighting therapeutic potentials in cardiovascular disease.”

“Sustained Benefits in Vascular Function Through Flavanol-Containing Coca in Medicated Diabetic Patients”
J Am Coll Cardiol, 2008; 51:2141-2149, doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2008.01.059
© 2008 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation