health
What do Diabetes, Zinc Deficiency and Pumpkin
Seeds have to do with Weight Loss?
By Michele Thorne
Possibly everything, but I’m an optimist. These three have more in common than
you think, so let’s examine the facts.
THE PREVALENCE OF DIABETES: The top five
killers among African American women are
Heart Disease, Cancer, Stroke, Diabetes and
Accidents.1 Avoiding accidents is sometimes
beyond control, but conversely, diabetes is a
preventable chronic disease. Globally,
diabetes directly affects the lives of 346
million adults.2 And according to the ADA,
25.8 million children and adults have diabetes in the United States.3 There are
almost 3x that amount of people that are considered “pre-diabetic,” and most
of us know at least two people in our personal networks affected by Type II
Diabetes. What’s more, racial and ethnic minority groups bear the burden of the
diabetes epidemic. Because prevalence rates are higher, there are higher rates
of complications and the growing disparities have important long-term public
health implications.4
DIABETES & ZINC DEFICIENCY: Looking into
recent studies, it’s been concluded that zinc
deficiency and/or zinc supplementation can
play a significant role in the severity of the
effects of Type II Diabetes.5
Zinc plays an important role in the production of
thyroid hormones because it regulates
metabolism and is also important for the
production of leptin (a hormone that signals to
your brain that you’re full). Oysters and meat
Tibay Trans4orm Magazine, Life a Full, Authentic Life | March 2014
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