November is American Diabetes Awareness Month

One of the research studies was conducted on women with Type 2 Diabetes mellitus. The women who had been diagnosed with Diabetes were then diagnosed using Tradition Chinese Medicine (TCM) diagnostic patterns and were split into two groups to be treated for their specific pattern/presentation of their symptoms.
Both groups of women were treated using a combination of acupuncture and moxibustion (a commonly used herb known as “mugwort” which is burned and is placed near specific regions of the body to stimulate blood flow and to warm the area) and had significant improvements:

• patients sustained lower glucose levels
• improved sensitivity to insulin
• restoration of islet β-cell functions     (this is common in diabetics because cells compensate for insulin resistance

 
The second study that was conducted showed acupuncture effectively reduces and can eliminate diabetic gastroparesis, which is known as “delayed gastric emptying”, which pathologically slows movements from the stomach to the small intestine as a result of high glucose levels for diabetic patients. The high levels of glucose in the system lead to damage to the vagus nerve which is responsible for properly regulate the stomach muscles.
Acupuncture was successful in restoring digestive function in patients with gastroparesis and found that in a six-month follow-up, acupuncture was “significantly more effective [than compared to] two types of pharmaceutical medications for the treatment of diabetic gastroparesis”.
 
To read about these two research studies, click here.
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