copy btr vid

RB
by RieAnne Blom2 views·Updated May 28, 2022
Create your own

Chapters

Audio TranscriptAuto-generated

  1. Hello and welcome to my video about my thesis
  2. titled an alkaline diet and the potential of plant medicine
  3. in the treatment of diabetes mellitus.
  4. I'm your host Ron bloom and I will be taking you through my work
  5. and I like the societal and scientific
  6. importance as well as mentioned ethical considerations.
  7. But let's begin first with some background information,
  8. diabetes mellitus or diabetes refers to a group of metabolic diseases
  9. that are caused by a deficiency in insulin production,
  10. insulin resistance or both.
  11. And it is characterized by high blood glucose levels.
  12. There are two main types of diabetes type one and type two
  13. with type two being the most common,
  14. Which is seen in 90 to 95% of all diabetic patients.
  15. Looking at statistics of diabetes as a whole worldwide.
  16. Mhm.
  17. Mhm.
  18. We can see that in 2010,
  19. just under 300 million people.
  20. We're living with diabetes and this number had almost doubled in 2021
  21. Being just under 550 million.
  22. This number is projected to continue to rise.
  23. two,
  24. million by 2030.
  25. These data highlight the the importance and the need for health interventions
  26. in order to counter
  27. the current trajectory of this disease.
  28. So, I mentioned insulin and glucose. But let's further look into what they are.
  29. So insulin is a hormone that is produced by the pancreas,
  30. it is produced by the beta cells of the pancreas to be exact.
  31. However, in diabetes,
  32. the pancreatic beta cells are partially or fully
  33. destroyed in which insulin production is affected.
  34. This diminished insulin action
  35. means that blood means that the blood glucose levels remain high
  36. because insulin is unable
  37. to help the absorption of glucose from the blood into the liver fat and muscle cells.
  38. So the action of insulin is basically to promote the absorption
  39. of glucose out of the bloodstream and into target cells.
  40. In diabetes, blood glucose levels are high,
  41. which is known as hyperglycemia.
  42. In both types. Due to the resistance or deficiency of insulin,
  43. glucose accumulates in the blood which leads to hyperglycemia
  44. and this long term hyperglycemia, if it is left untreated or poorly managed,
  45. can lead to the failure of various organs, including the nerves, kidneys and heart.
  46. So how does diet and plant medicine come into this?
  47. Well, looking at the diet of
  48. pre agricultural
  49. people and the people today,
  50. our diet is
  51. deficient in magnesium, potassium and fiber,
  52. but it is very high in simple carbohydrates, saturated fats and salts.
  53. An alkaline diet simply means
  54. a diet that is high in fruits and vegetables
  55. and consumes little to no meat and dairy products.
  56. Yeah,
  57. this change in diet can be linked to the increasing rise in diabetic cases as
  58. the cure for diabetes may well be found in consuming certain foods.
  59. Oxidative stress is important to mention because this is when,
  60. okay,
  61. there are more harmful
  62. then beneficial compounds in the body and this imbalance causes cellular damage.
  63. However,
  64. plants have many healing properties because
  65. they are packed with antioxidants and nutrients
  66. to counter this oxidative stress.
  67. Antioxidants are molecules that counter oxidative stress.
  68. By neutralizing the harmful molecules and these can be found
  69. naturally occurring in the body or can be consumed through foods.
  70. Now, what did my study actually do?
  71. So I performed a meta analysis in which 11 studies were analyzed
  72. looking at the effects of various herbal treatments on diabetic induced rats.
  73. So all 11 studies were rat experiments in which
  74. the researchers induced diabetes by injecting them with antibiotics
  75. and destroying the functioning of the pancreas so that the insulin
  76. levels or insulin production was altered
  77. in order to mimic diabetes
  78. of course, as with any study that involves animal models,
  79. it is important to
  80. mention the ethical considerations
  81. but are linked with this.
  82. So each of the studies that were included in the meta analysis had to first be
  83. approved or they were approved by the institutional
  84. animal ethics Committee or a similar organization.
  85. Before the research could be conducted,
  86. it is stated that all animals were handled as per the
  87. international principle of the use and handling of experimental animals.
  88. In each of the studies,
  89. rats were euthanized at the end in order to dissect the liver,
  90. kidney and pancreas to measure certain parameters and
  91. see how these herbal treatments were able to,
  92. we're able to
  93. um affect them.
  94. So
  95. the scientific importance of this work is
  96. that through looking at the studies that were
  97. already done on herbal treatments,
  98. I was able to see which of these herbal treatments
  99. was the most effective and exerting anti diabetic effects.
  100. This is important because the search for novel natural remedies is needed.
  101. Since current diabetic medication has many side effects,
  102. the societal importance is linked to this because
  103. the main diabetic drug or medicine being insulin
  104. is very expensive. And a simple google search shows that prices are even rising,
  105. so from an economic standpoint, it is useful if there are
  106. a cure is found in nature so that the economic burden is reduced.
  107. Thanks.
  108. Each of the herbs mentioned in the meta analysis were shown to have
  109. anti diabetic effects by reducing or
  110. adjusting parameters to their normal standard.