World News
Nothing to See Here: W.H.O. Stands with Beijing, Absolves Wuhan Lab of Coronavirus Leak
Breitbart – It is “extremely unlikely” the coronavirus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, and is more likely to have jumped to humans from an animal, World Health Organization (W.H.O.) investigators said Tuesday as they wrapped up their visit to the country’s central Hubei province.
Peter Embarek, leader of the W.H.O. team, told a media conference instead of investigating laboratories in the country, frozen meats sold at the wet market in Wuhan where the first cluster of cases was detected should instead be pursued as a line of inquiry.
“Our initial findings suggest that the introduction through an intermediary host species is the most likely pathway and one that will require more studies and more specific, targeted research,” Embarek said, as reported by AP.
“However, the findings suggest that the laboratory incidents hypothesis is extremely unlikely to explain the introduction of the virus to the human population,” Embarek said.
He backed Beijing and dismissed claims of transmission “in Wuhan or elsewhere” in China before December 2019 – despite allegations the virus was circulating globally months earlier than that, as Breitbart News reported.
Professor Liang Wannian, an expert with China’s Health Commission, told the same press briefing he agreed there had been no substantial spread of the virus in the city of 11 million before the late 2019 outbreak, Reuters reports.
Winnian said while transmissions from animals to humans via bats remains the likeliest origin of coronavirus, the original host “has not been identified.”
Bats and pangolins are potential animal sources of the virus, the professor said, but the coronavirus samples found in them were similar, but not identical to the virus found in humans.
He claimed studies showed the coronavirus “can be carried long-distance on cold chain products,” a nod towards the theory of possible importation of the virus – a point that has gained strength in China in recent months.
Chinese authorities have kept a tight hold on information about the possible causes of the pandemic that has now sickened more than 105 million people and killed more than 2.2 million worldwide.
Britain could be trapped in lockdown cycles for ‘several YEARS’, top SAGE scientist warns
Daily Mail – Britain could be trapped in coronavirus lockdown cycles for ‘several years’ as it’s forced to wrestle with new variants that could scupper vaccines, top scientists have warned.
Professor Sir Ian Boyd, an infectious disease expert at the University of St Andrews and member of SAGE, said the emergence of potentially jab-resistant strains means the UK could be stuck in a pattern of ‘control and release for a long time to come’.
Evidence suggests the Oxford University vaccine – the main weapon in Britain’s arsenal to combat the virus – does not stop people falling ill with the South African variant, which is feared to be spreading in the community already. But No10’s top scientific advisers believe it still protects against severe illness and death.
Professor Boyd and several other prominent SAGE members have warned reopening the current shutdown too early could risk allowing new, equally concerning variants to spawn.
Britain could be trapped in coronavirus lockdown cycles for ‘several years’ as it’s forced to wrestle with new variants that could scupper vaccines, top scientists have warned.
Professor Sir Ian Boyd, an infectious disease expert at the University of St Andrews and member of SAGE, said the emergence of potentially jab-resistant strains means the UK could be stuck in a pattern of ‘control and release for a long time to come’.
Evidence suggests the Oxford University vaccine – the main weapon in Britain’s arsenal to combat the virus – does not stop people falling ill with the South African variant, which is feared to be spreading in the community already. But No10’s top scientific advisers believe it still protects against severe illness and death.
Professor Boyd and several other prominent SAGE members have warned reopening the current shutdown too early could risk allowing new, equally concerning variants to spawn.
South Africa Halts Rollout of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 Vaccine
Global Research – South Africa is halting its rollout of the AstraZeneca-University of Oxford Covid-19 vaccine, the country’s minister of health said Sunday, following a new analysis that suggests the shot “provides minimal protection” against mild disease caused by the new coronavirus variant circulating in South Africa.
Two top virologists advising the government said during a press conference that the pause was necessary. They said South Africa would institute a new process in which vaccines are initially studied in a research phase to try and determine that each vaccine reduces Covid hospitalizations in South Africa despite the widespread new variant there.
“The AstraZeneca vaccine rollout needs to be put on a temporary halt while we get the clinical efficacy information in,” said Salim Abdool Karim, an epidemiologist at Columbia University and part of a commission advising the South African government. “And the way that we can do that is with the new approach to rollout.”
Barry Schoub, chair of South Africa’s Ministerial Advisory Committee on vaccines, struck a similar note.
“I think we just need to maybe suspend use of AstraZeneca, but investigate it more and more fully to see, can we utilize it more effectively,” he said.
The news heightens concerns about B.1.351, the variant first seen in South Africa, and will also likely lead to discussions about the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, which is among the least expensive and most widely available of the Covid-19 vaccines that have so far been developed. In addition to AstraZeneca, the vaccine is also being made for much of the world by Serum Institute, a large Indian vaccine maker.
However, the data, which were presented in detail during the livestreamed press conference, do not give clear answers. The results involve only small numbers of patients and may not be enough to draw any conclusions. The data were also submitted as a preprint and have not yet been peer-reviewed.
Shabir Madhi, professor of vaccinology at the University of the Witwatersrand and chief investigator on the new study, said that before B.1.351 became common in South Africa, the vaccine was trending toward reducing mild cases of disease by 75%. But once B.1.351 became prevalent, that number dropped precipitously, and cases were reduced only 22% based on 42 cases of symptomatic Covid.
Those data appear unreliable, however. They were given with confidence intervals, which propose a range of plausible outcomes. For the 22% number, those ranged from -50% to 60%, meaning that more data would be needed to be collected to trust the figure.
Researchers and AstraZeneca emphasized in separate statements that the study was a small one, including only 1,765 volunteers with a median age of 31. AstraZeneca said it believes the vaccine will still protect against severe disease caused by B.1.351. The current study gives no information on whether the vaccine prevents severe disease, hospitalization, or death.
AstraZeneca also said that it and Oxford have started adapting their vaccine to B.1.351, and will advance the new vaccine through development so that it is ready for delivery in the fourth quarter of the year if it is needed.
This is the third vaccine, and the first approved vaccine, to show what appears to be reduced efficacy against B.1.351. Johnson & Johnson said that its vaccine, which was 66% effective overall against moderate-to-severe disease, was 57% effective against moderate-to-severe disease due to the variant. Novavax, another vaccine developer, said that its vaccine was 89% effective against mild-to-moderate disease, but in a separate trial in South Africa was 50% effective.
Karim pointed out that only the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been shown to reduce severe disease due to B.1.351. He said that when vaccines are rolled out, South Africa will now look at hospitalization rates in the first 100,000 to receive the vaccine in the hopes that this will provide information on whether the vaccine is proving effective.
Madhi warned that it could be “reckless” to simply let doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine expire without giving them, given the possibility that the vaccine could reduce severe disease.
U.S. News, Politics & Government
US considers Covid-19 testing requirement for domestic air travel
CNN – The Biden administration is considering a rule that would require negative Covid-19 test results for domestic air travel, according to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Buttigieg mentioned the possible testing requirement for air travelers within the United States in an interview Sunday with “Axios on HBO.”
“There’s an active conversation with the CDC right now,” Buttigieg told Axios. “What I can tell you is, it’s going to be guided by data, by science, by medicine, and by the input of the people who are actually going to have to carry this out.”
Buttigieg underlined that the “CDC is looking at all its options,” in an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday.
“What we know is that it’s the appropriate measure for international travel, people traveling into the US given some of those considerations. You know I’d say the domestic picture is very different, but you know the CDC is always evaluating what can best be done to keep Americans safe,” Buttigieg said.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said on Monday that screening US travelers for Covid-19 could be helpful. But she did not expand upon whether there are plans to test domestic travelers.
“To the extent that we have available tests to be able to do testing, first and foremost, I would really encourage people to not travel,” Walensky said during a White House briefing. “But if we are traveling, this would be yet another mitigation measure to try and decrease the spread.”
When Buttigieg was asked if he supports the idea of requiring proof of a Covid-19 vaccination before air travel, he said that is up to the CDC.
“So, that’s not a step that has been taken, and again, CDC is really in the lead on deciding what the right measures will be.”
The group called mandatory testing for domestic travelers “impractical,” noting that there aren’t defined ports of entry and that such a measure could “divert scarce public health resources away from other priorities.”
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian called mandatory testing for domestic travelers “a horrible idea,” citing few documented cases of Covid transmission aboard airliners and concerns that testing for air travelers would take testing resources away from areas of greater need.
“It will not keep domestic fliers safer,” Bastian told CNN’s Poppy Harlow. “If anything, it’s going to keep people away from what they need to do in terms of starting to get back out for not just essential travel, but people need to start reclaiming their lives.”
He said it would be a “logistical nightmare” that would delay the recovery of the whole hospitality sector.
Supreme Court to Decide if Police Can Warrantlessly Raid Homes and Seize Guns of Innocent Citizens
Activist Post – Last week, the Free Thought Project reported on HR 127, the most tyrannical gun bill ever proposed. The bill would target the poor by forcing citizens to pay $800 per year to possess firearms that they are required to register. It also bans multiple legal guns and ammo types, turning tens of millions of Americans into felons over night. While this bill is, without a doubt, the worst gun bill in history, it didn’t lay out any guidelines for violating a citizen’s Fourth Amendment right. Next month, however, the Supreme Court will be considering exactly that — can cops enter a home to seize guns without a warrant?
That escalated quickly.
In March, the Supreme Court will hear the case of Caniglia v. Strom, which asks the question of whether the “community caretaking” exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement extends to the home.
The community caretaker exception, has already been recognized as an exception to the Fourth Amendment by the United States Supreme Court. In Cady v. Dombrowski, 413 U.S. 433 (1973), the United States Supreme Court held that police officers did not violate the Fourth Amendment when they searched the trunk of a car that had been towed after an accident.
The Court acknowledged that, “except in certain carefully defined classes of cases,” police cannot search private property without consent or a warrant. It emphasized, however, that “there is a constitutional difference between houses and cars.” Since Cady, there has been a whole host of cases that took this holding and created the doctrine of “community caretaking.” Cady defined community caretaking activities as those “totally divorced from the detection, investigation, or acquisition of evidence relating to the violation of a criminal statute.”
In other words, as long as an officer might reasonably think that a warrantless search will alleviate a danger to the community, the search is considered constitutional. This was in vehicles, not homes.
While the caretaker exception has long been applied to vehicles, the idea of applying it to homes and allowing cops to seize guns without a warrant is worrisome. In an article from Forbes, the case of Caniglia v. Strom, is explained:
Mr. Caniglia was arguing with his wife and melodramatically put an unloaded gun on the table and said “shoot me now and get it over with.” His wife called a non-emergency number for the police who arrived shortly thereafter. The police disagreed about whether Mr. Caniglia was acting “normal” or “agitated” but they convinced him to take an ambulance to the local hospital for evaluation. The police did not accompany him.
While he was on his way to the hospital, Mrs. Caniglia told the police that her husband kept two handguns in the home. The police decided to search his home for the guns without obtaining a warrant. (Mrs. Caniglia’s consent to have the police search their home was legally negated because the police untruthfully told her that her husband had consented to the seizure of any guns.) The police located and seized the two guns. Mr. Caniglia sued for the violation of his 4th Amendment right to privacy and his 2nd Amendment right to keep handguns in the home for self-protection.
The case has been making its way through the courts, with the courts ruling in favor of warrantless searches. The federal court just below the Supreme Court, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it is fine and dandy for cops to warrantlessly search your home and take your guns because they need “elbow room” to provide safety.
Hacker Tried To Poison Entire Florida Town By Raising Chemical Levels In Water Supply
Activist Post – A town in Florida has been target of a hack which briefly altered chemicals in its water supply to “potentially damaging levels” according to local media reports. Federal and local authorities are currently investigating the computer network intrusion which happened last Friday morning, the alarming details of which are emerging Monday.
Plant operators overseeing the small city of Oldsmar’s water supply began observing strange activity on their monitors. That’s when technicians noticed that sodium hydroxide levels (or lye), which is used to treat the city’s water in small amounts in order to control acidity while removing heavy metals, was being remotely pushed higher.
Technicians noticed the chemical levels being subject of unauthorized external manipulation in real-time and immediately moved to restore the sodium hydroxide input to its safe, correct levels. The AP detailed based on local reporting: “A plant worker first noticed the unusual activity at around 8 a.m. Friday when someone briefly accessed the system.”
“At about 1:30 p.m., someone accessed it again, took control of the mouse, directed it to the software that controls water treatment and increased the amount of sodium hydroxide,“ the report continued.
The hacker or hackers have yet to be uncovered and apprehended. According to details announced by the county sheriff Bob Gualtieri and featured in Tampa Bay Times:
Someone remotely accessed a computer for the city’s water treatment system and briefly increased the amount of sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, by a factor of more than 100, Gualtieri said at a news conference Monday. The chemical is used in small amounts to control the acidity of water but it’s also a corrosive compound commonly found in household cleaning supplies such as liquid drain cleaners.
“This is obviously a significant and potentially dangerous increase,” the Pinellas County sheriff added.
He further explained that the hacker’s changes inside the system were detected before any damage was done that could affect the public: “The public was never in danger,” Gualtieri said additionally. “Even if the plant operator had not quickly reversed the increased amount of sodium hydroxide, it would’ve taken between 24 and 36 hours for that water to hit the water supply system.”
The Oldsmar water treatment plant is responsible for supplying water to an estimated 15,000 residents along with dozens of businesses. It essentially appears the hacker was attempting to poison the drinking water for an entire town.
Currently the FBI and Secret Service have joined county sheriff efforts at attempting to trace the hack.
The alarming incident comes following federal officials and cybersecurity experts over the past several years expressing anxiety over the vulnerability of vital US infrastructure to potentially devastating hacks, particularly from foreign entities, which could in some cases actually threaten lives.
Economy & Business
Biden Adviser on CBO Saying $15 Minimum Wage Will Cost Jobs: ‘We Have a Tendency to Focus on Some of the Big Negatives’
Breitbart – On Monday’s “MSNBC Live,” White House Counsel of Economic Advisers member Jared Bernstein reacted to the Congressional Budget Office study showing that a $15 minimum wage would cost over 1 million jobs by saying that raising the minimum wage increases wages, “we have a tendency to focus on some of the big negatives,” and that “some of the more contemporary minimum wage research,” shows that increasing the minimum wage would have a smaller impact on jobs.
Host Chris Jansing asked, “There’s a fascinating study out by the Congressional Budget Office that says it would actually cost 1.4 million jobs by 2025, but would reduce the number of Americans below the poverty line by 900,000. What’s your analysis of that, your reaction?”
Bernstein responded, “I mean, with respect, the part you just read leaves out, by far, by far, the most important number in that study, which is 27 million people get a wage increase from raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. The other numbers that you mentioned, they do come out of the study, you’re correct about that. But we have a tendency to focus on some of the big negatives, or, in this case, the deficit impact. I think that one of the reasons that the president has consistently pushed this policy is because it is one of the fastest, most reliable, quickest ways of getting reliable help to low-income workers, many of whom have been essential workers in this economy. Fulfillment workers in warehouses, healthcare workers, sanitation workers, and yes, as you mentioned, there are job loss effects in the study, but, in fact, if you look at some of the more contemporary minimum wage research, and I’ve contributed to some of that research myself, it looks — takes a very careful look at this aspect of the problem and finds much smaller effects in that regard.”
Energy & Environment
Coca-Cola is introducing its first bottle made from 100% recycled plastic
CNN – Coca-Cola is launching a new bottle size for the first time in a decade, but it’s what the bottle’s made of that marks an even more notable first: 100% recycled plastic material.
The new 13.2-ounce recyclable bottle that some customers will see on shelves this week is made entirely of other plastics, and it’s the latest move in Coca-Cola’s several-year initiative to reduce its plastic waste. Coke is also hoping the size attracts younger, under-25 drinkers who are seeking sustainable packaging (and sometimes even shunning the company).
The new bottle will be available starting this month in select states across the Northeast, including New York and Connecticut, as well as in California and Florida, before launching nationwide this summer. Coke describes the size as a “more sippable package,” and it will debut with the company’s most popular sodas like Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero Sugar at a suggested retail price of $1.59.
“We’ve been listening to consumers and they have been telling us they want something a little smaller and a little more easy to consume,” Alpa Sutaria, Coca-Cola’s general manager of sustainability, told CNN Business. “We took this opportunity to make a bottle with plastic that’s 100% recyclable.”
The 13.2-ounce size is slightly larger than its aluminum can option and smaller than the typical 20-ounce bottle. Unique sizes like the 7.5-ounce mini can have garnered strong sales.
Meanwhile, the recycled plastic material will also be featured in 20-ounce bottles of Coke and Diet Coke in New York, California and Texas this month, as well as for the company’s Dasani and Smartwater brands in certain locations in the coming months.
Mexico bans GM corn, plans to phase out imports and the use of Monsanto’s glyphosate
NaturalNews – Mexico, the birthplace of corn, plans to completely ban genetically modified (GM) corn and glyphosate by Jan. 31, 2024. In a decree published on Thursday, Dec. 31, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador noted that the decision aims to contribute to the country’s food security and protect native corn varieties.
In accordance with the decree, authorities will “revoke and refrain from granting permits” for GM corn, which includes imports. The decree also seeks to phase out glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller. GM crops are typically made such that they can tolerate being sprayed with glyphosate.
The decree came after several months of unsuccessful pushback from groups representing Mexico’s large food industry. Nonetheless, opponents of GM crops and growers of organic foods celebrated the ban.
Mexico is self-sufficient in white corn used to make the nation’s staple tortillas but depends on imports of GM yellow corn from the U.S. for livestock feed. It is unclear whether the decree also covers imports of GM yellow corn meant for livestock. Mexican officials plan to meet with producers this week to decide the case for this.
Science & Technology
Facebook says it plans to remove posts with false vaccine claims
Facebook said on Monday that it plans to remove posts with erroneous claims about vaccines from across its platform, including taking down assertions that vaccines cause autism or that it is safer for people to contract the coronavirus than to receive the vaccinations.
The social network has increasingly changed its content policies over the past year as the coronavirus has surged. In October, the social network prohibited people and companies from purchasing advertising that included false or misleading information about vaccines. In December, Facebook said it would remove posts with claims that had been debunked by the World Health Organization or government agencies.
Monday’s move goes further by targeting unpaid posts to the site and particularly Facebook pages and groups. Instead of targeting only misinformation around Covid-19 vaccines, the update encompasses false claims around all vaccines. Facebook said it had consulted with the World Health Organization and other leading health institutes to determine a list of false or misleading claims around Covid-19 and vaccines in general.
In the past, Facebook had said it would only “downrank,” or push lower down in people’s news feeds, misleading or false claims about vaccines, making it more difficult to find such groups or posts. Now posts, pages and groups containing such falsehoods will be removed from the platform entirely.
“Building trust and confidence in these vaccines is critical, so we’re launching the largest worldwide campaign to help public health organizations share accurate information about Covid-19 vaccines and encourage people to get vaccinated as vaccines become available to them,” Kang-Xing Jin, head of health at Facebook, said in a company blog post.
Health
Study reveals Bayer’s Roundup linked to “a host of chronic and mental illness”
NaturalNews – Right now, Bayer is facing a host of lawsuits related to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer that has been linked to the use of Roundup herbicide. Bayer took on the legal burdens of Roundup maker Monsanto when it bought the company for $66 billion in 2018.
The number of lawsuits related to this illness exceed 42,000, which is absolutely staggering. One of the biggest lawsuits saw a groundskeeper initially awarded $289 million in damages, although that was reduced on appeal. Another suit saw a couple receiving $2 billion in punitive damages in a jury award. A federal multidistrict litigation action containing thousands of lawsuits ended with a $10.9 billion settlement agreement.
But all of those suits are really just a fraction of what may be coming as Roundup and its main ingredient, glyphosate, have also been linked to many other chronic and mental illnesses.
Many of these are related to its effects on the gut microbiome. A study by an international team of scientists led by King’s College London’s Dr. Michael Antoniou found that glyphosate exposure can dramatically raise the levels of two types of acids in the gut. In particular, its inhibition of the EPSPS enzyme of the shikimate pathway is very concerning.
This type of modification in gut flora has been linked to illnesses such as diabetes, autism, arthritis, coronary heart disease, fatty liver disease, asthma and metabolic syndrome. It may also play a role in neurological illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis.
Glyphosate linked to depression and suicide
In addition, this gut microbiome disruption can lead to mental health issues. A team of Australian researchers found that microbial imbalances could cause problems such as depression, dementia and anxiety disorders. Is it any coincidence that these problems are being seen at unprecedented levels in the population just as glyphosate use has skyrocketed?
In fact, the long-term use of pesticides has been linked to higher rates of depression and suicide, and “pesticide poisoning,” which occurs when someone is exposed to a heavy dose of pesticides within a short period of time, doubles the risk of depression.
In Brazil, workers who used more pesticides had a higher likelihood of committing suicide, while a World Health Organization survey found that people who stored pesticides in their home had more than twice the risk of having suicidal thoughts. Moreover, a study that was based on 19 years of national data found that farmers were 3.6 times more likely to die by suicide than people in other professions.
However, you don’t have to be a farmer or live close to a farm to suffer the ill effects of glyphosate. Many Americans are ingesting this chemical every day through glyphosate-contaminated food.
While many people tend to associate fruits and vegetables with pesticides, there are other foods to watch out for as well. Non-organic soy often has a high amount of glyphosate. Other foods that often contain glyphosate residues include almonds, corn, quinoa, and carrots. Oats often test high for glyphosate residue as the herbicide is sometimes sprayed directly onto oat crops to facilitate harvesting. It can also turn up in wheat-based products, such as pasta and crackers. Traces of it have even been detected in children’s cereal and baby formula.
These chemicals are designed to destroy an insect’s nervous system, so it makes sense that they can cause such damage to human nerve cells as well. To minimize your risk of illnesses related to glyphosate, avoid working with glyphosate or spending time in areas where it has been sprayed, and make sure the food you buy is organic to limit your exposure to this dangerous poison.
The Numerous Health Benefits of Tomatoes
Newsmax – Tomatoes are a rich source of vitamin C and contain many health benefits that most people are unaware of. The vegetable-often-confused-for-a fruit is rich in the antioxidant lycopene, a compound known for its ability to destroy cancer cells. Scientific studies show that lycopene helps prevent prostate, lung, and stomach cancers. This powerful antioxidant also reduces the risk of heart disease by lowering LDL and blood pressure.
Tomatoes are also a great source of potassium, folate, and vitamin K, while being low in carbs and relatively high in fiber.
Here are details on some of the health benefits of tomatoes:
Heart Health. Heart disease is the world’s most common cause of death, but several studies have demonstrated that the lycopene and beta-carotene found in tomatoes helped reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes in middle-aged men. Since tomatoes contain folate, eating them regularly helps maintain healthy homocysteine levels ,which also helps lower the risk of cardiovascular events. The high potassium level in tomatoes not only contributes to cardiovascular health but also protects muscles from deterioration, preserves bone density, and reduces the production of kidney stones.
Cancer prevention. Observational studies have shown that tomatoes and tomato products seem to lower the incidence of certain cancers, particularly breast, prostate, lung, and stomach cancers.
Skin health. Tomato-based foods rich in lycopene and other plant compounds may protect against sunburn according to research conducted by the National Institutes of Health. Vitamin C helps produce collagen, an essential component of the skin, hair, nails, and connective tissue.
Eye health. According to Medical News Today, the lycopene, lutein, and beta-carotene in tomatoes protect the eyes from light-induced damage, the development of cataracts, and age-related macular degeneration or AMD.
Diabetes. Studies have shown that people with type 1 diabetes who eat fiber-rich foods have lower blood glucose levels. Fiber-rich tomatoes can also help people with type 2 diabetes improve blood sugar, lipid, and insulin levels.
Lower your blood sugar and prevent nerve damage linked to diabetes with alpha-lipoic acid
NaturalNews – Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is a powerful antioxidant that’s crucial for digestion and energy creation. Many people take ALA supplements to help with inflammation, memory loss, aging skin and many other medical conditions.
ALA is also gaining popularity among people with diabetes. Several studies suggest it can lower blood sugar levels and prevent diabetic neuropathy – a type of nerve damage that occurs when high blood sugar injures nerves throughout your body.
Depending on the affected nerves, the symptoms of diabetic neuropathy can range from pain and numbness in your legs and feet to problems with your heart, blood vessels, digestive system and urinary tract. Diabetic neuropathy is a serious complication of diabetes as it can be quite painful and may even lead to the amputation of a toe, foot or leg. It affects up to 50 percent of all diabetics.
Studies: alpha-lipoic acid beneficial for diabetics
ALA is thought to help people with Type 2 diabetes by improving their biological response to sugar and reducing insulin resistance. As an antioxidant, it can fight highly reactive and unstable atoms called free radicals. An imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants in the body can lead to oxidative stress, which can cause chronic inflammation and promote Type 2 diabetes and diabetic neuropathy.
Research also supports the anti-diabetic effects of ALA. In a 2006 study, overweight adults with Type 2 diabetes experienced dramatic improvements in their insulin sensitivity and were able to maintain the improvements in their blood sugar levels after taking ALA supplements for four weeks. Their bodies also metabolized glucose more efficiently.
In a 2012 study, researchers from Thailand recruited individuals with Type 2 diabetes and randomly assigned them to either a placebo or ALA treatment given at doses of 300, 600, 900 or 1,200 milligrams (mg) a day for six months. Fasting and average blood sugar levels decreased as the dose increased in those who took ALA supplements alongside their current diabetes medication.
Moreover, ALA can potentially prevent diabetic neuropathy and reduce symptoms like burning, tingling and pain in the affected part of the body. In one study, more than 300 diabetic patients significantly improved their neuropathy symptoms after five weeks of oral ALA supplementation. (Related: Discover the power of alpha lipoic acid for removing heavy metals, taming diabetes and protecting against Alzheimer’s.)
Some studies suggest that intravenous administration of ALA is the most effective for diabetic neuropathy. A 2012 study of 22 patients with Type 2 diabetes found that when administered daily for two weeks, intravenous ALA led to improvements in fasting and average blood sugar levels, insulin sensitivity and total cholesterol levels. Intravenous ALA also improved biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation, including measures of tumor necrosis factor, interleukin-6, and malondialdehyde. These biomarkers are typically elevated in diabetics.
The researchers also found a statistical link between insulin sensitivity and each biomarker. They suggested that by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation, ALA may increase insulin sensitivity and improve blood sugar and lipid control.
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