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Diabetes is a condition in which the body's level of blood sugar and the hormone insulin are out of balance. It is one of the most common disease. Diabetes is a disease of metabolism, our body uses nutrients from food as carbohydrates for energy and growth.  Normally, your stomach and intestines digest the carbohydrates in your food and convert into a sugar called glucose. Glucose is your body's main source of energy.  After digestion, the glucose moves into your blood to give your body energy. Pancreas makes a hormone called insulin which gets the glucose out of your blood and into the cells of your body. If you have diabetes, either your body doesn't make enough insulin, or your cells can't use the insulin. The glucose levels rise up in your blood, causing diabetes, otherwise known as high blood sugar ⁽¹⁾.

The development of a foot ulceration (DFU) is one of the most common and challenging complications of diabetes, affecting up to 25% to 35% of patients over their lifetime ⁽²⁾. Despite advances in wound care delivery and multi disciplinary therapeutic strategies, a significant proportion of DFUs fail to heal within a reasonable time frame ⁽³⁾. Failure to heal is associated with significant morbidity, including recurrent infections and hospitalisation. Worryingly, it also carries a high risk of lower extremity amputation ⁽⁴⁾.

Foot health should be a major consideration for people with diabetes and for those who care for them. Foot complications in this high-risk population can lead to a cascade of negative complications, potentially resulting in loss of limb and life ⁽⁵⁾.

Diabetes is a lifelong condition which can cause foot problems. Some of these problems can occur because the nerves and blood vessels supplying your feet are damaged. These changes can be very gradual and you may not notice them. This is why it is essential you receive a foot screening and assessment from a podiatrist every year. You then agree a treatment plan to suit your needs. You have a diabetic foot ulcer. This means an area of skin has broken down and the tissue under it is now exposed. In some people with diabetes the skin does not heal very well and is likely to develop an ulcer or infection after only a minor injury. About one in ten people with diabetes will develop a foot ulcer at some stage. A foot ulcer can become infected and the infection may become severe. It is important that you look after your foot ulcer to prevent infection occurring. Controlling your diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure levels, as well as having your feet screened and assessed every year by a podiatrist, will help to reduce future foot problems ⁽⁶⁾.

Wound healing is a complex, dynamic process comprising of 4 overlapping phases: haemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and tissue remodelling. Any interruption in the sequence of this precisely programmed activity has the potential to delay healing, allowing the wound to enter a chronic, non-healing stage. Local factors, such as hypoxia and infections, alongside systemic factors, notably age, stressor responses, diabetes, and nutrition exert a role in wound healing ⁽⁷⁾. Indeed, in critical and post-operative care, providing early nutritional support, usually parenteral, is now considered a routine measure ⁽⁸⁾. The diabetic wound is typically accompanied by hypoxia, even in the absence of genuine vascular disease ⁽⁹⁾, while hyperglycemia may amplify the inflammatory response via oxidative stress ^(10,11).

Many vitamins are involved in wound healing, the main one being vitamin C. Deficiency of vitamin B complex will also have adverse effects on wound healing. Vitamin C plays an important role in collagen synthesis and subsequent cross linking, as well as the formation of new blood vessels. Adequate vitamin C levels help strengthen the healing wound. It also has important antioxidant properties that help the immune system, and it increases the absorption of iron. Vitamin B complex is essential for carbohydrate metabolism and therefore energy production ⁽¹²⁾.

Why Life On DFU Vit-Life?

Life On DFU Vit-Life has the unique formula specially designed which helps healing of diabetic foot ulcers by supporting Diabetes Management with its main ingredients as Chromium Chloride, Aloe Vera Extract, Gymnema Sylvestre Extract, Pyridoxine Hcl, Siberian Ginseng Extract, Cholecalciferol, Pteroylmonoglutamic Acid, Methylcobalamin, Magnesium Oxide & Ascorbic Acid.

Chromium, Aloe Vera, Gymnema Sylvestre, Siberian Ginseng, Vitamin B6, B9, B12, C & D contributes towards playing a vital role in maintenance of normal blood sugar levels whereas Magnesium contributes towards normal energy yielding metabolism.

Chromium plays an important role in body regulating blood sugar levels similar as Insulin. It is a hormone that our body uses to change sugar, starches, and other food into the energy. Low Chromium levels can increase blood sugar, triglycerides (a type of fat in the blood), cholesterol levels, and increase the risk for a number of conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease.

Chromium supplements help in treatment of type 2 diabetes, it reduces the blood sugar levels, as well as the amount of insulin.¹⁴ It also shown to be effective in improving glucose and insulin metabolism in women with gestational diabetes.15 Chromium helps in Weight loss and obesity, Chromium is often used as a weight-loss aid and a way to improve lean muscle and reduce body fat and help people in lose weight and build muscle, plays an important role in strength training and commonly found in sports nutrition supplements ⁽¹⁶⁾.

Chromium helps in lowering blood pressure and LDL (bad) cholesterol, it also decreases the symptoms of depression in people with atypical depression ⁽¹⁷⁾. Chromium supplementation on glucose and insulin metabolism also assessed the effects of such treatment on serum lipids ⁽¹⁸⁾.

Gymnema sylvestre extract has Gymnemic acids which acts as antidiabetic, ant sweetener and anti-inflammatory activities. These Gymnemic acids delay the glucose absorption in the blood, the atomic arrangement of Gymnemic acid molecules is similar to that of glucose molecules. These molecules fill the receptor locations on the taste buds thereby preventing its activation by sugar molecules present in the food ⁽¹⁹⁾.

The use of plant extracts, such as Aloe vera, shows great antimicrobial promise in the healing of DFUs as well as nanoparticles that have an intrinsic antibacterial activity (like AgNPs) or those that act as delivery vehicles to carry some antibiotics to the wound section (like nanofibres and neomembranes) ⁽²⁰⁾.

Aloe has also been linked with decreased swelling and faster healing of wound injuries. Leg wounds and ulcers are common complications of diabetes, and they typically take longer time to heal than in healthy non-diabetic individuals ⁽²¹⁾.

Preliminary evidence suggests that a combination therapy that contains Siberian ginseng had a beneficial effect on diabetic foot ulcers. Additional studies of Siberian ginseng alone are needed ⁽²²⁾.

Vitamin B6 also has a strong role to play in the prevention of diabetes-related complications ⁽²³⁾.

Vitamin B12 may have a strong role to play when treating diabetic neuropathy. The presence of vitamin B12 is necessary for the correct functioning of nerve cells, and therefore taking it as a supplement may help to reduce nerve damage ⁽²⁴⁾.

Vitamin D has a number of benefits for your health. Produced by the body in response to sun exposure, it is thought to help boost insulin sensitivity, which is vital for blood glucose regulation ⁽²⁵⁾.

Zinc is identified as a major trace element in the wound-healing process because of its involvement in many different cellular processes ⁽²⁶⁾. Also, zinc plays a central role in the proliferation of inflammatory cells and modulates cutaneous inflammation ⁽²⁷⁾.

 

   References:

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 10. Vairamon SJ, Babu M, Viswanathan V. Oxidative stress markers regulating the healing of foot ulcers in patients with type 2 diabetes. Wounds. 2009;21:273-279.

 11. Gary Sibbald R, Woo KY. The biology of chronic foot ulcers in persons with diabetes. Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2008;24(suppl 1):S25-S30.

 12. http://www.southernhealth.nhs.uk/EasysiteWeb/getresource.axd?AssetID=38950&type=Full&servie

 13, 14. Chromium, umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/chromium

 15. Role Of Chromium In Human Health Andin Diabetes, Diabetes Care,Volume27,Number 11, November 2004

 16, 17. Chromium, umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/chromium

 18. Role Of Chromium In Human Health Andin Diabetes, Diabetes Care,Volume27,Number 11, November 2004

 19. Gymnema sylvestre: A Memoir, J Clin Biochem Nutr. 2007 Sep; 41(2): 77–81. Published online 2007 Aug 29. doi:10.3164/jcbn.2007010.

 20. Ramirez-Acuña, Jesus & Cardenas-Cadena, Sergio & Marquez-Salas, Pedro & Garza-Veloz, Idalia & Perez-Favila, Aurelio & Cid- Báez, Miguel A. & Flores-Morales, Virginia & Martinez-Fierro, Margarita L. (2019). Diabetic Foot Ulcers: Current Advances in Antimicrobial Therapies and Emerging Treatments. Antibiotics. 8. 193. 10.3390/antibiotics8040193.

 21. Antidiabetic activity of Aloe vera L juice. II. Clinical trial in diabetes mellitus patients in combination with glibenclamide Bunyapraphatsara N, Yongchaiyudha S, Rungpitarangsi V, Chokechaijaroenporn O (1996). Phytomedicine 3: 245–248.

 22. https://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/journal/2012-03/siberian-ginseng-review-literature

 23, 24, 25. https://www.diabetes.co.uk/vitamins-supplements.html

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27. Sarah Bradbury.  Wound healing:  is oral zinc supplementation bneficial? Wounds, UK. 2006;2(1)