diabetes
For World Health Day 2016, WHO released its first global report on diabetes. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said that diabetes was chosen as this year's theme for many reasons, but mainly because the prevalence of diabetes is alarming, and worldwide statistics are rapidly getting worse.

As the UN article states, "Even though we have the tools to prevent and treat it, diabetes now causes some 1.5 million deaths a year. High blood glucose causes an additional 2.2 million deaths." In its global report, WHO also found that in 2012, "a total of 3-7 million deaths were attributable to higher-than-optimal blood glucose levels."

Diabetes risk may be managed through healthy lifestyle choices, such as regular exercise, and a healthy (organic, non-GMO) diet. However, unhealthy glucose levels are the first marker on the path to diabetes, and those may not always be manageable through lifestyle alone.

The amino acid L-Glycine has shown promise in studies for managing glucose levels.

In 2008, the Journal of Endocrinological Investigation released a study on glycine's effect on inflammation in patients with Type 2 diabetes. Seventy four patients took either 5g/day of glycine or 5g/day of placebo for 3 months. When that time had passed, the glycine group had a 38% reduction in inflammation, while the placebo group had an inflammation increase of up to 43%.

Another study was released by the journal Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology testing the effects of glycine on diabetic rats, though taurine was also included. After 6 months of treatment, the glycine and taurine treated rats had significantly lower concentrations of glucose, total cholesterol, triacylglycerol, and glycated hemoglobin than the diabetic control rats.

Glycine can also be helpful for degenerative diseases like Motor Neuron Disease (MND). Plasma amino acid levels were measured in 43 MND patients after glycine loading. After 4 hours, plasma and cerebrospinal fluid glycine levels remained significantly higher than the control group. The researchers concluded that MND may be tied to a glycine storage defect in the central nervous system. We have the study showing muscle spasticity; glycine is reduced by 30% in the spinal cord, affecting nerve impulses.

The quality of the glycine raw materials is critical for therapeutic results, it should be sourced from the highest USP pharmaceutical grade--free form, and fermented. As you can see, glycine could be an important piece of the puzzle for controlling the diabetes epidemic. If you are living a healthy lifestyle, but have been struggling to keep your glucose under control, try L-Glycine!