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The ups and downs of insulin resistance
When you’re insulin resistant i.e. you have metabolic syndrome, pretty much every chemical in the body is NOT QUITE RIGHT. Some are up. Some are down. Few are actually at physiologically NORMAL levels.
Traditionally the focus is on the big guns.
• Insulin
• Sugar
• And cholesterol
In this series, we’ll take a look at some of the other players.
Who they are, what they’re up to and how they’re part of the state of insulin resistance.
This week, we feature mannose
Mannose levels are up in someone who is insulin resistant.
Kissing cousins
This probably is not a big surprise, since mannose, like glucose is a six carbon sugar.
But, unlike glucose, whose levels are “up”, both when the person has eaten NOTHING i.e. they are fasted, as well as when the person eats.
Mannose is only up after a meal.
And no, although it is possible to consume small quantities of mannose, during a meal. The mannose, flitting about is actually home grown.
Meaning the body is making it…..
From glucose
But, it’s NOT the glucose being eaten. It’s the glucose being made by the liver. The process is known as gluconeogenesis.
The liver is quite a whizz, it can turn a whole host of “things” into glucose.
This is something the liver pretty much does, 24/7 – it has to. If supplies of glucose dip, below an acceptable threshold – it’s tickets.
Siesta time
Now the only time, the liver takes a break from whipping up batches of sugar, is when sugar is coming in, courtesy of a meal.
The way the liver knows, it is siesta time, is insulin “tells” him.
It not a matter of insulin being courteous, insulin is striving to be efficient.
Putting away, home grown and eaten sugar, at the same time, is seriously hard work.
In the insulin resistant……
The liver doesn’t get the memo, that a load of sugar has been received, timeously. So he doesn’t stop cooking up oodles of glucose. And he and everyone else, ultimately suffers, because insulin fails to keep up with his sugar deliveries.
So more glucose, means more mannose.
So what does mannose “do” ?
Well the mannose is NOT a fuel source, it’s actually used for decorating.
I kid you not……………. lots of bits and pieces in the body, put on sugar makeup. They do it, to let “everyone” know, they’re part of the tribe.
The “right” decorations, impact how the various bits and pieces are treated.
Glycosylation
The official process of sugar decorating is referred to as glycosylation. It is driven by specialized enzymes and is all very civilized.
And mannose is one of the chief sugars used, in the decorating process.
So the extra mannose, found in someone who is insulin resistant, is put to good use.
Up to a point….
Mannose really does like decorating
So, if she finds herself, just hanging around……………… she sometimes, does a little self-decorating i.e. she sticks herself onto bits and pieces, unprompted.
This process is referred to as non-enzymatic glycation.
Unfortunately, this decorating is not always aesthetically pleasing. It can be downright destructive. The decorating mess, is referred to as advanced glycation end products, or AGEs.
The “victims” of these unsolicited decorations are pariahs.
They usually can’t do their job and spark the “wrath” of the immune system.
AGEs are often responsible for the complications, associated with high sugar levels.
Now mannose is not the only sugar, that goes decorating unescorted, glucose does this too. Mannose is just much more likely to do so.
Decorating tips
Now, this is not much you can do to stop mannose from decorating, beyond doing what you can to keep those glucose levels as low as possible, especially at dinner.
Following a low carb / slow carb diet, cuts insulin some slack……………
For more tips and strategies to help minimize sugar spikes, download the FREE Willpower Report.
It is way easier to put away, small amounts of sugar, than truck loads.
What about mannose for urinary tract infections ?
The science, suggests it does work, in the short term.
Turns out, E.coli, this is one of the species of bacteria, that likes to get up to mischief in the bladder, uses a mannose sugar, to hold on to YOUR bladder.
When you swallow, mannose as a supplement, most of it, get’s peed out.
This means, that mannose levels are higher than normal inside the bladder.
Since E.coli doesn’t have 20/20 vision – it grabs onto “the wrong” sugar and……………………..get’s swished out. Protecting you, from a UTI.
That said, you might still be at risk of mannose doing dangerous “decorating”. At this stage, no one has actually studied it. So tread carefully.
Plasma mannose level, a putative indicator of glycogenolysis, and glucose tolerance in Japanese individuals. J Diabetes Investig. (2017) 8(4):489-495. K Yoshimur, S Hirano, H Takata, S Funakoshi, S Ohmi, E Amano, Y Nishi, M Inoue, Y Fukuda, H Hayashi, T Taguchi, S Yamada, I Miwa, Y Terada, S Fujimoto.
D-mannose powder for prophylaxis of recurrent urinary tract infections in women: a randomized clinical trial. World J Urol (2014) 32(1):79-84. B Kranj?ec, D Papeš, S Altarac.
Plasma Mannose Levels Are Associated with Incident Type 2 Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease. Cell Metab. (2017) 26(2):281-283. A Mardinoglu, A Stan?áková, LA Lotta, J Kuusisto , J Boren, M Blüher, NJ Wareham, E Ferrannini, PH Groop, M Laakso, C Langenberg, U Smith.
Further reading
Why infections are difficult to overcome in diabetics
Faced with an excess of sugar, it becomes increasingly difficult to spot the wrong sugars so invaders manage to slip under the radar and cause lots of mischief.
Why are my sugar levels high when I haven’t eaten anything ?
If your sugar levels are HIGH – logic says, the solution is just simply to STOP EATING. Does it work ? Not as much as one would think. Asprosin is to blame
To avoid UTIs you need to shore up your body’s defences
A urinary tract infection is definitely unpleasant. But, before you reach for the antibiotic, you might want to try something really simple.