 |
Why baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is good for you!
Saccharomyces cerevisiae is also known as nutritional or baker's yeast and it holds several unique advantages for diabetics.
Perhaps the first is that it is the most natural medium in which to grow Food Chromium GTF . GTF is the body's form of chromium (Cr) and is the form that is best for regulating blood sugar. Specifically it has been found that "dietary high Cr yeast supplementation improved glucose tolerance, probably through a decrease in hepatic extraction of insulin" [14].
Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromium GTF has been shown to be 2.80 times more effective in reducing blood glucose levels than inorganic chromium [12,13]. Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromium GTF is up to 25 times more bioavailable than chromium mineral salts [2].
In 1999, the Nobel prize was awarded for discovering that protein chaperones are necessary for mineral transport into cellular receptors; Saccharomyces cerevisiae naturally contains protein chaperones and other Food factors which aid in mineral absorption [5,6] (these are lacking in chromium salts).
Additionally, Saccharomyces cerevisiae has proinsulin-like substances, "the specificity of the yeast processing enzymes is so similar to the proinsulin converting enzymes in the human pancreatic beta-cell that it allows the processing of the mini-proinsulin to insulin" [15].
Saccharomyces cerevisiae also contains a variety of insulin precursors that can be helpful for diabetics [16].
Saccharomyces cerevisiae (the primary yeast used in baking) is beneficial to humans and can help combat various infections [17], including Candida albicans according to the German E Monograph .
In the text, Medical Mycology John Rippon (Ph.D., Mycology, University of Chicago) wrote, "There are over 500 known species of yeast, all distinctly different. And although the so-called 'bad yeasts' do exist, the controversy in the natural foods industry regarding yeast related to health problems which is causing many health-conscious people to eliminate all yeast products from their diet is ridiculous."
It should also be noted, that W. Crook, M.D., who was perhaps the nation's best known expert on Candida albicans, wrote "yeasty foods don't encourage candida growth...Eating a yeast-containing food does not make candida organisms multiply" [18].
Some people, however, are allergic to the cell-wall of yeast [18] and the Saccharomyces cerevisiae in all Doctors' Research products have had the cell-wall enzymatically processed to reduce even this unlikely occurrence.
[1] Nielson F. Chromium. In Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 8th ed. Lea & Febiger, Phil.,1994:264-268
[2] Ensminger AH, Ensminger ME, Konlade JE, Robson JRK. Food & Nutrition Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. CRC Press, New York, 1993
[3] Vinson J. Chromium toxicity study. University of Scranton, Scranton (PA)
[4] Thiel RJ. Serious Nutrition for Health Care Professionals, 2nd ed. Center for Natural Health Research, Arroyo Grande (CA), 1986
[5] Rouhi AM. Escorting metal ions: protein chaperone protects, guides, copper ions in transit. Chem Eng News, 1999;11:34-35
[6] Himelblau E, et al. Identification of a functional homolog of the yeast copper homeostasis gene ATX1 from Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol 1998;117(4):1227-1234
[7] Cronquist A. Plantae. In Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms, Vol. 1. McGraw-Hill, 1982:57
[8] Budavari S, et al. The Merck Index, 12th ed. Merck & Co., Whitehouse Station (NJ), 1996
[9] DiTomaso JM. Yellow starthistle: chemical control. Proceedings of the CalEPPC Symposium, 1996, as updated 5/2/02
[10] Chromium picolinate, rev. 6/96B.BLI website, July 16, 2002
[11] Implications of the 'other half' of a mineral compound. Albion Research Notes 2000;9(3):1-5
[12] Vinson JA, Hsiao, KH. Comparative effect of various forms of chromium on serum glucose: an assay for biologically active chromium. Nutr Reports Intl,1985;32(1):1-7
[13] Vinson JA, Bose P. The effect of high chromium yeast on the blood glucose control and blood lipids of normal and diabetic human subjects. Nutr Reports Intl, 1984;30(4):911-918
[14] Guan X, Matte JJ, Ku PK, Snow JL, Burton JL, Trottier NL. High chromium yeast supplementation improves glucose tolerance in pigs by decreasing hepatic extraction of insulin. J Nutr 2000;130(5):1274-1279
[15] Thim L, Hansen MT, Sorensen AR. Secretion of human insulin by a transformed yeast cell. FEBS Letters 1987, 212(2):307-312
[16] Kjeldsen T. Yeast secretory expression of insulin precursors. Appl Microbiol Biotechmol 2000;54(3):277-286
[17] Gruenwald et al editors. PDR for Herbal Medicines, 2nd ed. Medical Economics Company. Montvale (NJ) 2000
[18] Crook W. The Yeast Connection: A Medical Breakthrough. Professional Books, Jackson, TN; 1986
[19] Shils ME, Olson JA, Shike M. Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 8th ed. Lea & Febiger, Phil; 1994
[20] Ali M. Beyond insulin resistance and syndrome X: The oxidative-dysoxygenative insulin dysfunction (ODID) model - Part III. Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patient 2002;232:114-118