by Patrick Holford
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‘We’ are the product of natural selection – survival of the fattest.
Those of us who can readily store carbs as fat through periods of famine have survived and become dominant. Now, there are no periods of famine, no ‘lent’ up, it’s just carbs all the way.
With one in six over 40 diabetic, the question is, are you heading in that direction?
Even raised glucose, but within the ‘normal’ range, in mid life increases Alzheimer’s risk by 14.5%.
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We have a simple pinprick blood test to help you do just that. It measures the percentage of your red blood cells that are sugar-damaged or ‘glycosylated’. It’s called glycosylated haemoglobin, or HbA1c. This simple pinprick blood test is, in effect, measuring the total blood sugar spikes you experienced over the past three months (red blood cells, called haemoglobin, live for three months).
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Ideally, it should be 5% (31mmol/mol) or less. That’s healthy.
Above 5.4% (36) and in studies you can already pick up brain shrinkage and cognitive decline.
Above 6% (42) is considered pre-diabetic.
6.5% (48) or higher is considered diabetic.
For both brain and body health you certainly want it to be below 5.4%
(It’s measured slightly differently in the UK, in mmol/mol, which is the number shown in brackets.)
A recent study in Denmark of 20,000 people in their 60’s, published in the British Medical Journal [1], found that one in nine with an HbA1c of 6-6.1% developed diabetes in the next three years and one in five in the next five years. One in ten died.
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It is easy to lower, if you need to. But first, you need to know where you are starting from. Then you can retest three months later and find out if what you’ve done has worked.
There are several approaches.
You will learn about all these and more if you’ve signed up for the COGNITION programme by becoming a FRIEND and select the ‘Low carbs and GL’ section. Jill, a retired teacher, lost almost a stone following this advice.
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It’s more predictive of your blood sugar control than just your weight or waist circumference. In fact, it is the single most important measure of your glucose balance ‘resilience’ which is why it’s one of the four ‘essentials’ in our DRIfT test – the others being vitamin D, omega-3 and homocysteine (B vitamins).
We want to wish you a Healthy Easter by giving you £10 off your HBA1c test when you buy before Easter.
So that’s £39.95, not £49.95.
Also, if you book a repeat test in 3 months, which is how long it takes to ‘renew’ all your red blood cells, hopefully no longer sugar-coated, you’ll save a further 6%, bringing the cost down to £37.55, saving you £12.40 now and in 3 months time. That’s £24.80 in total. This offer ends on April 10th 2024.
Use the coupon code: easter at check out to save
(Discount applies to the HBa1c test only.)
Remember every test kit you order will not only help you upgrade your brain it will also help us in our vital research – you will become a part of our ‘Citizen Science’ team and be donating to our wider charitable work and research.
Thank you!
Thank you for reading!
Food for the Brain is a non-for-profit educational and research charity that offers a free Cognitive Function Test and assesses your Dementia Risk Index to be able to advise you on how to dementia-proof your diet and lifestyle.
By completing the Cognitive Function Test you are joining our grassroots research initiative to find out what really works for preventing cognitive decline. We share our ongoing research results with you to help you make brain-friendly choices.
Please support our research by becoming a Friend of Food for the Brain.
1 http://dx.doi. org/10.1136/bmjdrc-2022- 002946
