Cherry

Eating cherries may help you sleep better, lose weight and help prevent some diseases.

Sweet or sour, cherries are bursting with nutrition. Find out how these petite stone fruits can help improve your health, from a better night’s rest to a trimmer tummy to managing gout.
Get a better night’s sleep.
Tart cherries are one of nature’s few sources of melatonin, a hormone that lowers body temperature, making us sleepy. When study volunteers drank an ounce of tart cherry juice concentrate in the morning and again at night, they slept more soundly. Even better: sipping the tart concentrate may provide an alternative to a melatonin supplement. “The melatonin in tart cherry juice is very well absorbed and is utilized by the body to provide an effect that could rival melatonin supplements,” says study author Glyn Howatson, Ph.D.

Balance your blood pressure.Sweet cherries are loaded with potassium, a natural blood-pressure reducer. Potassium balances fluids in our bodies, essentially offsetting the blood-pressure-raising effects of sodium. So it’s no wonder studies have found that people who eat more potassium-rich foods, like sweet cherries, tend to have less hypertension. One cup of these ruby gems packs roughly the same amount of potassium as a small banana and also boasts some quercetin, an antioxidant that may help keep blood vessels relaxed and supple.

Ease muscle soreness.Tart cherry juice may quell post-workout pain, says a 2010 Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition study. Runners who downed 24 ounces of tart cherry juice daily (about 480 calories) for seven days before a long-distance race, and again on race day, reported fewer aches afterward than runners who drank a placebo. Researchers believe that tart cherries’ antioxidants protect against attacks by exercise-induced free radicals, which can lead to painful inflammation.

Whittle your waistline.When scientists at the University of Michigan Health System put rats on a high-fat diet supplemented with either a tart-cherry powder (equal to 1% of the weight of their total diet) or the same number of calories from carbohydrate, those that got the cherry powder gained less weight and body fat. Why? The anthocyanins in tart cherries activate a molecule that helps rev up fat burning and decrease fat storage
Get a grip on gout.This form of arthritis is caused by too much uric acid in the blood, which causes swelling, inflammation and tenderness. A growing body of research reveals that cherries—both sweet and tart—can help. In a USDA study, eating about 2 cups fresh sweet Bing cherries daily lowered uric acid levels by 15% and also reduced C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation. Another study showed that drinking 8 ounces of tart cherry juice a day reduces uric acid

http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/nutrition_news_information/cherry_nutrition_benefits

Diabetes Diagnosed

How is diabetes diagnosed?

There are several ways to diagnose diabetes. Each way usually needs to be repeated on a second day to diagnose diabetes. Testing should be carried out in a health care setting (such as your doctor’s office or a lab). If your doctor determines that your blood glucose level is very high, or if you have classic symptoms of high blood glucose in addition to one positive test, your doctor may not require a second test to diagnose diabetes.
A1C. The A1C test measures your average blood glucose for the past 2 to 3 months. The advantages of being diagnosed this way are that you don’t have to fast or drink anything.

• Diabetes is diagnosed at:
  A1C ≥ 6.5%

Fasting Plasma Glucose (FPG). This test is usually done first thing in the morning, before breakfast and checks your fasting blood glucose levels. Fasting means after not having anything to eat or drink (except water) for at least 8 hours before the test.

• Diabetes is diagnosed at:
  Fasting blood glucose ≥ 126 mg/dl

Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (also called the OGTT). The OGTT is a two-hour test that checks your blood glucose levels before and 2 hours after you drink a special sweet drink. It tells the doctor how your body processes glucose.

• Diabetes is diagnosed at:
  2-h blood glucose ≥ 200 mg/dl

Random (also called Casual) Plasma Glucose Test. This test is a blood check at any time of the day when you have severe diabetes symptoms.

• Diabetes is diagnosed at:
  Blood glucose ≥ 200 mg/dl

What is prediabetes?

Prediabetes is a condition when you have blood glucose is higher than normal but not high enough to be diabetes. This condition puts you at risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

• Results indicating prediabetes are:
  An A1C of 5.7% – 6.4%
  Fasting blood glucose of 100 – 125 mg/dl
  2-h blood glucose of 140 mg/dl – 199 mg/dl

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