Читать книгу Low Blood Sugar: The Nutritional Plan to Overcome Hypoglycaemia, with 60 Recipes - Martin Budd N.D. D.O. - Страница 11

Surprising as it may seem, low blood sugar can also affect the respiratory system. The reason for this is a substance called histamine. This compound is naturally present in all the cells of the body and has a variety of uses – not least is its role in controlling osmosis (passage of water) between the body membranes. It is well known that if the histamine level increases, the characteristic symptoms can include hay fever, skin rashes and asthma. The link between histamine and the blood sugar exists because histamine and glucose are on separate ends of a seesaw. If the glucose level drops, the histamine level rises and vice versa. It follows that a patient who has low blood sugar may, under certain conditions, also have asthma or hay fever.

It is an interesting fact that diabetic patients rarely develop asthma; there are also very few cases on record of an asthma patient also having diabetes. (The main exception is the condition known as cardiac asthma, which is associated with heart disease). Many asthma patients find to their delight in their late 40s and 50s that their asthma symptoms improve. The reason for this is that they are developing late onset diabetes and their blood sugar has become raised above normal level, thus protecting them from asthma.

It should be said that low blood sugar is not the only cause of asthma; there are certain types of asthma caused by stress or extreme sensitivity to various allergens, vigorous exercise, infections and various irritant particles. A good medical dictionary will list more than 30 different types of asthma, usually defined according to their cause.