Diet and Diabetes
Too Much Fat Causes Diabetes
Type II diabetes is
called adult-type diabetes because it is the most common type of diabetes
seen in adults. Approximately 8% of American adults have this condition
and in some subsections of our populations, such as the American Indians,
the incidence can be as high as 50% of the people. The cause is
unquestionably the rich American diet, chock-full of fat and deficient in
plant foods. The association with fat and diabetes has been known for over
75 years. In 1927 Dr. E. P. Joslin, founder of the famous Joslin Diabetic
Center in Boston, suspected a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet might favor
the development of diabetes and its major complication, atherosclerosis.1
He prophetically wrote: “I believe the chief cause of premature
atherosclerosis in diabetes, save for advancing age, is an excess of fat,
an excess of fat in the body (obesity), an excess of fat in the diet, and
an excess of fat in the blood. With an excess of fat diabetes begins and
from an excess of fat diabetics die, formerly of coma, recently of
atherosclerosis.” And now, after 75 years of repeating Joslin’s message,
diabetes is the fastest growing disease in Western nations.
Three Major Studies
This Past Year Tell of Cause and Prevention
1) A
February 2002 study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine,
of 51,529 male health professionals, found men whose diets are rich in red
meat, high-fat dairy products, and baked goods are 60% more likely to
develop diabetes than are men who eat a more prudent diet of vegetables,
fruits, whole grains and lean meats.2 When low physical
activity is combined with a fatty diet the risk of developing diabetes is
doubled. Obese subjects have more than 11 times the risk of developing
diabetes.
2) In May 2001 an
article the New England Journal of Medicine reported on 522
middle-aged overweight subjects who were divided into 2 groups.3
One group was encouraged to eat more plant foods, less fat and to
exercise; the other continued their old ways. The members of the
healthier group lost an average of nearly 10 pounds each and had less than
half the chance of developing diabetes.
3) A more recent study
in February of 2002 in the same journal reported on 3234 pre-diabetic
individuals who had gone on a healthy diet and exercise program and had
reduced their chances of getting diabetes over the following 2.8 years by
58%.4
Worldwide and
nationwide the incidence of Type II diabetes is skyrocketing. Treatment
with medications, including insulin and diabetic pills, does not cause the
blood sugars to return to normal or eliminate the common complications,
such as blindness, heart attacks and kidney failure. But all of this, and
more, can be done with a diet and exercise program, and at no cost.
Diabetes: An Adaptive
Response
The human body is a
survivor. It does whatever is necessary in order to live and function at
its highest level even when confronted by all kinds of adverse
circumstances. The severe malnutrition caused by the high-fat, low-fiber
American diet places serious burdens on the body and requires it to make
adaptions. The calories consumed in excess of our needs cause us to gain
weight. As the body gains excess fat it becomes resistant to the actions
of the hormone, insulin, in order to survive.5 One of insulin’s
jobs is to push fat into the fat cells – the fat is being saved for the
day when no food is available (A day long time coming). Once obesity has
developed, in an effort to stem the rapid expansion of the body’s girth,
the fat cells become less responsive to insulin, in other words, “insulin
resistance” develops. This slows or stops the accumulation of fat – so
the person does not get as big as a house.
The next stage of
adaption occurs when the body becomes so resistant to insulin’s effects
that it can no longer keep the blood sugar at normal levels. The sugars
rise to a level above the kidney’s capacity to keep it in the body, and
the sugar spills over into the urine like water falling over a dam. At
this stage sugar is found on a urine test – a common way to diagnosis
diabetes. This loss of sugar (calories) is the body’s adaptive response
to excess calorie intake and storage (body fat). By losing calories
through loss of sugar into the urine, weight loss occurs – all in an
effort to correct the underlying diabetic condition. Unfortunately,
almost all doctors prescribe medications that thwart the body’s efforts to
make lifesaving adjustments.
Medication Guarantees
Diabetes Will Continue
Diabetic medications
guarantee that all diabetics will remain diabetic. Insulin and diabetic
pills (sulfonylureas) increase the amount of insulin in the diabetic’s
body causing the body to store more fat in the fat cells. Other
medications (rosiglitazone) reduce insulin resistance and cause weight
gain. Any of these medications may also lower the sugar levels below the
kidney’s threshold for dumping excess calories. Thus a vicious cycle is
created: The patient goes to the doctor, is diagnosed with diabetes,
placed on medication and told to lose weight. The medication makes the
person fatter and thus the diabetes becomes worse. The patient returns to
the doctor and is given more medications because the sugars are higher,
which makes the patient fatter and the diabetes worse.
Curing Type II
Diabetes
In my practice I see
people whose future is ever-worsening diabetes, obesity, loss of vision,
kidney failure and vascular insufficiency, leading to gangrene. They have
seen their doctors regularly, taken their medications faithfully and still
they get fatter and sicker. To break this downhill spiral I ask them to
do the following:
1)
Stop or reduce their insulin or diabetic pills. This reverses the
weight gain immediately. (Insulin cannot be stopped in Type I diabetes,
but the dosage can often be reduced).
2)
Change to a low-fat, high-fiber, plant-based diet.
3)
Exercise.
4)
Check other risk factors for serious disease, such as cholesterol,
triglycerides, and blood pressure. Then take diet and lifestyle steps to
correct these (for example, less fruits and juices with high triglycerides
and less salt with high blood pressure).
5)
Take medications carefully to correct symptoms and appropriate risk
factors. (For example, with too much weight loss insulin is sometimes
necessary. Cholesterol, triglyceride, and blood pressure lowering
medications are sometimes indicated in high-risk patients.)
It is no coincidence
that the same diet that helps prevent or cure diabetes also causes
effortless weight loss, lowers cholesterol and triglycerides, and cleans
out the arteries, and returns the body to excellent function. No matter
how much research appears saying the same thing over and over again, the
tide is unlikely to change because of the economic incentives for
continued illness and profitable treatments.
As enlightened
individuals people can make a difference in their own lives and the
benefits are seen almost overnight. Scientific research has shown over
the past 75 years that half to three-quarters of Type II diabetics can get
off insulin and almost all can get off their diabetic pills (See the
McDougall Program – 12 Days to Dynamic Health – Plume 1991). Changing
to oatmeal, bean burritos and a daily walk are the easy ways compared to a
short painful lifetime of injections, complications, doctor’s visits and
hospitalizations.
References:
1) Joslin EP.
Atheroscleriosis and diabetes. Ann Clin Med 1927;5:1061.
2) van Dam RM.
Dietary Patterns and Risk for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in U.S. Men.
Ann Intern Med.
2002 Feb 5;136(3):201-209.
3) Tuomilehto J.
Prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus by changes in lifestyle among
subjects with impaired glucose tolerance. N Engl J Med. 2001 May
3;344(18):1343-50.
4) Knowler WC.
Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention
or metformin. N Engl J Med. 2002 Feb 7;346(6):393-403.
5) Bessesen DH. The
role of carbohydrates in insulin resistance. J Nutr. 2001
Oct;131(10):2782S-2786S. |