New theory for global diabetes epidemic

[JBeukema]

A new "fertility first" hypothesis published this week by a group of international experts in the American Journal of Human Biology, proposes that the global epidemic of Type 2 diabetes has its origins in the struggle, over millennia, to sustain human fertility in environments defined by famine.

New theory for global diabetes epidemic

 

[waltky]

Disease presents challenges for both rich and poor countries...

Study Says Patients Not Receiving Effective Diabetes Treatment
March 03, 2011 - A new study found no link between wealth or socioeconomic status and the likelihood of being diagnosed or treated for diabetes.

A new study indicates that the failure to diagnose and treat diabetes is a global problem in countries rich and poor, putting millions of lives at risk. The study used data from seven national surveys in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas. "In most of the seven countries, a large proportion of individuals with diabetes go undiagnosed," says Emmanuela Gakidou of the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, who led the study.

She says that in countries from Thailand and Iran to Britain and the United States, diabetic adults are not being adequately treated to bring their blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol under control. "People that actually enter the health care system and they get diagnosed with diabetes, most of them are actually not getting the appropriate treatment for all the conditions that could affect their health," she says. According to Gakidou, the study found no link between wealth or socioeconomic status and the likelihood of being diagnosed or treated.

"What we did find in the U.S., in Colombia, and in Mexico, where we had data, however, was that health insurance is correlated with the probability of diagnosis and the probability of being effectively treated." Managing diabetic patients is complicated. For example, the authors note that in most countries surveyed, many patients took medicine to lower blood pressure, but not enough to really bring blood pressure under control. The authors suggest several possible ways to improve the care of diabetics, including improved monitoring of blood sugar and providing incentives to patients who meet treatment targets.

Source

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/health/Diabetes-Challenges-Rich-Poor-Countries--117318183.html

 

[editec]

Interesting theory.

Given that I suspect early mankind's typical diet was mostly at near starvation levels, it does appear to be logical.

Modern people in industrialized nations eat too well, I think.

I doubt, for example, that eating three times a day is natural and I doubt that our bodies are really designed to never be truly hungry.

Cholesterol, I'm informed is a kind of fat that the body needs to get it through times of near starvation. It is a reserve energy source for the human body that was designed to go through periods of feast (when you store this fat) and famine (when you body has no choice but to burn it).

Except few people in the industrialized really ever go though periods of famine, do they?

And so the human never goes through periods of near starvation, that cholesterol really serves no purpose, other than clogging our arteries.

I basically eat one meal a day.

I also have the cholesterol levels more typically associated with a 14 year old boy in the prime of health than a 60 year old man on the decline.

I suspect my "unhealthy" eating habits might have something to do with that.

Incidently, I'm not vegan or health nut. I eat whatever and whenever I want to my fill.

I mostly meat, a lots of butter and eggs and cheese and all the crap that modern medicine tells us is apt to kill us.

Maybe I just won a roll of the genetics dice? That is certainly one possibility to explain my cholestoral levels, I suppose.

Or maybe much of what we was taught in health class about the pyramid diet system and eating right is just completely wrong?

Time will tell, I guess.

For all our obsessional angst about smoking and drug abuse and ill health?

Most Americans die from heart disease and most American adults are either slightly or significantly too fat.

What's that really telling us?

 

[SandyP]

This theory seems far fetched. There are a lot of factors related to the diabetes epidemic, but I don't think it has anything to do with fertility.

 

[Ringel05]

I vaguely remember reading something quite a while ago the stated our bodies are designed for a feast and famine routine and with the advent of the information age we are much less active therefore the feast, famine cycle works against us.
I've read accounts where frontiersmen would chew on a piece of jerky for half a day with some corn pone and that would be all they had.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Not because of manmade global warming?

Are you sure?

 

[Intense]

I think it's another Diabolical Bush Scheme. I think he was trying to End both Halloween and Easter!!!

 

[zzzz]

Does it not sound like the drug companies and medical people think everyone should be on drugs and taking tests all the time? If we as a race are getting sicker and sicker then why are we living longer and longer?

My theory on diabetes is that the corn syrup put in everything we eat is screwing up our bodies. And add to that the high-fructose corn syrup that is used as a sweetener. Is there a correlation between the introduction of these additives to our food chain and the resulting surge of diabetics?

 

[Ernie S.]

In my observation, most people who develop diabetes in adulthood are obese. This would seem to support the OP.
My step son put on a lot of weight in his mid to late 30's and at 37, was diagnosed as a diabetic. He traded water for a year or so, watching his diet and taking his meds, but then he began to see what I do and decided to loose weight and exercise.
He now rides his bicycle to and from work, 8 miles each way, every day.
He's gone from 260 to 190 (he's 6'1") and has no problem controlling his sugar with diet alone. He's planning a 5 day ride from Fort Lauderdale to Key West next month.That's 400 miles round trip.

 

[FurthurBB]

Interesting theory.

Given that I suspect early mankind's typical diet was mostly at near starvation levels, it does appear to be logical.

Modern people in industrialized nations eat too well, I think.

I doubt, for example, that eating three times a day is natural and I doubt that our bodies are really designed to never be truly hungry.

Cholesterol, I'm informed is a kind of fat that the body needs to get it through times of near starvation. It is a reserve energy source for the human body that was designed to go through periods of feast (when you store this fat) and famine (when you body has no choice but to burn it).

Except few people in the industrialized really ever go though periods of famine, do they?

And so the human never goes through periods of near starvation, that cholesterol really serves no purpose, other than clogging our arteries.

I basically eat one meal a day.

I also have the cholesterol levels more typically associated with a 14 year old boy in the prime of health than a 60 year old man on the decline.

I suspect my "unhealthy" eating habits might have something to do with that.

Incidently, I'm not vegan or health nut. I eat whatever and whenever I want to my fill.

I mostly meat, a lots of butter and eggs and cheese and all the crap that modern medicine tells us is apt to kill us.

Maybe I just won a roll of the genetics dice? That is certainly one possibility to explain my cholestoral levels, I suppose.

Or maybe much of what we was taught in health class about the pyramid diet system and eating right is just completely wrong?

Time will tell, I guess.

For all our obsessional angst about smoking and drug abuse and ill health?

Most Americans die from heart disease and most American adults are either slightly or significantly too fat.

What's that really telling us?

This is not quite accurate. Cholesterol is needed for many cellular processes and makes up different proportions of cell membranes depending on the cell's function. We store fat as an energy source for times of famine and some cholesterol, but mostly fat. Though, everyone can benefit from times of fasting. Every person, especially in the US, should do a 2 week low carb induction phase once or twice a year, even if you are thin and in good shape. it changes the shape of your LDLs, so they are less likely to get stuck on your arteries. If you have pre-diabetes, you can still fix it by practically starving yourself for 6 months.

 

[FurthurBB]

Does it not sound like the drug companies and medical people think everyone should be on drugs and taking tests all the time? If we as a race are getting sicker and sicker then why are we living longer and longer?

My theory on diabetes is that the corn syrup put in everything we eat is screwing up our bodies. And add to that the high-fructose corn syrup that is used as a sweetener. Is there a correlation between the introduction of these additives to our food chain and the resulting surge of diabetics?

It seems unlikely that more fructose, which most people cannot efficiently break down anyway, would cause a glucose uptake disorder associated with B-cell apoptosis due to protein aggregation. Obviously insulin production is causing the protein aggregation, because the protein is co-transcribed and secreted with insulin, and insulin does not respond to fructose.