Gina Kolata wrote a series of articles that appeared in today's New York Times. One of them, "Obesity only part of the puzzle" cites two findings that have been published on my web site for 3 years--that there's an 80% concordance among identical twins for Type 2 diabetes--strong evidence that it is genetic, and that only a very small fraction of the obese ever develop diabetes. Kolata says 10%. I written at least 5 letters to the Times over the years protesting their articles stating as a fact,"Obesity causes diabetes," so this was very good news.
Unfortunately, the good news ended there. Instead of featuring the "Diabetes NOT caused by obesity" news, the paper chose to give most of its attention to another article by Kolata that reads like an advertisement for statin drugs. The article states as if this were a proven fact that "But no matter how carefully patients try to control their blood sugar, they can never get it perfect — no drugs can substitute for the body’s normal sugar regulation."
The article then goes on to state that people with diabetes are guaranteed to develop heart disease unless they take statin drugs.
"Looking past blood sugar to survive with diabetes."
There's only one problem with this. It isn't true.
People with diabetes can and do get normal blood sugars. In my years online I've met many of them. They do it with all different approaches but in general the strategies that give them normal blood sugars do NOT rely on oral drugs. They use any or all of the following: carb restriction, exercise, and carefully dosed insulin calculated with carb/insulin ratios and a very good understanding of the difference between basal and bolus insulin.
And because there is a lot of evidence linking A1c to heart attack risk, these people with diabetes who have A1cs in the normal range have a normal risk of heart attack, just like anyone else with that A1c.
High blood sugars in the range most doctors tell patients is "good control" glycosylates the receptors on your LDL molecules--i.e. glues them all up with glucose--which makes it tough for the body to remove that LDL and leads to clogged arteries. If your blood isn't full of glucose, your LDL gets removed from the body the way it is supposed to be. That is why most people who low carb see dramatic drops in their LDL. And they ALSO see dramatic drops in their trigycerides, the other lipid fraction associated with heart attack which Statins do NOT lower.
The other thing high blood sugars do is create neuropathy in the vagus nerve that regulates heart beat and blood pressure, which probably also contributes to heart attack by leading to abnormal heart behavior.
So promoting the idea that people with diabetes should try to avoid heart attacks by taking statins is like saying people who smoke in bed drunk should be sure to have a fire extinguisher in the house. Yes, it's better than nothing, but why not get them to stop smoking instead! Statins, do NOT prevent heart attacks in people who haven't already had one, and even in that group lots of people who take statins go on to have heart attacks. In fact, one half of people who have heart attacks have normal LDL. People with diabetes who settle for A1cs or 7% or higher will only cut their risk of heart attack by some modest amount. Not eliminate it.
But lowering blood sugar to normal levels CAN prevent heart attack by getting the sticky glue-cose out of your arteries and restoring normal function to the vagus nerve!
I've cited the research backing up these statements here: "A1c Predicts Heart Attack"
And who knows, maybe one day Ms. Kolata will discover that research too, as she finally did the "obesity doesn't cause diabetes" research!
But if I ever pick up a mainstream media report that tells people they can regain normal health by cutting back on their carb intake rather than taking expensive drugs I'll probably have MY heart attack from the shock!
Copyright Janet Ruhl 2007. If you are NOT reading this on http://diabetesupdate.blogspot.com the content has been STOLEN.
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