Curious about what’s happening in the diabetes industry and research community? Or maybe (like me) you think that you already know what’s going on… Well, get ready for a concise and extremely entertaining exposé of the current status of diabetes care and research towards a cure.
The title is Diabetes Rising, the new “epic book” coming out in January 2010 by award-winning investigative journalist Dan Hurley, a type 1 diabetic himself. As the publicist explains:
“Through interviews with hundreds of doctors and patients, Diabetes Rising addresses some of the myths that seem to have stunted progress towards a cure for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Debunking these myths, Dan continues on to present a surprising collection of scientific theories that explain why rates of both types of diabetes are mounting” — despite the onslaught of new drugs and therapies.
I received an advance review copy about 10 days ago, and simply could not put it down.
The book is divided into three no-nonsense sections: The Rising (history of diabetes), The Reasons (hypotheses for what causes diabetes), and The Remedies (four theories that might lead to a cure).
What makes it so readable is Dan’s affable writing style; as you’re reading about deep science, you find yourself chuckling over the personal quirks and even the hairstyles of the many top researchers he’s interviewed.
Letting the cat out of the bag a bit here: From Dan’s “Reasons” section, did you know that in addition to the hygiene hypothesis, there are four other very plausible scientific theories on what makes people develop diabetes?
- the Accelerator Hypothesis, the notion that because people are growing taller and bigger much faster than ever before in history, this may be putting greater demands on the pancreas, and “stressing” the immune system
- the Cow’s Milk Hypothesis, which asserts that giving babies cow’s-milk-based foods too early in life is what wreaks havoc on the immune system
- the POP (Persistent Organic Pollutants) Hypothesis, which assumes that manmade environmental toxins may be the cause
- the Sunshine Hypothesis, which states that people living in less sunny places get more diabetes, and we all should be taking Vitamin D supplements
In addition, this book clearly explains the details (and strengths and weaknesses) of each. But the section that really had me riveted was of course “The Remedies,” looking at possible avenues for a cure:
- The Computer Cure, all about artificial pancreas research. Dan himself was in a clinical study organized by the JDRF. (“For 15 hours, I was no longer diabetic,” he writes, and laments that the FDA is dragging its feet on approving a simple but key feature: automatic shut-off for a combined glucose-insulin system that detects a low.)
- The Surgical Cure, about the face-off between endos and surgeons over bariatric surgery as a “cure” for Type 2 diabetes. (“By golly, it works,” he writes.)
- The Biological Cure, about the search for a pill that cures Type 1 diabetes, including the best description I’ve read of teplizumab, which seems to stop the immune system attack on insulin-producing beta cells — in mice.
- The Public Health Cure, or the notion that “prevention is the ultimate key to ending the diabetes pandemic”: attack on the fast food industry, encouraging people to take the stairs instead of the elevator, etc.
Aaron Kowaslki of the JDRF plays a starring role in the sections on technology (go, Aaron!) And even our own D-blogger friend Kelly Kunik is mentioned in this book with respect to the OC’s acerbic reaction to Halle Berry’s misleading public statements.
It truly is “an amazing new epic book on diabetes…” The best I’ve read since Jim Hirsch’s Cheating Destiny. Only Hurley comes to a much more controversial conclusion:
“While the American Diabetes Association can and does support public health campaigns and legislation, the focus of its monthly magazine, like the focus of virtually all medical efforts to improve the lot of people with diabetes, is self-management. Here’s a new meter; now test your sugars. Here’s a new recipe; now count your carbs. And who can argue with the view that people must take control of their diabetes? No one. I’ts a given that people with diabetes must be their own primary caregiver.”
“But it’s just as clear … that focusing on personal responsibility alone has not stopped, and will never stop, the rise of diabetes. Something more is needed; recognition that forces beyond the individual’s control are at play, and that united action is necessary to face down what is a public, and therefore political, danger to our well-being, and to the well-being of our children.”
Amen.
{Kaplan Publishing, January 2010, available for pre-order on Amazon.}
* Stay tuned for an exclusive interview with author Dan Hurley here next week! *
Looking forward to the interview! Thanks for sharing.
Amy:
I was contacted by his Publicist as well and am in the middle of reading it.
I was shocked to see myself quoted-I didn’t really know (and still don’t) what to think or make of that particular fact!
But so far,I find the book to be an excellent and informative read and am looking forward to finishing it.
Kelly K
Looking forward to reading it–thanks for posting!
Think I’ll be pre-ordering soon! Thank you for the preview.
Does he describe why he thinks there is an environment cause of type-1 diabetes that growing, and causing the numbers of diabetics to grow? I know that type-1 is caused by a combination of genetics and environment. And we know that the genetic component is increasing all the time, so what evidence does the author provide that there is also a growth in the environmental component? Put another way: maybe none of those reasons apply. Maybe the growth of diabetes is all genetics.
Joshua Levy
I can’t wait to read the book. I am no longer in touch with Dan Hurley, but I did befriend him in the early 1980′s, through a young adult diabetes support group, back when he was “working” in NYC as the 60-SECOND NOVELIST. Dan is a born writer, and a really nice person, too. I’m sure his book will be well-researched and written.
Under the heading of “cures” you (and Hurley) didn’t mention Dr. Denise Faustman’s trials of BCG to be given as vaccine, which sounds very promising to me and works to REVERSE type 1. It’s on the fast track and ready for phase II trials. It won’t be expensive, either, since BCG is already on the market in generic form, having been used for other things for 80 years. I read about this in Diabetes Health recently.
There are some problems with the author’s premises, including the subtitle “how a rare disease became a pandemic.” The rare disease = Type 1. The pandemic = Type 2. Two completely different diseases with different genetics, causes, treatments, cures. If you are going to talk about a disease, don’t talk about two different diseases and mix them up. They aren’t the same. Hopefully the book makes that distinction; this summary doesn’t.
[...] if they debunk long existing myths. Amy Tenderich at “Diabetes Mine” describes one such book, “Diabetes Rising”. She received this book (coming out in 2010) as an advance review copy and simply could not put it [...]
As far as bariatric surgery being a cure for Type II diabetes, that is possibly because those who have the surgery (especially RnY) die of complications of the surgery sooner than they would have from the effects of Type II diabetes.
I wonder why Dan has not considered a lifestyle-based ‘cure’ – the very low-carb diet advocated by, say, Dr Bernstein, and whose scientific history and basis is explored by Gary Taubes in ‘Good Calories, Bad Calories’?
If I didn’t say it clearly enough above, what I am trying to say is that low-carb is also a political issue: the social and political factors that influence the food environment and therefore create a particular culture of ways of eating and expectations around food available (as opposed to the intensive make-it-all-at-home route) exert a great effect on whether people make better or worse choices. The idea that the individual can control their diet while everyone around them makes merry with muffins (a “wholegrain healthfood!”) is laughable – we live in social settings influenced by political systems (e.g. FDA, ADA, AHA, et al) and when an individual begins to care for such a disease it becomes clear how the functioning of the political climate and therefore the social climate mitigate against the ease of lifestyle-based treatments that go against dietary orthodoxy. It’s genuinely not enough to say: control your diet, individually. But neither does this mean that technological solutions are the only way: a logistical and political shift in favour of different food availability and the propounding of dietary orthodoxies (high carb = heart healthy, for example) can produce a shift in the culture which improves, realistically, the choices and the life expectancies of many…
[...] SNEAK PREVIEW: “Epic” New Book, Diabetes Rising …Sep 24, 2009 … diabetes-rising-book-cover The title is Diabetes Rising, the new “epic book” coming out in January 2010 by award-winning investigative … [...]