Comments on: SNEAK PREVIEW: “Epic” New Book, Diabetes Rising

By: shugall

shugall — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:04:43 +0000

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…

By: shugall

shugall — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:57:33 +0000

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’?

By: Donna B.

Donna B. — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:32:11 +0000

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.

By: Grand Rounds Vol. 6 No. 2 « Laika’s MedLibLog

Grand Rounds Vol. 6 No. 2 « Laika’s MedLibLog — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:02:02 +0000

[...] 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 [...]

By: Melitta

Melitta — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:03:10 +0000

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.

By: whimsy2

whimsy2 — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 04:52:00 +0000

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.

By: June S

June S — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:24:23 +0000

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.

By: Joshua levy

Joshua levy — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:13:10 +0000

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

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:31:38 +0000

Think I’ll be pre-ordering soon! Thank you for the preview.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:27:54 +0000

Looking forward to reading it–thanks for posting!