Disease Proof : Health & Nutrition News & Commentary : Dr. Joel Fuhrman

Obesity: Even a Little Exercise Helps!

Posted on October 7, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

A new study, presented at the2008 American Physiological Society Intersociety Meeting, claims, just ONE session of exercise speeds up metabolism in obese people; after ONLY 90-minutes of activity study participants burned 700 excess calories; Reuters reports.

Exercise is POWERFUL medicine! Running helps people live longer, active video games allow people to overcome obesity genes and other activities, like weight-lifting, improve heart health, cut diabetes-risk and reduce depression.

That’s why I exercise like a lunatic!

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Exercise, Research, Weight Loss

Pepsi Says High Fructose Corn Syrup is Safe

Posted on October 3, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is nutrient-less junk; previously linked to both obesity and diabetes. And yet, the CRAZY The Corn Refiners Association claims HFCS is the same as sugar and safe in moderation. Yeah, because fat America understands moderation!

And since when is sugar okay! Dr. Fuhrman associates ALL sweeteners—like refined sugar, honey, lactose, fruit juice concentrate, high fructose corn syrup and molasses—with disease. They have no significant nutrient-density!

To make matters worse, despite being a processed food, the FDA recently ruled that high fructose corn syrup is natural. And now, a study with industry ties to Pepsico, suggests NO link between HFCS and obesity, calling all contrary evidence speculation; CBS News reports.

I’m sorry, but research with BLATANT industry ties, promoting a dangerous, but low-cost ingredient has NO credence in my book!

Tags: Diabetes, Diet Myths, Hurtful Food, Obesity, Research

Exercise Helps You Poop!

Posted on September 30, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Exercise does A LOT of things. Gives you a six-pack, broader chest, toned butt and even a good poop! New research claims regular exercise can RELIEVE symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, specifically constipation.

The study appears in the International Journal of Sports Medicine. Reuters reports:

Dr. Amanda J. Daley of the University of Birmingham in the UK and colleagues recruited 56 adults (mostly women) with doctor-diagnosed IBS for a study lasting 12 weeks.

The participants were randomly assigned to usual care (i.e., a "control" group) or to an exercise program, consisting of two 40-minute one-on-one exercise consultations designed to provide exercise skills, knowledge, confidence and motivation -- the goal being 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise 5 days a week.

The researchers chose this type of intervention, they say, because it has been found to boost exercise in other patient groups, and because it could be more easily integrated into current healthcare practice than supervised programs.

After 12 weeks, the exercise group chalked up significantly more weekly exercise than the control group and they reported significantly greater declines in symptoms of constipation.

What a relief! Now, I’ve said it before, but it’s HARD to make a case against exercise. For example, That’sFit passes along news that EXERCISE helps lower type-2 diabetes risk and it’s already been shown that exercise improves heart health.

Now, if you’re pressed for time and can’t make it to the gym, try exercising at the office. Exercise is too HEALTHY to skip!

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Exercise, Research

Man Stuff: Lifespan, Prostate Cancer, Diabetes...

Posted on September 9, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Despite popular opinion, being a man involves MORE than just watching football, mowing the lawn and scratching your butt. Actually, men—especially our health—can be downright complicated. Yes, I said it. Men, complicated.

Take type-2 diabetes for example. A new campaign by the American Diabetes Association is aimed at better educating men on diabetes. Megan Rauscher of Reuters reports:

Men with type 2 diabetes know the basics about the disease and its main complications - heart disease, blindness, kidney failure - but they seem to know very little about the issues that affect their quality of life, like depression and sexual dysfunction, according to results of a survey released today by the American Diabetes Association.

The survey also shows that men are "really uncomfortable talking about these issues with their physician" -- yet are hungry for more information, Dr. Richard M. Bergenstal, Vice President, Medicine & Science at the American Diabetes Association noted in a telephone interview with Reuters Health.

To bridge the information gap, the American Diabetes Association today announced the launch of a multifaceted nationwide campaign to spotlight the often overlooked physical, emotional and sexual health issues affecting the roughly 12 million American men with diabetes.

And lifespan, why do men die sooner than women? WebMD offers up 6 tips that might help keep the men in your life around longer—not sure if that’s a thing good or not. Here are two great suggestions:

Speak frankly with a doctor: Leave embarrassment in the waiting room. Women are taught at an early age to be candid and open with their doctors. Symptoms that can be uncomfortable to talk about - such as erectile dysfunction - can be tied to more serious ailments such as diabetes and heart disease. Men, despite cultural tradition, should also request breast checks…

Keep a close eye on young males: The reckless nature and lifestyle of adolescents make them prime targets for injury or death. Females develop a more evolved sense of judgment and decision making at an earlier age then males. Add to that the cocktail of testosterone and other hormones and, biologically, males possess a potentially lethal internal recipe. Monitoring their activities and setting careful limits is vital. "Boys have been compared to a Porsche without brakes," Marianne J. Legato, MD says. "They take risks, are idealistic, intense, and believe they're invulnerable..."

Now, as a short guy, this particular piece of news ACTUALLY relieved me. New research in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention claims that taller men have a greater risk of developing prostate cancer. The Well blog is on it:

Researchers from four universities in England studied more than 9,000 men with and without prostate cancer and found that the tallest men had a 19 percent higher risk of developing prostate cancer than shorter men. Using the shortest men as a baseline, the study showed that risk increased 6 percent for every additional 4 inches in height. The report, published in the September issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, showed an even stronger association between height and aggressive cancers.

“Compared to other risk factors, the magnitude of the additional risk of being taller is small, and we do not believe that it should interfere with preventive or clinical decisions in managing prostate cancer,” said the study’s lead author, Luisa Zuccolo, of the department of social medicine at the University of Bristol. “But the insight arising from this research is of great scientific interest.”

Dudes, we got a lot going on! But here’s the good news. Avoiding diabetes, prostate cancer and dying prematurely is NOT that hard. Dr. Fuhrman will tell you. It all starts with diet. Eating a vegetable-based high-nutrient diet will make you a Superman.

Although, I’d prefer to be a Batman!

Tags: Cancer, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Prostate Cancer, Research

Obese People Have Sick Fat Cells

Posted on August 29, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Alright, obesity is bad—that's common knowledge—but new research in Diabetes claims that fat people actually have “sick” fat cells that make insulin-resistant proteins. Krisha McCoy of HealthDay News reports:

The fat cells we found in our obese patients were deficient in several areas," study author Guenther Boden, the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Medicine and chief of endocrinology, said in Temple press release.

Boden said that the obese people's fat cells showed stress on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which helps cells synthesize proteins and monitor how they are folded. When the ER is stressed, Boden explained, it produces several proteins that ultimately lead to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance, in turn, plays a major role in the development of obesity-related conditions.

The differences in the fat cells between obese and lean people may help explain the link between obesity and a higher risk of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, Boden theorized.

Certainly follows in line with what we already know about obesity and diabetes. As Dr. Fuhrman points out, extra body fat increases risk of type-2 diabetes, which screws up insulin and can eventually cause pancreatic poop out!

People need to eat more mushrooms—they can stop obesity! Speaking of obesity, rocker Ted Nugent recently called obese people vulgar and displeasing to look at. Eep!

Tags: Diabetes, Hurtful Food, Obesity, Research, Weight Loss

Arsenic Linked to Diabetes

Posted on August 21, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

New research by Johns Hopkins University has determined that repeated exposure to small amounts of Arsenic found in drinking water is strongly associated with the development of type-2 diabetes. Andrew Stern of Reuters explains:

Dr. Ana Navas-Acien and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found a "relatively strong" association between commonly found levels of arsenic in urine and type 2 diabetes in a study of American adults.

"It seems there is may be no safe level of arsenic," Navas-Acien said in a telephone interview.

"Worldwide it's a huge problem," she said. "As water becomes a scarce resource, we need additional sources."

Arsenic raises the risk for cancers of the bladder, lung, kidney, skin and, possibly, the prostate, Navas-Acien said.

The 20 percent of nearly 800 study participants who had the most arsenic in their bodies, a tolerable 16.5 micrograms per liter of urine, had 3.6 times the risk of developing late-onset diabetes than those in the bottom 20 percent, who had 3 micrograms per liter.

Levels of arsenic were 26 percent higher in people with late-onset, or type 2, diabetes than those without the disease, the study found.

The research appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Now, this isn’t the only study linking toxins to diabetes. Pesticides and PCBs have also been associated with diabetes-risk.

Tags: Diabetes, Research, Toxins

United States: Fat, Getting Fatter

Posted on August 20, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

In July the CDC reported that states like Mississippi, West Virginia, Alabama, and Louisiana continue to lead the nation in obesity. And now people are beginning to think that all the public initiatives to curb obesity are missing the mark. More from Dan Childs of ABC News:

The discouraging trends, reported in the fifth annual "F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America, 2008" report from the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), reveal that obesity rates rose in 37 states in the past year, while no state registered a decrease in obesity.

Worse, in 24 states the uptick continued a trend seen from the previous year. Obesity rates rose for a third consecutive year in a total of 19 states.

"Our analysis found that on the state and community levels, overall we are not treating the obesity epidemic with the urgent response it deserves," said Jeff Levi, executive director of TFAH, during a Tuesday morning press conference…

… The new numbers suggest the continuation of a steady trend toward obesity that has been seen over the past several decades. In 1980, the report notes, the national average of obese adults was a mere 15 percent. Today, according to figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and prevention, about a third of adults are obese.

With the increase in obesity has come a spike in the diseases associated with excess weight. According to the report, rates of type 2 diabetes -- a disease typically associated with obesity -- grew in 26 states last year.

Levi said the spike in such diseases carries a financial burden as well.

"Obesity is not just about health; it has a real impact on our country's economy as well," he said.

Maybe it’s falling on deaf ears, but obesity has been shown to increase cancer, diabetes, and death-risk. And the socio-economic impact is no joke either. Imagine being barred from a nightclub because you’re too fat—via Diet-Blog.

Tags: Cancer, Diabetes, Obesity, Research

Diabetes-Risk: Heart Disease, Obesity, PCBs...

Posted on August 18, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Last month the Environmental Health Sciences and the National Cancer Institute linked pesticides with diabetes-risk and now a study in Diabetes Care has determined high exposure to PCBs may be tied to diabetes too. Reuters explains:

Dr. Yueliang Leon Guo, from the National Taiwan University in Taipei, and colleagues examined the incidence of type 2 diabetes among 378 Taiwanese "oil disease" victims and 370 of their neighbors who had not been poisoned.

They found that women who had been exposed to the PCB-laced oil were twice as likely as other women to develop type 2 diabetes over 24 years. And women who had been most severely affected by the PCB exposure had a more than five-times higher diabetes risk.

There were no similar risks seen in men, however.

Other studies have found that people with diabetes tend to have relatively higher levels of organic pollutants, such as PCBs, in their blood. In comments to Reuters Health, Guo said that since "everyone" has detectable PCB levels in his or her body, it's possible that exposure to such pollutants has helped feed the widespread rise in diabetes in recent decades.

"The public health implication of these findings can be huge," Guo added, "considering the burden of diabetes and its multiple long-term complications."

And another study in Diabetes Care demonstrates that the incidence of heart disease increases right along with diabetes and obesity—via Reuters. Try avoiding it all together! Dr. Fuhrman’s prescription, try healthy dosages of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and legumes.

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Research, Toxins

Broccoli May Undo Cell Damage...

Posted on August 9, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Researchers at the University of Warwick have determined that sulforaphane, a compound found in broccoli, helps produce enzymes that protect blood vessels. This is especially good news for diabetics. BBC News reports:

People with diabetes are up to five times more likely to develop cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes; both are linked to damaged blood vessels.

The Warwick team, whose work is reported in the journal Diabetes, tested the effects of sulforaphane on blood vessel cells damaged by high glucose levels (hyperglycaemia), which are associated with diabetes.

They recorded a 73% reduction of molecules in the body called Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS).

Hyperglycaemia can cause levels of ROS to increase three-fold and such high levels can damage human cells.

The researchers also found that sulforaphane activated a protein in the body called nrf2, which protects cells and tissues from damage by activating protective antioxidant and detoxifying enzymes.

Like we need another reason to eat broccoli! In fact, I’ve had some steamed broccoli three days in a row. Now, if you’re interested. The study appears in Diabetes: Activation of NF-E2-related factor-2 reverses biochemical dysfunction…

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Research

Diet and Diabetes, Linked!

Posted on July 30, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

New studies reveal that diet is the key to diabetes-risk. All three appear in the July 28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Here they are:

Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in African American Women

CONCLUSIONS: Regular consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks and fruit drinks is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus in African American women. While there has been increasing public awareness of the adverse health effects of soft drinks, little attention has been given to fruit drinks, which are often marketed as a healthier alternative to soft drinks.

Plasma Vitamin C Level, Fruit and Vegetable Consumption, and the Risk of New-Onset Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

CONCLUSIONS: Higher plasma vitamin C level and, to a lesser degree, fruit and vegetable intake were associated with a substantially decreased risk of diabetes. Our findings highlight a potentially important public health message on the benefits of a diet rich in fruit and vegetables for the prevention of diabetes.

Low-Fat Dietary Pattern and Risk of Treated Diabetes Mellitus in Postmenopausal Women

CONCLUSIONS: A low-fat dietary pattern among generally healthy postmenopausal women showed no evidence of reducing diabetes risk after 8.1 years. Trends toward reduced incidence were greater with greater decreases in total fat intake and weight loss. Weight loss, rather than macronutrient composition, may be the dominant predictor of reduced risk of diabetes.

For more, check out Steven Reinberg's report in HealthDay News: Diet Key to Diabetes Risk.

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Research

Pesticides Linked to Diabetes-Risk

Posted on July 29, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Research by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Cancer Institute have determined that long-term exposure to pesticides heightens diabetes-risk. Bridget M. Kuehn of the Journal of the American Medical Association reports:

The study involved more than 33,000 licensed pesticide applicators enrolled in the Agricultural Health Study, who provided information about lifetime exposure and their medical history. An analysis of the data revealed that exposure to 7 pesticides—aldrin, chlordane, heptachlor, dichlorvos, trichlorfon, alachlor, and cyanazine—increased the workers' odds of developing diabetes and that the incidence of diabetes increased with cumulative days of exposure.

Dale Sandler, PhD, chief of the NIEHS’s epidemiology branch, points out that pesticide exposure is just another factor that contributes to diabetes, like obesity, lack of exercise and family history. Here’s the actual study, via Epidemiology: Incident Diabetes and Pesticide Exposure among Licensed Pesticide Applicators.

Tags: Diabetes, Research, Toxins

Health Points: Wednesday

Posted on July 23, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Hire somebody to grow you a garden? Kim Severson of The New York Times explains:

Eating locally raised food is a growing trend. But who has time to get to the farmer’s market, let alone plant a garden?

That is where Trevor Paque comes in. For a fee, Mr. Paque, who lives in San Francisco, will build an organic garden in your backyard, weed it weekly and even harvest the bounty, gently placing a box of vegetables on the back porch when he leaves.

Call them the lazy locavores — city dwellers who insist on eating food grown close to home but have no inclination to get their hands dirty. Mr. Paque is typical of a new breed of business owner serving their needs.

The migraine medication, Topamax, main increase the risk of birth defects. From WebMD:

In a study published in the latest issue of the journal Neurology, taking Topamax (topiramate) during pregnancy was associated with a birth defect risk within the range of risk seen in other anti-epileptic drugs, researchers reported.

But the incidence of birth defects seen when Topamax was taken with other anti-epileptic drugs was higher than expected.

The study was small, but it is among the first to link Topamax to birth defects in humans, confirming what has been seen in previous animal studies.

"More research needs to be done to confirm these results, especially since it was a small study," researcher John Craig, MRCP, of the Royal Group of Hospitals in Belfast, Northern Ireland said in a news release.

Here’s how to deal with treat giving grandparents. Via Tim Harford:

I am the mother of two young children, and extremely grateful to my own parents for looking after them for a few hours now and then. My problem is that they stuff the kids with chocolates, crisps and ice cream. This is not good for the children, their behavior and my own efforts to feed them something nutritious. Why do the grandparents have such a different philosophy, and can I do anything to change their thinking…

… Rather than reasoning with your parents, you must change their incentives. Unfortunately, this is not easy. You could try to bribe your parents, but threats will be useless because they are doing you a favor.

Perhaps your best bet is to try to arrange for longer bouts of childcare. Your parents will have a fresh perspective on the merits of carrots after trying to put a three-year-old to bed in the midst of a sugar high.

Researchers believe cultural sensitivity may improve diabetes outcomes. Joene Hendry of Reuters reports:

"There is some evidence suggesting culturally tailored health education can improve some clinical outcomes in the short-term," co-author Dr. Yolanda Robles of Cardiff University the UK told Reuters Health. However, "further research is needed to assess long-term effects," Robles said.

Language and cultural barriers may hinder the delivery of quality diabetes health education to ethnic minorities, yet education is a vital aspect of diabetes care, Robles and colleagues report in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews from The Cochrane Collaboration.

To assess the overall efficacy of culturally tailored diabetes education versus the "usual" care, the researchers combined findings from 11 published research articles that compared the two approaches among minority groups living in middle- or high-income countries. All of the 1,603 study participants were older than 16 years.

U.S. inspectors believe a single jalapeño pepper may have caused salmonella outbreak. More from Lauran Neergaard of the Associated Press:

They found the same bacteria strain on a single Mexican-grown jalapeno pepper handled in Texas -- and issued a stronger warning for consumers to avoid fresh jalapenos.

But Monday's discovery, the equivalent of a fingerprint, doesn't solve the mystery: Authorities still don't know where the pepper became tainted -- on the farm, or in the McAllen, Texas, plant, or at some stop in between, such as a packing house.

Nor are they saying the tainted pepper exonerates tomatoes sold earlier in the spring that consumers until last week had been told were the prime suspect.

Still, "this genetic match is a very important break in the case," said Dr. David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration's food safety chief.

Scientists are trying to make a cancer vaccine from the tobacco plant. Sharon Begley of Newsweek is on it:

Fully aware of the irony here, biologist Ronald Levy of Stanford University and his team used tobacco plants to grow the vaccine, which would act against follicular B-cell lymphoma. This chronic, incurable form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma strikes some 16,000 people in the United States each year. For all its horrors, however, follicular B-cell lymphoma just may be tailor-made for a cancer vaccine: all of the malignant cells are the descendants of a single bad actor and have an identical molecule on their surface. But the molecular signature of one patient’s cancer cells is slightly different from every other patient’s; hence the need for potentially expensive personalized vaccines.

The scientists therefore spliced the DNA for the molecular sequences of the antibodies from each of the 16 patients into tobacco cells. The DNA triggered production of antibodies in the tobacco plants’ leaves which were tailor-made for each patient’s lymphoma cells. The scientists ground up the leaves and isolated the antibodies, injecting them into each patient.

The patients’ immune systems got cracking: 70 percent of the patients developed an immune response to the plant-produced vaccine, and 47 percent produced a response specific to the antigen.

It seems women are more likely to suffer tattoo regret than men. Via Alan Mozes of HealthDay News:

"We saw that for women there is still some negative societal fallout to having tattoos", said study author Myrna L. Armstrong, a professor in the school of nursing at Texas Tech University's Health Sciences Center, in Lubbock, Texas. "This isn't a problem for men. Society supports men, because tattoos are related to a macho image, so we don't question it. But for women, having a tattoo seems to be a transgression of gender boundaries."

Armstrong and her colleagues outlined their observations in the July issue of the Archives of Dermatology.

The authors pointed out that about one-quarter of Americans between the ages of 18 and 30 have a tattoo, and women constitute between 45 percent and 65 percent of the tattoo market.

Prior studies show that more than 80 percent of the inked crowd are pleased with their decision to get a tattoo. Among the fifth that are not, about 6 percent ultimately remove their marking.

According to a new study obstetricians overlook alcohol consumption in pregnant women. From Blackwell Publishing:

Almost half of the obstetricians interviewed said they did not routinely ask about alcohol consumption in pregnancy.

An editorial by Professor Elizabeth Elliot from the University of Sydney titled "Alcohol and Pregnancy: the Pivotal Role of the Obstetrician", discusses the state of awareness about the adverse effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy and the obstetricians’ participation in educating against maternal drinking.

Only 16% of the obstetricians routinely provided information about the consequences of alcohol in pregnancy, while only 5% gave advice which were consistent with the latest guidelines of The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) - which states that, for pregnant women, ‘no drinking is the safest option’.

Tags: Cancer, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Healthy Parenting, Hurtful Food, Migraine Headaches, Research, Toxins

No Evidence that Diet Prevents Diabetes?

Posted on July 17, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

A team of researchers from The Cochrane Collaboration, an independent international not-for-profit healthcare information organization, claim that dietary intervention alone cannot prevent type-2 diabetes. Jennifer Beal of EurekAlert reports:

When a team of Cochrane Researchers set out to see if dietary advice alone could help a person with type 2 diabetes, they were only able to identify two trials that together involved just 358 people.

"Considering the importance of this disorder, we were disappointed to find such a small amount of relevant data," says lead researcher Lucie Nield, who works in Centre for Food, Physical Activity & Obesity, University of Teesside, Middlesbrough.

The two studies did, however, indicate that dietary advice alone could play an important role. One study randomly assigned people to either a control group or a dietary advice group. After six years 67.7% of people in the control group had diabetes, compared with only 43.8% in the advice group. This was a 33% reduction. In another study 12 months of dietary advice led to significant reductions in many diabetes related factors, such as insulin resistance, fasting C-peptide, fasting proinsulin, fasting blood glucose, fasting triglycerides, and fasting cholesterol and PAI-1.

This blurs reality. It implies that lifestyle diseases, like diabetes, are unavoidable. So why don’t I have diabetes, or Dr. Fuhrman, or his patients? Eating a nutrient-dense vegetable-based diet is your best defense against—and a treatment for—type-2 diabetes. Dr. Fuhrman explains:

Increasing your consumption of high-nutrient fruits and vegetables is the key to disease resistance, disease reversal, and a long, healthy life. The potential reduction in disease rates shows no threshold effect in the scientific studies. That means that as high-nutrient vegetables and high-nutrient fruits increase as a major portion of caloric intake, disease rates fall in a dose-dependent manner—the more the diet is comprised of these foods, the better your health will be1…

…If the person is obese, with more than fifty pounds of additional fat weight, his body will demand huge loads of insulin from the pancreas, even as much as ten times more than a person of normal weight needs. So what do you think happens after five to ten years of forcing the pancreas to work so hard? You guessed it—pancreatic poop-out…

…Diets high in fiber and vegetables have been consistently shown to be beneficial for diabetic patients and offer considerably better results when compared to the current recommendations of the American Diabetic Association Diet.2 The dietary advice typically offered to diabetics is not science-based, and it caters to Americans’ social and food preferences and food addictions.

Okay, maybe there aren’t enough studies illustrating this—probably because no drug company would fund it—but to say there is “no evidence” that diet staves off type-2 diabetes is naive and irresponsible reporting—don’t you think?
Continue Reading...

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Obesity, Research

Confusing News: Sugar Helps School Kids Concentrate

Posted on July 16, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

New research by David Benton, Ph.D., a psychologist and professor at Swansea University, Wales, U.K., suggests sugary drinks improve school children’s memories and concentration. Richard Gray of the UK Telegraph reports:

“Children between the ages of five and ten need twice as much glucose for their brains compared to an adult, but unlike other organs the brain does not store energy so it has to obtain it straight from the blood.

“The message we would like to encourage is that children need to be fed a little and often, but the risk is that they get fed a lot and often leading to problems with obesity.”

Professor Benton gave 16 nine and ten-year-olds fruit squash containing either artificial sweetener or glucose, a basic form of sugar. When the children consumed glucose, he found their memory test scores improved by over ten per cent. The children also spent between 11 and 20 minutes longer on a task when asked to work individually in class.

But Professor Benton did insist that schools should not start feeding pupils fizzy drinks between classes, proposing regular fruit of muesli bars instead.

The methodology of this study only serves to confuse. I’m not a nutritionist, but I think I can say this. Isolated sugars and sweeteners are NEVER healthy. In fact, consuming them interferes with your body’s ability to detoxify. Dr. Fuhrman explains:

When you eat a diet that is based on toxic and addictive foods—such as salt, fried foods, snack foods, and sugary drinks—you not only build up free radicals and AGEs in your cells, but you also set the stage for ill feelings when you are not digesting food. Unhealthy food allows your body to create waste byproducts that must be removed by the liver and other organs. Only when digestion ends can the body fully take advantage of the opportunity to circulate and attempt to remove toxins. If the body is constantly digesting, it can’t go through this detoxification process effectively.

If children need glucose, why even consider nutrition-less sugar? Highly nutritious fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of glucose (via Wikipedia), start there instead! Besides, it was recently determined that kids are already consuming WAY too much sugar.

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Research, School Food, Toxins

Women: More Green Veggies, Less Diabetes

Posted on July 11, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

New research has determined that eating more leafy greens and fruit, lowers women’s risk of developing type-2 diabetes. Laurie Barclay, MD of Medscape Today reports:

"Fruit and vegetable consumption has been associated with decreased incidence of and mortality from a variety of health outcomes including obesity, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases in epidemiological studies," write Lydia A. Bazzano, MD, PhD, from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana, and colleagues. "However, few prospective studies have examined the relationship between fruit and vegetable intake and risk of diabetes, and the results are not entirely consistent. Differences in the nutrient contents of fruits and vegetables by group could lead to differences in health effects…"

“…Consumption of green leafy vegetables and fruit was associated with a lower hazard of diabetes, whereas consumption of fruit juices may be associated with an increased hazard among women," the study authors write. "Our findings of a positive association of fruit juice intake with hazard of diabetes suggest that caution should be observed in replacing some beverages with fruit juices in an effort to provide healthier options. Moreover, the same caution applies to the recommendation that 100% fruit juice be considered a serving of fruit as it is in the present national dietary guidelines…"

"…In general, the observed associations between fruits and vegetables are weaker than those for cardiovascular disease," the study authors write. "However, if fruits and vegetables are used to replace refined grains and white potatoes, both of which have been shown to be associated with increased risk of diabetes, the benefits of regular consumption of fruits and vegetables should be substantial."

Quick, hide this report from the drug companies! The fear of not being able to sell insulin might cause them to stroke out.

FDA: More Safety Tests for Diabetes Drugs

Posted on July 4, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

A government panel wants stronger safety standards for diabetes drugs. Of course the drug companies are mad. It’s going to cost them millions! Via the Associated Press:

The majority of the panel said drug companies could begin safety testing -- expected to take between five and seven years to complete -- before they submit drugs to the FDA and finish the studies after their release.

But at least one panelist doubted whether the proposed studies would actually uncover heart risks.

"If you wait this amount of time for testing you're going to be preventing certain drugs from getting out there that may be better than what we already have," said Dr. Eric Felner, a pediatric specialist at Emory University School of Medicine.

The FDA is not required to follow the panel's advise, though it often does.

If the recommendation is adopted, development of diabetes drugs would become longer and more expensive, since it can cost tens of millions of dollars to perform long-term studies that track heart problems in thousands of patients.

GlaxoSmithKline PLC, AstraZeneca and Novartis AG are among the companies developing diabetes treatments to compete in the domestic market, which grew to over $6 billion last year, according to pharmaceutical research firm IMS Heath.

I’m sorry, but spending money on safety is an act of social responsibility—deal with it!

Tags: Diabetes

Extra Body Fat Increases Risk of Type-2 Diabetes

Posted on July 3, 2008 by Joel Fuhrman

The heavier you are, the greater the risk you will develop type-2 diabetes. For some susceptible individuals, even moderate amounts of excess fat on the body can trigger diabetes. When we have more fat on the body, more insulin is required to deliver glucose to the cells as the coating of fat around our cells makes it difficult for the hormone insulin to easily transport the glucose into the cells.

The pancreas is then required to produce even higher amounts of insulin to accommodate the heightened insulin requirements. This stresses the pancreas’s beta cells to work harder and eventually poop out, but also the effects of NOT eating a diet high in veggies, beans, seeds and fruits places the pancreas at further risk from oxidative stress.

For example, twenty pounds of extra fat may force the pancreas to produce twice as much insulin to do the necessary job. Fifty pounds or more of excess fat on our frame and the pancreas may be forced to produce 6 to 10 times as much insulin as a normal person who is lean. What do you think occurs after ten or twenty years of overworking the pancreas? Again, it poops out and loses the ability to keep up with such huge insulin demands. The pancreas is still overworked, pumping out much more insulin than a thinner person might need, but still not enough to cover all that disease-causing body fat.

Adult diabetes is a disease of insulin resistance, not of insulin deficiency. The pancreas's ability to secrete insulin continues to diminish as the diabetes continues and the overweight condition continues year after year. Total destruction of insulin secreting ability almost never occurs in type-2 (adult onset) as it does in type-1 (childhood onset) diabetes. But the sooner the type-2 diabetic can lose the extra weight causing the diabetes, the more functional reserve of insulin secreting cells in the pancreas will remain.

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Obesity, Weight Loss

Bigger Belly Means Greater Death Risk

Posted on June 27, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

When Dr. Fuhrman wrote Eat to Live he pointed out that obesity is a major detriment to long term. It sets you up for a whole mess of health problems. Here’s an excerpt:

Obesity is an important predictor of chronic ailments and quality of life than any other public scourge. In a recent survey of 9,500 Americans, 36 percent were overweight and 23 percent were obese, yet only 19 percent were daily smokers and 6 percent heavy drinkers.

With time, the ravages of obesity predispose the typical American adult to depression, diabetes, and hypertension and increase the risks of death in all ages and in almost every ethnic and gender group. The U.S. Surgeon General has reported that 300,000 deaths annually are caused by or related to obesity.

Clearly he’s onto something. A new study has determined that a large waist circumference is linked to an increased risk of death. Reuters reports:

"People should not only look at their weight, but also consider their waist," Dr. Annemarie Koster of the National Institute on Aging, the lead researcher on the study, told Reuters Health.

Being overweight or obese is clearly bad for one's health, but the best way to gauge whether a person's fatness is putting them at risk has been "controversial," Koster and her team write in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Body mass index, or BMI, has been the standard measurement used, they add, but the way fat is distributed throughout the body -- especially at the waistline -- may be even more important than how many excess pounds a person is carrying.

To investigate the relationship among belly fat, BMI and mortality, the researchers followed 245,533 men and women participating in the National Institutes of Health-American Association of Retired Persons study. Study participants ranged in age from 51 to 72 at the study's outset, and were followed for nine years.

Among men, the researchers found, those in the top fifth based on their waist circumference were about 22 percent more likely to die during the study period than men with trimmer waistlines, independent of BMI. A similar risk was seen among women.

Why are some many Americans obese? In his new book, Eat for Health, Dr. Fuhrman believes that people are simply making the wrong food choices. Take a look:

Many people suffer from medical ailments because they were never taught about their bodies’ nutritional requirements. We eat entirely too many low-nutrient foods, which gives us excessive calories without enough nutrients. Our nutrient-deprived body then craves more food, and the availability of calorie-rich, low-nutrient foods enables us to eat ourselves to death. A diet based on milk, meats, cheese, pasta, bread, fried foods, and sugar-filled snacks and drinks lays the groundwork for obesity, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, digestive disorders, and autoimmune illnesses.

Here’s an experiment. Go to the supermarket and count the number of people in the produce isle and then the snack food isle. Let me know what happens.

Tags: Blood Pressure, Cancer, Diabetes, Obesity, Research

Diabetes Flying High in the United States

Posted on June 26, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

“As the number of people with type-two (adult onset) diabetes continues to soar, it is openly recognized that the growing waistline of the modern world is the main cause of this epidemic; however, most physicians, dieticians, and even the American Diabetes Association have virtually given up on weight reduction as the primary treatment for diabetics,” explains Dr. Fuhrman. I think he’s onto something, because a new report announces that U.S. diabetes rates have skyrocketed. The Associated Press is on it:

A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on data from 2007, said the number represents an increase of about 3 million over two years. The CDC estimates another 57 million people have blood sugar abnormalities called pre-diabetes, which puts people at increased risk for the disease.

The percentage of people unaware that they have diabetes fell from 30 percent to 25 percent, according to the study.

Dr. Ann Albright, director of the CDC Division of Diabetes Translation, said the report has "both good news and bad news."

"It is concerning to know that we have more people developing diabetes, and these data are a reminder of the importance of increasing awareness of this condition, especially among people who are at high risk," Albright said in a statement.

"On the other hand, it is good to see that more people are aware that they have diabetes."

It’s disheartening, especially when you consider that there’s an easier way. More from Dr. Fuhrman:

It is well accepted that if it were possible for people to stick with weight reduction and high nutrient eating, that route would be the most successful. Patients with diabetes who successfully lose weight from undergoing gastric bypass surgery typically see their diabetes melt away.1 Dietary programs that have been successful at effecting weight loss have been dramatically effective for diabetics too, enabling patients to discontinue medications.2 Preventing and reversing diabetes is not all about weight loss.

What sounds harder? Convincing people to stick themselves with needles for the rest of their life, or, eat better and feel great.
Continue Reading...

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Research

Male Diabetics: Stay Fit, Live Longer

Posted on June 17, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

According to a new study fitness is a very important component in determine male diabetics’ lifespan. Kevin McKeever of HealthDay News is on it:

"Death rates were the highest for those who were 'low fit' in all weight categories," researcher Dr. Roshney Jacob-Issac, an endocrinology fellow at George Washington University Hospital, said in a prepared statement.

Researchers used 2,690 male diabetic veterans in VA hospitals, most of whom were overweight or obese based on their body mass index (BMI), a measure of body fat using height and weight.

The vets were categorized as having low, moderate or high fitness level, depending on their performance on a standard treadmill exercise tolerance test.

The researchers found that the higher the man's level of fitness, the lower his risk of dying during the study period. For example, those in the high fitness level -- whether at normal body weight or overweight -- reduced their risk of death by 40 percent. The findings were even more dramatic for those classified as obese but in reasonable good shape: a cut in death risk of 52 percent, when compared to peers not physically fit, the study found during its seven-year follow-up period.

"Diabetics should improve their fitness level or exercise capacity to at least a moderate level, by being physically active. Weight loss is great, but being active is just as important," Jacob-Issac advised.

If you ask me, exercise is always a good idea!

Eat For Health: For Diabetics

Posted on June 11, 2008 by Joel Fuhrman

This is an excerpt from Dr. Fuhrman’s book Eat For Health.

As the number of people with type-two (adult onset) diabetes continues to soar, it is openly recognized that the growing waistline of the modern world is the main cause of this epidemic; however, most physicians, dieticians, and even the American Diabetes Association have virtually given up on weight reduction as the primary treatment for diabetics. Consider this statement from a medical advisory committee: “It is nearly impossible to take very obese people and get them to lose significant weight. So rather than specifying an amount of weight loss, we are targeting getting metabolic control.” This is doublespeak for—our recommended diets don’t work, so we just give medications and watch patients gradually deteriorate as the diabetes advances. Today, medications are the mainstay of treatment and, unfortunately, most of these medications cause weight gain, worsening the syndrome and making the individual more diabetic. Additionally, the narrow focus on blood-sugar reduction and reliance on medications gives patients a false sense of security because they mistakenly think their somewhat better controlled glucose levels are an indication of restored or improved health. They continue to gain weight following the same dietary habits that originally caused the problem.

It is well accepted that if it were possible for people to stick with weight reduction and high nutrient eating, that route would be the most successful. Patients with diabetes who successfully lose weight from undergoing gastric bypass surgery typically see their diabetes melt away.1 Dietary programs that have been successful at effecting weight loss have been dramatically effective for diabetics too, enabling patients to discontinue medications.2 Preventing and reversing diabetes is not all about weight loss. The nutritional features of Eat for Health have profound effects on improving pancreatic function and lowering insulin resistance over and above what could be accomplished with weight loss alone. The increased fiber, micronutrients, and stool bulk, plus the cholesterol-lowering and anti-inflammatory effects of this eating-style, have dramatic effects on type-II diabetes. Scores of my patients have been able to restore their glucose levels to the normal range without any further need for medications. They have become non-diabetic. Even my thin, type-I, insulin-dependent diabetic patients are typically able to reduce their insulin requirements by almost half and have better glucose control using this high-nutrient eating-style.

Diets high in fiber and vegetables have been consistently shown to be beneficial for diabetic patients and offer considerably better results when compared to the current recommendations of the American Diabetic Association Diet.3 The dietary advice typically offered to diabetics is not science-based, and it caters to Americans’ social and food preferences and food addictions. In contrast, the qualities of an eating-style that maximizes benefits for weight reduction, cardio protection, and diabetes reversal are described in Eat for Health.

A success story from Eat for Health:

Martin's Diabetes and Diabetic Retinopathy
“Before I read Dr. Fuhrman’s book I weighed 205 pounds and had diabetes for seven years. The information enabled me to lose 60 pounds and get rid of my diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol without medication. My LDL cholesterol went from 168 to 73 in five months, and I successfully dropped my weight to 143 pounds. The most amazing thing is that my ophthalmologist had told me that I required laser surgery to treat diabetic retinopathy, but after changing my diet he found that the damage was no longer there and I didn’t require surgery. I am extremely grateful because I know Dr. Fuhrman has added many quality years to my life.”
Continue Reading...

Heart Health: No Point in Monitoring Blood Sugar?

Posted on June 10, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

New research contends that individuals with type-2 diabetes do not lower their heart attack and stroke risk by controlling their blood sugar. More from Gina Kolata of The New York Times:

The results provide more details and bolster findings reported in February, when one of the studies, by the National Institutes of Health, ended prematurely. At that time, researchers surprised diabetes experts with the announcement that study participants who were rigorously controlling their blood sugar actually had a higher death rate than those whose blood sugar control was less stringent.

Now the federal researchers are publishing detailed data from that study for the first time. Researchers in the second study, from Australia and involving participants from 20 countries, are also publishing their results on blood sugar and cardiovascular disease. That study did not find an increase in deaths, but neither did it find any protection from cardiovascular disease with rigorous blood sugar control.

Thus both studies failed to confirm a dearly held hypothesis that people with Type 2 diabetes could be protected from cardiovascular disease if they strictly controlled their blood sugar.

It was a hypothesis that seemed almost obvious. Cardiovascular disease accounts for 65 percent of deaths among people with Type 2 diabetes. And since diabetes is characterized by high levels of blood sugar, the hope was that if people with diabetes could just get their blood sugar as close to normal as possible, their cardiovascular disease rate would be nearly normal as well.

Dr. Fuhrman was not impressed by this report. His thoughts:

That is because when you are an overweight diabetic the metabolic consequences are not the blood sugar alone and taking drugs is not the answer. Some of the drugs (especially insulin) cause weight gain and make the metabolic syndrome worse. Losing weight, exercising and eating high on the nutrient density line is the answer, not more medications.

Not more medications! But how will the drug companies make bigger profits?

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Research, Stroke

Blood Sugar, Not Just for Diabetics

Posted on June 5, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Diabetics know all about blood sugar, but it matters to non-diabetics too. So, when you make food choices, keep blood sugar in mind. Dr. Fuhrman explains:

The combination of fat and refined carbohydrates has an extremely powerful effect on driving the signals that promote fat accumulation on the body. Refined foods cause a swift and excessive rise in blood sugar, which in turn triggers insulin surges to drive the sugar out of the blood and into our cells. Unfortunately, insulin also promotes the storage of fat on the body and encourages your fat cells to swell.

As more fat is packed away on the body, it interferes with insulin uptake into our muscle tissues. Our pancreas then senses that the glucose level in the bloodstream is still too high and pumps out even more insulin. A little extra fat around our midsection results in so much interference with insulin’s effectiveness that two to five times as much insulin may be secreted in an overweight person than in a thin person.

And a new study insists that blood sugar levels are indeed important to diabetes-free people too. Reuters reports:

Only a few prospective studies have looked at associations between blood sugar levels among subjects initially free of diabetes and subsequent risk of death, Dr. Naomi Brewer, of Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand, and colleagues point out in the journal Diabetes Care.

Hemoglobin A1C testing -- a standard way to measure blood sugar -- was offered to people without diabetes during a screening program for hepatitis B in a region of New Zealand from 1999 to 2001. Mortality risk was examined to the end of 2004 in these subjects.

Among a total of 47,904 individuals, whose average age was 38 years, 815 died during the median follow-up of 4.4 years.

Brewer's team found that the risk of premature death rose in tandem with blood sugar levels. The risk of death increased steadily from the A1C "reference category" (4.0% to less than 5.0%) to the highest A1C category (7.0% or higher).

Sadly, I think too many people only worry about blood sugar after they’re staring at a diabetes diagnosis.

Tags: Diabetes, Hurtful Food, Research

Mediterranean Diet vs. Type-2 Diabetes

Posted on June 2, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

The Mediterranean diet is supposed to be healthy, but many members of my Italian, pasta and olive oil eating extended family have endured obesity, heart disease, and cancer. Is there something wrong here? Maybe so, Dr. Fuhrman explains:

In the 1950s people living in the Mediterranean, especially on the island of Crete, were lean and virtually free of heart disease. Yet over 40 percent of their caloric intake come from fat, primarily olive oil. If we look at the diet they consumed back then, we note that Cretans ate mostly fruits, vegetables, beans and some fish. Saturated fat was less than 6 percent of their total fat intake. True, they ate lots of olive oil, but the rest of their diet was exceptionally healthy. They also worked hard in the fields, walking about nine miles a day, often pushing a plow or working other manual farm equipment.

Well, my family does eat a lot of olive and fish, but they’re certainly not plowing any fields. Actually, their diet and lifestyle is more like the diet of modern Crete. Back to Dr. Fuhrman:

Today the people of Crete are fat, just like us. They're still eating alot of olive oil, but their consumption of fruits, vegetables, and beans is down. Meat, cheese, and fish are their new staples, and their physical activity level has plummeted. Today, heart disease has skyrocketed and more than half the population of both adults and children in Crete is overweight.1

So I’m not sure you can bank on the results of this study. According to new research in the British Medical Journal adhering to a Mediterranean diet can protect you against developing type-2 diabetes. HealthDay News reports:

A Mediterranean diet is often recommended as a way to guard against cardiovascular disease, but whether it protects against diabetes hasn't been established. The diet emphasizes olive oil, vegetables, fruits, nuts, cereals, legumes and fish, and deemphasizes meat and dairy products.

"The Mediterranean diet is a healthful eating plan that seems to help in the prevention of heart disease," said Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis, who was not involved with the study. "Consumption of the Mediterranean diet will support health and may aid in the prevention of several diseases," she added.

For the study, published online May 30 in the British Medical Journal, researchers tracked the diets of 13,380 Spanish university graduates with no history of diabetes. Participants filled out a 136-item food questionnaire, which measured their entire diet (including their intake of fats), their cooking methods and their use of dietary supplements.

During an average of 4.4 years of follow-up, the team found that people who adhered to a Mediterranean diet had a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. In fact, those who stuck very closely to the diet reduced their risk by 83 percent.

I think what attracts people to the Mediterranean diet is that it sound exotic and it is better than the Standard American Diet, but it’s not good enough! Time to start eating a nutrient-dense vegetable-based diet!
Continue Reading...

Tags: Diabetes, Diet Myths, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Research

About Food and Diabetes

Posted on May 27, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Some health experts examine food issues surrounding type-2 diabetes. More from Peter Jaret of The New York Times:

Experts have yet to come up with anything close to a surefire approach to help people shed pounds. And dietary recommendations to prevent or slow diabetes have often been contradictory and confusing. Nearly 30 years after the American Diabetes Association recommended a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet to control diabetes, overturning the high-fat, low-carbohydrate approach of earlier decades, controversy still swirls around the amount and types of carbohydrates to eat.

Much of the debate focuses on the glycemic index, a measure of how carbohydrate-rich foods affect blood sugar, and whether these effects play a significant role in the progression of Type 2 diabetes. Foods high on the glycemic index, like sugared beverages, cake and white rice, are known to send blood sugar levels up sharply after a meal. Foods low on the index, like broccoli, lettuce, brown rice and whole grains, on the other hand, take longer to digest and hence keep blood sugar levels on a more even keel.

The American Diabetes Association has decided that patients should not be counseled to take the glycemic index into account when choosing foods. “Although it is clear that carbohydrates do have differing glycemic responses,” its policy statement declares, “the data reveal no clear trend in outcome benefits.”

That’s a mistake, says Dr. David Ludwig, an endocrinologist at Children’s Hospital in Boston and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School.

I think these “experts” should give Dr. Fuhrman a call or at least snoop around DiseaseProof’s diabetes category—don’t you think?

Diabetes: Eat and Live Well...

Posted on May 23, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

According to a new study drinking less alcohol, eating more veggies, and exercising can hold off diabetes. Michael Kahn of Reuters reports:

Diet and exercise reduced the incidence of diabetes by about 43 percent over 20 years among 577 high-risk Chinese adults, the researchers reported in the journal Lancet.

At the end of the 20 years, 80 percent of those who changed what they ate and exercised more had diabetes, compared with 93 percent who made no changes, said Guangwei Li of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing and Ping Zhang at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The findings came as part of a series of studies addressing new research about diabetes, which affects 246 million adults worldwide, and accounts for 6 percent of all global deaths.

"The challenge is to translate research findings into substantial clinical improvements for patients. Although prospects are hopeful, they are not assured," the Lancet wrote in a commentary.

Sometimes the answers are SO obvious, but still overlooked—sigh.

Tags: Diabetes, Exercise, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Research

America Hopped Up on Prescription Drugs

Posted on May 15, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

A new report claims more than half of Americans are taking some sort of prescription medication; mostly for heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. More from the Associated Press:

Experts say the data reflect not just worsening public health but better medicines for chronic conditions and more aggressive treatment by doctors. For example, more people are now taking blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering medicines because they need them, said Dr. Daniel W. Jones, president of the American Heart Association.

In addition, there is the pharmaceutical industry's relentless advertising. With those factors unlikely to change, doctors say the proportion of Americans on chronic medications can only grow.

"Unless we do things to change the way we're managing health in this country ... things will get worse instead of getting better," predicted Jones, a heart specialist and dean of the University of Mississippi's medical school.

Americans buy much more medicine per person than any other country. But it was unclear how their prescriptions compare to those of insured people elsewhere. Comparable data were not available for Europe, for instance.

Americans love magic pills. Kind of agrees with yesterday’s post, Have a Healthy Heart!

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Obesity, Research

Cow's Milk and Diabetes

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

A new Finnish study claims consuming dairy products early on correlates with diabetes risk. NewScientist is on it:

One explanation is that beta-lactoglobulin, a protein in cow's, but not human, milk prompts babies to make antibodies that also attack glycodelin, a protein vital for training the immune system. The mistuned immune system then mistakenly destroys insulin-producing pancreatic cells, leading to type 1 diabetes.

“The mistuned immune system mistakenly destroys insulin-producing cells”

Now Marcia Goldfarb of the company Anatek-EP in Portland, Maine, has found that five children with type 1 diabetes, who were fed cow's-milk formula, all have antibodies to beta-lactoglobulin.

Not that surprising. Cow’s milk is not exactly good for you, especially for kids. Dr. Fuhrman explains:

The leading cause of digestive intolerance leading to stomach complaints is dairy products. Many kids have subtle allergies to cow's milk that perpetuate their nasal congestion, leading to ear infections.

Milk, which is designed by nature for the rapidly growing cow, has about half its calories supplied from fat. The fatty component is concentrated more to make cheese and butter. Milk and cheese are the foods Americans encourage their children to eat, believing them to be healthy foods. Fifty years of heavy advertising by an economically powerful industry has shaped the public's perception, illustrating the power of one-sided advertising, but the reality and true health effects on our children is a different story. Besides the link between high-saturated-fat foods (dairy fat) and cancer, there is a body of scientific literature linking the consumption of cow's milk to many other diseases. If we expect our children to resist many common illnesses, they simply must consume less milk, cheese, and butter. Dairy foods should be consumed in limited quantity or not at all.

Cow's milk contains the calcium people need, but other foods are rich in calcium, too, including vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds. Today we do not need to rely on cows for our calcium. We can eat greens directly for calcium, the place where cows get it to begin with, and orange juice and soy milks are fortified with calcium and vitamin D, too. It is easy to meet our nutrient needs for these substances without the risks of cow's milk.

Yucky, milk makes me nauseas.

Tags: Diabetes, Hurtful Food, Research

Health Points: Friday

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Officials from Monterey County, California have issued a warning on all meat products. From The Monterey County Herald:

York company voluntarily recalled more than 286,000 pounds of its products.

Officials said certain products labeled Gourmet Boutique, Jan's and Archer Farms may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, although there were no reports of illness before the recall.

Listeria can cause a potentially fatal disease that it is rarely contracted by healthy people, the Monterey County Health Department reported. Symptoms include high fever, severe headaches, neck stiffness and nausea. Rare but serious symptoms can occur in those with compromised immune systems. Pregnant women make up about a third of listeriosis cases, health officials said.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention arthritis hits more than half of diabetics. HealthDay News reports:

Arthritis strikes more than half of the 20.6 million American adults who have diabetes, and the painful joint condition may be a barrier to exercise among these patients, a new government report shows.

Being physically active helps people manage both diseases better by controlling blood sugar levels and reducing joint pain, according to the report in the May 9 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The prevalence of arthritis is astoundingly high in people with diabetes," said Dr. John H. Klippel, president and CEO of the Arthritis Foundation. "Over half the people with diabetes have arthritis."

Stephen Smith of The Boston Globe examines ways seniors can prevent injury from a fall. Check it out:

Nudging reluctant seniors to take physical fitness classes represents just one strategy to reduce the risk of falling. It's also vital to evaluate their vision and the medications they're taking. Aged pupils, for example, don't dilate as well in darkness or constrict as well in brightness.

One study showed that falls decreased 34 percent among seniors who had the milky opaqueness of a cataract removed from their eyes. Some specialists also point to bifocals and trifocals, which can blur vision, as potentially contributing to falls.

It's also common for lighting to be so inadequate that navigation of hallways and rooms can be treacherous, said Dr. Gary Chu, vice president for community collaborations at the New England Eye Institute.

Lance Armstrong is one of the people pushing a ban on smoking in public places across the United States. From the AFP:

"I've asked all the presidential candidates whether America should be smoke-free," he told a Senate committee hearing on how to tackle cancer.

"The consensus is that it's better left to the cities and states," he said, agreeing that state- or community-level bans were "the way to go."

"Second-hand smoking is something I'm very passionate about," he told the committee.

It seems trees help kids breathe easier. More from The Chicago Tribune:

Young children who live in neighborhoods with lots of trees have lower rates of asthma than children who reside in areas with fewer trees, a new study finds. Researchers looked at asthma rates among children age 4 to 5 in New York City. Asthma rates decreased by almost one-quarter for every standard deviation increase in tree density, equivalent to 343 trees per square kilometer, the study found. The researchers said that trees may help reduce asthma rates by encouraging children to play outdoors more or by improving air quality.

New research suggests that men might also get postpartum depression. WebMD is on it:

Male postpartum depression may have more negative effects on some aspects of a child's development than its female counterpart, says James F. Paulson, PhD, of the Center for Pediatric Research at the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Va.

Paulson and colleagues reviewed data on more than 5,000 two-parent families with children aged 9 months.

They found that one in 10 new dads met standard criteria for moderate to severe postpartum depression.

That's a "striking increase" from the 3% to 5% of men in the general population that have depression, Paulson tells WebMD.

A new study has determined that firefighters show a higher risk of developing certain cancers. Reuters reports:

In the current study, researchers found that professional firefighters had higher-than-expected rates of colon cancer and brain cancer. There was also evidence, albeit weaker, that they had elevated risks of bladder and kidney cancers, as well as Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Dr. Letitia Davis with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues report the findings in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.

Firefighters are exposed to many potentially cancer-causing chemicals released from burning materials. At the scene of the fire, toxic substances such as benzene, lead, uranium and asbestos can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin.

According to research, weight-loss medications may harm children’s developing brains. Julie Steenhuysen of Reuters explains:

A drug from a new class of weight-loss treatments disrupted wiring needed for brain development in young mice, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday, raising concerns about using such medications in children.

Mark Bear and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology studied the effects of a chemical that suppresses appetite by blocking cannabinoid receptors in the brain, the same brain mechanisms that make people hungry when they smoke marijuana.

"I think that the cautionary note is that these mechanisms play an important role in ... brain development," said Bear, whose study appears in the journal Neuron.

Tara Parker-Pope of the Well blog wonders when breast biopsies aren’t necessary. Here’s a bit:

Even a benign lesion on a mammogram makes women and doctors nervous, and doctors sometimes recommend a biopsy anyway. But new data show that waiting six months for a follow-up mammogram is a safe option.

Researchers tracked more than 45,000 women who were given six-month follow-up mammograms after an initial scan found lesions that were “probably” benign. In most cases, they were. Only about one in 100 women were eventually diagnosed with cancer six to 12 months later, according to the study, which appears in the May issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

New research indicates high blood sugar can lead to adverse pregnancy outcomes. Reuters is on it:

It is well known that high blood sugar levels indicative of the diabetes that occurs during pregnancy present risks for expectant mothers and their infants. The current study is believed to be the first to show that higher blood sugar levels -- not high enough to be considered diabetes -- also convey these increased risks.

In a study of nearly 24,000 pregnant women who had their blood sugar levels tested between 24 and 32 weeks of pregnancy, researchers found that the higher the mother's blood sugar level, the greater the chances that she would require Caesarean delivery and deliver an abnormally large baby.

Tags: Asthma, Cancer, Depression, Diabetes, Exercise, Healthy Food, Healthy Parenting, Healthy Pregnancy, Hurtful Food, Obesity, Research, Toxins, Weight Loss

NYC: Supermarkets Packing Up Shop

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

More and more supermarkets are leaving New York City, making it hard for many people to find healthy fresh food in their neighborhoods. David Gonzalez of The New York Times reports:

The dearth of nearby supermarkets is most severe in minority and poor neighborhoods already beset by obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

According to the food workers union, only 550 decently sized supermarkets — each occupying at least 10,000 square feet — remain in the city…

… In some cases, the old storefronts have been converted to drug stores that stand to make money coming and going — first selling processed foods and sodas, then selling medicines for illnesses that could have been prevented by a better diet.

The supermarket closings — not confined to poor neighborhoods — result from rising rents and slim profit margins, among other causes. They have forced residents to take buses or cabs to the closest supermarkets in some areas. Those with cars can drive, but the price of gasoline is making some think twice about that option. In many places, residents said the lack of competition has led to rising prices in the remaining stores…

…The lack of easily available fresh food has prompted city and state officials to convene several task forces to address the public health implications.

The recent study conducted by the Department of City Planning estimated that as many as three million New Yorkers live in what are considered high-need neighborhoods — communities characterized by not enough supermarkets and too many health problems.

This is a major reason why certain neighborhoods in New York have staggering rates of obesity and diabetes. More from this New York Times miniseries:

As someone who eats primarily fruits and vegetables, and, wants to live in New York, I’m concerned. I need a steady stream of fresh produce.

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Obesity, Research

Broncos QB Has Type 1 Diabetes

Posted on May 2, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler has been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Pat Graham of the Associated Press reports:

The 25-year-old Cutler found out about two weeks ago that he was diabetic and needed daily insulin injections, Garafalo told The Associated Press.

He said Cutler was managing his disease and “in no way is his football career jeopardized.”

Some 21 million Americans have diabetes, meaning their bodies cannot properly turn blood sugar into energy. Either they don’t produce enough insulin or don’t use it correctly. With the Type 1 form, the body’s immune system attacks insulin-producing pancreatic cells, so that patients require insulin injections to survive.

“It’s something that he’s dealing with and something a lot of other people have,” Garafalo said. “Even though it’s a serious condition, it’s a condition that can be managed. That’s the way he’s treating it right now.

“Everything’s fine,” Garafalo continued. “His condition is fine.”

Tough break for a rising star—as a Raiders fan that was hard for me to say—but there is plenty of hope for Type 1 diabetics. Dr. Fuhrman explains:

I find that when type 1 diabetics adopt a nutritarian lifestyle, they can lower their insulin requirements by about half. They no longer have swings of highs and lows, and their glucose levels and lipids stay under excellent control. In other words, it is not Type 1 diabetes itself that causes such negative health consequences. Rather, it is the combination of the diabetes and the typical nutritional “advice” given to these patients—advice that requires them to take large amounts of unnecessary insulin.

The extra insulin and the high glucose levels raise lipids, accelerate atherosclerosis, and damage the body. With this in mind, it should be clear that while the Standard American Diet (SAD), which has spread to all industrialized nations, is dangerous for everyone, it is particularly deadly for diabetics.

With a truly health-supporting lifestyle, including exercise and real food designed by nature, the type 1 diabetic can have the same potential for a long, disease-free life as everyone else. Even though the type 1 diabetic still will require exogenous (external) insulin, they will no longer need excessive amounts of it.

Odds are Jay’s diet could use an overhaul because as we’ve seen many professional athletes don’t exactly make wise food choices.

Tags: Diabetes

More Expecting Moms Diabetic...

Posted on April 29, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

A new study has discovered that the number of pregnant women with pre-existing diabetes has more than doubled in seven years. Alicia Chang of the Associated Press reports:

The researchers focused on health records from more than 175,000 ethnically diverse women who gave birth in a dozen Kaiser hospitals in Southern California from 1999 to 2005. Experts believe the findings likely reflect the overall U.S. population.

The actual number of pregnant women with pre-existing diabetes was small. In 1999, there were 245 such women; by 2005, there were 537. That translates to a rate that rose from 8 per 1,000 pregnancies to 18 per 1,000.

The rate increased the greatest among 13- to 19-year-olds giving birth. It ballooned from about 1 per 1,000 pregnancies to 5.5 per 1,000 during the seven-year period.

Blacks, Asians and Hispanics were more likely to have diabetes before pregnancy than whites.

The rise of diabetes among women of childbearing age mirrors the prevalence of the disease in the general population. The most common form of diabetes is Type 2, which is linked to obesity.

About 15 million people in the United States are diagnosed with diabetes, and 1.5 million new cases were diagnosed in people age 20 and older in 2005, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Parenting, Healthy Pregnancy, Research

Inhaled Insulin, Lung Cancer Risk

Posted on April 10, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Pfizer has announced that clinical trials of Exubera resulted in increased cases of lung cancer. Lewis Krauskopf of Reuters is on it:

Pfizer Inc and Nektar Therapeutics said on Wednesday clinical trials of the inhaled insulin Exubera found increased cases of lung cancer, leading Nektar to stop seeking a marketing partner for the troubled product and abandon it.

Nektar shares tumbled 25 percent, while shares of MannKind Corp, which has been developing its own inhaled insulin, plummeted 58 percent. Pfizer was down slightly at $20.90.

The lung-cancer revelation dealt a final setback to Exubera, which held the promise of letting diabetics avoid needle sticks and was once projected by Pfizer to be a $2 billion-a-year blockbuster. Instead, Exubera has been a commercial flop that has sullied the inhaled insulin field.

Scary, but not that surprising, because—good or bad—Dr. Fuhrman insists all drugs futz with the normal functioning of the body:

In the first pharmacology lecture that I head in medical school, the physician impressed on us that all drugs are toxic and we should never forget this. We were taught that medications work because of their pharmacologic properties—properties that enable the substance to interfere with, block, or stimulate an activity of the body. Drugs typically modify the way the body expresses the signs and symptoms of disease, but in chronic disease states, they do no undo the damage or remove the disease.

My suspicion is this concept often more often than not, takes a backseat to the pursuit of profits and convenience.

Tags: Diabetes, Lung Cancer, Research, Toxins

NYC: Fatter, More Diabetes

Posted on April 9, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Unfortunately the Big Apple is getting bigger and less apple-er. Obesity and diabetes rates are rising in NYC. The Associated Press reports:

New York City's obesity and diabetes rates are rising faster than in the rest of the country, a city health department study said.

New York's obesity and diabetes rates each jumped by 17 percent between 2002 and 2004, according to the city Department of Health and Hygiene study. The national obesity rate rose by 6 percent during the same time period, while the diabetes rate held steady nationally at 7 percent, according to the study, published in this month's issue of the journal Preventing Chronic Disease.

Some 173,500 adult New Yorkers became obese and more than 73,000 were newly diagnosed with diabetes over the two-year period, the city said. In 2002, 19.5 percent of the city's adults were obese; in 2004, 22.8 percent were, the study said.

Don’t follow the crowd. Next time you’re in NYC try popping into one of these healthy restaurants:

Actually, I got to get my butt to Central Park—stat!

Tags: Diabetes, Obesity, Research

Tai Chi and Diabetes

Posted on April 9, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

New research claims practicing Tai Chi may help lower or control type-2 diabetes risk. Amy Norton of Reuters reports:

In one study, Taiwanese researchers found that tai chi helped lower long-term blood sugar levels in 30 middle-aged adults with type 2 diabetes. In the second, an Australian team found that a combination of tai chi and qigong benefited 11 adults at risk of type 2 diabetes.

Both tai chi and qigong (pronounced "chee-kung") are ancient Chinese practices designed to promote good health. Qigong combines gentle movements, meditation and breathing techniques; tai chi involves slow, fluid movements combined with mental imagery and deep breathing.

Both are moderate, low-impact activities, and recent studies suggest that older adults could reap a number of health benefits from tai chi, such as lower blood pressure, a reduced fall risk and improved arthritis symptoms.

The new studies, both published online by the British Journal of Sports Medicine, suggest that tai chi might aid in managing type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome -- a collection of risk factors for diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

I’ve never tried Tai Chi—have you?

Tags: Diabetes, Exercise

Don't Want Diabetes, Get Moving

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

“An essential component of my prescription for diabetes is daily exercise,” explains Dr. Fuhrman.
And so it seems exercise and bodyweight really do impact diabetes risk. Reuters reports:

Lower cardiorespiratory fitness and higher body weight are independently associated with the development of type 2 diabetes in women, new research suggests.

"These findings underscore the critical importance of promoting regular physical activity and maintaining normal weight for diabetes prevention," Dr. Xuemei Sui, of the University of South Carolina, Columbia, said in an interview with Reuters Health.

Sui and associates followed 6,249 women between the ages of 20 and 79 years for 17 years. The women were free of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes at the outset.

A total of 143 women developed type 2 diabetes during follow up. After adjusting for a number of factors including body weight, women in the middle and upper thirds of cardiorespiratory fitness, as determined by a treadmill exercise test, had significantly lower risks of diabetes compared to the least fit third.

Granted, not exactly NEW information, but, an important reminder nonetheless.

Heart Health: Bad News, Good News, Stupid News...

Posted on April 2, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Quick, panic! A new study claims that people with diabetes have the same heart attack risk as individuals who have already had a heart attack. Reuters reports:

The finding, which appears in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation, comes from a study of 3.3 million residents of Denmark who were at least 30 years of age. Overall, 2.2 percent of subjects had diabetes and 2.4 percent had a prior heart attack.

Dr. Tina Ken Schramm and colleagues found that, compared with men without diabetes or a prior heart attack, those with diabetes were 2.32-times more likely to experience a stroke, heart attack or death from cardiovascular causes, and those with a prior heart attack were 2.48-times more likely.

For women, the corresponding risks were raised 2.48- and 2.71-times.

You’ve got to do something! How about exercise? New research suggests that modest exercise can fight heart disease. More from the AFP:

French doctors on Tuesday said that an overview of the latest research into sport and good health proved that moderate, frequent exercise combated the risk of heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, respiratory disease and depression.

The report by the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm) sets a benchmark, for adults, of at least 30 minutes of modest exercise, such as fast walking, at least five times a week, or 20 minutes of harder exercise, such as jogging, three times a week.

Young people are advised to do twice this regime to maintain fitness.

Good, but if you like bike riding. You might want to stay away from The Stupidest Bike Lane in America. Well passes it along:

Now, just in case you haven’t had enough stupid yet. Check out these Weight Loss Sunglasses. No, I’m not joking. Diet Blog is all over it:

This snazzy creation is designed to give food a blue tinge - theoretically rendering food dull and unpalatable. Kind of the opposite phenomenon of "beer goggles"?

While your first instinct may be to snicker (as it should be), there is actual physiological and psychological rationale to this theory: Certain colours tend to stimulate appetite, while others tend to deter it. Apparently, blue is considered to be the least appetizing color of the spectrum, with red and yellow being at the opposite end as a hunger stimulant.

Well George Carlin said it best, in life, there’re a few winners, and a whole-lot of losers. Short bike lanes and magic sunglasses—LOSERS!

Tags: Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Colon Cancer, Diabetes, Obesity, Research, Weight Loss

Health Points: Tuesday

Posted on March 25, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Colorado’s city water might be causing all the salmonella outbreaks. The Associated Press reports:

Of 216 reported cases so far, 68 have been confirmed by lab results, public information officer Jim Shires said. Nine people have been hospitalized, but only one was believed to still be in the hospital, Shires said.

Shires is part of a nine-person incident management team from Jefferson County that arrived to help Alamosa officials respond to the outbreak, which health officials said may be caused by the municipal water system.

Getting plenty of vitamin D as a kid cuts your diabetes risk later in life. More from HealthDay News:

Children who take vitamin D supplements may be less likely to develop type 1 diabetes later in life, according to researchers who analyzed the findings of five previously published studies.

The researchers found that children who were given additional vitamin D were about 30 percent less likely to develop type 1 diabetes than children who didn't receive vitamin D supplements. The evidence also indicated that the higher and more regular the dose of vitamin D, the lower the risk of developing diabetes.

Got cellulite? Exercise and diet are still the best ways to get rid of it. Jay Blahnik of The Los Angeles Times reports:

It is tempting to look for a quick fix to cellulite, especially when so many advertisements claim to provide a solution. Unfortunately, there is no overnight cure. Nothing can get below the surface of the skin and rearrange the connective tissue or fat cells underneath. Because fat is compressible, some procedures, such as body wraps, may appear to provide a solution to smoothing the skin. But any visible effects will be temporary -- unlikely to last more than 24 hours…

…You can diminish the appearance of cellulite or reduce the chances you will get it with regular exercise, especially strength training. A good strength-training program will increase your chances of maintaining lean muscle as you get older, and this in turn reduces your chances of increasing the size of your fat cells.

Sara Snow of TreeHugger recently explored a natural products expo. Check it out:

But as I think about it more, I realize that when organic really pays is when this money—the very money we raised the other night—goes to fund new research that then gets into the hands of the people who really need it, such as a mom who learns that feeding their children organic foods can reduce their dietary pesticide exposure by 97 percent, and then makes the immediate switch to organic baby food. Or, people who learn that of the 11 most important nutrients, organic foods contain, on average, 25 percent higher concentrations of these nutrients, and then switch to organics in order to feed their bodies more nutrient-dense foods. How about the farmer who learns that even very low levels of organophosphate insecticides can disrupt developing brains and nervous systems, and then immediately stops spraying his crops for the sake of the health of his grandbabies growing up in a house across the field. Or a diabetes sufferer who learns that eating vegetables rich in fiber, antioxidants, and magnesium could lead to a 28 percent lower risk of Type-2 diabetes, and then starts serving his children more vegetables, so they don’t have to suffer the way mom and dad did.

Dieticians are VERY nervous about all-you-can-eat baseball seats. The Associated Press reports:

"Just what the world doesn't need is another way to get as much food as they want whenever they want it," said Jeanne Goldberg, a professor of nutrition science at Tufts' Friedman School of Nutrition.

The unlimited quantity has turned some sporting events into games of can-you-top-this in the stands, with fans competing to see who can shovel the most hot dogs down their gullets. But for the most part, the scene is the same as in any other section.

"People knocking that stuff back isn't exactly the prettiest thing to watch," Drew Nurenberg, 30, of Malvern, Pennsylvania, who bought all-you-can-eat seats with his wife for a Philadelphia Flyers game last month, said. He added: "People looked like they were taking advantage of it, but not overly taking advantage."

Some people believe “comprehensive action” is needed to fight obesity—whatever that means. More from Reuters:

The problem of obesity cannot be reduced simply to genetics, the researchers said, and it also cannot be blamed solely on our environments or learned behaviors. Media coverage, they advised, should highlight that the obesity epidemic is the result of a variety of factors, and that change requires a comprehensive approach that tackles the problem from all sides.

"Obesity's not rocket science," said Dr. Diane Finegood, director of CIHR's Institute for Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes. "It's a lot more complex."

Arthritis, is diet our only hope? Julie’s Health club explores the issue, with quotes from T. Colin Campbell. Take a look:

Is this news? Not to T. Colin Campbell, author of the book "The China Study," which details the connection between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

"I get frustrated when I see articles like this--time and time again--being published by researchers who know not that much of their findings have already been shown before," Campbell said, when I asked him if he'd seen the study.

"These earlier results are simply ignored, thus awaiting rediscovery by some future researcher or medical practitioner. This is the main question for so many similar reports...why haven't we heard this before?"

More and more young teens are hanging out at the gym. Megan Twohey of The Chicago Tribune reports:

It used to be that the only teens seen at a gym were students on athletic teams, intent on additional training.

But in recent years, some Chicago-area gyms have become preferred hangouts for a growing number of high school students who want to be fit and healthy. Many also have discovered that gyms provide something equally important: a place to gossip, flirt and socialize with peers.

Tags: Arthritis, Diabetes, Exercise, Healthy Food, Obesity, Research, Toxins

Health Points: Monday

Posted on March 17, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Exercise, good for your body, good for your brain. Shari Roan of The Los Angeles Times reports:

When he became a psychiatrist in the 1970s, John Ratey didn't expect to evolve into an exercise buff. But today, the Harvard University professor and expert in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder calls exercise the single most important tool people have to optimize brain function…

…Exercise, particularly aerobic exercise, can improve cognitive performance, soften the effects of stress, help fend off addiction-related cravings and tone down the negative consequences of women's hormonal changes, Ratey says. When it comes to psychiatric disorders, he calls exercise "one of the best treatments we have."

Here’s a shocker. It seems antibiotics are over-prescribed for common viruses. Reuters reports:

Bacteria can cause rhinosinusitis -- an inflammation of the sinuses -- but a virus such as the common cold is often a more likely culprit so antibiotics seldom work, the researchers reported in the journal Lancet.

Yet doctors still dole out the drugs more than they should. In the United States, for instance, 80 percent of sinus patients are prescribed an antibiotic while the proportion ranges from 72 percent to 92 percent in Europe.

"What tends to happen in practice is when patients have had symptoms for a while and go see their family doctor, the doctor assumes they have a bacterial infection and gives them antibiotics," said James Young, a statistician at the University Hospital Basel, who led the study.

You might think rich people are healthier, but the fat works against them. From Marilyn Elias of USA Today:

In the new study of about 5,000 adults, the college-educated with household incomes of more than $75,000 a year had much less of a blood protein linked to heart disease than did the poorer or less educated - as long as they weren't overweight.

But as weight crept up, so did C-reactive protein in the blood, a sign of inflamed tissue that can lead to blocked coronary arteries, says Cathy Bykowski, a psychologist at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

That's not surprising, because excess body fat is known to increase the protein, she says.

Not getting enough sleep might mean having more than enough fat. Serena Gordon of HealthDay News explains:

New research suggests that people who don't get enough sleep tend to weigh more -- and that sleep can affect levels of the appetite-regulating hormones leptin and ghrelin.

"There is a dynamic balance between proper sleep and proper health. Sleep deprivation affects weight and a lot of other things. If you cheat sleep, there are a number of consequences, including affecting your hormones, appetite and mood," said Dr. Patrick Strollo, medical director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Sleep Medicine Center.

Lego blocks are being used to help children with autism. Marie McCullough of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

At first glance, the $45 session just looked like a bunch of boys having fun, not surprising since Lego Club members have good language skills and average or above-average intelligence. In contrast, children at the severe end of the autism spectrum may be mute and have catatonic behaviors.

But signs of problems were soon evident. A boy wearing a long-sleeve T-shirt stood amid the hubbub, staring at the floor, obsessively pulling the hem of his shirt - until leader Greg Shugar gently drew him into an activity. At a table, Lily Brown, another leader, helped two boys revise their "script" - a sheet of lined paper covered with angry scratch-outs and scribbles.

Jonathan Shanahan, 13, of Riverton, rocked from foot to foot and acknowledged that earlier that day, in school, he threw a pencil at a classmate.

"He's my archrival," Jonathan declared, holding a winged Lego beast he had created.

Findings have determined that breastfeeding helps reduce the risk of type-2 diabetes. More from Reuters:

Breast-fed babies appear to be less likely to develop type 2 diabetes when they reach adolescence, according to findings published in the medical journal Diabetes Care.

"Dramatic increases in childhood obesity and the emergence of type 2 diabetes in youth motivate research to identify lifestyle approaches to primary prevention of both conditions," write Dr. Elizabeth J. Mayer-Davis of the University of South Carolina, Columbia, and colleagues.

Fitness Magazine spotlights some very important nutrients. Here some noteworthy ones. Take a look:

Folate
Use: To improve heart health

Why it works: Folate and other B vitamins help break down excess homocysteine -- an amino acid that can damage the inner lining of arteries -- possibly reducing the risk of heart disease.

Daily intake: 400 mcg

Best food sources: 1/2 cup cooked asparagus (134 mcg), 1 cup raw spinach (58 mcg), 1/2 cup cooked lentils (179 mcg)

I’m not much of a cyclist, but this is a very practical invention—it’d be cool in the disco too—via TreeHugger:

A team of scientists believe that vitamin D may cut diabetes risk. More from EMaxHealth:

Type 1 diabetes occurs because of pancreatic beta cell damage. These cells are responsible for insulin hormone production. The disease is becoming more common and it is expected to increase by 40% in 2010, compared to 2000.

The study showed that those suffering from type 1 diabetes have lower levels of vitamin D and are common in countries with less sunlight. It is well known that sunlight exposure stimulates vitamin D production and that supplement intake without sunlight exposure doesn't mean anything.

Lack of vitamin D is previously linked to autoimmune disorders, and this new study shows another key role of vitamins in health.

According to a new study overweight women get worse breast cancer. Reuters is on it:

Breast cancer patients who are overweight have more aggressive disease and are likely to die sooner, U.S. researchers reported on Friday.

A dangerous type of breast cancer, known as inflammatory breast cancer, was seen in 45 percent of obese patients, compared with 30 percent of overweight patients and 15 percent of patients of healthy weight.

"The more obese a patient is, the more aggressive the disease," said Dr. Massimo Cristofanilli of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, who led the study.

Tags: Breast Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Depression, Diabetes, Exercise, Healthy Food, Healthy Parenting, Healthy Pregnancy, Obesity, Research, Toxins

Food Scoring Guide: Key to Superior Health and Your Ideal Weight

Posted on March 14, 2008 by Joel Fuhrman

When you eat to maximize micronutrients in relation to calories, your body functions will normalize; chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol melt away; and you maintain your youthful vigor into old age. Heart disease and cancer would fade away and become exceedingly rare if people adopted a lifestyle of nutritional excellence. But in the here and now, what is exciting to so many people is that when your diet is high enough in micronutrients, excess weight drops off at a relatively fast rate. It’s like you had your stomach stapled. You simply don’t crave to overeat anymore. In fact, it becomes too difficult to overeat when you eat your fill of high-micronutrient food.

The mistake of focusing on the “importance” of protein in the diet is one of the major reasons Americans have been led down the path to dietary suicide. For too long, we have equated protein with good nutrition and have thought that animal—products in spite of the fact that they are deficient or devoid of most micronutrients—are highly favorable foods simply because they are rich in complete proteins. This miscalculation has cost us dearly. By favoring a dairy- and meat-heavy diet, instead of one rich in fruits, vegetables, and beans, we have brought forth an epidemic of heart attacks and cancers.

Tags: Blood Pressure, Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Cholesterol, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food

Diabetes, Exercise, Insulin, and Fat

Posted on March 11, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Exercise seems to boost insulin-making cells. Reuters reports:

After the exercise period, study participants' sensitivity to insulin had increased by 53 percent, on average, while a measure of beta cell function called the disposition index had risen by 28 percent. However there were no changes in their fat mass, levels of fat in the blood, or other factors that might explain the effect of exercise on beta cells.

"Longer-term exercise training studies are required and are currently in progress to evaluate further exercise training effects on beta cell function in age-related glucose intolerance," the researchers note.

Yup, exercise is good for diabetics. Dr. Fuhrman’s on it:

The most effective prescription for diabetes is exercise. An essential component of my prescription for diabetes is daily exercise; it is more important than daily medication. Two hundred calories a day of formal exercise on an incline treadmill and an elliptical machine are a great goal to shoot for. It is not an official recommendation of anyone except me.

But research has determined fat is bad for diabetes. More from Reuters:

Fat mass in adulthood was the only measurement that showed a significant association with insulin sensitivity, the researchers found. After they used statistical techniques to control for age, sex and body size in adulthood, the group of men and women who were born small but caught up as adults had significantly lower insulin sensitivity than the control group.

Based on the results, Dr. R.W.J. Leunissen of Erasmus Medical Centre-Sophia, Children's Hospital and colleagues propose a "fat accumulation hypothesis," which states that "an increased accumulation of fat during childhood, independent of birth size, will result in reduced insulin sensitivity."

Yeah, you don’t want to be overweight and diabetic. Here’s Dr. Fuhrman again:

If the person is obese, with more than fifty pounds of additional fat weight, his body will demand huge loads of insulin from the pancreas, even as much as ten times more than a person of normal weight needs. So what do you think happens after five to ten years of forcing the pancreas to work so hard? You guessed it — pancreatic poop-out.

Exercise and stay thin—sounds win-win to me!

Diabetes Risk: Fruits vs. Veggies

Posted on February 28, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Dr. Fuhrman emailed me this the other day. It shows the differences between fruits and vegetables when it comes to diabetes-prevention. From NutraIngredients-USA:

A higher intake of vegetables, rich sources of fibre, antioxidants, and magnesium, may reduce the risk of developing type-2 diabetes by almost 30 per cent, suggests a new study.

On the flip side of the coin, however, an increased consumption of fruit was not associated with any benefits, according to the study with 64,191 middle-aged Chinese women published in the new issue of the Journal of Nutrition.

"Our study adds to the limited and conflicting data of the associations between fruit and vegetable intake and the risk of type-2 diabetes," wrote lead author Raquel Villegas from Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center.

"A higher intake of vegetables, rich in fibre, antioxidants, and magnesium and with a low glycemic index, was associated with a decreased risk of type-2 diabetes."

The authors, including researchers from the Shanghai Cancer Institute and the Diabetes Research and Training Center in Nashville, recruited the women (aged between 40 and 70) and, using a food-frequency questionnaire, report they had average fruit and vegetable intakes of 239.4 and 236.0 grams per day, respectively.

I know from talking with Dr. Fuhrman. That he advises diabetics to eat more veggies than fruit, but, he does encourage blueberries—lots of blueberries!

Poverty's Diet Strain

Posted on February 22, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Poverty is more than a fiscal problem. It can also affect health. Canadian researchers have determined that poor households end up eating nutritionally risky diets. Alan Mozes HealthDay News reports:

The new study is the first to show that food insecurity directly translates into poor nutrition. It also suggests that in such homes, adults and teens, rather than very young children, are the most likely to be subsisting on diets low in vitamins, minerals, fruits, vegetables, grains and meat.

"Over the long term, [food insecurity] could be expected to precipitate and complicate diet-related chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease," cautioned study co-author, Sharon Kirkpatrick, a doctoral candidate in the department of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto…

…The study highlights similar estimates for 2006, suggesting that 12.6 million U.S. households experience food insecurity, while 4.6 million have one or more family members going without food. Recent Canadian research indicates that just over 9 percent of households are food-insecure.

Against such numbers, Kirkpatrick and Tarasuk set out to analyze eating habits, detailed in interviews conducted by Statistics Canada between 2004 and 2005. The survey included 35,000 Canadians between the ages of 1 and 70 drawn from all socioeconomic groups.

The poor—I hate using that term—do take quite the health hit. It comes up in the news all the time. Let’s look at some previous reports. First, from the Associated Press, Why are U.S. Kids Obese. Here’s a bit:

"The environment that they live in matters," said Lisa Powell of the University of Illinois at Chicago, who studied restaurant and food store options in the neighborhoods and food-related television advertising aimed at teens.

She said when people cannot get to supermarkets but instead must rely on the convenience stores that proliferate in many poor neighborhoods, families end up eating less healthy food.

Next up, Paige Parker of The Oregonian tells us why poor kids are at a high-risk of packing on extra summer vacation pounds. Take a look:

A new study highlighted the summer weight-gain phenomenon among young children. Researchers in the Midwest looked at the body mass index, which relates height to weight, of 5,380 students. They followed them for two years, from kindergarten through first grade, and found the average index grew more than twice as quickly over the summer than during the school year.

Children of the working poor may be especially at risk because they are left indoors while their parents are at jobs. While at home, kids eat and drink what they want, says Dr. Jennifer Bass, a pediatrician who chairs a national pediatricians special-interest group on obesity. Bass estimates as many as 30 percent of her patients are overweight.

Now Randy Dotinga of HealthDay News explains that low-income children face a heighten chance of being obese, even before they are out of diapers. Check it out:

"The message is that we're seeing overweight and obesity at younger ages than we thought possible," said study author Rachel Tolbert Kimbro, a health and society scholar at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. "It's a particular problem in lower-income communities, and it's something we need to keep an eye on and prevent as much as possible."

According to Kimbro, there's been little research into weight problems among very young children. But, studies have shown high rates of obesity among older children and teenagers.

In the new study, the researchers examined surveys of parents who had children from 1998 to 2000 in 20 large U.S. cities. The parents lived in urban areas and were poor.

Finally, this report looks out way the poor and immigrants living in New York City are waist-deep in the diabetes epidemic. More from N.R. Kleinfield of The New York Times:

New York, perhaps more than any other big city, harbors all the ingredients for a continued epidemic. It has large numbers of the poor and obese, who are at higher risk. It has a growing population of Latinos, who get the disease in disproportionate numbers, and of Asians, who can develop it at much lower weights than people of other races.

It is a city of immigrants, where newcomers eating American diets for the first time are especially vulnerable. It is also yielding to the same forces that have driven diabetes nationally: an aging population, a food supply spiked with sugars and fats, and a culture that promotes overeating and discourages exercise.

Frightening news, no doubt it compounds when you consider that most low-income families either have limited or no insurance. Makes you wonder how much better the state of American healthcare would be if everyone starting eating a nutrient-dense diet!

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Obesity, Research, Weight Loss

Diabetic Confusion: Low-Carb Unhealthy, Veggies Healthy

Posted on February 8, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

And that’s the truth! If you’re looking to get healthy, lose weight, and prevent and reverse disease, DON’T even consider “low-carb” or high-protein diets. Here’s why in a nutshell. Dr. Fuhrman explains:

Americans already eat approximately 40 percent of their calories from animal products; we have seen a tragic skyrocketing in cancer and heart-disease rates in the past fifty years as a result of such nutritional extravagance.1 You can lose some weight on the low-carb diet, but you run the risk of losing your health at the same time.

Now, most health experts agree—even Dr. Fuhrman—that eating a lot of carbs is a bad idea, but Dr. Fuhrman’s criticisms focus on the refined and process carbohydrates. Here’s why he thinks this stuff is bad news:

Diets containing refined grains and refined sweets are consistently linked to stomach and colon cancer, and at least twelve breast cancer studies connect low-fiber diets with increased risks.2 Eating a diet that contains a significant quantity of sugar and refined flour does not just cause weight gain, it also leads to an earlier death.

Once you kick the refined junk to the curb, you’re left with the good stuff—the healthy carbs! In fact, these carbohydrates are important brain and muscle fuel. Let’s check back with Dr. Fuhrman:

Our bodies need carbohydrates more than any other substance. Our muscle cells and brains are designed to run on carbohydrates. Carbohydrate-rich foods, when consumed in their natural state, are low in calories and high in fiber compared with fatty foods, processed foods, or animal products.

You can find these healthy carbs in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and legumes, and, as Dr. Fuhrman points out. Plant foods likes these are the benchmark of healthy living. Here Dr. Fuhrman talks about the power of plants:

Increasing your consumption of high-nutrient fruits and vegetables is the key to disease resistance, disease reversal, and a long, healthy life. The potential reduction in disease rates shows no threshold effect in the scientific studies. That means that as high-nutrient vegetables and high-nutrient fruits increase as a major portion of caloric intake, disease rates fall in a dose-dependent manner—the more the diet is comprised of these foods, the better your health will be.3

So, what’s wrong with “low-carb” diets—A LOT—Atkins-like diets dupe people into believing that increased consumption of animal products and decreased consumption of plant foods is healthy—WRONG! Dr. Fuhrman elaborates:

It is an interesting phenomenon to me low-carb dieters search to find small pearls of dissent in the scientific literature to support their views as they ignore thousands of well-performed studies, I wonder why they are so attached to their diets or views that they can’t accept the preponderance of evidence and modify their stance.

And when you exam the facts, you’ll quickly realize the profound link between eating too much animal products and saturated fat and diseases; like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Again, Dr. Fuhrman explains:

Today, the average American consumes 100-120 grams of protein per day, mostly in the form of animal products. This high level of animal product consumption has been linked to not just heart disease and strokes, but to higher rates of cancer, as well4…

…High-protein, carbohydrate-restricted diets also are heart unfriendly. One comprehensive study on the Atkins’ approach showed that after one year on the diet, blood flow to the heart diminished by an average of 40 percent and inflammatory markers that predict heart attacks increased.5 The low levels of plant fiber, phytochemicals, and antioxidant nutrients on these unbalanced, low produce diets expose the diabetic patient to additional risks.

Okay, by now we’ve worked up a good information-base—low-carb bad, veggies good—so let’s check out this study appearing in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It suggest that low-carb is better than low-fat for preventing diabetes. Amanda Gardner of HealthDay News is on it:

"One study is never enough to change a recommendation, but this study is interesting in that it shows that a low-fat diet is no better than a low-carbohydrate diet in preventing type 2 diabetes," said Thomas Halton, lead author of a study in the current issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. "The one diet that did seem to show a protective effect was a vegetable-based, low-carb diet which consisted of higher amounts of vegetable fat and vegetable protein, and lower amounts of carbohydrate."

The findings, Halton added, were a bit surprising in that most doctors and nutritionists recommend a low-fat diet to prevent type 2 diabetes. "This study showed that a low-fat diet didn't really prevent type 2 diabetes in our cohort when compared to a low-carb diet. I was also surprised that total carbohydrate consumption was associated with type 2 diabetes, and that the relative risk for the glycemic load was so high."

Now, despite the dirty term “low-carb” the study is looking surprisingly good, but just to be safe, let’s look at the actual study, pay very close attention to the conclusion. From The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition:

Background: Low-carbohydrate weight-loss diets remain popular; however, the long-term effects of these diets are not known.

Objective: The objective was to examine the association between low-carbohydrate-diet score and risk of type 2 diabetes

Design: We prospectively examined the association between low-carbohydrate-diet score (based on percentage of energy as carbohydrate, fat, and protein) and risk of diabetes among 85 059 women in the Nurses' Health Study.

Conclusion: These data suggest that diets lower in carbohydrate and higher in fat and protein do not increase the risk of type 2 diabetes in women. In fact, diets rich in vegetable sources of fat and protein may modestly reduce the risk of diabetes.

Vegetable fat and vegetable protein—not the high animal fat fallacy perpetuated by Atkins and his ilk. In fact, when you strictly limit all the meat, dairy, and oil in the typical Atkins menu and upgrade the fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and legumes, you’re left with a diet naturally free of refined carbohydrates and packed with nature’s best foods! One more quote from Dr. Fuhrman:

Knowing that the right micronutrients in the right proportions are easily available to us in whole, natural foods is wonderful. But we no longer get our foods in natural form from the wild. Most of the food we eat is concocted in factories. These processed foods do not contain the level and diversity of the vitamins and minerals we get in natural foods. For example, the fruits and vegetables that primates eat in the wild are loaded with micronutrients, giving these primates a diet far richer in many essential vitamins and minerals than the diets consumed by any humans in the modern world.

Clearly these primates are eating the right kind of low-fat diet and NOT monkeying with dangerous high-protein diets. For more on this topic, be sure to check out Standard American Low-Fat—JUNK—Diet.
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Tags: Diabetes, Diet Myths, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Research

Diabetes Study Derailed Due to Deaths

Posted on February 7, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Dr. Fuhrman’s got a question for you, “How can diabetics safely lower the high glucose levels that are slowly destroying their bodies?” Oh, that’s simple you—wait, lets explore this—what about gastric surgery? It was recently reported to be a good idea. From The New York Times:

Weight-loss surgery works much better than standard medical therapy as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes in obese people, the first study to compare the two approaches has found.

The study, of 60 patients, showed that 73 percent of those who had surgery had complete remissions of diabetes, meaning all signs of the disease went away. By contrast, the remission rate was only 13 percent in those given conventional treatment, which included intensive counseling on diet and exercise for weight loss, and, when needed, diabetes medicines like insulin, metformin and other drugs.

In the study, the surgery worked better because patients who had it lost much more weight than the medically treated group did — 20.7 percent versus 1.7 percent of their body weight, on average. Type 2 diabetes is usually brought on by obesity, and patients can often lessen the severity of the disease, or even get rid of it entirely, by losing about 10 percent of their body weight. Though many people can lose that much weight, few can keep it off without surgery.

Yeah, I don’t know about this. I mean, maybe it’s a good idea, if you consider serious complications a key component of success. Hopefully this chart will help you think twice before you run out and get your tummy sliced open. Take a look:

Okay, in our age of modern medicine, drugs, drugs, and more drugs must be the answer! Yeah, if you don’t mind THE DYING! Recently, a diabetes study had to be halted because aggressively driving blood sugar levels towards normal was found to increase the risk of death in some diabetics. The Washington Post reports:

The startling discovery, announced yesterday, prompted federal health officials to immediately halt one part of the large trial so thousands of the Type 2 diabetes patients in the study could switch to less-intensive treatment.

"As always, our primary concern is to protect the safety of our study volunteers," said Elizabeth G. Nabel, director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which is sponsoring the study.

Although the reason for the increased risk remains a mystery, Nabel and other experts stressed that the benefits of blood sugar control have been well established for diabetics and said patients should not make any changes in their care without consulting their doctors.

But the findings cast doubt on a major hope about diabetes treatment -- that pushing levels below current targets would be beneficial -- and would force experts to rethink how to treat one of the nation's leading health problems.

"It's profoundly disappointing," said Richard Kahn, chief scientific and medical officer for the American Diabetes Association. "This presents a real dilemma to patients and their physicians. How intensive should treatment be? We just don't know."

The findings are the second major blow to widespread assumptions about how to protect against heart disease -- the nation's leading killer. Another recent major study found that driving blood cholesterol levels as low as possible did not necessarily slow the progression of heart disease.

As you can imagine, Dr. Fuhrman was less than surprised by these results. Here’s what he had to say about it. Have a look:

It basically illustrates that giving diabetics more medication to better control their glucose numbers leads to more heart attacks; more medicine equals more heart attacks. Diabetes is a disease arising out of nutritional ignorance, obesity and lack of exercise and activity. The prescription must be nutritional excellence for an excellent outcome. Most diabetics who follow a nutrient-dense vegetable-based diet not only reduce their medication use, but they actually get rid of their diabetes and become non-diabetic.

So, back to Dr. Fuhrman’s original question, “How can diabetics safely lower the high glucose levels that are slowly destroying their bodies?” Well—as we just found out—nutritional excellence is a huge part of it. More form Dr. Fuhrman:

I have achieved marked success with diabetic patients and the success at becoming "non diabetic" or almost "non-diabetic" regularly occurs on the nutritarian program whether the patient follows a strict vegan diet or not. I describe the diet-style as a "vegetable-based" diet because the base of the pyramid is vegetables, not grains. Even though most animal products are excluded, it is not necessary to adopt a completely vegan diet to achieve the goals.

I offer patients the choice of adding two servings a week of low-fat fish, such as tilapia, flounder, sole, and scrod, as well as an egg-white omelet, once or twice each week. A few servings of very low-saturated-fat animal products each week can be interspersed with the vegan meals without diminishing the results achievable from the vegetable-based diet.

And lets not forget an obvious—but often overlooked—component of preventing and fighting diabetes is exercise. Let’s check back in with Dr. Fuhrman:

The most effective prescription for diabetes is exercise. An essential component of my prescription for diabetes is daily exercise; it is more important than daily medication. Two hundred calories a day of formal exercise on an incline treadmill and an elliptical machine are a great goal to shoot for. It is not an official recommendation of anyone except me.

Seriously, it’s a win-win situation for diabetics. You get to eat delicious food, stay active, lose weight, feel good, and, kick your diabetes in the butt. Can’t get much better than that!
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Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Research, Stroke

Expensively Sick

Posted on February 1, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Julie’s Health Club relays a list of America’s top ten medical costs. Scary stuff, my wallet hurts just looking at it. Check it out:

Heart conditions ($76 billion)
Trauma disorders ($72 billion)
Cancer ($70 billion)
Mental disorders, including depression ($56.0 billion)
Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ($54 billion)
High blood pressure ($42 billion)
Type 2 diabetes ($34 billion)
Osteoarthritis and other joint diseases ($34 billion)
Back problems ($32 billion)
Normal childbirth* ($32 billion)

*Normal childbirth means without medical complications or surgical procedures. C-sections are not included in the normal childbirth category.

This list gets even more frightening when you consider the over-arching cost of obesity. Dr. Fuhrman offers up some facts and figures:

The number one health problem in the United States is obesity, and if the current trend continues, by the year 2230 all adults in the United States will be obese. The National Institutes of Health estimate that obesity is associated with a twofold increase in mortality, costing society more than $100 billion per year.1

Wows, it certainly pays to be healthy.
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Tags: Arthritis, Asthma, Blood Pressure, Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Healthy Parenting, Healthy Pregnancy, Obesity, Research

Wednesday: Health Points

Posted on January 30, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

If you exercise, you might want to call yourself a “young blood” because new research links exercise to youthful DNA. The Seattle Times reports:

A study published Monday hints that fitness buffs appear to have "younger" DNA than the chronically sedentary. The finding could help scientists understand the effects of exercise and aging at a molecular level.

Previous research has shown that being physically active reduces the risk of heart disease, cancer and other diseases, potentially extending longevity.

Previous research has shown that older people have shorter ends than younger folks. Indeed, biologists say they shrink every time a cell divides.

According to the United Nations, developing worlds face a growing cancer-risk. From the AFP:

Some 84 million people risk dying from cancer over the next decade, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.

The IAEA, the UN atomic watchdog, is involved in the fight agaist the disease through its Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT) division, which shares the organisation's knowledge of radiotherapy techniques with other partners in the field.

PACT head Massud Samiei told journalists that "the cancer epidemic will gather pace in developing countries."

We all know cold medicines aren’t great for young kids, but did you know cold meds send 7,000 children to the hospital. The Associated Press is on it:

About two-thirds of the cases were children who took the medicines unsupervised. However, about one-quarter involved cases in which parents gave the proper dosage and an allergic reaction or some other problem developed, the study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

The study included both over-the-counter and prescription medicines. It comes less than two weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned parents that over-the-counter cough and cold medicines are too dangerous for children younger than 2.

Arguing with your spouse is healthy? What the—? I’m too befuddled to comment on this one. You check it out. More from CBS News:

The key is for both spouses to be comfortable expressing anger, rather than one or both suppressing anger, University of Michigan researchers report.

"The key matter is, when the conflict happens, how do you resolve it?" asks Ernest Harburg, PhD, professor emeritus with the University of Michigan's School of Public Health and psychology department. "If you bury your anger, and you brood on it ... and you don't try to resolve the problem, then you're in trouble."

Harburg's team found a higher death rate among married couples in which both spouses suppress anger, compared with other married couples. Their findings appear in the Journal of Family Communication.

Listen up college kids! New research contends that whacky-weed is a bigger cancer-risk than cigarettes. Reuters reports:

Studies in the past have demonstrated that cannabis can cause cancer, but few have established a strong link between cannabis use and the actual incidence of lung cancer.

In an article published in the European Respiratory Journal, the scientists said cannabis could be expected to harm the airways more than tobacco as its smoke contained twice the level of carcinogens, such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, compared with tobacco cigarettes.

The method of smoking also increases the risk, since joints are typically smoked without a proper filter and almost to the very tip, which increases the amount of smoke inhaled. The cannabis smoker inhales more deeply and for longer, facilitating the deposition of carcinogens in the airways.

The CBS Early Show takes a look at the history of breakfast in America. Yeah, it’s pretty scary. See for yourself:

BREAKFAST CEREALS
Seventh-Day Adventists are credited with creating breakfast cereals. They founded the Battle Creek Sanitarium, where they manufactured and promoted wholesome cereals. Will Keith Kellogg was an Adventist who discovered corn flakes in 1894 when a pot of cooked wheat was overcooked and then dried. Each grain became a separate flake. He introduced Rice Krispies in 1929. The Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company was founded in 1906.

THE DOUGHNUT
Originally introduced by the Dutch as sweet dough fried in pork fat (known as "oily cakes"), the doughnut has been around a very long time, although its popularity surged with the doughnuts served to solders in World War I. The term "doughnut" either comes from the small balls of dough that looked like nuts, or a recipe from a mid-19th century cook who added nuts to the center of her fried dough and therefore referred to them as dough "nuts." The legend goes on to say that her son, a sea captain, didn't like the nuts so he had them cut out, creating the famous doughnut shape that we know today. Doughnuts remained as snacks, not breakfast -- often served in theaters -- until the doughnut machine was invented in the 1930s. By the 1940s and 1950s, Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' Doughnuts had been introduced, and the pairing of coffee and doughnuts secured their place in the breakfast repertoire. By the 1950s, "drop" doughnuts became very popular and Orange Drop Doughnuts showed up in the Betty Crocker Cookbook. Since no rolling or cutting was required -- just drop spoonfuls of batter into hot oil -- this category of doughnuts caught on quickly.

Well, you certainly like seeing this. HealthDay News reports, diabetes rates continue to soar in the United States. Amanda Gardner is on it:

The number of Americans being diagnosed with and also living with type 2 diabetes is soaring, presenting a major health and economic crisis for the United States, a new study reports.

"What's alarming is we have 47 million uninsured people, but these people [in the study, enrolled under Medicare] are all insured. So in this kind of insured program, we have so many people who are not adhering to the recommended care," said Frank Sloan, lead author of the study published in the Jan. 28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Sloan is professor of health policy and management at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.

I think experts like this are neat. Frances Largeman-Roth of Poked & Prodded is going to eat Ayurvedic in India. She explains all about it:

The ayurvedic menu at Ananda Spa has been designed to balance the three doshas: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. The doshas are roughly similar to our ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph body types, but they’re even more detailed, taking into consideration the shape of the face, skin type, hair, eyes, and temperament. Everyone is a mix of the three, but one dosha is predominant. If the doshas are balanced, you’ll enjoy good health, if not, you’re basically screwed…

…Once you know which dosha you align with, your ayurvedic practitioner will help you get in harmony through your food choices. To balance a Vata dosha, for example, you’re apparently supposed to eat mostly warm foods, such as soups, stews, warm milk, warm cereals, and baked bread (cream and butter are on the list too). And Vatas are advised to avoid cold foods, such as salads, iced drinks, and raw vegetables and greens. Hmm … doesn’t sound ideal for someone who is lactose-intolerant and loves her veggies.

Tags: Cancer, Diabetes, Exercise, Healthy Parenting, Hurtful Food, Research, Toxins

Friday: Health Points

Posted on January 25, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Here’s a good question, does diabetes cost the USA more than wars and disasters? Take a look. Liz Szabo of USA Today reports:

Uncontrolled diabetes wreaks havoc on the body, often leading to kidney failure, blindness and death. A new study shows that the nation's unchecked diabetes epidemic exacts a heavy financial toll as well: $174 billion a year.

That's about as much as the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and the global war on terrorism combined. It's more than the $150 billion in damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.

The incidence of diabetes has ballooned — there are 1 million new cases a year — as more Americans become overweight or obese, according to the study, released Wednesday by the American Diabetes Association. The cost of diabetes — both in direct medical care and lost productivity — has swelled 32% since 2002, the report shows.

Diabetes killed more than 284,000 Americans last year, according to the diabetes association.

Much to my personal delight, Yoga is growing in popularity. Katie Zezima of The New York Times investigates a boot camp for Yoga teachers. Check it out:

In May 2006, Sue Jones started YogaHope, an organization that teaches yoga at eight Boston-area women’s homeless shelters, substance-abuse treatment programs and domestic-violence safe houses, as well as two programs in Seattle. The focus is on teaching restorative yoga, and though many teachers have completed at least 200 hours of training, it is not a requirement.

Driven by a sometimes missionary zeal and a sense that yoga has become an exclusive pursuit, a small but growing number of yoga practitioners are forming organizations that teach yoga in prisons and juvenile detention centers in Oakland, Calif.; Los Angeles, Seattle and Indianapolis. They are working with the addicted and the homeless in Portland, Ore., and with public-school students in New York City.

Though concern about the cost of yoga is an issue (studio classes can cost $20 for a drop-in session, though some offer free or low-cost classes taught by less experienced teachers), most of the practitioners are motived by a desire to introduce yoga to those who might need it most, but wouldn’t think to do it on their own.

Okay gym nuts. Health and Men passes on some “stop and go super sets” for you to try next time you’re working out. Have a look:

Stop-and-go pushup
Assume a pushup position. Brace your core and lower your chest to the floor. When you’re halfway down, pause 2 seconds before continuing. Then, when your chest is 2 inches from the floor, pause again for 2 seconds before pushing halfway back up. Hold for 2 more seconds, then straighten your arms. Do eight reps.

Stop-and-go split squat
Stand with one foot 3 feet forward and hold a barbell across your shoulders. Rise on the ball of your back foot, then bend at the knees. When halfway down, pause for 2 seconds. Pause again when your back knee is just off the floor. Push halfway up, pause again, and return to the starting position. Do six reps with each leg.

Its seems the United Kingdom is all set to pony up millions for anti-obesity campaign. Tim Castle of Reuters is on it:

The campaign, to be launched in the summer, will form part of a wider strategy including aspects like food labelling, urban design and the promotion of exercise.

Department of Health officials said it will use simple messages -- such as the "five pieces of fruit and veg a day" slogan -- and be based on research into what actually works to make people change from unhealthy lifestyles.

"Tackling obesity is the most significant public and personal health challenge facing our society," said Health Secretary Alan Johnson as he launched the 372 million pound cross-government strategy.

Okay, this is a little weird—to say the least—evidently some people believe you can treat sleep apnea with a didgeridoo. From the CBS Early Show:

"A didgeri-what?" you ask. While aborigines in Australia have been playing this long wooden trumpet for centuries, it's just recently been redefined as a modern-day medical device. Researchers reporting in the British Medical Journal evaluated 25 people with sleep apnea--a breath-stealing condition caused by flabby throat muscles--and found that those who took 4 months of didgeridoo (DIH-jeh-ree-doo) lessons had about 31/2 times less daytime sleepiness than the folks who didn't blow their own horns. The newly minted musicians also snored significantly less. Credit this uncommon cure to vibrations that exercise tissue in the mouth and throat, says researcher Milo Puhan, Ph.D. "When these muscles are strengthened, the tongue has less tendency to obstruct the airway."

If huffing on a wooden tube to treat your sleep apnea sounds a tad too weird, then you probably aren't familiar with the alternatives. The most commonly prescribed option is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), which involves spending every night hooked up to a machine that pumps air down your throat to keep it from collapsing. The other approach is surgery, and that's only 30 to 60 percent effective. Now are you ready to toot the didgeridoo? You can pick up a beginner-friendly model for about $80 at L.A. Outback (laoutback.com). And don't worry; it's intuitive to learn, says co-owner Barry Martin. You purse your lips and blow into it with the beat.

Diet Blog hardly has a glowing endorsement for “Slim Coffee.” Jim Foster thinks it’s nothing but a big scam:

It must be so tempting for unscrupulous entrepreneurs:

Find an obscure weight loss product from somewhere overseas. Re-brand it. Hype it up. Create an infomercial. Make millions.

This time it's Slim Coffee. The claims are impressive: "Reduce appetite. Clinically tested. Lose 5 pounds per week". All from drinking coffee with a few supplements added (or so they say).

The makers of Slim Coffee have been pursued by the FTC - resulting in a $923,000 settlement.

A new study explains just how traffic pollution damages the heart. Here’s more from Andy Coghlan of the NewScientist, look:

Previous studies had suggested that people living in polluted areas are more at risk of heart disease. For example, a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine last year showed that women in 36 American cities were more likely to develop heart disease if the air they breathed was rich in particles measuring 2.5 micrometres or less in diameter - known as PM2.5s - which are present in car exhaust fumes.

It now seems that a greater hazard may be posed by so-called "ultrafine" particles, about a dozen times smaller at 0.18 micrometres wide. The latest study in mice has shown that they clog up arteries with fatty atherosclerotic deposits, and chemically alter "good" cholesterol, or high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, reducing its beneficial effects.

Yippee! More Yoga news! The Los Angeles Times looks at one man’s effort to make Yoga a professional's sport. Janet Cromley reports:

How does yoga help a professional athlete's game?
Yoga improves balance in the body and works the smaller muscles that normally wouldn't get worked. It also improves range of motion, whether that means swinging a golf club, throwing a baseball or shooting a basketball. It builds stamina through breath control and teaches techniques for relaxing in tense moments. Most important, yoga gives you confidence that your body will do what you want it to do when you need it to.

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Cholesterol, Diabetes, Diet Myths, Exercise, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Obesity, Research, Toxins, Weight Loss

Diabetes: Stomach Surgery a Good Idea?

Posted on January 24, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

If you’re looking to regain your health and lose weight healthfully, popular stomach surgeries are not the answer. From Eat to Live, here’s what Dr. Fuhrman and the National Institutes of Health have to say about them. Take a look:

Wound problems and complications from blood clots are common aftereffects of gastric bypass and gastroplasty surgery. The National Institutes of Health has also reported that those undergoing surgical treatment for obesity have had substantial nutritional and metabolic complications, gastritis, esophagitis, outlet stenosis, and abdominal hernias. More than 10 percent required another operation to fix problems resulting from the first surgery.1

Seriously, stomach surgeries might be all the rage right now. It seems like every time you turn on the TV another celebrity is singing the praises of stomach-stapling, but come on! You’ve got to consider the risks. Check out this chart:

So, when I say this—I hit the ceiling! Apparently a new study favors stomach surgery to treat obese diabetics. No, it’s not April Fools Day. Denise Grady of The New York Times reports:

Weight-loss surgery works much better than standard medical therapy as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes in obese people, the first study to compare the two approaches has found.

The study, of 60 patients, showed that 73 percent of those who had surgery had complete remissions of diabetes, meaning all signs of the disease went away. By contrast, the remission rate was only 13 percent in those given conventional treatment, which included intensive counseling on diet and exercise for weight loss, and, when needed, diabetes medicines like insulin, metformin and other drugs.

In the study, the surgery worked better because patients who had it lost much more weight than the medically treated group did — 20.7 percent versus 1.7 percent of their body weight, on average. Type 2 diabetes is usually brought on by obesity, and patients can often lessen the severity of the disease, or even get rid of it entirely, by losing about 10 percent of their body weight. Though many people can lose that much weight, few can keep it off without surgery. (Type 1 diabetes, a much less common form of the disease, involves the immune system and is not linked to obesity.)

But the new results probably do not apply to all patients with Type 2 diabetes, because the people in the study had fairly mild cases with a recent onset; all had received the diagnosis within the previous two years. In people who have more severe and longstanding diabetes, the disease may no longer be reversible, no matter how much weight is lost.

I’d be curious to see just what kind of “intensive counseling on diet and exercise for weight loss” these patients were given. Because according to Dr. Fuhrman switching to a vegetable-based nutritarian diet is your best bet against type-2 diabetes. He explains:

How can diabetics safely lower the high glucose levels that are slowly destroying their bodies? How can they lower their lipids and blood pressure, lose weight, and avoid taking dangerous drugs, such as insulin and sulfonylureas? They need to adopt a diet based on nutritional excellence.

When you eat a diet consisting predominantly of nature's perfect foods---green vegetables, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, raw nuts and seeds, and limited amounts of fresh fruit, it becomes relatively easy to eat as much as you want and still lose your excess weight. In my experience, those who follow my nutritional recommendations find that their diabetes disappears astonishingly fast, even before most of their excess weight melts away.

Now, let’s not forget exercise. Dr. Fuhrman also points out that exercise is an important part of preventing and combating diabetes. Take a look:

The most effective prescription for diabetes is exercise. An essential component of my prescription for diabetes is daily exercise; it is more important than daily medication. Two hundred calories a day of formal exercise on an incline treadmill and an elliptical machine are a great goal to shoot for. It is not an official recommendation of anyone except me.

I’m no health expert and I’m not trying to be overly negative, but, how can researchers and doctors willing endorse elective surgery on someone, especially when there are more effective, proven means of treatment. What do you think?
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Tags: Diabetes, Obesity, Research

Diabetes vs. Beans--BRING IT!

Posted on January 9, 2008 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Type-2 diabetes is no joke, but luckily for us, a vegetable-based high-nutrient is a great way to prevent and fight it! Dr. Fuhrman points this out:

When you eat a diet consisting predominantly of nature's perfect foods—green vegetables, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, raw nuts and seeds, and limited amounts of fresh fruit, it becomes relatively easy to eat as much as you want and still lose your excess weight. In my experience, those who follow my nutritional recommendations find that their diabetes disappears astonishingly fast, even before most of their excess weight melts away.

Pretty cool—right? Wait, it gets better. New research has determined that legumes (beans) are linked to a lower diabetes risk. Stephen Daniells of Food Navigator reports:

The dietary habits of over 64,000 women were assessed and correlated with the development of type-2 diabetes over about five years, and a high intake of all legumes was associated with a 38 per cent reduction in risk of developing the disease, report researchers in this month's American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

An estimated 19 million people are affected by diabetes in the EU 25, equal to four per cent of the total population. This figure is projected to increase to 26 million by 2030.

In the US, there are over 20 million people with diabetes, equal to seven per cent of the population. The total costs are thought to be as much as $132 bn, with $92 bn being direct costs from medication, according to 2002 American Diabetes Association figures.

According to background information in the study, it has been suggested previously that a high intake of these foods can have benefits against the development of type-2 diabetes, although data is limited for this link.

Sweet! This is reason to celebrate. Let’s party over beans until we explode—pun intended—get a load of this great bean information from Dr. Fuhrman. Here:

Your goal should be to eat an entire cup (or more) of beans daily. Beans are a powerhouse of superior nutrition. They reduce cholesterol and blood sugar. They have a high nutrient-per-calorie profile and help prevent food cravings. They are digested slowly, which has a stabilizing effect on your blood sugar and a resultant high satiety index. Eggplant and beans, mushrooms and beans, greens and beans are all high-nutrient, high-fiber, low-calorie main dishes. Throw a cup of beans on your salad for lunch. Eat bean soup. Scientific studies show a linear relationship between soup consumption and successful weight-loss.1 As weight-loss strategy, eating soup helps by slowing your rate of intake and reducing your appetite by filling your stomach.

For info on the benefits of beans, get a load of these previous posts:

Tags: Diabetes, Research

Cooking Veggies...No Big Deal

Posted on December 28, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

I admit. For a long time I thought cooking vegetables killed them. Not so according to Dr. Fuhrman. He explains:

The raw-food movement continues to make converts, thanks to a devoted group of individuals and celebrities who embrace the belief that an all-raw food diet is the best diet. The idea that stirs the most enthusiasm for this diet is the contention that cooking both destroys about fifty percent of the nutrients in food, and destroys all or most of the life promoting enzymes.

Now, what about these enzymes? More from Dr. Fuhrman:

Contrary to what many raw-food web sites claim, the enzymes contained in the plants we eat do not catalyze chemical reactions that occur in humans. The plant enzymes merely are broken down into simpler molecules by our own powerful digestive juices. Even when the food is consumed raw, plant enzymes do not aid in their own digestion inside the human body. It is not true that eating raw food demands less enzyme production by your body, and dietary enzymes inactivated by cooking have an insignificant effect on your health and your body’s enzymes.

And here’s an interesting factoid, cooking can actually be beneficial. Dr. Fuhrman again:

In many cases, cooking destroys some of the harmful anti-nutrients that bind minerals in the gut and interfere with the utilization of nutrients. Destruction of these anti-nutrients increases absorption. Steaming vegetables and making vegetable soups breaks down cellulose and alters the plants’ cell structures so that fewer of your own enzymes are needed to digest the food, not more. The point is that this “cooked food is dead food” enzyme argument does not hold water. On the other hand, the roasting of nuts and the baking of cereals does reduce availability and absorbability of protein.

Get a load of this. Some new research has also determined that cooking vegetables might not damage their nutrient-load. More from CBS News:

The University of Parma's Nicoletta Pellegrini, PhD, and colleagues bought freshly harvested carrots, zucchini, and broccoli at a local market.

In their lab, the scientists measured levels of various antioxidants in the raw vegetables. Then they boiled, steamed, or fried the vegetables. Lastly, they measured antioxidant levels in the cooked vegetables.

Raw vegetables were loaded with antioxidants. After cooking, their antioxidant levels were a mixed bag.

In some cases, the veggies lost antioxidants to cooking. But not all antioxidants decreased when cooked -- and in some cases, certain antioxidant
levels rose when cooked.

Okay, this post isn’t intended to bash raw food—heck, Dr. Fuhrman eats plenty of raw veggies—in fact, he’ll tell you first hand, raw food is wonderful! Here’s one last quote:

Certainly, there are benefits to consuming plenty of raw fruits and vegetables. These foods supply us with high nutrient levels and the smallest number of calories. But the question we are looking at is this—Are there advantages to eating a diet of all raw foods and excluding all cooked foods?

Clearly, the answer is a resounding “No.” In fact, eating an exclusively raw-food diet is a disadvantage. To exclude all steamed vegetables and vegetable soups from your diet narrows the nutrient diversity of your diet and has a tendency to reduce the percentage of calories from vegetables, in favor of nuts and fruit, which are lower in nutrients per calorie.

I should point out, I’m eating a raw fruit and veggie chocolate pudding right now—YUM!

Bad News for Toxins

Posted on December 13, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Will Dunham of Reuters reports, smoking increases your risk of developing diabetes. Here’s more:

Here's another reason to throw away the cigarettes: Smoking, already known to cause lung cancer, heart disease and stroke, also raises one's risk for the most common form of diabetes, researchers said on Tuesday.

Smokers faced a 44 percent increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes when compared to nonsmokers, the Swiss researchers found.

Dr. Carole Willi of the University of Lausanne in Switzerland and colleagues analyzed 25 studies exploring the connection between smoking and diabetes published between 1992 and 2006, with a total of 1.2 million participants tracked for up to 30 years.

High ozone levels seem to explain why some residents of Sydney Australia had sudden cardiac events. Reuters reports:

A sudden spate of urgent cardiovascular syndromes resulting in severe chest pain that required emergency department visits among residents of Sydney, Australia, in 2005 has been traced to high solar radiance and ozone levels.

Surveillance data indicated an increase in urgent visits to city hospitals by individuals with chest pain assessed as "imminently or immediately life-threatening on arrival" in April and May 2005, Dr. Robin M. Turner of New South Wales Department of Health in North Sydney and colleagues report in the journal Environmental Health.

Emergency department visits increased from 4.0 per day in 2004 to 5.7 per day for the 8 weeks of April and May 2005.

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Research, Toxins

High-Carb Diet Icky-Sticky for Diabetes

Posted on November 28, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

I don’t subscribe to "carbophobia", but, refined grains, rice, and cereals are bad news. Here’s a brief lowdown from Dr. Fuhrman. Take a look:

White pasta, white rice and white bread are just like sugar; because their fiber has been removed, these nutrient deficient foods are absorbed too rapidly. This, in turn, will raise glucose, triglyceride, and insulin levels in your blood. Refined grains are undesirable and will sabotage your weight-loss and cholesterol-lowering efforts…

…White or "enriched" rice is just as bad as white bread and pasta. It is nutritionally bankrupt. You might as well just eat the Uncle Ben's cardboard box it comes in. Refining removes important factors: fiber, minerals, phytochemicals, and vitamin E. So, when you eat grains, eat whole grains…

…As we change food through processing and refining, we rob the food of certain health-supporting substances and often create unhealthy compounds, thus making it a more unfit food for human consumption. As a general rule of thumb: the closer we eat foods to their natural state, the healthier the food.

So, it shouldn’t surprise you that a new study has determined that a high-carb diet raises women's diabetes risk. More from Robert Preidt of HealthDay News:

Black American women and Chinese women who ate foods high on the glycemic index -- which measures the effect of carbohydrates on blood glucose levels -- were at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes, two new studies found.

One of the studies also found that eating more cereal fiber may be associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes in black American women…

…Women who ate high-glycemic index foods or ate a diet with a high glycemic load were more likely to develop diabetes. Women who ate more cereal fiber were less likely to develop diabetes.

"Our results indicate that black women can reduce their risk of diabetes by eating a diet that is relatively high in cereal fiber," the study authors wrote. "Incorporating fiber sources into the diet is relatively easy: A simple change from white bread (two slices provides 1.2 grams of fiber) to whole wheat bread (two slices provides 3.8 grams of fiber) ... will move a person from a low fiber intake category to a moderate intake category, with a corresponding 10 percent reduction in risk."

The answer? Stick to wholesome natural nutrient-dense foods. Dr. Fuhrman explains that plant foods are the real diabetes-fighter. Check out Starch-Based Diets No Answer for Diabetics for more.

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Research

Franken-Lettuce

Posted on November 28, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

A lettuce that produces insulin! What will they think of next? Have a look:

Tags: Diabetes

In the Genes: Type-1 Diabetes

Posted on November 19, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Researchers may have discovered the root of Type-1 Diabetes. More from the NewScientist:

Type 1 diabetes may be caused by faulty versions of two genes that usually help the body to fight infection.

Joanna Howson at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, UK, and colleagues think that faulty variants of HLA-A and HLA-B lead the immune system to destroy insulin-producing islet cells in the pancreas. Usually, the two genes make components of MHC1 - a protein on the surface of immune cells that helps them tell friend from foe.

Tags: Diabetes

Diabetes: A Racial Divide?

Posted on November 19, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

HealthDay News reports that black children are amongst the hardest hit by diabetes. Steven Reinberg reports:

While this racial disparity has been evident for more than two decades, the trend has been accelerating among children ages 1 to 19, according to the study in the Nov. 16 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Although the numbers are small, in absolute terms, these deaths are still preventable, which is why it is important to examine those disparities and work toward eliminating them," said CDC epidemiologist Dr. Laura L. Polakowski, who co-authored the report.

Looking at death certificates from 1979 to 2004, the researchers found that between 2003 and 2004, there were 89 deaths among U.S. children and teens from diabetes. During that time, the annual diabetes death rate for black children and teens was more than double that for white children.

Tags: Diabetes, Research

Piggy Diabetes

Posted on October 23, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Newsflash! Embryonic pig cells help diabetic monkeys, may help human diabetics too. The Associated Press is on it:

Dr. Marc Hammerman says the approach has reduced the animals' need for insulin injections and does not call for immunosuppression, which is a major problem in treating diabetes with transplantation.

Before DNA technology enabled pharmaceutical companies to manufacture human insulin in the 1980's, pig and cow insulin were routinely given to diabetic patients.

Yeah, a bacon injection sounds a little frightening. Instead, why not give this a try. Here’s Dr. Fuhrman on Type-2 Diabetes:

Conventional diabetologists are in a bind. They know that high glucose levels accelerate aging of the eyes and kidneys, leading to devastating complications such as kidney failure and blindness. They want to prescribe aggressive insulin therapy to get patients' blood sugars down. The problem is they also are aware that the extra insulin accelerates atherosclerosis (which leads to heart attacks) and weight gain (which eventually makes patients more diabetic)…

…The American Diabetes Association and most dieticians and physicians offer dangerous advice to the diabetic. They give lip service to weight reduction and cholesterol lowering, but since the diets they recommend are ineffective at achieving substantial weight loss and sustained ideal weight, even these recommendations are generally worthless. Typical diabetes care focuses on general glucose control, by monitoring blood glucose to determine when it is necessary to change insulin dosages and when glucose-lowering medication is warranted…

…The best diet for good health and longevity is also the best diet for diabetics. It is a diet with a high nutrient per calorie ratio, as carefully described in my book, Eat To Live. When you eat a diet consisting predominantly of nature's perfect foods—green vegetables, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, raw nuts and seeds, and limited amounts of fresh fruit, it becomes relatively easy to eat as much as you want and still lose your excess weight. In my experience, those who follow my nutritional recommendations find that their diabetes disappears astonishingly fast, even before most of their excess weight melts away.

Eating lots of fruits and veggies seems a lot less creepy than being injected with pig—I don’t know, call me a cynic.

Threats to America

Posted on October 18, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Check this out from Adbusters magazine. It’s make you think…

(via We Like It Raw)

Tags: Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes

Health's Hard Times

Posted on October 10, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Nicholas Bakalar of The New York Times shows us that economic hard times can actually be healthy times—or at least was the case for Cuba. Take a look:

Using national vital statistics and other sources, the researchers gathered data on energy intake, body weight and physical activity in Cuba from 1980 to 2005. In Cienfuegos, a large city on the southern coast, obesity rates decreased to less than 7 percent in 1995 from more than 14 percent in 1991. As more food became available, obesity increased to about 12 percent again by 2002.

Nationwide, coronary heart disease mortality declined 35 percent from 1997 to 2002. Diabetes mortality was down to less than 10 per 100,000 in 2003 from 19 per 100,000 in 1988. The death rate from all causes declined to 4.7 per thousand in 2002 from 5.9 per thousand in 1982.

I can see it now…The Poverty Diet!

Tags: Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Research, Weight Loss

Omega-3s and Type-1 Diabetes

Posted on September 28, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

New research claims a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids can cut children’s risk of Type-1 diabetes. Julie Steenhuysen of Reuters reports:

"It is a relatively large effect," said Jill Norris, whose study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"It is exciting because it suggests we might be able to develop nutritional interventions to prevent diabetes."

Type 1 diabetes, formerly called juvenile diabetes, is the most common form of diabetes in children. It occurs when the immune system goes haywire and starts attacking insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

No one knows exactly what triggers this process, but heredity and environmental factors such as diet are thought to play a role.

Hey! Dr. Fuhrman will tell you, omegas are important. Just check out Wednesday’s post Essential Fatty Acids. Here’s a snippet:

Optimal health depends on the proper balance of fatty acids in the diet. The modern diet that most of us eat supplies an excessive amount of omega-6 fat, but often too little omega-3 fat. This relative deficiency of omega-3 fats has potentially serious implications. Also, the consumption of too much omega-6 fat leads to high levels of arachidonic acid (AA). Higher levels of arachidonic acid can promote inflammation.

Thursday: Health Points

Posted on September 20, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

This’ll scare the pants off you. The New York Times takes a look at the poisonous cocktail you could be creating when you take multiple medications. More from Jane E. Brody:

Dr. Stern, a specialist in geriatric emergency medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, noted that the elderly took about 40 percent of prescribed drugs, roughly twice what younger adults take, and that they suffered twice as many adverse drug reactions as younger people.

“The average community-dwelling older adult takes 4.5 prescription drugs and 2.1 over-the-counter medications,” Dr. Stern reported. Polypharmacy is responsible for up to 28 percent of hospital admissions and, he added, if it were classified as such, it would be the fifth leading cause of death in the United States.

Curious about back exercises? This article in The Detroit Free Press should give you plenty of ideas. The roman chair—eek—sounds like a torture device! Have a look:

Training your lower back can improve your posture, develop your abdominal muscles and help prevent lower back pain and injury. A great twist on an old favorite is the low-cable back extension. This is a little more challenging than the traditional exercise, but it's a welcome change of pace.

First, position a roman chair or back extension machine inside the cable station. The machine should be squarely facing the weight stack with enough distance between the machine and the weight stack that there is still tension on the cable when you are at the bottom of the exercise.

More good news for exercise! A new study has determined that any kind of exercise is good for diabetics. Maggie Fox of Reuters is on it:

Weight training works just as well as running on a treadmill or biking to help the most important symptom of type-2 diabetes -- long-term control of blood sugar -- Canadian researchers said on Monday.

Doing both aerobic and resistance training lowered blood sugar levels better than either alone, researchers said -- and both appeared to be safe.

At least 194 million people worldwide have diabetes, and the World Health Organization expects the number to rise to more than 300 million by 2025.

Well, it’s a lofty goal, but according to the Associated Press the FDA wants kids to start reading food labels. Check it out:

Reading the food labels was "a little bit confusing, but after a while I got used to it," said the fifth-grader from suburban Doral.

"Since I find parents are not doing a bang-up job (teaching nutrition), I think it's important to empower the children with their own information," said Miami registered dietitian Ronni Litz Julien.

The FDA partnered with the Cartoon Network earlier this year to launch a public education campaign encouraging children ages 9 to 13 - or tweens - to read the nutrition facts on food labels.

In general some websites can be pretty confusing to weed through, but, a new study has determined that hospital info on the web can be misleading. From HealthDay News:

"Patients are using the Internet to find health-related quality information, and the information is out there," noted lead researcher Dr. Michael J. Leonardi, from the department of surgery at David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles. "But the information is inconsistent and varies from Web site to Web site," he said.

A lot of Web sites try to rank hospitals, Leonardi said. But because there is no standard way of calculating quality differences, Internet sites come up with different results for the same hospitals, he noted.

E. coli, in the news again! Apparently Dole has recalled bagged salad mix due an E. coli scare. The reports:

The tainted bag of Dole’s Hearts Delight salad mix was sold at a store in Canada, officials said. Neither Canadian health officials nor Dole Food Co. have received reports of anyone getting sick from the product.

The voluntary recall, issued Monday, affects all packages of Hearts Delight sold in the United States and Canada with a “best if used by” date of September 19, 2007, and a production code of “A24924A” or “A24924B,” the company said.

Running is fun! The wind rushing by you, heart pounding—what a rush! But if you’re not a runner, MSN Health & Fitness has a nice little article to help get you interested. Take a look:

Worried that you'll take up running and then quit? No chance. Just follow our simple but surefire training program. It just might be the most exciting time in your entire running career. But you won't necessarily realize it.

First steps...starting out...the beginning of a great adventure. In fact, in lots of ways, it's sort of a declaration of personal independence. A statement that says, "In a world that confronts me with mechanical convenience and idle luxury at virtually every turn, I have decided, nonetheless, to improve my physical fitness."

Aetiology is blogging about a British hospital’s edict banning doctors from wearing neckties because they spread disease. Here’s more:

Of course, at issue is the fact that for doctors coming into close contact with many ill patients, all that extra fabric and buttons and ties and watches are just additional places for bacteria to colonize and hop on over to the next person.

Will it help? Not sure, but I suppose it falls under the "can't hurt" category. The article also notes that a study of doctors' ties a few years' back showed that almost half were contaminated with a minimum of one species of pathogen--so eliminate the dirty tie, maybe they'll pass around fewer germs? Time will tell, I suppose.

Wait. Drugs have side-effects? Duh! According to Reuters the FDA has issued a warning that the schizophrenia drug Haldol can cause heart problems. Read on:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said new labeling on the drug will note that ailments, including QT prolongation, a disorder of the heart's electrical system that can lead to a life-threatening condition, have been observed in post-marketing studies.

The drug is also sold generically under the name haloperidol.

Several other drugs for schizophrenia, including a much newer J&J drug including Invega, have warnings about the risk of the serious cardiac effect.

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Exercise, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Research, Toxins

American Food Not Good for Immigrants

Posted on September 18, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Just in case you doubted exactly how unhealthy the standard American diet is. Read this article from CNN. Immigrant children have a disastrous time adjusting to and resisting the urge of American junk food. More from John Bonifield:

Adrian McHargh grew up active and skinny in Kingston, Jamaica. An enthusiastic swimmer, he had the pristine waters of the Caribbean for a playground until two years ago, when he and his family moved to America.

"I would always cook a healthy dinner," the 13-year-old's mother, Visha Siew-Narine, says about mealtime on the island. "When he came here, I think the fascination of having all this food that we couldn't afford in Jamaica, or that wasn't really available, that was kind of new to him."

In suburban Atlanta, things changed fast. The new foods were cheap, unhealthy and hard to resist: toaster waffles, corn dogs and the chocolate syrup Adrian liked so much he guzzled it straight from the bottle.

"I would eat a lot because I was bored," he says. "I was sitting on the couch just watching TV, not playing a lot."

Within months, Adrian was in trouble. He'd packed on 30 pounds. Doctors said he had hypertension, high cholesterol and was at high risk for type 2 diabetes.

I hate to say it, but, we’ve seen this before. Asian immigrants also have a heard time adjusting to all the garbage food polluting our food supply; White Kids Have Highest Diabetes Rate.

Tags: Diabetes, Research

Thursday: Health Points

Posted on September 13, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Great news! Burger King plans to sell apple slices that look like French fries. The Associated Press is all over this stroke of marketing genius. Take a look:

Burger King Holdings Inc., the world's second largest hamburger chain, said it has set nutritional guidelines to follow when targeting children under 12 in advertising, including limiting ads to Kids Meals that contain no more than 560 calories, less than 30 percent of calories from fat and no more than 10 percent of calories from added sugars.

In that vein, Burger King is building a Kids Meal that will contain the flame-broiled Tenders, organic unsweetened applesauce and low-fat milk, for a total of 305 calories and 8.5 grams of fat. It will be available in restaurants sometime in 2008, the company said.

The fast-food chain is also developing what it calls BK Fresh Apple Fries. The red apples are cut to resemble french fries and are served in the same containers as fries, but they are not fried and are served skinless and cold.

Maybe gas is so expensive, that people can’t afford food. Reuters reports that higher gas prices seem to be having a slimming effect on Americans. Here:

The report, written by Charles Courtemanche for his doctoral dissertation in health economics, found that the 13 percent rise in obesity between 1979 and 2004 can be attributed to falling pump prices.

Gasoline hit a low of less than $1.50 per gallon in 2000 before moving back to a record high of $3.22 in May 2007.

Higher gasoline prices can reduce obesity by leading people to walk or cycle instead of drive and eat leaner at home instead of rich food at restaurants.

The suits over at GlaxoSmithKline must be in a panic because a new study casts more doubt on the diabetes drug Avandia. Gardiner Harris of The New York Times reports:

One study found that Avandia, made by GlaxoSmithKline, doubled the risks of heart failure and raised the risks of heart attack by 42 percent. A second study found that Actos, a similar drug made by Takeda, actually lowered the risks of heart attacks, strokes and death but, like Avandia, also raised risks of heart failure.

Taken together, some of the authors said, the two studies in The Journal of the American Medical Association confirm what doctors and patients using Avandia have already done in great numbers, that is, switch to another drug. Sales of Avandia have plunged.

GlaxoSmithKline said in a written statement that the studies were flawed and “offered no new information on the safety of Avandia.” The company “continues to support Avandia as safe and effective when used appropriately,” the statement said.

Money talks and fat walks. Australian doctors believe overweight people should be paid to attend weight-loss programs. More from the AFP:

Obesity has more than doubled in Australia in the last 20 years and is placing an uncomfortable strain not only on waistlines but on health services, the Australian General Practice Network said.

To combat the spiralling problem, it wants the government to give the overweight a 170 dollar (141 dollar US) subsidy to do something about their expanding physique.

The network, which represents general practitioners, said effective weight-loss programmes were often too expensive, particularly for those with modest incomes.

According to The Los Angeles Times, L.A. officials are considering an outright ban on fast food restaurants. Tami Abdollah has more:

Amid worries of an obesity epidemic and its related illnesses, including high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, Los Angeles officials, among others around the country, are proposing to limit new fast-food restaurants -- a tactic that could be called health zoning.

The City Council will be asked this fall to consider an up to two-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in South L.A., a part of the city where fast food is at least as much a practicality as a preference.

"The people don't want them, but when they don't have any other options, they may gravitate to what's there," said Councilwoman Jan Perry, who proposed the ordinance in June, and whose district includes portions of South L.A. that would be affected by the plan.

Kids with high blood pressure? Yeah, it’s actually a growing problem. Rob Stein of The Washington Post examines:

"This is a major public-health problem," said Rebecca Din-Dzietham of the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, who led the study, which will be published in the Sept. 25 issue of the American Heart Association journal Circulation. "Unless this upward trend in high blood pressure is reversed, we could be facing an explosion of new cardiovascular-disease cases in young adults and adults."

With an adult form of diabetes already being diagnosed more frequently in children and more young people developing high cholesterol, the new finding is another indication that the obesity epidemic is spawning a generation at heightened risk for illnesses that struck their parents and grandparents only later in life, experts said.

"This is very worrisome," said Elizabeth Nabel, director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. "This is another piece of evidence suggesting that the obesity epidemic will likely turn into a heart-disease epidemic."

The Diabetes Blog asks another very good question, should you diabetics seek a doctor or a dietician? Here’s a snippet:

A gaping hole exists between conventional medicine and diet. Conventional medicine claims that the cause of Type 2 diabetes is unknown. Medical doctors, as practitioners of conventional medicine, are not trained to explain how it happened. They treat symptoms with medicine. The business of medicine is medicine. The business of diabetes would be devasted if the cure was as simple as diet. The explanation Thomas Smith provides in his empirical studies is fascinating and I encourage anybody with competing or supporting evidence to open the debate.

Apparently all those ladies in the gym are doing it more for health, than looks—go figure! Jack Kelly of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports:

"Women who have this disorder usually are interested in exercise to improve their appearance, but an instructor who emphasizes physique during a workout may deter such students from coming back," said Brian Focht, assistant professor of health behavior and health promotion at Ohio State, and a co-author of the study.

The study, which was published in the journal Psychology of Sport and Exercise, indicated women in the study reported that they enjoyed a step aerobics class more when the instructor focused on how the workout was making them more fit.

Even though most of the women studied took the class primarily because they were concerned about their body image, they enjoyed the class less and were less likely to take another if the instructor emphasized how a particular exercise would tone their legs, slim their waists, or otherwise improve their appearance, the researchers found.

This is a big oops. Apparently many physicians in training can’t properly interpret the statistics in medical literature. The Cancer Blog is all over it:

A new study from Yale shows that 75 percent of physicians in training surveyed do not understand the statistics used in medical literature. The study surveyed internal medicine residents at 11 programs across the country.

The residents scored an average of 41% correct on the test and the senior residents scored worse than the junior residents, possibly reflecting a loss of knowledge over time.

Tags: Blood Pressure, Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Hurtful Food, Obesity, Research, Weight Loss

Health Insurance: Points of Interest

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

The Diabetes Blog wants to know, why don’t insurance companies insure diabetic children? A fair question, let’s explore why:

After speaking with underwriters in the top 40 or so companies, Ed Hinerman, a life insurance specialist with the Hinerman Group, found a discernible lack of interest due to lack of data. Companies would say that they couldn't consider someone with type 1 diabetes until they were either age 15 or age 20. A peer in the industry told Ed the knee jerk reaction was because insurance companies haven't done mortality studies on children. They simply don't have any data upon which to base the pricing for products. Uh oh!! That coupled with the fact that there really isn't any financial incentive for them to study and create products for a relatively small market that would produce relatively low premium, kind of sets the tone. Well, now the war has been defined and the battles are becoming clearer…

…Bottom line. Life insurance companies make big money and for them to cut and run from children just because it might not make them more big bucks, or because they really haven't done their homework and aren't interested in doing it, isn't acceptable. Game on! I hope we can make a good showing, at the very least - hit one out of the park for the fans. Thanks for inviting me to play, Ed!

Now here’s a report that’ll make your blood boil. According to Reuters health insurance premiums rise faster than wages. Kim Dixon has more:

Premiums for employer-based health insurance have risen 6.1 percent in 2007, down from a 7.7 percent increase a year earlier, according to an annual survey of about 2,000 employers by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit research group.

But despite the slowdown in premium increases, the cost for family coverage has risen 78 percent since 2001, while wages rose 19 percent and prices for goods and services have risen 17 percent in that period, according to the report.

"Even though the rate of increase is moderating a little bit, nobody is celebrating, because it's year after year of increases," the foundation's president, Drew Altman, said.

The findings come days after the government unexpectedly said U.S. employers cut 4,000 jobs in August, the first drop in four years. The moderation in premium rises comes amid robust economic growth, but that is seen threatened if growth stalls.

Tags: Diabetes, Research

Insulin for Type II Diabetes Makes Things Worse

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Joel Fuhrman

Insulin works less effectively when people eat fatty foods or gain weight. Diets containing less fat improve insulin sensitivity, as does weight loss.1 An individual who is overweight requires more insulin, whether he or she is diabetic or not. In fact, giving overweight diabetic people even more insulin makes them sicker by promoting weight gain. They become even more diabetic. How does this process work? Our pancreas secretes the amount of insulin demanded by the body. A person of normal weight with about a third of an inch of periumbilical fat will secrete X amount of insulin. Let’s say this person gains about twenty pounds of fat. His body will now require more insulin, almost twice as much, because fat on the body blocks the uptake of insulin into the cells.

If the person is obese, with more than fifty pounds of additional fat weight, his body will demand huge loads of insulin from the pancreas, even as much as ten times more than a person of normal weight needs. So what do you think happens after five to ten years of forcing the pancreas to work so hard? You guessed it — pancreatic poop-out.

The pancreas begins to secrete less insulin, in spite of the huge demands of the body. Eventually, with less insulin available to move glucose from the bloodstream into the cells, the glucose level in the blood starts to rise and the person gets diagnosed with diabetes. In most cases, these individuals are still secreting an excessive amount of insulin (compared with a person of normal weight), just not enough for them. When they eat a less taxing diet and lose weight, they don’t need the extra insulin to control the sugars.

What this means is that typical Type II diabetes is caused by overweight in individuals who have a smaller reserve of insulin-secreting cells in the pancreas. In the susceptible individual, even ten to twenty pounds of excess weight could make the difference. Losing the extra weight enables these individuals to live within the capabilities of their body. Most Type II diabetics still produce enough insulin to maintain normalcy as long as they maintain a thinner, normal weight.

Following a vegetable-based nutrient-dense diet is the most important thing a diabetic individual can do to extend his or her life span. It has been known for years that intentional weight loss improves diabetics’ blood sugars, lipids, and blood pressure. A recent study documented a significant increase in life expectancy, with an average of 25 percent reduced premature mortality when diabetic individuals dropped their body weight.2 Imagine the results when a program of nutritional excellence achieves the weight loss.

Insulin is a dangerous drug for Type II diabetics. These are people who are overweight to begin with. Insulin therapy will result in further weight gain, accelerating their diabetes. A vicious cycle begins that usually causes patients to require more and more insulin as they put on the pounds. When they come to see me for the first time, they report their sugars are impossible to control in spite of massive doses of insulin, which they are now combining with oral medication. It is like walking around with a live hand grenade in your pocket ready to explode at any minute.
Continue Reading...

Tags: Diabetes

Wednesday: Health Points

Posted on September 5, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

China’s been having a tough time with toxins lately, but now they’ve vowed to clean up their act. Reuters reports:

China will clamp down on foods tainted with illegal and excessive chemicals as it seeks to quell domestic and foreign alarm about toxins in meat, seafood and vegetables, the country's top agriculture official said…

…Minister of Agriculture Sun Zhengcai said consumers had no reason to fear eating most of the nation's farm produce, while the nation's quality inspection agency announced comprehensive food export tagging in a bid to reassure customers.

Here’s a solid idea. Want kids to eat their veggies? Help them grow their own. More from That’s Fit:

A study of nearly 1,700 children in rural Missouri found that those who usually ate homegrown fruits and veggies had one full serving more a day than those who didn't and were more likely to prefer the types of produce that they grew at home.

You don't need to live in the country to garden with kids. If you'd like to test out your green thumb with your youngsters, you can try container gardening (here's a tip: hollowed out oranges or grapefruit make excellent bio-degradable containers), planting in a window box, or even digging a small plot like we did. The joy is in the digging, the planting, the getting dirty, and the time spent together, as well as fresh veggies all summer long.

Clearly, too much Dutch chocolate is a bad idea. According to new research, by 2015 one in five Dutch children will be obese. The AFP reports:

One child in five will be obese in the Netherlands by 2015, according to a study carried out by the Nicis research institute in the country's major cities, the Dutch news agency ANP reported Tuesday.

Fewer than 10 percent of children in primary school manage to average half an hour exercise a day. Among teenagers, it is fewer than 30 percent.

As a result, by 2015 one Dutch child in five will be too heavy, Nicis found.

The Diabetes Blog takes a look at a great study claiming vegetable fiber is a great defense against diabetes. Check it out:

The study tracked the eating habits of more than two thousand people over a ten year period. Wow. The researchers also reported that those whose diets contained fiber from mainly cereal or fruit sources did not fare so well - they had a higher risk for type 2 diabetes than those getting lots of fiber from veggie sources. The reason could be that foods high in vegetable fiber produce smaller fluctuations in blood glucose and insulin levels than would cereal or fruits. Lead researcher, Alan Barclay, says legumes are the best fiber source of all.

Warm milk a sleep aid? Anahad O’Connor of The New York Times investigates milk’s reputation of being a cure for insomnia. Read on:

One study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology demonstrated this in 2003. The study, which was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed that eating protein-rich foods — like milk — decreased the ability of tryptophan to enter the brain.

The trick, the study showed, is to eat foods high in carbohydrates, which stimulate the release of insulin. Insulin, in turn, makes it easier for tryptophan to enter the brain.

But surveys have found that many people swear by milk as a sleep aid, and that may have something to do with psychology.

The Cancer Blog takes a look at research claiming that fat can turn vitamin C into a cancer-promoting agent. Here’s more:

The interaction of vitamins and minerals in the body (synergy) can have a strong impact on the effectiveness of many of them, but this seems like an odd one to me. Nevertheless, lipid and ascorbic acid interaction was studied in terms of possible cancer contributions to the upper stomach area (which is sensitive to cancerous issues and tumor development).

Nanci Hellmich of USA Today asks the question, why are parents in denial about kids' weight? Let’s find out:

A Consumer Reports magazine poll released July 25 of 3,048 parents who have children ages 5 to 17 found that 91% say childhood obesity is a problem in the USA. But of the parents of children whose body mass index (BMI) categorizes them as overweight, half say their kids weigh what they should.

Only 36% of the parents with heavy children say their physician has suggested their child lose weight; the other 64% say the doctor didn't mention it.

Many parents simply don't realize their children are overweight, says Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian in private practice in Chicago and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. "The doctor never told them. Other kids in the class look like their child, and their kid seems pretty healthy," she says.

Salt is bad news. Maybe that’s why health organizations want Americans to cut our salt intake in half. The Cardio Blog is on it:

What can you do to lower your salt intake? You can eat fewer processed foods and become a savvy label reader. You can make more of your foods at home and use spices instead of salts to flavor food. When eating out, ask for unsalted foods and empty your salt shaker at home. You can even consider making your own bread, since bread and cereal products account for a large portion of our daily intake. Shoot for 1,500 to 2,400 mg of salt a day, which seems like a lot but is much lower than the 4,000 to 6,000 mg the average American eats today.

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Healthy Parenting, Hurtful Food, Obesity, Research

High Fructose and Diabetes

Posted on August 30, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Surprise-surprise, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may increase diabetes risk. The Diabetes Blog is on it:

Not surprisingly, the food industry has always defended HFCS against claims that it is harmful. But here's the latest contradiction of that claim: a recent study found that HFCS is "astonishingly" high in reactive carbonyls, which are thought to contribute to the development of diabetes. The study was led by Dr. Chi-tang Ho, head of Rutgers University's Department of Food Science, and colleagues. They concluded that one can of HFCS-sweetened soda contains five times the reactive carbonyls that are normally found in the blood of a person with diabetes.

A news release by the American Chemical Society, announcing Dr. Ho's findings, notes that previous studies have already linked HFCS to cell and tissue damage. They suggest that HFCS consumption may raise the risk of diabetes, not to mention obesity. Say's Dr. Ho: "People consume too much high-fructose corn syrup in this country. It's in way too many food and drink products and there's growing evidence that it's bad for you."

You’re not going to find any love for HFCS here. Dr. Fuhrman considers it unnatural and should be avoided. From Disease-Proof Your Child:

HFCS is not only fattening, but this inexpensive and ultra-concentrated sugar has no resemblance to real food made by nature. It is another experiment thrust upon our unsuspecting children with unknown dangerous consequences. Besides sugar, corn syrup, and chemicals, these drinks often contain caffeine, an addictive stimulant. Children crave more and more as they get older. By adolescence most children have become soft-drink addicts. It is no surprise that six out of the seven most popular soft drinks contain caffeine. Contrast this high level of sugary “liquid candy” with the meager intake of fresh produce by children and teenagers, and it is no surprise that we have an obesity epidemic beyond all expectations.

Diabetes, Diabesity

Posted on August 23, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

The Diabetes Blog has an interesting little ditty about diabetes. Maybe we should eat less and exercise more? Check it out:

These days we live in houses, and consume more than we need to sustain homeostasis and beyond. We walk very little and we all put on weight as we get older, especially around our waists. As we continue on this path of least resistance, and most convenience -- diabesity is becoming a mainstay in our lives. If eating healthy and walking more became an easy and convenient option for everybody -- could this be an automatic resolution to an unforgiving problem?

The plain truth is you don’t have to settle for diabetes.

Tags: Diabetes

NY Times: Fat to Diabetes to Heart Disease

Posted on August 21, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Maybe I’m wrong on this—chances are I am—but I think most people compartmentalize disease. I don’t think they realize having one disease can lead to another and so on and so on. Take this guy for example. Mr. Smith didn’t realize his diabetes was setting him up for a heart attack. Gina Kolata of The New York Times reports:

Mr. Smith, a 43-year-old pastor in Fairmont, Minn., tried hard. When dieting did not work, he began counting carbohydrates, taking pills to lower his blood sugar and pricking his finger several times a day to measure his sugar levels. They remained high, so he agreed to add insulin to his already complicated regimen. Blood sugar was always on his mind.

But in focusing entirely on blood sugar, Mr. Smith ended up neglecting the most important treatment for saving lives — lowering the cholesterol level. That protects against heart disease, which eventually kills nearly everyone with diabetes.

He also was missing a second treatment that protects diabetes patients from heart attacks — controlling blood pressure. Mr. Smith assumed everything would be taken care of if he could just lower his blood sugar level…

…Mr. Smith, like 90 percent of diabetes patients, has Type 2 diabetes, the form that usually arises in adulthood when the insulin-secreting cells of the pancreas cannot keep up with the body’s demand for the hormone. The other form of diabetes, Type 1, is far less common and usually arises in childhood or adolescence when insulin-secreting pancreas cells die.

And, like many diabetes patients, Mr. Smith ended up paying the price for his misconceptions about diabetes. Last year, he had a life-threatening heart attack.

Apparently it never dawned on him that his fatness might be setting him up for diabetes either. To get the full effect of this article, check out the video report. There are a couple dopey quotes from the doctors they interviewed. Take a look:

You’ve got to love it when medical professionals downplay just how much diet factors into the development of diseases. It makes you wonder where they're getting their doctorates from—Hamburger U! Now, back to reality, we all know that diet is a major determinant of disease, especially when you’re fat like Mr. Smith. Dr. Fuhrman talks about it in Eat to Live:

Overweight individuals are more likely to die from all causes, including heart disease and cancer. Two-thirds of those with weight problems also have hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, or another obesity-related condition.1 It is a major cause of early mortality in the United States.2 Since dieting almost never works and the health risks of obesity are so life-threatening, more and more people are desperately turning to drugs and surgical procedures to lose weight…

…As a good rule of thumb: for optimal health and longevity, a man should not have more than one-half inch of skin that he can pinch near his umbilicus (belly button) and a woman should not have more than one inch. Almost any fat on the body over this minimum is a health risk. If you have gained even as little as ten pounds since the age of eighteen or twenty, then you could be at significant increased risk for health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. The truth is that most people who think they are at the right weight still have too much fat on their body.

So, with that being said, maybe Mr. Smith should spend less time in church and more time in the gym. Not to mention snagging a copy of Eat to Live so that he can get rid of all those pills and syringes.
Continue Reading...

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Research

Can't Beat Those Z's

Posted on August 9, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

The Diabetes Blog is all over research linking lack of sleep to obesity and type-2 diabetes. Check it out:

The study found that sleep loss reduced glycogen release from the liver. Since the patient was still awake, requiring energy (and none was being supplied) - the islets withheld production of insulin to sustain existing blood sugar. The aftermath of this suspended glucose metabolism resulted in increased hunger. Yikes.

I’m definitely the pot calling the kettle black here. I know I should be getting more sleep—anyone else an ultra-busy taskmaster? And I’m not exactly doing myself any favors by skipping out on bed time. According to Dr. Fuhrman sufficient sleep is an important part of long-term health:

Adequate sleep is a necessary component of good health. Our modern society stays up late into the night and wakes in the morning to an alarm clock—long before sleep requirements have been fulfilled. To make matters worse, most Americans partake in stimulating substances—such as caffeine and sugar—to remain artificially alert during the day.

During sleep, your body removes the buildup of waste in the brain. Sufficient sleep is necessary for the normal function of your nervous and endocrine systems. Most civilizations in human history recognized the value of mid-afternoon naps. The desire for a rest, short sleep, or “siesta” after lunch should not be seen as an abnormal need, but rather a normal one. People who “cover up” their lack of sleep by using drugs (such as caffeine) as food and/or food (such as highly processed, sugary foods) as drugs sometimes claim (even boast) that they can get by with very little sleep. As you begin to live more healthfully, you may quickly recognize that you need more sleep than you previously thought.

We need to avoid stimulants in order to be in touch with our body’s need for sleep, and only by meeting these needs can we maximize the body’s tremendous capacity for ongoing repair and regeneration of cells.

Remind me to kill my alarm clock.

Tags: Diabetes, Obesity

Exercise, Uber Medicine

Posted on July 30, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

As someone who exercises an average of ten hours a week, I love reading reports like this. New research suggests young type-1 diabetics benefit from exercise. When is exercise ever a bad thing? Anyway, Madeline Vann of HealthDay News is on it:

The researchers analyzed the physical activity levels outside of school and cardiovascular health of more than 23,000 subjects between the ages of 3 and 18. They found that heart health increased as the amount of physical activity increased.

The more active the children were, the lower the percentage of patients with high cholesterol and triglycerides. Nearly 40 percent of those with no regular physical activity had high cholesterol and triglycerides. Of the children who were active once or twice a week, 36 percent had high cholesterol and triglycerides, and for those who were active three or more times a week, only 34.4 percent had high cholesterol and triglycerides.

Writing in the August issue of Diabetes Care the researchers reported that children who were active at least once or twice per week were also less likely to have high blood pressure than those who had no exercise.

Since we’re talking about type-1 diabetes, it’s important to remember there is Hope for Type 1 Childhood Onset Diabetics.

Your Waist, Your Heart

Posted on July 19, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

We all know excess bodyweight increases your risk of disease, and clearly, a really big waist probably means you’re sporting extra pounds. Now, new research claims reducing waist size decreases one’s risk of heart disease and diabetes—makes sense, seems like the opposite. Reuters reports:

French researchers found that men and women whose waistlines expanded by 3 inches or more over nine years were at increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome -- a collection of risk factors, including high blood pressure and unhealthy cholesterol levels, that raise a person's odds of diabetes and heart disease.

In contrast, women who shed just an inch or more from their midsections had a lower risk of developing metabolic syndrome than women whose waistlines stayed the same.

What's more, a slimmed-down middle benefited women who already had metabolic syndrome at the study's outset, the researchers report in the journal Diabetes Care. Compared with women who had metabolic syndrome and an unchanged waistline, those who lost an inch or more were nearly four times more likely to no longer have the syndrome at the study's close.

(via The Cardio-Blog)

Not exactly eye-opening research, but important nonetheless. Dr. Fuhrman often stresses that the one of the keys to long-term health and disease-prevention is maintaining healthy bodyweight. Take heart disease for example; from Reverse Heart Disease Aggressively:

When you normalize your blood pressure and LDL cholesterol with nutritional intervention rather than drugs, you accomplish even greater risk reduction. As your weight drops, your blood sugar, triglycerides, blood pressure, and cholesterol also drop dramatically. Your body is flooded with nutrients that protect your blood vessels from disease and rupture. This approach provides maximal protection and offers benefits beyond merely lowering cholesterol.

The dietary program I recommend for heart-disease reversal utilizes natural cholesterol-lowering therapies instead of drugs, which eliminates the risks of drug side effects. And because my dietary program is richer in fiber and nutrients than the typical vegetarian diet, my patients achieve spectacular reductions in cholesterol, body weight, and blood pressure. Fortunately, this approach also can help those who already have heart disease. They can avoid future heart attacks and reverse and remove atherosclerosis.

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Obesity, Research

Keep on Trucking...Healthier

Posted on July 18, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

The Diabetes Blog passes on some new research outlining the health risks for most truck drivers. Look:

According to a new survey of truckers, that lifestyle of long hours sitting on your tushie is catching up with the nation's big rig drivers. Obesity is rampant and so are obesity-related health problems like heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. Oh, then there's sleep apnea, smoking, and the fact that many drivers admit they don't bother with seatbelts.

Too bad all truck drives can’t look like this:

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Obesity, Research

Diabetes Drug: Triple the Side Effects

Posted on July 16, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Not good news for the makers of the diabetes medication Avandia, its got some real-real serious side effects. Marilynn Marchione of the Associated Press reports:

In the month after a surprising analysis revealed possible heart risks from the blockbuster diabetes drug Avandia, reports of side effects to federal regulators tripled.

The sudden spike is a sign that doctors probably were unaware of the drug's possible role in their patients' heart problems and therefore may not have reported many such cases in the past, several experts said.

It also shows the flaws of the safety tracking system and suggests that a better one might have detected a potential problem before the drug had been on the market for eight years.

Avandia is used to control blood sugar, helping more than 6 million people worldwide manage Type 2 diabetes, the kind that is linked to obesity. These people already are at higher risk for heart attacks, so news that the drug might raise this risk by 43 percent was especially disturbing.

Now, for a real way to treat—and even prevent diabetes—check out Don't Settle For Diabetes.

Tags: Diabetes, Research

UPDATE: Diabetes: Easy as Pumpkin Pie?

Posted on July 10, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

New research suggests pumpkin extract may be better for Type-1 diabetics than insulin. Madeline Vann of HealthDay News is on it:

Type 1 diabetic rats fed the extract had only 5 percent fewer plasma insulin and 8 percent fewer insulin positive (beta) cells than rats without diabetes. According to the researchers, the extract helped damaged pancreatic cells responsible for insulin production to regenerate and make more insulin.

The study was published in the July issue of the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

Lead researcher Tao Xia, of East China Normal University in Shanghai, noted that although insulin shots will probably always be necessary for type 1 diabetics, pumpkin extract could drastically reduce the amount of insulin needed.

Although, studies using Jack-o-lantern extract have proved less than encouraging.

UPDATE: I'm not the only one with a snarky comment. Here's what Dr. Fuhrman had to say about this research:

Hard to believe that it could work so well in humans, I don't even believe this study, doesn't even intuitively make sense, that damaged and non-functioning beta cells could come back to life after exposure to a pumpkin. Maybe Cinderella's fairy godmother is behind this?

Diabetes: Vitamin C, Good!

Posted on July 3, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

The Diabetes Blog takes a look a new research linking intake of Vitamin C with fewer diabetes complications. Take a look:

Vitamin C packs a punch, they said, because it helps to clean up ("scavenge," in the words of lead researcher Antonio Ceriello) free radicals - molecules that cause tissue damage. This is of particular concern for diabetics because diabetics' bodies produce more free radicals than those of non-diabetics. This is why diabetics are especially likely to suffer from heart disease. It is also why diabetics are prone to tissue and nerve damage in the feet and legs - damage that all-too-often necessitates amputation.

Oh course, you could always just knock diabetes out for good: Don't Settle For Diabetes.

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food

Diabetes: Caveman or Mediterranean?

Posted on July 2, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

More lumps for the Mediterranean diet. New research has revealed that the Mediterranean diet doesn’t stack up against something called the “Stone Age” diet. The Diabetes Blog is on it:

Scientists took a small group of fourteen glucose intolerant heart patients and put them on the diet of a lifetime: lean meat, fish, fruits, vegetables and nuts. This, it is assumed, is the sort of diet consumed by our Stone Age ancestors - hunter gatherers who lived around 70,000 years ago, long before the emergence of agriculture. Meanwhile, another group of patients with similar health issues were put on a supposedly healthy "Mediterranean diet" rich in whole grains, dairy, fruits and veggies, and unsaturated fats. Well, you guessed it. After twelve weeks, the researchers found those on the Stone Age diet had much more stable blood sugar levels and were better able to process carbohydrates without such major blood sugar fluctuations. In fact, all the Stone Age patients had normal blood glucose levels by the end of the study and also dropped a few pounds too. Those on the Mediterranean diet, however, experienced hardly any changes at all.

Now, talk about setting the bar low. Dr. Fuhrman doesn’t speak too highly of the Mediterranean diet. Just consider the people Crete. More from Eat to Live:

In the 1950s people living in the Mediterranean, especially on the island of Crete, were lean and virtually free of heart disease. Yet over 40 percent of their caloric intake come from fat, primarily olive oil. If we look at the diet they consumed back then, we note that Cretans ate mostly fruits, vegetables, beans and some fish. Saturated fat was less than 6 percent of their total fat intake. True, they ate lots of olive oil, but the rest of their diet was exceptionally healthy. They also worked hard in the fields, walking about nine miles a day, often pushing a plow or working other manual farm equipment.

Today the people of Crete are fat, just like us. They're still eating a lot of olive oil, but their consumption of fruits, vegetables, and beans is down. Meat, cheese, and fish are their new staples, and their physical activity level has plummeted. Today, heart disease has skyrocketed and more than half the population of both adults and children in Crete is overweight.1

As someone who reads a lot of health blogs, I already see the trouble with this research. Lots of people hear the words “cave man” or “Stone Age” diet and right away they start thinking primitive people and eating lots of meat is the secret to long-term health—a dangerous assumption according to Dr. Fuhrman. He talks about it in Do Primitive Peoples Really Live Longer:

No. For example, Inuit Greenlanders, who historically have had limited access to fruits and vegetables, have the worst longevity statistics in North America. Research from the past and present shows that they die on the average about 10 years younger and have a higher rate of cancer than the overall Canadian population.2

Similar statistics are available for the high meat-consuming Maasai in Kenya. They eat a diet high in wild hunted meats and have the worst life expectancy in the modern world. Life expectancy is 45 years for women and 42 years for men. African researchers report that, historically, Maasai rarely lived beyond age 60. Adult mortality figures on the Kenyan Maasai show that they have a 50% chance of dying before the age of 59.3

We now know that greatly increasing the consumption of vegetables, legumes, fruits, and raw nuts and seeds (and greatly decreasing the consumption of animal products) offers profound increased longevity potential, due in large part to broad symphony of life-extending phytochemical nutrients that a vegetable-based diet contains. By taking advantage of the year-round availability of high-quality plant foods, we have a unique opportunity to live both healthier and longer than ever before in human history.

In regard to diabetes, Dr. Fuhrman will tell you, the best way to prevent and reverse Type-2 diabetes is a nutrient-dense vegetable-based diet. More on that from Understanding the Development of Type 2 Diabetes:

How can diabetics safely lower the high glucose levels that are slowly destroying their bodies? How can they lower their lipids and blood pressure, lose weight, and avoid taking dangerous drugs, such as insulin and sulfonylureas? They need to adopt a diet based on nutritional excellence.

Fortunately, the best diet for good health and longevity is also the best diet for diabetics. It is a diet with a high nutrient per calorie ratio, as carefully described in my book, Eat to Live. When you eat a diet consisting predominantly of nature's perfect foods—green vegetables, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, raw nuts and seeds, and limited amounts of fresh fruit, it becomes relatively easy to eat as much as you want and still lose your excess weight. In my experience, those who follow my nutritional recommendations find that their diabetes disappears astonishingly fast, even before most of their excess weight melts away.

And fat? It’s especially bad for the diabetic. Dr. Fuhrman talks about fat and diabetes in his book Fasting and Eating for Health:

Experiments described in the medical literature have tested the effects of high-fat diets on insulin intolerance. In one study, healthy young medical students were fed a very high fat diet containing egg yolks, heavy cream, and butter, and within two days all of the students had blood sugar levels high enough to be labeled diabetic.4 Complex carbohydrates have been shown to have the opposite effect.5

Tags: Diabetes, Diet Myths, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Research

White Kids Have Highest Diabetes Rate

Posted on June 28, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Last year The New York Times took a look at the diabetes epidemic ravaging New York City. The series revealed that genetics (and a poor diet) give Asians and Hispanics an increased risk of developing type-2 diabetes. From Living at an Epicenter of Diabetes, Defiance and Despair:

The fact that East Harlem is roughly 90 percent Hispanic and black, groups believed to have a genetic predisposition to the disease, explains part of the problem. There are also other factors: bad food habits, little exercise, rampant poverty and, according to health officials, poor access to medical care.

Asians, especially those from Far Eastern nations like China, Korea and Japan, are acutely susceptible to Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease and the subject of this series. They develop it at far lower weights than people of other races, studies show; at any weight, they are 60 percent more likely to get the disease than whites.

And here’s a reminder that diabetes can effect everyone, regardless of race, religion, creed, or whatever. New research has determined that white children have the highest rate of type-1 diabetes in the United States. Julie Steenhuysen of Reuters reports:

"We found more type 1 diabetes than we expected in whites, blacks and Hispanics," said Dr. Dana Dabelea of the University of Colorado in Denver, who led the study.

"Although the rates of type 2 diabetes are relatively low, we did find type 2 in all racial and ethnic groups, including non-Hispanic whites," she said in a telephone interview.

Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune system goes haywire and starts attacking itself, destroying insulin-producing cells in the pancreas needed to control blood sugar. People with type 1 diabetes must take daily insulin injections.

Now, you don’t have to suffer needlessly from type-1 or type-2 diabetes. Dr. Fuhrman believes that a nutrient-dense vegetable-based diet is essential for improving a diabetic’s quality of life and, in the case of type-2 diabetes, curing the disease. Check out these posts:

Don't Settle For Diabetes
I have achieved marked success with diabetic patients and the success at becoming "non diabetic" or almost "non-diabetic" regularly occurs on the Eat to Live program whether the patient follows a strict vegan diet or not. I describe the diet-style as a "vegetable-based" diet because the base of the pyramid is vegetables, not grains. Even though most animal products are excluded, it is not necessary to adopt a completely vegan diet to achieve the goals. I offer patients the choice of adding two servings a week of low fat fish, such as tilapia, flounder, sole, and scrod, as well as an egg white omelet, once or twice each week. A few servings of very low saturated-fat animal products each week can be interspersed with the vegan meals without diminishing the results achievable from the vegetable-based diet.

Hope for Type 1 Childhood Onset Diabetics
With a truly health-supporting lifestyle, including exercise and real food designed by nature, the type 1 diabetic can have the same potential for a long, disease-free life as everyone else. Even though the type 1 diabetic still will require exogenous (external) insulin, they will no longer need excessive amounts of it.

Tags: Diabetes

Fat is the Chief Enemy of the Diabetic

Posted on June 28, 2007 by Joel Fuhrman

From Dr. Fuhrman’s book Fasting and Eating for Health:

Fat in the diet of the diabetic not only accelerates the disease process but also interferes with the uptake of glucose by the cells, thus further raising the blood glucose level.

Experiments described in the medical literature have tested the effects of high-fat diets on insulin intolerance. In one study, healthy young medical students were fed a very high fat diet containing egg yolks, heavy cream, and butter, and within two days all of the students had blood sugar levels high enough to be labeled diabetic.1 Complex carbohydrates have been shown to have the opposite effect.2

Fat in the food we eat prevents the proper utilization of insulin and more insulin is needed to process the glucose when fats are included in the meal. Additionally, the fat on one’s body makes the cells resistant to insulin, and the pancreas must produce more insulin to compensate. This is due not only to the additional insulin demanded by the extra body mass of fat cells, but also to the fact that the fat in and around normal tissue, like muscle and internal organs, interferes with insulin uptake into these tissues. The major contributors to fat in the American diet are animal source foods such as meat, fowl, fish, and dairy products, as well as cooking or salad oils.
Continue Reading...

Portion Control, Weight-Loss, and Diabetics

Posted on June 27, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

New research claims that diabetics can lose weight with portion control. Robert Preidt of HealthDay News reports:

Over six months, about half of 122 patients (average age 56) used the portion-control plates and bowls, while the rest of the patients received usual care consisting of dietary assessments and teaching by dietitians.

The patients who used the portion-control plates and bowls lost an average of 1.8 percent of their body weight, compared to an average of 0.1 percent among those who received usual care.

The University of Calgary researchers also found that 16.9 percent of the patients who used the portion-control plates and bowls, which were donated by a U.K. company called The Diet Plate, lost at least 5 percent of their body weight, compared with 4.6 percent of patients who received usual care.

This is all well and good, but, Dr. Fuhrman doesn’t think portion control is a great idea. Actually, he finds it kind of futile. Here’s an example why, from Bad News for Portion Control:

It is meaningless to compare foods by weight or portion size. Let me provide an example to explain why this is the case. Take one teaspoon of melted butter, which gets 100 percent of its calories from fat. If I take that teaspoon of butter and mix it in a glass of hot water, I can now say that it is 98 percent fat-free, by weight. One hundred percent of its calories are still from fat. It didn’t matter how much water or weight was added, did it?

Tags: Diabetes, Research, Weight Loss

TV and Diabetes

Posted on June 22, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Okay, a couple weeks ago we learned that watching entertaining TV can make you fat, and now, it seems TV can lead to poor diabetes control in children. Reuters reports:

The researchers evaluated 538 children and adolescents, average age 13 years, from the eastern part of Norway who had had type 1 diabetes for an average of about 5 years. The time spent watching television and time using a computer was obtained in interviews with the subjects or the parents of very young children.

The average A1C was 8.6%. This measurement is the amount of glycosylated hemoglobin in the blood in relation to the amount of normal hemoglobin, and reflects the degree to which blood glucose levels are controlled over the long term.

The investigators found that as the average number of hours spent in watching television increased, so did the participants' A1C level, their body mass index or BMI, and the total amount of insulin they needed on a daily basis.

Tags: Diabetes, Research

Dropping the Smack Down on Beer

Posted on June 5, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

The Diabetes Blog is all fired up about beer and the shady marketing behind it. Take a look:

For people with diabetes, being aware of carbohydrate content in food and drinks is highly important. With regard to beer, it's important to be cognizant not only of its direct effect on blood glucose levels, but also for the added fat it may be adding to your midsection. The classic Beer Belly, if you will. But, what is it about beer that makes it so bad for your belly?

For one, when you drink beer, twenty percent of the alcohol is absorbed from your stomach into your bloodstream; the rest is absorbed by your intestines. From there, the alcohol makes its way through your liver, where it is broken down -- leading to the creation of two waste products: acetate and acetaldehyde. These waste products then signal your body to stop burning fat, while at the same time your body actually starts MAKING fat from another alcohol waste product, known as acetyle CoA. As a result of all this, the more you drink, the less you become able to burn fat -- and, the more fat your body creates from the build-up of acetytle CoA.

Cure Diabetes: Tips from a Familiar Source

Posted on June 4, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Tired of taking insulin and being a slave to your diabetes? TheDiabetesBlog taps a familiar source for advice. Are you a doctor mystery guest? Do you recommend a vegetable-based diet? Check it out:

The Eat To Live dietary style is a vegetable-based diet designed to maximize nutrient per calorie density. It is the most effective treatment for those with diabetes, more effective than drugs. For a type 2 diabetic, this approach has resulted in complete reversal of the diabetic condition in the vast majority of patients and for a type 1 diabetic it solves the problems with excessive highs and lows and prevents the typical dangerous complications that too frequently befall those with diabetes. Joel Fuhrman, M.D is a board certified family physician specializing in nutritional medicine for overweight and diabetic patents.

Tags: Diabetes

Breastfeeding and Type-1 Diabetes Risk

Posted on May 22, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

The Diabetes Blog passes on new research claiming that breastfeeding can reduce the risk of type-1 diabetes. Take a look:

The study showed that children who were breastfed exclusively for longer periods of time may have natural protection against developing diabetes. It was particularly true in children who were breastfed exclusively for longer than five months.

The Harvard study also found that breastfeeding helped protect children from diabetes regardless of whether their mothers were overweight or had health problems. This certainly will be another reason to breastfeed babies for longer periods of time, as the Harvard study also indicated that babies that were breastfed for at least a year had the best protection.

One possible explanation considered by both studies is that breastfed babies have a steadier and slower growth, while formula fed babies have growth spurts. Breastfed babies are also more likely to be fed on demand rather than on a schedule.

Tags: Diabetes

NYC: Healthy Food Not Always Available

Posted on May 21, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

This topic gets rehashed in the news every few months. The problem, many neighborhoods in big cities don’t have access to healthy foods like fresh fruits and veggies. So what happens? A growing number of residents develop tragic health problems—diabetes, obesity, heart disease, etc.—due to the abundance of junk-food that somehow manages to find its way into the neighborhood.

Last year The New York Times focused on the diabetes epidemic in New York City. These articles make it pretty clear that limited access to nutritious disease-preventing food and wide-spread availability of inexpensive convenience food contributes greatly to the risk of type-II diabetes. Take a look:

Today the Associated Press examines Harlem and how its food retailers and restaurants are less likely to sell healthy food than other areas of Manhattan. Colleen Long has more:

In Harlem, fast-food restaurants are more prevalent than shops selling fresh vegetables, according to a city health report.

Food stores in the area in upper Manhattan are mostly bodegas, and the small groceries are half as likely to carry low-fat dairy products as their counterparts in swankier neighborhoods and seven times less likely to sell fresh vegetables, the report said. Only 3 percent of corner stores in Harlem sell leafy green vegetables, compared to 20 percent on the nearby Upper East Side, it said.

"Large health disparities exist between Harlem and other New York City neighborhoods, but we can close those gaps," said Dr. Andrew Goodman, associate commissioner of the East and Central Harlem District public health office, a division of the health department.

In addition, one in six restaurants in Harlem is a fast-food joint. All this adds up to serious health problems for neighborhood residents, who are three to four times more likely to be obese or have diabetes than people who live on the Upper East Side, Goodman said.

Most of the news on this topic seems to be just about blowing a lot of hot air and not really doing anything to fix the problem.

Diabetes Risk: Cereal Good, Veggies Not?

Posted on May 16, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Okay, I have to admit. This article made me say, “Henh?” According to new research cereal fiber and magnesium can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, but, fruits and vegetables don’t. Yeah, I don’t get it either. Reuters reports:

The findings stem from an analysis performed by Dr. Matthias B. Schulze and colleagues from the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke, Nuthetal. The study involved over 25,000 adults, between 35 and 65 years of age, who were followed from 1994 to 2005 for diabetes. A food-frequency questionnaire was used to assess the participants for the amounts of dietary fiber and magnesium.

During follow-up, 844 subjects developed type 2 diabetes, the report indicates. Compared with the subjects with the lowest cereal fiber intake, those with the highest intake had a 28-percent reduction in diabetes risk.

Fruit and vegetable fiber intake, by contrast, did not affect the risk. Magnesium intake also showed no effect in this study.

Obviously this flies in the face of a lot of the things we discuss here on DiseaseProof. So for rebuttal, I decided to call in heavy reinforcements. Here’s what Dr. Fuhrman had to say about this study:

The reason for the findings is a huge variance in the amount of whole grain fibers consumed from none to a significant amount. This does make a big difference, especially since people who do not consume whole grains generally live on sugar and white flour. But since the level of vegetable consumption in the highest quintile was still relatively low by our standards there was not really a representative group with a high consumption of green vegetables.

So all this means is that whole grains are better than refined grains and that that change in a person's diet has a major implication for diabetic causation and treatment. It does not mean that green vegetables, beans, nuts and seeds are not likewise protective because the population tested still did not eat much of these foods.

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Research

Type 1 Diabetes: What to Do?

Posted on May 7, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

We talk a lot about Type 2 Diabetes here on DiseaseProof, but what about Type 1? What about all those young children diagnosed with the chronic disease everyday? Stephanie Dunnewind of The Seattle Times tells the tale of one such child. Meet 4 ½-year old Kyle Hughes:

There's no easy time to be diagnosed with diabetes — kids deal with school issues; teens can be rebellious risk-takers — but toddlers rank up there as the most challenging. It's nearly impossible to reason with them, and they can barely talk.

Kyle ended up at Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center when his pediatrician diagnosed diabetes at his 18-month checkup. Christy slept over every night during his weeklong stay. They got a crash course in needles, drugs, meters and all the terrible things that can go wrong.

With no family history of the autoimmune disease, "It's not something I ever expected to know about," Christy Hughes [Kyle’s mom] said.

In the hospital, it took two people to give Kyle his shots. "You sweat, your hands shake — you don't want to do it," Christy said. "Unfortunately, to keep your child alive, you have to do it."

Even when they got home and Kyle stoically accepted the "pokes" — rotated around the fatty areas of his legs, bottom and upper arm to avoid scar tissue — "Every time I'd give him a shot, I'd walk away to cry," Christy said.

"Diabetes makes you feel helpless as a parent," Kurt said. "All day long, you're taking guesses."

Seems unfair, doesn’t it? But good thing for Kyle, his parents are definitely proactive—and that’s what it takes. Now, even though Dr. Fuhrman admits a person with Type 1 Diabetes will never stop taking insulin completely, he insists there is still a lot you can do. From Hope for Type 1 Childhood Onset Diabetics:

I find that when type 1 diabetics adopt the ETL program, they can lower their insulin requirements by about half. They no longer have swings of highs and lows, and their glucose levels and lipids stay under excellent control. In other words, it is not Type 1 diabetes itself that causes such negative health consequences. Rather, it is the combination of the diabetes and the typical nutritional “advice” given to these patients—advice that requires them to take large amounts of unnecessary insulin.

The extra insulin and the high glucose levels raise lipids, accelerate atherosclerosis, and damage the body. With this in mind, it should be clear that while the Standard American Diet (SAD), which has spread to all industrialized nations, is dangerous for everyone, it is particularly deadly for diabetics.

With a truly health-supporting lifestyle, including exercise and real food designed by nature, the type 1 diabetic can have the same potential for a long, disease-free life as everyone else. Even though the type 1 diabetic still will require exogenous (external) insulin, they will no longer need excessive amounts of it.

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food

Meat: Grill, Fry, or Broil it?

Posted on April 25, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

It seems neither. A new study claims that grilled, fried, or broiled meat contain toxins called "advanced glycation end products" (AGEs). And, Robert Preidt of HealthDay News reports that AGEs can lead to a myriad of serious health problems, like diabetes and vascular disease. Here’s more:

Grilled, fried or broiled animal products such as meats and cheeses contain a class of toxins called "advanced glycation end products" (AGEs), which have been linked to inflammation, insulin resistance, diabetes, vascular and kidney disease, and Alzheimer's disease, say a team from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City…

…"AGEs are quite deceptive, since they also give our food desirable tastes and smells," senior author Dr. Helen Vlassara, professor of medicine and geriatrics, and director of the Division of Experimental Diabetes and Aging at Mount Sinai, said in a prepared statement.

"So, consuming high amounts of grilled, broiled or fried food means consuming significant amounts of AGEs, and AGEs in excess are toxic. People should be given information about AGE intake and be advised to consider their intake in the same way they would think about their trans fats and salt intake. They should be warned about their AGE levels the way they are about their cholesterol levels or cigarette smoking," Vlassara said.

Dr. Fuhrman makes it pretty clear. Too much meat and other animal products can contribute to serious health problems, namely cancer and cardiovascular disease. Here are couple posts that highlight this connection:

Okay, back to cooking foods. Does it really matter how we prepare our food? Be it animal or vegetable-based. Well for starters, Dr. Fuhrman doesn’t thinking frying is a good idea. He explains why in Disease-Proof Your Child:

Water-based cooking is the preferred way to cook because you can avoid cancer-causing acrylamides that are created when foods are browned by baking or frying.

Never eat browned or overly cooked food. Burnt food forms harmful compounds. If by accident something is overcooked and browned, discard. Avoid fried food and food sautéed in oil. Experiment with low heat cooking to prevent nutritional damage to the food and the formation of dangerous heat-generated compounds.

Now, recently I asked Dr. Fuhrman if acrylamides show up in other foods, like cooked meats, specifically barbecued meat. No surprise here, his answer was yes. Actually, he pointed out that acrylamides form in all foods. Check out this study from the Scandinavian Journal of Nutrition, it sheds some light on the development of acrylamides:

The exact chemical mechanism(s) for acrylamide formation in heated foods is unknown. Several plausible mechanistic routes may be suggested, involving reactions of carbohydrates, proteins/amino acids, lipids and probably also other food components as precursors. With the data and knowledge available today it is not possible to point out any specific routes, or to exclude any possibilities. It is likely that a multitude of reaction mechanisms is involved. Acrolein is one strong precursor candidate, the origin of which could be lipids, carbohydrates or proteins/amino acids. Acrylamide is a reactive molecule and it can readily react with various other components in the food. The actual acrylamide level in a specific food product, therefore, probably reflects the balance between ease of formation and potential for further reactions in that food matrix. There are indications in support of that the Maillard reaction being an important reaction route for acrylamide formation, but lipid degradation pathways to the formation of acrolein should also be considered.

At this point it kind of seems like a basic math equation. If too many animal products are bad and eating overly cooked food is also bad, then putting the two of them together has got to be really bad, right? Well, it sure seems that way. In Disease-Proof Your Child Dr. Fuhrman considers barbequed meat (and cheese) one of the worst foods you can eat for health and longevity. From the book:

Worst Seven Foods for Health and Longevity

Butter

Cheese

Potato Chips and French Fries

Doughnuts

Salt

Sausage, hot dogs

Pickled, smoked or barbequed meat

Foods high in saturated fat and trans fat are consistently associated with high cancer rates. Cheese and butter typically contain over ten times as much saturated fat as fish and white meat chicken and turkey.

Add the carcinogenic potential from heated and overcooked oils (usually trans containing) delivered in doughnuts and fries with the powerful cancer inducing properties of carbohydrates cooked at high heat (acrylamide formation) and you have a great cancer potion.

So, will people heed these warnings and cut back on the amount of animal products they eat and be careful not to dangerously cook their food? My guess, probably not, especially with this kind of rhetoric kicking around the blogosphere. Like LivinLaVidaLowCarb’s ringing endorsement of frying meat in butter—sadly, I’m not kidding. Proceed with caution:

I agree with the advice to shun the fried foods specifically because of the breading. But if you want to fry up your meat in a pan full of butter, then knock yourself out. It’s a healthy way to enjoy that succulent protein-loaded food.

While it’s nice to bake, broil, and especially grill meats, don’t fall for the illusion that cooking these ways is any healthier than cooking meat in fat. Avoid the trans fats, of course, but you shouldn’t worry about saturated fats as long as you are livin’ la vida low-carb.

Take a moment to note that butter is also on Dr. Fuhrman’s list of the seven worst foods. Okay, it gets worse. Check out this quote from Carbohydrate Addict, apparently this Atkins dieter thinks grilled-cheese is fabulous—sigh. Here it is:

I think one of the reasons Atkins was so perfect for me was because I was on low fat/low cholesterol for sooooo many years. All of the forbidden foods suddenly became okay to eat without guilt and my cholesterol is finally FABULOUS. I'm still on a high when I eat them! Egg salad, bacon, chicken wings, mac and cheese, grilled cheese.... YUM!

Yum? For bacon and egg salad? Whoa! What a world we live in. Reading rants like this makes me think about the opposite. What does eating a lot of fruits and vegetables do for us? Well, when you’re talking health and disease-prevention, Dr. Fuhrman explains they’re the best! From Fruits and Veggies vs. Diabetes and Colon Cancer:

While fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of nutrients, the consumption of vegetables is more helpful in reducing cancer because they contain much higher amounts of cancer-protective compounds-- especially green vegetables. Among these green vegetables, the cruciferous family has demonstrated the most dramatic protection against cancer. Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, bok choy, collards, arugala, watercress, and cabbage) contain a symphony of phytonutrients with potent anti-cancer effects. Isothiocyanates (ITCs), which are perhaps the best studied, have been shown to provide protection against environmental carcinogen exposure by inducing detoxification pathways, thereby neutralizing potential carcinogens.

These vegetables also contain indole-3- carbinol (I3C). Indole-3-carbinol has been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer by decreasing estrogen activity. Important recent studies have shown that cruciferous vegetables and the compounds they contain can do the following:

Halt the growth of breast cancer cells1

Dramatically reduce the risk of colon cancer2

Prevent the replication of prostate cancer cells and induce death of cancerous cells3

Inhibit the progression of lung cancer4

And here’s more, from Is Heart Disease Totally Preventable? Take a look:

The Eat to Live vegetable, fruit, nut, and bean-based diet has been shown to be the most effective cholesterol-lowering dietary approach in medical history. This newsworthy data with the potential to save millions of lives has been ignored by the mass media. With this dietary approach, most patients drop their total cholesterol below 150 and LDL below 100, without the need for medications.

During the two years that the Eat to Live vegetable, fruit, nut, and bean-based diet has been under research study by the University of Southern California, patients have shown an average weight loss of forty-nine pounds, the most sustained weight loss ever recorded in a medical study in history.

In areas of the world where people eat a diet of unrefined plant foods, people have total cholesterol levels below 150, and there is zero incidence of heart disease in the population.5

Tags: Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Cholesterol, Diabetes, Diet Myths, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Research

High Blood Sugar and Cancer

Posted on March 28, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

The Diabetes Blog relays new research linking high blood sugar to cancer risk:

Researchers identified 2,478 incident cases of cancer from records of 33,293 women and 31,304 men who participated in the study. Participants were recruited in the mid-1980s at age 40, 50 and 60 and the study covered a 13-year period. The records included levels of glucose in the blood when fasting and after receiving an infusion of glucose. Researchers calculated the cancer risk relative to blood glucose while adjusting for: age, year of enrollment, fasting time and smoking status. Women with blood sugar levels higher than normal have a total higher risk for cancer while for men the risk was unchanged at higher blood sugar levels. The overall risk of developing cancer for women in the top 25% of fasting blood glucose levels was 26% higher than those in the bottom 25%. Women with high fasting glucose levels had a higher risk of pancreatic, breast and endometrial cancers, while the increase in risk for malignant melanoma was two times higher.

Tags: Cancer, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Research

Fruits and Veggies vs. Diabetes and Colon Cancer

Posted on March 22, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

In this age of modern medicine patients and doctors alike are quick to throw themselves at the altar of prescription drugs and invasive procedures, often ignoring rudimentary causes and cures for many of the common afflictions that plague this country.

Take diabetes and cancer for example, big pharma has indoctrinated us into believing that lifelong dependency on medication and chemotherapy are our only hopes. Now, if you read this blog you know, this is foolhardy to say the least. And Dr. Fuhrman makes it very clear. You have other options.

Does a diagnosis of Type-II Diabetes mean a life sentence of insulin shots? Dr. Fuhrman doesn’t think so. From Understanding the Development of Type 2 Diabetes:

How can diabetics safely lower the high glucose levels that are slowly destroying their bodies? How can they lower their lipids and blood pressure, lose weight, and avoid taking dangerous drugs, such as insulin and sulfonylureas? They need to adopt a diet based on nutritional excellence.

Fortunately, the best diet for good health and longevity is also the best diet for diabetics. It is a diet with a high nutrient per calorie ratio, as carefully described in my book, Eat To Live. When you eat a diet consisting predominantly of nature's perfect foods—green vegetables, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, raw nuts and seeds, and limited amounts of fresh fruit, it becomes relatively easy to eat as much as you want and still lose your excess weight. In my experience, those who follow my nutritional recommendations find that their diabetes disappears astonishingly fast, even before most of their excess weight melts away.

And what about cancer? In Diet, Chemotherapy, and the Truth: How to Win the War on Cancer Dr. Fuhrman talks about how vegetable-based nutrition hits cancer where it hurts:

While fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of nutrients, the consumption of vegetables is more helpful in reducing cancer because they contain much higher amounts of cancer-protective compounds-- especially green vegetables. Among these green vegetables, the cruciferous family has demonstrated the most dramatic protection against cancer. Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, bok choy, collards, arugala, watercress, and cabbage) contain a symphony of phytonutrients with potent anti-cancer effects. Isothiocyanates (ITCs), which are perhaps the best studied, have been shown to provide protection against environmental carcinogen exposure by inducing detoxification pathways, thereby neutralizing potential carcinogens.

These vegetables also contain indole-3- carbinol (I3C). Indole-3-carbinol has been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer by decreasing estrogen activity. Important recent studies have shown that cruciferous vegetables and the compounds they contain can do the following:

Halt the growth of breast cancer cells1

Dramatically reduce the risk of colon cancer2

Prevent the replication of prostate cancer cells and induce death of cancerous cells3

Inhibit the progression of lung cancer4

Now, Dr. Fuhrman has been talking about this for years, but it’s still cool to read about it in the news. Like this report from Reuters. Apparently a new study has determined avoiding meats and fatty foods and eating plenty of salads and cooked vegetables reduces the risk of developing Type-II Diabetes. Michelle Rizzo explains:

There was an inverse association observed between the Salad and Vegetable pattern and diabetes. The Meat pattern was positively associated with diabetes. No association was observed between the Fruit pattern and diabetes risk.

"Our results suggest that avoiding an eating pattern including meat and fatty foods, and favoring a pattern high in salad and cooked vegetables could reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes," Dr. Allison Hodge, of the University of Melbourne, Australia, said in an interview with Reuters Health.

Okay, call it coincidence, but here’s another Reuters report worth checking out. It seems new research has determined that people who eat a diet high in fruit and low in meat reduce their risk of developing colon cancer. Have a look:

Gregory Austin and colleagues analyzed the answers and found there were three groups -- people who ate a lot of fruit but little meat, people who ate a lot of vegetables and a moderate amount of meat, and people who simply ate a lot of meat.

The people who recalled eating large or moderate amounts of meat were 70 percent more likely to have had a polyp than those who said they ate a lot of fruit but little meat.

So then, all this begs the question. Why don’t more doctors and patients seek out this kind of information? Oh, that’s right, there are no pushy sales reps and million dollar advertising campaigns behind your local farmers market.
Continue Reading...

Tags: Cancer, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Research

Boomer has Diabetes

Posted on March 20, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

With baseball season right around the corner, Padres pitcher David Wells caught some bad news. Boomer has Type-II Diabetes. As a Yankee fan I’ve got plenty of love for David Wells, but, if you know anything about him, it shouldn’t be all that surprising. Yahoo Sports reports:

Wells was diagnosed two weeks ago, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported in Monday's editions…

…The 43-year-old old signed a one-year contract in January to return to his hometown Padres as the No. 5 starter. The 6-foot-3, 248-pound Wells has often battled his weight, and was scratched from a start late last season due to gout in his right foot.

Now to say the least, Boomer is one of those guys who “enjoys” life. His weight is a good indication of that. And clearly that’s part of the problem because according to Dr. Fuhrman weight-gain is a huge contributing factor to the development of Type-II Diabetes. From Understanding the Development of Type 2 Diabetes:

As little as five pounds of excess fat on your frame can inhibit the ability of insulin to carry glucose into your cells. When you have twenty pounds of extra fat, your pancreas may be forced to produce twice as much insulin. With fifty or more pounds of excess fat on your frame, your pancreas may be forced to produce six to ten times more insulin than a person who is lean.

What do you think occurs after ten or twenty years of overworking the pancreas? That's right, it becomes exhausted and loses the ability to keep up with the huge insulin demands. As time goes on, even though your overworked pancreas may still pump out much more insulin than a thinner person might need, it won't be enough to overcome the effects of your disease-causing body fat.

The pancreas's ability to secrete insulin continues to diminish as the diabetes and the overweight condition continue year after year. Unlike with type 1 (childhood onset) diabetes, total destruction of insulin-secreting ability almost never occurs in type 2 (adult onset) diabetes.

And here’s a recent article claiming obesity poses a larger diabetes risk than inactivity. Reuters was on it:

Researchers monitored 68,907 women taking part in the Nurses' Health Study, a large ongoing study that is evaluating women's health over time. The women in the current trial had no history of diabetes, cardiovascular disease or cancer at study entry. During 16 years of follow-up, there were 4,030 incident cases of type 2 diabetes.

After allowing for age, smoking, and other diabetes-associated factors, the risk of type 2 diabetes increased progressively with increasing body mass index (BMI - the ratio of height to weight often used to determine if someone is overweight or too thin). The risk also increased with waist circumference, and decreased with physical activity levels.

Hopefully Boomer will start taking positive steps towards striking out his diabetes, and, if he’s got anything left, I’d love to see him hurling for the Bronx Bombers again!

So, how can you defeat Type-II Diabetes? Check out these previous posts:

Tags: Diabetes

Fight Diabetes with Phytochemicals

Posted on February 22, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

I can’t imagine how it must feel to be diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Sitting their while some lab coat explains your new regiment of blood-testing and insulin injections. One of my biggest fears is chronic illness—I have a fear of commitment—how can a person just accept being sick?

Unfortunately I think we’re a culture that considers disease as a natural part of aging. Heck, certain members of my own family treat their prescribed medications as a badge of honor. And that’s exactly the kind of attitude that gets under Dr. Fuhrman’s skin. He insists you don’t have to go out like that. From Eat to Live:

The diseases that afflict, and eventually kill, almost all Americans can be avoided. You can live a high-quality, disease-free life and remain physically active and healthy. You can die peacefully and uneventfully at an old age, as nature intended.

So then, what about Type 2 Diabetes, you’ve got it, now what? Fight! And fight like the devil. Don’t fall into modern healthcare’s symbiotic relationship between you, the disease, and medication. Dr. Fuhrman will tell you, you don’t have to settle for diabetes. According to him you’ve got options. Consider this from Understanding the Development of Type 2 Diabetes:

How can diabetics safely lower the high glucose levels that are slowly destroying their bodies? How can they lower their lipids and blood pressure, lose weight, and avoid taking dangerous drugs, such as insulin and sulfonylureas? They need to adopt a diet based on nutritional excellence.

Fortunately, the best diet for good health and longevity is also the best diet for diabetics. It is a diet with a high nutrient per calorie ratio, as carefully described in my book, Eat to Live. When you eat a diet consisting predominantly of nature's perfect foods—green vegetables, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, raw nuts and seeds, and limited amounts of fresh fruit, it becomes relatively easy to eat as much as you want and still lose your excess weight. In my experience, those who follow my nutritional recommendations find that their diabetes disappears astonishingly fast, even before most of their excess weight melts away.

I don’t know about you, but given the choice between fresh veggies and an insulin injection, salad wins everyday of the week. And the idea seems to be catching on. The Diabetes Blog is all over research linking increased consumption of vegetables with protective health benefits:

Colorado State University researchers found that, despite eating one less serving daily, people who consumed a wider array of vegetables experienced more health benefits than those who chose from a smaller assortment. The source behind these benefits come from phytochemicals, compounds that guard cells against free radical damage. By eating a wider assortment of vegetables, people had a better chance of consuming a greater amount of protective phytochemicals.

For more on Dr. Fuhrman’s approach towards treating diabetes with vegetable-based nutritional excellence, here are some previous posts:

Food Over Medicine?

Posted on February 9, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Here’s some great news. Most Americans would prefer to treat diabetes with healthy diet and not medication. The Diabetes Blog is all over it:

According to a survey of 1,022 adults (515 women and 507 men), 69% of Americans would prefer to try a dietary approach, whereas only 21% preferred treating diabetes with medicines. The survey reinforces results from clinical research on diabetes, which has consistently found that people with diabetes adapt well to low-fat vegetarian diets and gain important health benefits. A dietary approach to diabetes based on scientific research shows that a low-fat vegan diet can lower high blood sugar levels three times more effectively than oral medications.

Well gee, I don’t know, would it work? Consider these success stories:

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Success Stories

Heart Disease a Sneak Attack?

Posted on February 5, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Okay, I know, it’s a bit of a hack move, but let’s talk about the Super Bowl commercials. Specifically the one where the guy in the heart suit gets his butt kicked. Now I realize its supposed to be light hearted, but the American Heart Association seems to be sending the message that things like high blood pressure, diabetes, and being overweight just sneak up on you, and, when you least except it—WHAM—you have a heart attack. If you didn’t see it, here it is:

Sure, the ad is encouraging people to help beat their risk of developing heart disease, but the way its presented really seems to imply that there’s nothing you can do about it, other than just hope that these bad things don’t happen—which in my opinion is the bad attitude that lands millions of people in the hospital with chest pains every year. What do you think? Maybe I'm wrong on this. Personally, I think the commercial with the bunny clicking the mouse was the best.

Tags: Blood Pressure, Cardiovascular Disease, Cholesterol, Diabetes, Obesity

Yes, Obesity Bad

Posted on February 5, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

I have a question for you, are you surprised by obesity news? I’m not. If you haven’t figured it out by now being overweight is bad for you. Still not convinced? Well, check out this Reuters report claiming that obesity poses a larger diabetes risk than inactivity. David Douglas explains:

Researchers monitored 68,907 women taking part in the Nurses' Health Study, a large ongoing study that is evaluating women's health over time. The women in the current trial had no history of diabetes, cardiovascular disease or cancer at study entry. During 16 years of follow-up, there were 4,030 incident cases of type 2 diabetes.

After allowing for age, smoking, and other diabetes-associated factors, the risk of type 2 diabetes increased progressively with increasing body mass index (BMI - the ratio of height to weight often used to determine if someone is overweight or too thin). The risk also increased with waist circumference, and decreased with physical activity levels.

Tags: Diabetes, Obesity, Research

Fad Diets: Low-Carb the New Low-Fat?

Posted on February 1, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

What do you think? Is the standard American diet a problem? Now, I’m no health expert, but I can answer that—with a resounding YES! Just look at yesterday’s post The Standard American Shockwave, and you’ll see that everything the standard American diet touches turns bad. So then, what makes it so terrible? Dr. Fuhrman explains in Eat to Live:

The reason people are overweight is too little physical activity, in conjunction with a high-calorie, low-nutrient diet. Eating a diet with plenty of low-fiber, calorie-dense food, such as oil and refined carbohydrates, is the main culprit.

As long as you are eating fatty foods and refined carbohydrates, it is impossible to lose weight healthfully. In fact, this vicious combination of sedentary lifestyle and eating typical “American” food (high fat, low-fiber) is the primary reason we have such an incredibly overweight population.

Now if you consider the exercise component, the standard American diet becomes more complex. So, perhaps it should be more aptly named the standard American lifestyle. But, for the purposes of this post, let’s stay focused on diet and ignore the lack of sufficient physical activity. I know, kind of hard to overlook, but try.

Okay just diet, so let’s look at what we’ve got: high fat foods and various refined fare. Let’s start with the refined foods. What’s the problem with them? Well, Dr. Fuhrman will tell you, all the fiber and nutrients have been stripped out of them until they’re basically just empty calories. For more on this, I refer to Michael Pollan’s recent article on nutritionism. In it, he talks about the ebbs and flows of processed food. Here’s a peek:

The typical real food has more trouble competing under the rules of nutritionism, if only because something like a banana or an avocado can’t easily change its nutritional stripes (though rest assured the genetic engineers are hard at work on the problem). So far, at least, you can’t put oat bran in a banana. So depending on the reigning nutritional orthodoxy, the avocado might be either a high-fat food to be avoided (Old Think) or a food high in monounsaturated fat to be embraced (New Think). The fate of each whole food rises and falls with every change in the nutritional weather, while the processed foods are simply reformulated. That’s why when the Atkins mania hit the food industry, bread and pasta were given a quick redesign (dialing back the carbs; boosting the protein), while the poor unreconstructed potatoes and carrots were left out in the cold.

Now this brings me to the next topic of discussion, the high-fat portion of the standard American diet, but more specifically the mass media phobia of it; which is ironic because Americans deep down love their fat. A lot of industrialized foods make claims to be “low-fat” which in many cases I’m sure they are, but this begs the question, what about calorie content? Well to answer that, let’s take a look at this article from Men’s Health magazine. It reports that the low-carb fad is destined to follow the same road as the low-fat diet, and ultimately, forget all about total calorie consumption:

We've been here before - about 10 years ago, in fact. The last time a diet craze swept the country, it ushered in more than 3,000 new food products on the wings of just three simple words: Eat less fat. And yet, in the ensuing decade, the number of overweight Americans increased by 15 percent, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, and the average American man's waist size increased by an inch and a half. Weight management became even more difficult, because the supermarket became more confusing, and the three simple words that were supposed to squeeze us back into our wedding suits let us down, terribly.

And it's about to happen all over again. "Consumers think carb-free is calorie-free, which it's not," says Leslie Bonci, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association (ADA). "They think someone's giving them permission to eat that food. And what's going to happen is, we're going to see people start to gain weight."

In January of this year, more than 400 people who work in the food industry gathered at the Adam's Mark hotel in Denver for the first-ever LowCarbiz Summit to learn how they could profit from the new craving for low-carbohydrate foods. What they heard at the start was a warning from Fred Pescatore, M.D., a protege of Dr. Robert Atkins, the original low-carb guru: "We can't be like low-fat," he said. "We can't be just a fad."

And then, for 2 days, they learned ways to turn the low-carb craze into exactly that. In between snacking on low-carb foods and drinking Bacardi and diet cola (the official adult beverage of the low-carb movement), conference goers attended sessions like "Low Carb for the Nondieter" and "The Scientific Case against Low Carb: Know What the Industry's Detractors Are Saying and How to Respond."

Are you starting to see where I’m going with all this? Years back the country demanded low-fat everything. So what ensued? Decades of diet-books and food products proclaiming the benefits of a low-fat eating. And what did we get? Something now commonly referred to as the standard American diet, an epidemic of obesity and all the problems that go along with it; diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc. And that’s not it.

We also got the avalanche of reactionary diets known as low-carb, South Beach, Atkins, or whatever catchy name some marketing company has come up with today. They basically say, “We’ve forsaken fat for too long! The real devil is carbs. Embrace the meat.” And we as a meat-loving, but fat-nervous culture eat it up. Why? Well because we recognize that the verson of the low-fat diet we have come to understand hasn’t worked. So why not give something that goes against the grain a try? Actually, the low-fat diet that has been forced down our throats all these years would more appropriately be described as the standard American low-fat diet. After all, how much better for us is it than the actual standard American diet? And how does it really differ?

But here’s the problem, and this why I think the Men’s Health article is right on target. The low-carb diet is now following the same path as the standard American low-fat diet. Lots of products touting the low-carb label—just like all the foods with the low-fat stamp of approval! And what are we left with? Tons of industrialized calorie-dense nutrient-stripped foods that people gobble up assuming they are eating intelligently, but all the while, not realizing that they’re consuming more and more empty calories. Isn’t this is exactly what caused us the problems we now have!

For me the answer is clear, realize that the average standard American diet and the standard American low-fat diet has failed, abandon all processed foods and their over-hyped claims, and perhaps most imporant of all, ignore the reactionary claims of the low-carb diet. How’d I arrive at this conclusion? That should be an easy one to figure out. I’m just regurgitating what’ve learned from Dr. Fuhrman. He’ll tell you, you want to lose weight, not consume too many calories, still get plenty of nutrients, and protect yourself from disease? A vegetable-based nutrient-dense diet is the answer. Just take green vegetables for example, look how they stack up against other foods. Check out this table from the Nutrient Density of Green Vegetables:

Nutrients present in 100-calorie portions

Broccoli Sirloin Steak Romaine Lettuce Kale

Protein 11.2 gm 5.4 gm 7.5 gm 11 gm

Calcium 322 mg 2.4 mg 374 mg 470 mg

Iron 3.5 mg .7 mg 7.7 mg 5.8 mg

Magnesium 74.5 mg 5 mg 60.5 mg 97 mg

Fiber 4.7 g 0 4 g 3.4 g

Phytochemicals Very High 0 Very High Very High

Antioxidants Very High 0 Very High Very High

Folate 257 mcg 3 mcg 969 mcg 60 mcg

B2 .71 mg .04 mg .45 mg .32 mg

Niacin 2.8 mg 1.1 mg 2.2 mg 2.1 mg

Zinc 1.04 mg 1.2 mg 1.2 mg gm .55 mg

Vitamin C 350 mg 0 100 mg 329 mg

Vitamin A 7750 IU 24 IU 10,450 IU 23,407 IU

Vitamin E 26 IU 0 32 IU 34 IU

Cholesterol 0 5.5 mg 0 0

Weight 307 gm 24 gm 550 gm 266 gm

(10.6 oz) (.84 oz) (19 oz) (9.2 oz)

**Nutrients present in 100-calorie portions**
	Broccoli	Sirloin Steak	Romaine Lettuce	Kale
Protein	11.2 gm	5.4 gm	7.5 gm	11 gm
Calcium	322 mg	2.4 mg	374 mg	470 mg
Iron	3.5 mg	.7 mg	7.7 mg	5.8 mg
Magnesium	74.5 mg	5 mg	60.5 mg	97 mg
Fiber	4.7 g	0	4 g	3.4 g
Phytochemicals	Very High	0	Very High	Very High
Antioxidants	Very High	0	Very High	Very High
Folate	257 mcg	3 mcg	969 mcg	60 mcg
B2	.71 mg	.04 mg	.45 mg	.32 mg
Niacin	2.8 mg	1.1 mg	2.2 mg	2.1 mg
Zinc	1.04 mg	1.2 mg	1.2 mg gm	.55 mg
Vitamin C	350 mg	0	100 mg	329 mg
Vitamin A	7750 IU	24 IU	10,450 IU	23,407 IU
Vitamin E	26 IU	0	32 IU	34 IU
Cholesterol	0	5.5 mg	0	0
Weight	307 gm	24 gm	550 gm	266 gm
	(10.6 oz)	(.84 oz)	(19 oz)	(9.2 oz)

And here's one more from Foods That Make You Thin:

Caloric Ratios of Common Foods

Foods Calories Per Pound Calories Per Liter Fiber Grams Per Pound

Oils 3,900 7,700 0

Potato chips of French fries 2,600 3,000 0

Meat 2,000 3,000 0

Cheese 1,600 3,400 0

White Bread 1,300 1,500 0

Chicken and Turkey (white meat) 900 1,600 0

Fish 800 1,400 0

Eggs 700 1,350 0

Whole Grains (wheat and rice) 600 1,000 3

Starchy Vegetables (potatoes and corn) 350 600 4

Beans 350 500 5

Fruits 250 300 9

Green Vegetables 100 200 5

**Caloric Ratios of Common Foods**
Foods	Calories Per Pound	Calories Per Liter	Fiber Grams Per Pound
Oils	3,900	7,700	0
Potato chips of French fries	2,600	3,000	0
Meat	2,000	3,000	0
Cheese	1,600	3,400	0
White Bread	1,300	1,500	0
Chicken and Turkey (white meat)	900	1,600	0
Fish	800	1,400	0
Eggs	700	1,350	0
Whole Grains (wheat and rice)	600	1,000	3
Starchy Vegetables (potatoes and corn)	350	600	4
Beans	350	500	5
Fruits	250	300	9
Green Vegetables	100	200	5

I often wonder. If produce companies started sticking health claims on fresh fruits and vegetables and bolstered them with huge advertising budgets, would people finally realize that they’re the real health foods? Maybe so, because after all history would seem to predict that.

Tags: Blood Pressure, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Diet Myths, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Obesity

Pomegranates, Atherosclerosis, and Diabetics

Posted on February 1, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

The pomegranate is a bad mama jama and I mean that in the cool Shaft way. According to Dr. Fuhrman pomegranate juice can help lower blood pressure and reduce in atherosclerotic plaque buildup? Not to mention, it’s a powerful anti-oxidant and has strong anti-cancer effects. He discusses pomegranates at length in Pomegranate Power. Have a taste:

Recent medical research completed in 2004 studied heart patients with severe carotid artery blockages. They were given an ounce of pomegranate juice for a year, and not only did their blood pressure lower by over 20 percent, but there was a 30 percent reduction in atherosclerotic plaque…1

…Pomegranates’ potent antioxidant compounds have also been shown to reduce platelet aggregation and naturally lower blood pressure, factors that prevent both heart attacks and strokes.2 Pomegranates contain high levels of flavonoids and polyphenols, potent antioxidants offering protection against heart disease and cancer. A glass of pomegranate juice has more antioxidants than red wine, green tea, blueberries, and cranberries.

Here’s some more good PR for pomegranates. Apparently a new study has revealed pomegranate juice also reduces the risk of arthrosclerosis in diabetics. The Diabetes Blog is on it:

The results of this study suggest that the antioxidants found in pomegranate juice may be beneficial in reducing these heart-related risks associated with diabetes. The sugars in pomegranate juice are attached to unique antioxidants, which actually make these sugars protective against atherosclerosis. Researchers examined the effects of drinking a concentrated pomegranate juice that is the equivalent to about a 6-ounce glass of freshly squeezed pomegranate juice for three months in 10 healthy adults and 10 adults with type 2 diabetes (who were not dependent on insulin therapy).

Perhaps the only knock against pomegranates is they can be hard to find. Take my farmers market for example, unfortunately they only have them a fraction of the year—argh! Anyone else have difficulty tracking down fresh pomegranates?

If you’d like to know more about pomegranates, check out these previous posts. They deal with pomegranates and prostate health. Take a look:

And for all of the foodies out there, give these pomegranate inspired recipes a try:

Got Pomegranate?

Tags: Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Cholesterol, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Prostate Cancer, Research

Diabetes Still a Big Problem in NYC

Posted on January 31, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

If you read enough health news, it’ll start to seem like obesity and diabetes go hand in hand. This correlation is pretty evident in New York City’s diabetes epidemic. According to the AFP, one in eight adults in NYC has diabetes and all the while, obesity rates continue to climb:

The New York City Health Department found that the number of diabetics in the city of eight million people had doubled in the past 10 years and said the dramatic jump mirrored an increase in obesity…

… "New York City is getting healthier by almost all measures, but the twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes are getting worse by the year," Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said, unveiling the new data.

So, what do we do about it? Turn to drugs? After all that seems to be the American way. Well one diabetes rep doesn’t think that’s a good idea. From Pharmaceutical Rep Urges Healthy Diet Over Drugs:

I am personally a pharmaceutical rep and promote a diabetic medicine. It is interesting to me the corelation between diabetes and eating. You would also be amazed at the offices I call on. When I order healthy, vegetarian lunches for offices, they complain that it's not some deep fried chicken choice! And these are the same people who are telling their patients to eat well…

… I want to tell you thank you for all the good work you do. If more people followed [Dr. Fuhrman’s] advice, we would find Americans would be living much healthier, productive lives. Let's face it: diabetes and cancer are expensive! Seeing the typical diabetic will be on about six medicines, if not more!

Perhaps people just need to be better educated on the development of Type 2 diabetes? And then maybe they’ll be more receptive to other ways of treating the disease. In Understanding the Development of Type 2 Diabetes Dr. Fuhrman does just that:

As little as five pounds of excess fat on your frame can inhibit the ability of insulin to carry glucose into your cells. When you have twenty pounds of extra fat, your pancreas may be forced to produce twice as much insulin. With fifty or more pounds of excess fat on your frame, your pancreas may be forced to produce six to ten times more insulin than a person who is lean…

… When you give an adult diabetic who has been suffering from the damaging effects of excess insulin for years more insulin to drive her sugar level down, you create additional problems. Giving the diabetic patient insulin increases appetite, which causes significant weight gain (often more than 20 pounds), which makes the patient more diabetic. Thus, the administration of insulin creates a vicious cycle that cuts years off a person's life.

Okay, since we’re discussing diabetes and New York City, you might want to check out The New York Times coverage of NYC’s diabetes epidemic from last year. Here are DiseaseProof’s posts on the series:

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Research

Health Points: Tuesday

Posted on January 2, 2007 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

With trans fat getting the boot, many farmers are being asked to grow more soy beans. Andrew Martin of The New York Times has more:

This year, farmers planted about three-quarters of a million acres of low-linolenic soybeans, about a third to a half of what is needed to meet the demand, said Steven W. Poole, a spokesman for Qualisoy, an association that researches and promotes soybeans with enhanced traits.

Ultimately, Mr. Poole anticipates that as many as five million acres of low-linolenic soybeans could be planted in the United States as more partially hydrogenated oils are replaced.

Yuck! This post by SurgeonsBlog will leave you looking at peas and corn a whole different way:

I've always liked fresh corn and peas. Each brightly colored, with a crisp sweetness, and both best when cooked very gently. Sit those kernels on a plate, they make a nice visual statement as well. Slopped between loops of intestine, stuck above the liver, soiling the hidden spaces around the pancreas and duodenum, filling the pelvis, some of the sensual pleasure of what may have been a nice meal gets lost, and dealing with it puts me off the feed for a while. Doesn't smell all that great, either. If it's embarrassing to get a drop of soup on your tie, imagine how it'd feel to see your omentum harboring a whole salad. Hanging down from the transverse colon like a wet apron, it can hide lots of cranberries in its crannies; getting them loose requires individual plucking, and can take a while. The upside is that a person with a perforated ulcer is generally in a lot of pain, and sewing up the hole, cleaning out the food, and copiously irrigating away the acids means s/he is likely to wake up with a smile. I can put up with a little personal unpleasantness when it produces results like that.

Maybe inability to cope is the reason we’re fat and unhealthy. Anita Huslin of The Washington Post explains:

One 45-year-old professional writer -- who asked not to be named in order to speak more candidly -- described how she lost nearly 100 pounds over three years after doing some heavy soul-searching. "I had to think, 'Why do I do things that aren't so healthy?' and think about what motivates me, not only to be healthy but also what motivates one to not be healthy. What was I getting out of that?"

It is when people fail to develop healthy coping mechanisms that they fall back on bad habits such as smoking, according to John Banzhaf, George Washington University law professor and executive director of the District-based anti-smoking group Action on Smoking and Health. "And then a cigarette is no longer enough, so you go to alcohol. And on and on."

Head Nurse had a rough few days. Sometimes the little things can be so beautiful:

At times like this, you need beauty. Doesn't matter if it's a sunset or Body Worlds or a good bottle of wine; you need beauty.

And getting next to it can be enough. Getting to hear fetal heart tones coming from the belly of a woman who's had successful emergency surgery can be enough. Seeing one person walk that you never thought would is enough. Having a patient who's well enough to eat the food his family brought in for Eid ul-Adha is enough.

Linda A. Johnson of the Associated Press reports the government and the food industry are teaming up to combat E. coli:

New guidelines from the industry are due in April on how to prevent contamination throughout the food chain, from before greens are planted until they reach the dinner table.

Members of Congress are asking federal agencies to report on what went wrong and how to fix the problem. Some lawmakers want to replace the patchwork system of federal food regulation with a single agency in charge of what people eat.

Diabetes Knowledge is all over a new report forecasting lots of diabetes in our future:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now estimates that one in three children born in the U.S. five years ago is expected to become diabetic in their lifetime. The number of diabetics has grown by 80% in the past decade.

Mackenzie Carpenter of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette offers up the New Year’s next crop of diet books. Keep the fire burning:

As 2007 dawns, there are no wildly popular weight loss fads sweeping the country on the scale of Atkins or South Beach a few years ago, or, to a lesser extent, the Sonoma and Shangri-la diets of last year.

What kind of meat are you? I'm chicken. Check it out at BlogThings:

Bah! You're hardly meat. But you are quite popular, and people aspire to taste like you. You're probably quite skinny and free of vices. Except letting people eat your eggs.

Tags: Diabetes, Diet Myths, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Obesity, Research, Weight Loss

Health Points: Friday

Posted on December 29, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Personally I don’t put much stake in the Body Mass Index, but in case you’re interested, Abby Ellin of The New York Times reports on its growing popularity:

“Our society is really fixated on numbers, and the problem is when it comes to weight distribution and the risk for heart disease, it’s not just one number — it’s the percentage of body fat, B.M.I. and waist size that matters,” said Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan.

Diet-Blog asks the question, “Does Dieting = Misery?” Check it out:

Dieting will be with us for a long time to come, and so will a plethora of popular diets. My hope is that the popular diets today (many of which have useful nutritional advice) will not just be used as a brief attempt at a quick fix - but that the good principles of nutrition will be taken to heart.

According to HealthDay News obesity hits the poor early and hard. Randy Dotinga has more:

A review of nearly 2,000 3-year-old, low-income children and their mothers found that one-third of white and black children were overweight or obese, while a stunning 44 percent of Latino children fell into those categories.

Fast Weight Loss offers up some pretty basic diet tips. I’m not sure Dr. Fuhrman would agree with all of them, but here are a few that seem okay:
5. Give some time to exercise. It is not going to take hours to exercise. What you have to do is give 30 or 40 minute to exercise.

6. Avoid drinking soda as much as you can and replace that by water.

7. Avoid breads, cereals and pasta in your food.

Next time you’ve got aches and pains you might want to reach for the spice-rack. At least that seems to be the message of this CNN report. More from Amy Paturel:

Turmeric: Because rates of Alzheimer's disease are lower in India, where the population eats a diet containing more turmeric than Western diets, scientists have suggested the spice may be linked to preserving mental function. "The compounds in turmeric have demonstrated antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cholesterol-lowering properties -- all thought to be involved in the onset of Alzheimer's disease," says Sally Frautschy, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and neurology at UCLA.

DisappearingJohn RN had a very busy holiday season:

Lots of craziness and hilarity at work these last few nights. Christmas night wasn’t horrible, but it was busier than I expected. At least the holiday kept the violence down… until 0016, when there was a shooting two miles from the hospital and we got two really bad gunshot wounds in as traumas… It was sort of a nice, “well, it’s not Christmas anymore” moment… Not Norman Rockwell, exactly…

Behold the power of the mother. These two moms wanted a fitness magazine for kids, so they started one. Jodi Mailander Farrell of The Detroit Free Press tells their tale:

Inside a recent issue: an interview with pro volleyball player Kerri Walsh, stories on flag football and kids' cross-country running, and step-by-step photos that demonstrate how to do five morning exercises, such as squats and shoulder rotations. There are also articles on how to pick a healthy lunch at school, study smarter and snack right.

Diabetes Knowledge is all over research linking vegan diets to the improved health of diabetes patients:

Researchers from George Washington University tested a vegan diet and the ADA-recommended diet to see which worked best in the management of diabetes, kidney function, cholesterol levels and weight loss. Around 100 adults diagnosed with type 2 diabetes participated, with half following a low-fat vegan diet and half following the ADA-recommended guidelines. Overweight ADA dieters were also advised to reduce their calorie intake by 500-1,000 calories. According to experts, one small risk associated with a vegan diet is a lack of vitamin B12, so the vegan participants’ meals were supplemented with B12 vitamins.

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Obesity, Research, Weight Loss

Thursday Health Points: Blogs Only

Posted on December 21, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

UroStream shows that even doctors can be powerless to resist the allure of holiday chocolate:

So please forgive me if I come into the consulting room with a couple of smudges on my lips, a tighter white coat, overpowering chocolate breath, and giddy with sugar and a sense of well-being.

Urban Sprouts School Gardens compares large farms to small organic family farms:

We compared USDA data for the average "large" US farm - defined as a farm with over $250,000 of income. The USDA says there are 151,000 large farms in the US - this makes up 7% of all the farms, but 59% of all farm production. That means a small number of big farms are growing most of our food.

Diet-Blog has an interesting take on dieting. Do looks matter? Have a read:

Sometimes men and women alter their physiques and appearance to please others. Sometimes they change it to spite those who've rejected them. If you don't have enough self-respect to like who you are and how you look, do things to build up your own self-esteem until you get to the point where you like who you are or are motivated to become the person you'd like to be.

Diabetes Knowledge calls attention to an often overlooked obesity villain. Look out for High fructose corn syrup:

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS), an intense sweetener used in a vast and diverse array of food products, has been labeled the Devil’s candy and a sinister invention by the American media. A widely publicized book in the US, Fat Land, by the journalist Greg Critser, along with scientific research, proposes that its consumption is to blame for America’s obesity epidemic, while Juan Zapata, a Republican in the Florida House of Representatives, calls HFCS the crack of sweeteners and wants it banned.

Vegan Grandma tells the tale of the parsnip:

The ancient Romans grew and cooked parsnips to make broths and stews. Throughout the Dark Ages and early Middle Ages, parsnips were the main starchy vegetable for ordinary people. Parsnips were easy to grow and provided a good source of starch during the lean winter months. They were also valued for their sugar content. Sweet parsnip dishes like jam and desserts became part of traditional English cookery, and they were used for making beer and wine. Today parsnip wine is still one of the most popular of the country wines in England.

Celebutard Angelina Jolie feeds her child a plate crickets—crickets? BloggingBaby is on it:

Angelina Jolie recently returned with her adopted son Maddox to his homeland of Cambodia, and while there she fed him a local delicacy: a plate full of crickets, with their guts intact. Angelina told reporters, "I recently took Mad to Cambodia and it was the first trip there where he really understood it. We took him to a restaurant in the middle of the night and he had his first plate of crickets."

Adolescents with metabolic syndrome? The Diabetes Blog explains:

Insulin resistance, abdominal obesity, hypertension, high triglycerides, low HDL (good) cholesterol levels: a cluster of traits typically referred to as Metabolic Syndrome. All are known to be indicators of diabetes and heart disease in adults. What has recently been discovered, however, is that these same traits are also on the rise in adolescents.

The Nurse Practitioner’s Place shares a nurse’s opinion on pain and pain management:

I don't understand it. I'm not sure I want to. I just want people to respect the fact that someone having a bigger crisis than them may be in the bed next to them. And I may be needed more over there. I probably won't respond quickly to you if you scream at me to get your pain medicine. I will be busy with the man next door who is passing from this world. His problem supercedes yours. Your pain may last longer - but you'll still be alive at the end of it. He won't.

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Healthy Parenting, Hurtful Food, Obesity, Research

The War on Childhood Obesity

Posted on December 18, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

You can’t escape obesity—obesity news that it is. It’s everywhere! Almost everyday obesity-related information bombards the headlines, but imagine being a doctor, imagine being on the frontlines of the epidemic. Reuters reporter Lisa Baertlein tells the tale of one such doctor, and what she is doing to combat the problem:

Los Angeles pediatrician Francine Kaufman is on the front lines of the childhood obesity epidemic, which has flooded her office with diabetes patients and put kids at risk of adult health problems…

… The pediatric endocrine group at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles had 250 to 300 patients when Kaufman started in the late 1970s. The patient roster has since expanded 2,000-plus.

Dr. Kaufman also wrote a book entitled Diabesity in which she encourages parents to realize that avoiding obesity and diabetes is about the whole family becoming health conscious and committed to helping. Sound like someone else we know? Check out this excerpt from Dr. Fuhrman’s Disease-Proof Your Child:

No rules only for children. If the parents are not willing to follow the rules set for the house, they should not be imposed on the children. Don’t argue about what your children should and shouldn’t be eating; discuss this in private. As parents, we must be consistent, but not perfect. Likewise, it is okay for the children to be consistent, but not prefer either. For example, if the parents decide that an unhealthy food or a restaurant meal is acceptable for the children once per week, then that goes for the adults, too. Setting an example supported by both parents is the most important and most effective way for your children to develop a healthy attitude toward food.

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Parenting, Obesity

Understanding the Development of Type 2 Diabetes

Posted on December 14, 2006 by Joel Fuhrman

From the September 2003 edition of Dr. Fuhrman's Healthy Times:

The heavier you are, the greater your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. For certain susceptible individuals, even a moderate amount of excess fat on the body can trigger diabetes.

Your body's cells are fueled by glucose. When you have excess fat on your body, the extra coating of fat around your cells makes it difficult for the hormone insulin to transport glucose into the cells. To overcome this problem, your body produces additional insulin, which is manufactured by your pancreas. Adult diabetes is a disease of insulin resistance, not one of insulin deficiency.

Dangerous weight gain
As little as five pounds of excess fat on your frame can inhibit the ability of insulin to carry glucose into your cells. When you have twenty pounds of extra fat, your pancreas may be forced to produce twice as much insulin. With fifty or more pounds of excess fat on your frame, your pancreas may be forced to produce six to ten times more insulin than a person who is lean.

What do you think occurs after ten or twenty years of overworking the pancreas? That's right, it becomes exhausted and loses the ability to keep up with the huge insulin demands. As time goes on, even though your overworked pancreas may still pump out much more insulin than a thinner person might need, it won't be enough to overcome the effects of your disease-causing body fat.

The pancreas's ability to secrete insulin continues to diminish as the diabetes and the overweight condition continue year after year. Unlike with type 1 (childhood onset) diabetes, total destruction of insulin-secreting ability almost never occurs in type 2 (adult onset) diabetes. But the sooner a type 2 diabetic loses the extra weight causing her diabetes, the greater the likelihood that she will be able to maintain a functional reserve of insulin-secreting cells in her pancreas.

Taking insulin dangerous for type 2 diabetics
The damage caused by higher than normal insulin production (as a result of excess body fat) begins years before a person is diagnosed as being diabetic. Excess insulin promotes atherosclerosis, which in turn leads eventually to heart attacks and strokes.

Findings from numerous studies have shown that hyper-insulinemia promotes atherosclerosis even in non-diabetics. In diabetics, the effects of excess insulin are even worse. In a study of 154 treated diabetics, the prevalence of blood vessel disease was greatest in those with the highest levels of insulin. It made no difference whether the insulin was endogenous (self-produced) or exogenous (taken by injection).

Quite a few studies illustrate the dangers of giving insulin to adult diabetics. When these patients are given insulin—compared with those given metaformin (Glucophage)—the risk of death from heart attacks tripled.1

Additional problems
When you give an adult diabetic who has been suffering from the damaging effects of excess insulin for years more insulin to drive her sugar level down, you create additional problems. Giving the diabetic patient insulin increases appetite, which causes significant weight gain (often more than 20 pounds), which makes the patient more diabetic. Thus, the administration of insulin creates a vicious cycle that cuts years off a person's life.

Exposure to insulin in injectable form can create a blood vessel wall injury that is an early step in the formation of atherosclerotic lesions. Insulin both blocks cholesterol removal and delivers cholesterol to cells in the blood vessel walls, accelerating the creation of atherosclerotic plaque. Simply put, it increases the risk of cardiac death. Almost 80 percent of all deaths among diabetics are due to atherosclerosis, particularly coronary artery disease.

Since the level of insulin in your blood is a good predictor of your risk for heart attack, and since a tape measure around your waist is nearly as good a predictor of insulin levels, it makes sense to remember the ancient saying, "The longer your waistline, the shorter your lifeline."

Although an elevated cholesterol increases mortality somewhat in the non-diabetic, a diabetic's risk for death increases fivefold for each twenty points that cholesterol is elevated above normal. The bottom line is this: if you have diabetes or know anyone with diabetes, they must get rid of their diabetes and not merely "manage it." Do not rely on standard drug methods of treating diabetes, especially injecting more insulin. An aggressive approach based on nutritional excellence is the only effective way to reverse this dangerous condition.

A tough situation
Conventional diabetologists are in a bind. They know that high glucose levels accelerate aging of the eyes and kidneys, leading to devastating complications such as kidney failure and blindness. They want to prescribe aggressive insulin therapy to get patients' blood sugars down. The problem is they also are aware that the extra insulin accelerates atherosclerosis (which leads to heart attacks) and weight gain (which eventually makes patients more diabetic).

Tightening blood sugar control with insulin is risky business. Diabetologists engaging in this conventional medical practice are endangering their patient's lives. The risks are so great, I consider it malpractice to start giving insulin to type 2 diabetics without offering the option of treatment utilizing nutritional excellence.

Dangerous advice
The American Diabetes Association and most dieticians and physicians offer dangerous advice to the diabetic. They give lip service to weight reduction and cholesterol lowering, but since the diets they recommend are ineffective at achieving substantial weight loss and sustained ideal weight, even these recommendations are generally worthless. Typical diabetes care focuses on general glucose control, by monitoring blood glucose to determine when it is necessary to change insulin dosages and when glucose-lowering medication is warranted.

Here is a policy statement from a physician organization dictating diabetic care: "It is nearly impossible to take very obese people and get them to lose significant weight. So, rather than specifying an amount of weight loss, we are targeting metabolic control." This is doublespeak for—"Our recommended diets don't work, so we just give medications and watch patients deteriorate."

Most effective approach
How can diabetics safely lower the high glucose levels that are slowly destroying their bodies? How can they lower their lipids and blood pressure, lose weight, and avoid taking dangerous drugs, such as insulin and sulfonylureas? They need to adopt a diet based on nutritional excellence.

Fortunately, the best diet for good health and longevity is also the best diet for diabetics. It is a diet with a high nutrient per calorie ratio, as carefully described in my book, Eat To Live. When you eat a diet consisting predominantly of nature's perfect foods—green vegetables, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, raw nuts and seeds, and limited amounts of fresh fruit, it becomes relatively easy to eat as much as you want and still lose your excess weight. In my experience, those who follow my nutritional recommendations find that their diabetes disappears astonishingly fast, even before most of their excess weight melts away.

Predictable success
I have achieved marked success with diabetic patients and the success at becoming "non diabetic" or almost "non-diabetic" regularly occurs on the Eat To Live program whether the patient follows a strict vegan diet or not. I describe the diet-style as a "vegetable-based" diet because the base of the pyramid is vegetables, not grains. Even though most animal products are excluded, it is not necessary to adopt a completely vegan diet to achieve the goals.

I offer patients the choice of adding two servings a week of low-fat fish, such as tilapia, flounder, sole, and scrod, as well as an egg-white omelet, once or twice each week. A few servings of very low-saturated-fat animal products each week can be interspersed with the vegan meals without diminishing the results achievable from the vegetable-based diet.
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Nutritional Wisdom: "Don't Control Your Diabetes - Get Rid of It!"

Posted on December 13, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Dr. Fuhrman’s radio show Nutritional Wisdom airs live Wednesdays at 11am EST with an encore presentation Thursdays at 3pm EST on VoiceAmerica. Here’s a peek at this week’s episode:

Diabetes doesn’t have to be a lifelong illness! With a growing nationwide epidemic, Dr. Fuhrman offers the solution to set you free of illness and medications. This show is not for everyone but if you want to understand how to avoid and reverse diabetes, then tune in.

Check out the Nutritional Wisdom category for previous episodes.

Tags: Diabetes

Podcast: Hilary Lipman Beats Diabetes with Diet

Posted on December 11, 2006 by Henry Abbott

A diagnosis of type II diabetes is scary to anyone. Hilary Lipman wasn't happy about it when she got the news. But she was hardly paralyzed with fear. Instead she jumped into action. She took a class on what to eat. She read a lot of books. She made radical changes in what she eats. She started walking and exercising religiously. Before long, her doctor took her off the pills (glucophage) she had been taking. And now, according to the highly regarded hemoglobin A1c test (now it's 5.3), she essentially does not have diabetes anymore—a finding that is confirmed by her regular finger-prick tests. In addition, she has lost weight, improved her overall health, and improved her outlook.

Listen as Hilary Lipman tells how she beat diabetes in her own words.

Tags: Diabetes, Podcasts

Health Points: Tuesday

Posted on December 5, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Did you hear about the E. coli outbreak in New Jersey? No? Well I live in Jersey, and I can tell you—it’s all over the news! So if you haven’t heard about it, Chris Newmarker of the Associated Press will fill you in:

Authorities were still trying to determine how and where the victims became infected over the past two weeks. At least 11 of them ate at a Taco Bell restaurant in South Plainfield, and authorities were expected to finish tests on restaurant workers Monday.

The tofu tigers are coming! Quick, fashion a giant net out of nori! Jennifer from Vegan Lunch Box shows us what she can do with some plastic grass, a little tofu, and a wild imagination. Take a look:

I shaped a slice of firm tofu into a tiger's head, then fried it in a bit of oil until it turned golden brown. The tiger stripes are bits of nori seaweed cut with scissors; the face is more nori cut out with a "happy face" paper punch. The tiger sits on a bed of rice, and up above you can see a plastic squirting fish filled with soy sauce.

This next story might surprise you, but many companies are taking a direct approach towards improving their employees’ health. How would you feel about designated stretching times and higher prices for cafeteria junk-food? Ellen Simon of the Associated Press reports:

Outdoor clothing company L.L. Bean, Inc. shuts down its manufacturing line three times a day for mandatory five-minute stretches, designed to prevent the most common injuries the workers suffer…

…After L.L. Bean increased the price for burgers and lowered the price for salads in its cafeteria fruit and salad bar purchases doubled while French fry and burger sales fell by half.

Honestly, I thought a Kiwano was the type of robe people in Japan wear. Not so. FatFree Vegan Kitchen shares her take on this freakish looking fruit:

When you cut open a kiwano, you find that it's attractive even on the inside, a bright green color with lots of nicely formed seeds. But when you try to remove the "fruit" from the shell you discover that it's just a gelatinous mass and that those seeds are too tough to eat. Taste it and you find that it tastes decidedly "green"--not bad, really, but not good either. And the one I bought wasn't sweet at all.

Do we have any readers from Minnesota? If so, take a bow because according to the Associated Press your state is the healthiest in the country. You’ve topped United Health Foundation rankings for the fourth straight year—congratulations! Frederic J. Frommer has more:

Minnesota, which has held the top spot in 11 of the 17 years of the survey, was cited for, among other things, its low rate of uninsured (8.4 percent), low percentage of children in poverty (10 percent), and low infant mortality rate (5.1 deaths per 1,000 live births).

Something that really amazes me is fast food restaurants in hospitals. I don’t know. It just doesn’t put the vibe out there that Americans are serious about health. “Hey guys! Since my triple-bypass was a success, let’s celebrate with a cheeseburger and fries!” According Robert Preidt of HealthDay News some health researchers share this concern:

"At a time when obesity has become the most common, critical medical condition of childhood and consumption of fast food is widely considered to be a major contributor to this epidemic, the location of such restaurants in pediatric health care facilities promotes dietary choices that are contrary to the desired messages and established recommendations of our profession," lead researcher and pediatrician Dr. Hannah Sahud, of Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, said in a prepared statement.

Ever wonder what doctors would be if they weren’t doctors? Well UroStream has decided that if she wasn’t taking care of people, she’d be a restaurant critic. Sounds like a good premise for a sitcom. Urologist by day, restaurant connoisseur by night—I just hope she washes her hands. Here’s her story:

But I've thought this over, and I've finally reached my dream alternative career choice: restaurant critic. I mean, I love food, I have an adventuresome yet discriminating palate, I like to write, and I eat out a lot. If I could get paid to do this, it would indeed be my ideal job.

Score one for the mango! New research has revealed that mango nectar can help aid in the control of diabetes. Allie Beatty of The Diabetes Blog has more:

Early results suggest some compounds in mangoes work by activating or inhibiting groups of receptors known as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors, or PPARs. PPARs play a role in cellular metabolism. The findings of this study could present positive nutritional health benefits for diabetes and high cholesterol. Furthermore, preliminary findings also suggest that mango skin, often a component of mango juice, is particularly rich in these compounds.

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Obesity, Research, Weight Loss

Double Diabetes?

Posted on December 4, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Yeah, it might sound crazy, but according Dennis Thompson of HealthDay News, the diabetes epidemic in this country is so out of control that doctors are beginning to see patients with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. They’re calling it “Double Diabetes.” Here’s more:

An estimated 20.8 million Americans -- or 7 percent of the population -- are now believed to be diabetic. Of those, 6.2 million people have the disease but don't know it. And that doesn't include the 41million people with pre-diabetes, a condition in which blood-glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes…

…Generally, double-diabetes sufferers will often look as though they have the more common type 2 version because they're overweight. But subsequent blood tests reveal they also have type 1 disease.

Tags: Diabetes

Asthma: The Bronx Bomber

Posted on December 1, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

I’ve never known that many asthmatics, so my familiarity with the condition is minimal. But until I read Disease-Proof Your Child I didn’t realize that asthma is another condition that can be treated with superior nutrition. Like many Americans I thought it was just one of those things you’re born with and can’t really do much about. Not so according to Dr. Fuhrman:

Allergies and asthma are often a reaction to inhaling substances such as pollen, house dust, and cat hair, or the hyperactivity of the airways may be triggered by infections, chemical irritants, exercise, and even emotions. In virtually every case, there is an underlying abnormality—an excessive irritability of the airways that leads to inflammation and narrowing of the airways.

It is always prudent to avoid and remove things that are known to trigger a reaction in a sensitive child, but what is most important, but rarely even considered, is why an individual is so hypersensitive or allergic to begin with. Learning why a person has allergies or asthma makes it possible to take steps to improve and reverse this common chronic condition.

So, why do I bring this up? Well a couple days ago The New York Daily News ran a rather startling article. Apparently the Bronx is a hotbed of childhood asthma attacks, despite the overall decline in the number of kids being hospitalized for asthma citywide. Lisa L. Colangelo has more:

The overall hospitalization rate for the city decreased last year from 6.5 per 1,000 children to 5.4 per 1,000, according to a recent Health Department study. But the Bronx rate was 8.9 per 1,000, and the numbers in three Bronx neighborhoods were higher still…

…Similar high numbers were found in low-income neighborhoods around the city.

Now, I’m no detective, but maybe these low-income neighborhoods have something to do with it. This excerpt from Disease-Proof Your Child might leave you feeling the same way:

The occurrence of asthma and allergies is also related to lifestyle factors and dietary patterns. Genetics play a role, but not the major role. Children’s growing bodies and dividing cells make them more susceptible to damage, but there is an up side, too. Their growing bodies are also more malleable and can make dramatic recoveries from serious diseases such as asthma easier than an adult’s can, when a program of superior nutrition is adopted.

Certainly, living in an urban area around pollution is an important contributor. Non-dietary risk factors include exposure to day care before four months of age, and exposure to wood smoke, oil smoke, or exhaust anytime from birth to age five all increase asthma risk by 50 percent.1 But nutritional influences are also powerfully linked and appear again and again in multiple scientific studies. One important risk for the development of allergies and asthma is lack of breast-feeding and high dietary ration of omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 fatty acids.2 Animal products (except for fish) are deficient in omega-3 fatty acids, while flax seeds and walnuts are rich plant sources of omega-3 fats. This same inadequate dietary fatty acid pattern in mother’s diet during pregnancy has also been shown in scientific trial to beget a higher number of allergic and asthmatic children.3

This report reminded me of January's New York Times investigation of diabetes in Manhattan . Check it out and let me know if you see some similarities too.
Continue Reading...

Tags: Asthma, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Healthy Parenting, Healthy Pregnancy, Hurtful Food, Toxins

Hope for Type 1 Childhood Onset Diabetics

Posted on November 30, 2006 by Joel Fuhrman

From the September 2003 edition of Dr. Fuhrman’s Healthy Times:

I often am asked, “Is your program appropriate for type I diabetics? Aren’t they going to require insulin forever, no matter what they eat?”

A type 1 diabetic can never stop taking all insulin entirely like a type 2 diabetic can. Even after adopting a high-nutrient, Eat to Live (ETL) dietary approach, they still will need to take regular injections. However, stopping insulin is not the reason for the type 1 diabetics to adopt this approach.

Conventional care
With conventional care, the long-term prognosis for a type 1 diabetic is dismal. More than one-third of all type 1 diabetics die before the age of fifty. I contend that this need not be the case. Type 1 diabetics need not feel doomed to a life of medical disasters and an early death sentence.

A different approach
I find that when type 1 diabetics adopt the ETL program, they can lower their insulin requirements by about half. They no longer have swings of highs and lows, and their glucose levels and lipids stay under excellent control. In other words, it is not Type 1 diabetes itself that causes such negative health consequences. Rather, it is the combination of the diabetes and the typical nutritional “advice” given to these patients—advice that requires them to take large amounts of unnecessary insulin.

The extra insulin and the high glucose levels raise lipids, accelerate atherosclerosis, and damage the body. With this in mind, it should be clear that while the Standard American Diet (SAD), which has spread to all industrialized nations, is dangerous for everyone, it is particularly deadly for diabetics.

With a truly health-supporting lifestyle, including exercise and real food designed by nature, the type 1 diabetic can have the same potential for a long, disease-free life as everyone else. Even though the type 1 diabetic still will require exogenous (external) insulin, they will no longer need excessive amounts of it.

Powerful treatment
The vegetable-based, nutrient-dense, Eat to Live dietary program I recommend is designed to be the most effective treatment available for those with diabetes. For the vast majority of type 2 diabetic patients, this approach results in complete reversal of the diabetic condition. For type 1 diabetic patients, it solves the problem of excessive highs and lows and prevents the typical dangerous complications that too frequently befall those with this medical condition.

A total approach
Of course, no dietary approach to diabetes will succeed without attention to other risk factors—especially sedentary lifestyle, smoking, and lack of sleep. The road to wellness involves making a commitment to a new lifestyle.

Tags: Diabetes

Health Points: Friday

Posted on November 10, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

There’s some major irony here. It seems one acetaminophen manufacturer has got a major headache on its hands. According to the Associated Press metal fragments were discovered in a batch of pain relievers sold by Wal-Mart, CVS, and Safeway. Prompting a huge recall:

The contaminated pills included metal fragments ranging in size from "microdots" to portions of wire one-third of an inch long, the Food and Drug Administration said. Perrigo discovered the metal bits during quality-control checks after realizing the equipment it uses to make pills was wearing down prematurely, the FDA said.

Smoking, these days it’s impossible to defend—and rightfully so! Most people could probably rattle off at least a dozen reasons not to smoke. Well, here’s one more. New research reveals heavy smoking interferes with pregnancy by compromising the fetus’s ability to implant in the uterus. Amanda Gardner of HealthDay News has more:

"Tobacco consumption reduces your pregnancy probability, not only due to the already known ovarian effects but also due to impaired uterine receptiveness," said Dr. Sergio R. Soares, lead author of the study and director of the IVI Clinic in Lisbon, Portugal.

If you keep up with all the health news you’ll soon realize one of the biggest dangers associated with obesity is the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. One Miami social studies teacher was all too afraid of this. According to The Miami Herald he created an annual free diabetes screening for young students. Desonta Holder reports:

Since the program began in 2004, about 1,500 students -- 500 each year -- have been screened for risk factors that could lead to diabetes -- obesity, high blood pressure and elevated blood glucose levels. Many of these high school students -- 80 percent Hispanic and 13 percent black (non-Hispanic) -- in this middle-class area were already beginning to show signs of diabetes.

Here’s some more obesity news for you. Recently the European Union praised several food companies for their promise to help Europe control its growing obesity crisis. Although I find it odd that the companies receiving the adulation include Pepsi, Coca Cola, and McDonalds. More from the Associated Press:

At a press conference with top executives of these companies, he said it was crucial food and drink companies cooperate in the fight against flab because the EU cannot legislate against products that are not dangerous.

If Europe wants to curb overweight, "we have to form public-private partnerships. We are all part of the problem — industry, parents, consumers, the authorities, doctors — and will have to be part of the solution."

One thing’s for sure, exercise is a good thing. I doubt you’ll ever see a surgeon general's warning on physical activity. Especially since according to a new study exercise might lower children’s risk of developing hay fever. Reuters explains:

According to the researchers, their findings are unlikely to be a case of "reverse causality," where hay fever caused some children to avoid outdoor activities. For one, the study followed the children over time, documenting new cases of hay fever. In addition, sedentary children were inactive year-round, not only during pollen season.

Tags: Diabetes, Obesity, Research

Starch-Based Diets No Answer for Diabetics

Posted on November 6, 2006 by Joel Fuhrman

From the September 2003 edition of Dr. Fuhrman’s Healthy Times:

While they are a step in the right direction, grain- and starch-based diets pose risks for diabetics. I want to make it clear that diabetics can’t just “eat better.” They have to go all the way and follow the vegetable-based diet I call Eat To Live (ETL). This is the only dietary approach that lowers cholesterol, improves the cholesterol ratio, and lowers triglycerides.

With only one or two exceptions, other vegetarian diets simply are not as effective or safe because they typically rely heavily on cooked starchy vegetables, such as bread, grains, and potatoes. The recommendations of vegetarian diet authors, such as Dean Ornish and John McDougall, can be helpful for the general public but are far from ideal for those with diabetes. Certain individuals may experience beneficial changes after adopting recommendations such as these, since they are a big improvement over the Standard American Diet (SAD), but most diabetics will not achieve the results available to them unless they adopt the ETL approach.

Diabetics need to avoid baked starchy vegetables and flour-based products. Most low-fat and vegetarian-type diets are cooked starch- and grain-based, not steamed vegetable-based. By utilizing more green vegetables, beans, nuts, and even fruit, the ETL approach sets the stage for more dramatic weight loss and more effective glucose lowering.

The ETL vegetable-based dietary program is the only dietary intervention ever shown in medical studies to lower cholesterol more effectively than cholesterol-lowering medication. Other styles of plant-based dietary interventions—because they are grain- and potato-based— have been relatively ineffective at lowering cholesterol. Although the low-fat vegetarian diet lowered LDL cholesterol 16 percent, it raised triglycerides 18.7 percent, and the LDL/HDL ratio remained unchanged, reflecting minimal overall improvement.1

The ETL approach differed in that the LDL cholesterol was more significantly lowered (33 percent) without unfavorable impact on HDL or triglycerides, reflecting sizable improvement in reducing the risk of heart attack. ETL simply is the most cardio-protective dietary approach one can follow, which is of crucial importance since diabetics have such an increased cardiac risk.

Exposure to advanced glycation end products
Another reason why typical vegetarian diets are not ideal for diabetics is they are not designed to avoid exposure to advanced glycation end products (AGEs). There is a huge body of literature documenting that the high sugar in the bloodstream in diabetics promotes the formation of AGEs in the body as the sugars react with body proteins. The formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) on connective tissue and within cells stiffens and ages your blood vessels and accelerates aging throughout the body. AGEs are a significant causal factor of the horrible side effects of diabetes, such as blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, and strokes.The chemical modifications of cells that occur as a result of the accumulation of AGEs are one of the primary hallmarks of aged and diseased tissues.

But the accumulation of AGEs in the body does not result solely from increased sugar in the bloodstream. AGEs also are formed when starchy foods are cooked at higher temperatures, causing molecular rearrangement. Acrylamides are an example of AGEs that occur from cooking carbohydrates—such as potatoes and grains—in the absence of water. The higher the temperature, the more these toxic compounds are formed. Neither acrylamides nor other AGEs are formed when vegetables are steamed or cooked in soups.

Refined carbohydrates in bakery products and processed foods can cause heart attacks even in people who are not diabetic,2 but these products are even more dangerous for diabetics, since diabetics are more sensitive to the damaging effects of AGEs. Vegetarians (my wife calls them “vegjunktarians”) who eat large quantities of cooked starches and honey were found to have higher measurable levels of AGEs than people eating a more omnivorous diet.3 To be lifespan-promoting and diabetic-reversing, vegetarian diets must be designed to minimize exposure to large amounts of cooked starches and simple sugars. In addition, they must be very high in fiber to maximize glucose lowering. My high-nutrient ETL approach meets all of these criteria. Continue Reading...

Monkeying with Calorie Restriction

Posted on October 31, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

If you thought yesterday’s post about calorie restriction was interesting, you’ll love this report—it’s got monkeys! Everyone loves monkeys. Especially a healthy looking social monkey and an overweight lethargic grumpy one—the primate odd couple!

The New York Times introduces us to Canto and Owen, two rhesus monkeys on totally different sides of the calorie restriction spectrum. Canto who eats 445 calories a day is healthier and much younger looking than his buddy Owen who consumes 885 calories daily—Owen doesn’t appear happy about it. Some scientists believe the plight of Canto and Owen sheds serious light on the benefits of calorie restriction for humans. Michael Mason reports:

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have been tracking the health of small groups of calorie-restricted dieters. Earlier this year, they reported that the dieters had better-functioning hearts and fewer signs of inflammation, which is a precursor to clogged arteries, than similar subjects on regular diets.

In previous studies, people in calorie-restricted groups were shown to have lower levels of LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol, and triglycerides. They also showed higher levels of HDL, the so-called good cholesterol, virtually no arterial blockage and, like Mr. Linksvayer, remarkably low blood pressure.

“Calorie restriction has a powerful, protective effect against diseases associated with aging,” said Dr. John O. Holloszy, a Washington University professor of medicine. “We don’t know how long each individual will end up living, but they certainly have a longer life expectancy than average.”

Researchers at Louisiana State University reported in April in The Journal of the American Medical Association that patients on an experimental low-calorie diet had lower insulin levels and body temperatures, both possible markers of longevity, and fewer signs of the chromosomal damage typically associated with aging.

Anyone else want a pet rhesus monkey now?

Tags: Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Cholesterol, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food

Health Points: Friday

Posted on October 20, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

It sure seems like world hunger is going to become a thing of the past because according to the World Health Organization for every four malnourished adults in the world, five more are overweight, and thirty percent of them are obese. AFP reports:

A billion people out of the world's six billion population are now considered overweight, compared with 800 million who do not have enough to eat.

A hyperactive kid might be annoying, but you don’t want them to be a hobbit, do you? Denise Gellene of The Los Angeles Times explains the dangers of using Ritalin on preschoolers is significant, one side effect appears to be slower growth rate. Here’s more:

Researchers said the drug appeared to slow children's growth rates. They grew about a half-inch less in height and weighed 3 pounds less than expected, based on estimates of their growth.

You ever wonder where all the garbage goes? Todd Pittman of The Seattle Times explains a lot of waste, specifically discarded electronics, is being dumped on third world nations. As you can imagine this is not having a positive effect on the inhabitants’ health:

"Hazardous electronic waste is flowing to Africa on container ships every day. It's not as dramatic as was what happened in Ivory Coast, but over the long run it will have more of an environmental impact," Jim Puckett, founder of the Seattle-based environmental watchdog, Basel Action Network, told The Associated Press by telephone from London.

If surviving cancer wasn’t enough, new research indicates female cancer survivors have an increased risk of premature birth. Randy Dotinga of HealthDay News reports:

Women who underwent high-dose radiation therapy to their uterus seem to be the most likely to have problems. The authors of the study, published in the Oct. 18 issue of the Journal of the
National Cancer Institute, found that half of babies born to a sampling of these women were premature, compared to roughly 20 percent among their sisters.

Going outside a bar for a smoke might not seem cool, but for the workers inside, it’s a lifesaver. Alan Cowell of The New York Times explains the smoking ban in Scotland is already yielding remarkable results:

In an article published in The Journal of the American Medical Association on Oct. 11, Dr. Daniel Menzies, a clinical research fellow in the Asthma and Allergy Research Group at the University of Dundee, said the study showed that the smoking ban “has led to a rapid and marked improvement in the health of bar workers.”

Do your children sleepwalk? Have you tried duct taping them to their bed? No? Here HealthDay News provides some serious tips to help you deal with it:

Keep all windows and doors to the house locked to keep her from wandering outside.

Don't let her sleep in a bunk bed, and put baby gates in front of stairs.

I’m not sure how practical this is going to be, but according to Reuters a new study suggests sufferers of arthritis should go barefoot more often because contemporary footwear might worsen abnormal biomechanics:

The researchers assessed the effects of modern shoes on gait and lower extremity joint loads in 75 patients with knee OA [osteoarthritis]. Their mean age was 59, their mean body mass index was 28.4, and 59 of the 75 were women.

A new study claims elderly people with diabetes are twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease than non-diabetics. Reuters reporter Deborah Charles explains:

Researchers also found that participants who were taking insulin were six times more likely to die from infectious diseases or kidney failure than non-diabetic participants. Women treated with insulin had a particularly high mortality risk.

I’d sooner wrestle an angry polar bear than get my tongue pierced, and here’s a reason why. An Italian women reported stabbing pains in her face diagnosed as trigeminal neuralgia (also called the suicide disease) resulting from her recent tongue piercing. Carla K. Johnson of the Associated Press reports:

"There are people who have been dropped to their knees" by trigeminal neuralgia, said Alana Greca, a registered nurse and director of patient support for the Trigeminal Neuralgia Association. "That's how intense and how horrendous the pain can be."

Got bread? Well, you might want to lose it because according to an Italian study a diet rich in bread may boost the risk of kidney cancer. Kathleen Doheny of HealthDay News reports:

Researchers say those consuming the highest amounts of bread doubled the risk for kidney malignancy, compared to those eating the smallest amounts.

Moms need their sleep, but new research found that fifty-four percent of surveyed mothers feel they are not getting enough shuteye. Reuters explains:

Full-time working mothers were suffering the most with 59 percent saying they were not getting enough sleep. Half of the working mothers said they were getting six or fewer hours sleep a night.

Hong Kong butts out smoking. The Marlboro man is ticked! The AFP reports that Hong Kong has voted to ban smoking in public places by next year:

Smoking will be banned in government offices, shops and halls from January. But the ban will not be applied to bars and other places of entertainment until 2009 to give them time to adjust.

Now, I’m not sure you’ll find kids passing around a sandwich in a dark alley behind their school, but researchers have determined that food makes us feel good similarly to recreational drugs and sex. Reuters has more:

"In mice and rats ghrelin triggers the same neurons as delicious food, sexual experience, and many recreational drugs; that is, neurons that provide the sensation of pleasure and the expectation of reward," the researchers write in Friday's issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Tags: Arthritis, Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Hurtful Food, Obesity, Research, Toxins

Friday: Vegan and Veg Points

Posted on October 13, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

In light of the spinach-E. coli outbreak, Food News shows us how not to eat "poo" spinach:

During the whole e. coli outbreak, the most interesting thing I read was this. Did you realize that the e. coli couldn't have been washed off? That it got into the leaves through cut stems from a contaminated blade? Do you know what that means?

Diabetes Knowledge is talking about new research that shows people with type 2 diabetes do better with a low-fat vegetarian diet than with Atkins:

This new research in the journal Diabetes Care says that people with diabetes should avoid animal products such as meat and dairy. They also say the vegan diet is superior to the diet recommended by the American Diabetes Association, WebMD reports.

In Disease-Proof Your Child Dr. Fuhrman lists beets as one of his top ten super foods. The Vegan Diet examines the roots of this root:

The whole of the beetroot plant is nutritious. The greens contain vitamins A and C, beta-carotine, iron, potassium and calcium being very similar to spinach in nutrition. The roots are an excellent source of folate, potassium, vitamin A and manganese, they also are a good source of vitamin B and C, dietary fiber, magnesium, tryptophan, iron, copper, boron and phosphorous. Although high in sugars they are low in calories.

There are many different types of vegetarians. Blogged Health provides a list:

There are many types of vegetarians – pesco/semi vegetarian, lacto, lacto ovo, ovo, vegan, fruitarian and macrobiotic.

Protein, that word comes up a lot in the diet world. That’s Fit takes a look at the protein content in hummus:

WebMD says that hummus protein is a big yes. Hooray! Apparently, when you combine legumes and seeds, a complete protein source is established. You can go to the article to read about all the fancy terminology and the names of the different proteins.

WOW is considering a lot of diet ideologies lately, and he seems to be losing faith in his vegan diet:

I am not convinced anymore that a vegan diet is the optimal choice regarding health and nutrition. It may still be the optimal diet for peacefulness, compassion, and achieving advanced spiritual realms although I am going to explore this topic as well. I am certainly not giving up my levels of consciousness and awareness only to indulge in meat. I do not even crave meat. I am open to eventually concede either outcome.

Big Problems with Meat-Based Diets for Diabetics

Posted on October 13, 2006 by Joel Fuhrman

From the September 2003 edition of Dr. Fuhrman's Healthy Times:

So-called “high-protein,” animal-based diets are particularly dangerous for diabetics. Many diabetes “experts” and authors recommend that diabetics limit their intake of refined grains and simple sugars. As a result, most people have accepted the faulty logic that if sugar and refined grains and other high-glycemic foods raise blood sugar and triglycerides, we should eat more protein instead of carbohydrate. They attempt to overcome the triglyceride-raising problems seen in those eating typical high-carbohydrate diets by recommending a diet based on animal products.

Short-term benefits
Carbohydrate-restricted diets rich in animal products, often called “high-protein diets,” offer some short-term improvement in glucose control and weight loss. The problem with them is the increased protein intake promotes the progression of diabetic kidney disease, and the higher saturated fat intake raises cholesterol and promotes heart disease. I have observed numerous diabetic patients over the years who caused significant damage to their kidneys attempting to improve diabetic control with such high-protein, carbohydrate-restricted diets.

Long-term dangers
High-protein, carbohydrate-restricted diets also are heart unfriendly. One comprehensive study on the Atkins’ approach showed that after one year on the diet, blood flow to the heart diminished by an average of 40 percent and inflammatory markers that predict heart attacks increased.1 The low levels of plant fiber, phytochemicals, and antioxidant nutrients on these unbalanced, low produce diets expose the diabetic patient to additional risks. So-called “high-protein diets” may be short-term diabetic-favorable, but they are long-term dangerous.

Long-term benefits
The low-glycemic benefits of “high-protein” diets are achieved by the high-fiber, vegetable/bean/ nut-based Eat to Live (ETL) approach that I recommend, without the health problems linked to eating so many animal products. In addition, because the overall ETL diet contains high levels of fiber and micronutrients that cause triglycerides and blood sugars to fall dramatically, diabetics on this program can consume small portions of fruit safely, allowing them to enjoy the nutritional benefits of these healthful foods. The ETL program is the healthiest way to reverse diabetes.

For more of Dr. Fuhrman's thoughts about meat-based diets and diabetes, check out these previous posts:

Tags: Diabetes, Diet Myths, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food

Type II Diabetes: India In Crisis

Posted on September 13, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Last week a report in the AFP explained how the Body Mass Index does not yield accurate information about health risks and bodyweight for Asians; specifically pointing to Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Indians:

The standard way to define obesity uses the body-mass index -- a measure of weight divided by height -- but weight-related ill health appeared in East and South Asians at a lower cut-off point than in Caucasians, they said.

This is dangerous because many of these countries are adopting more and more elements of the western lifestyle, i.e. poor nutrition, overeating, and insufficient exercise. A new report in The New York Times explains India is especially hard hit by the sequela of the western diet. N.R. Kleinfield reports:

In its hushed but unrelenting manner, Type 2 diabetes is engulfing India, swallowing up the legs and jewels of those comfortable enough to put on weight in a country better known for famine. Here, juxtaposed alongside the stick-thin poverty, the malaria and the AIDS, the number of diabetics now totals around 35 million, and counting.

The future looks only more ominous as India hurtles into the present, modernizing and urbanizing at blinding speed. Even more of its 1.1 billion people seem destined to become heavier and more vulnerable to Type 2 diabetes, a disease of high blood sugar brought on by obesity, inactivity and genes, often culminating in blindness, amputations and heart failure. In 20 years, projections are that there may be a staggering 75 million Indian diabetics.

In a country where health insurance is scarce, Kleinfeild reports some diabetes patients are taking drastic measures:

M.V. Hospital managing director Dr. Ramachandran recounts the case of an impoverished diabetic with a hideously infected leg. Unable to find medical care, he laid the leg across the railroad tracks. The next train to hurtle past did the surgery.

Others simply accept disease as part of God’s will:

S. Kalyanasundaram, the chief regional manager in charge at the Chennai office of the National Insurance Company, one of the country’s biggest, explained that the issue with insurance was the odds. “Insurance can only work if the law of averages applies,” he said. “There are too many people with diabetes.”

Some concepts are easy to sell in India, Mr. Kalyanasundaram said, but health insurance is not one of them. “The capacity to pay is not there,” he said. “And many people take disease as a God-given thing to just accept. So why buy insurance?”

Dr. Fuhrman's prescription for diabetes is explained in detail in a previous post Don't Settle For Diabetes:

How can diabetics safely lower the high glucose levels that are slowly destroying their bodies? How can they lower their lipids and blood pressure, lose weight, and avoid taking dangerous drugs, such as insulin and sulfonylureas? They need to adopt a diet based on nutritional excellence.

Fortunately, the best diet for good health and longevity is also the best diet for diabetics. It is a diet with a high nutrient per calorie ratio, as carefully described in my book, Eat to Live. When you eat a diet consisting predominantly of nature’s perfect foods—-green vegetables, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, raw nuts and seeds, and limited amounts of fresh fruit, it becomes relatively easy to eat as much as you want and still lose your excess weight. In my experience, those who follow my nutritional recommendations find that their diabetes disappears astonishingly fast, even before most of their excess weight melts away.

Wakame What?

Posted on September 12, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

More magic beans for sale! If you’re a fan of the obesity-fighting Korean pine nut, then you’ll love Wakame. What the hell is Wakame? According to Reuters, brown seaweed that could promote weight-loss and have anti-diabetes effects:

At the 232nd American Chemical Society National Meeting in San Francisco today, Dr. Kazuo Miyashita from Hokkaido University reported seeing significant reductions in fat tissue in rats and obese mice fed the edible seaweed carotenoid fucoxanthin.

"The mechanism for this effect is a new one," Dr. Miyashita points out in a statement, explaining that fucoxanthin induces expression of the fat-burning protein UCP1 that accumulates in fat tissue around the internal organs. Mice fed fucoxanthin showed clear signs of UCP1 expression in fat tissue, whereas mice fed a control diet showed little expression of this protein.

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Weight Loss

BMI Not So Good For Asians

Posted on September 7, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

A couple weeks ago Linda Carroll of MSNBC reported on the growing doubt surrounding the Body Mass Index. The BMI is commonly used to determine if a person is of healthy bodyweight, but as Carrol explained it has its problems:

BMI can be way off, especially when it comes to assessing a particular individual. The commonly used measure can give a skewed result not only for fit body builders who come out with a high number because of the extra weight associated with muscle, but also for the elderly, who tend to have scores that underestimate obesity because they have so much less muscle.

In response Dr. Fuhrman provided his method of determining whether or not someone has a healthy bodyweight:

I just take a pinch near the umbilicus and squeeze it lightly between two fingers and measure the distance between the fingers.

Well, we might need to start pinching Asians. Because according to a new report by Malcolm Burgess of AFP the Body Mass Index often misdiagnoses them:

The standard way to define obesity uses the body-mass index -- a measure of weight divided by height -- but weight-related ill health appeared in East and South Asians at a lower cut-off point than in Caucasians, they said.

World Health Organisation guidelines say a BMI of 25 is healthy, more than 25 is overweight and more than 30 obese.

Taiwanese academic Pan Wen-Harn told the 10th International Congress on Obesity in Sydney that such criteria missed a large number of people in Asia.

Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Indians experienced metabolic risks such as hypertension and diabetes at a much lower threshold, she said.

"You don't have to wait until you get a BMI of over 25 -- even at 23 or 24 a substantial number of people have those diseases," she said.

Burgess cites the spread of the western diet and lifestyle as a reason why Asians are getting heftier:

Indian researcher Naval Vikram agreed that while the westernisation of the Indian diet and less physical exercise contributed to metabolic disorders, most blame lay with genetic make-up.

Indians tended to have high body fat, a low body-mass index, high abdominal fat and a low waist circumference, he said.

They suffered hypertension and lipid problems at a BMI of 22 or 23 -- much lower than other ethic groups, he said.

"If we use international definitions we will be missing about 15 to 20 percent of people whom we would be able to identify with a lower cut-off point. That's a substantially large proportion, taking the population of India," he said.

This story harks at the same issues illustrated in the series of reports by The New York Times investigating the diabetes epidemic in New York City. Here’s an excerpt from N.R. Kleinfield’s report:

One in three children born in the United States five years ago are expected to become diabetic in their lifetimes, according to a projection by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The forecast is even bleaker for Latinos: one in every two.

New York, perhaps more than any other big city, harbors all the ingredients for a continued epidemic. It has large numbers of the poor and obese, who are at higher risk. It has a growing population of Latinos, who get the disease in disproportionate numbers, and of Asians, who can develop it at much lower weights than people of other races.

Fellow New York Times reporter Marc Santora offers up more evidence that the Western way of eating isn’t well-suited for Asians:

Asian children in New York are obese, more than twice the rate among their parents. And they say there is mounting evidence - including soaring diabetes rates in major cities in China, and in other countries with Chinese immigrants - that New York will soon experience a similar explosion as more Asians arrive and have their first encounters with Western ways.

The clash of cultures is vividly apparent in Flushing, one of the city's new Chinatowns. On streets like Roosevelt Avenue, older immigrants still throng traditional Asian markets, with their signs in Chinese, and dine at noodle shops where windows fog with steam. Their children, however, are increasingly lured by fast food. Along a 100-yard strip of storefronts are a McDonald's, a Burger King, a Taco Bell, a Pizza Hut, and a Joe's Best Burger.

Even in China, the number of obese people has tripled since 1992 to 90 million, as Western food has become popular and prosperity has made it possible to eat more. The World Health Organization has warned that Asia faces a "tsunami" of diabetes in the coming decade, and health officials have assailed the Chinese government for its tepid response to the crisis.

It really seems like the problem extends beyond the shortcomings of the BMI. In Eat to Live Dr. Fuhrman explains Asians, in particular the Chinese who traditionally eat a very healthy plant-based diet, are biologically reeling from the effects of the Western lifestyle:

The Chinese [living in China], who on the average consume more calories, are thinner than Americans.1 In China the calorie intake per kilogram of body weight is 30 percent higher than in the United States. The Chinese eat about 270 more calories per day than Americans, yet they are invariably thin. Exercise cannot fully explain this difference, as researchers discovered the same thing with Chinese office workers as well.

This may be because calories from carbohydrates are not as likely to increase body fat as the same number of calories from high-fat foods such as oils and meats, which make up such a high proportion of the American diet. The data suggests that when a very low fat diet is consumed (15 percent average dietary fat in rural China), as compared to the typical Western diet (30-45 percent of calories from fat), more calories are burned to convert carbohydrate in fat, so the body cannot store fat easily.

The modern American diet receives about 37 percent of its calories from fat, with lots of sugar and refined carbohydrates. The combination of high fat and high sugar is a metabolic disaster that causes weight gain, independent of the number of calories.

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Obesity

Health Points: Wednesday

Posted on August 30, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

New York Times reporter Amelia Gentleman offers up an in depth look at the recent pesticide problems Coke and Pepsi have encountered in India:

The Center for Science and the Environment announced in August that drinks manufactured by Coca-Cola and PepsiCo in India contained on average more than 24 times the safe limits of pesticides, which could come from sugar, water and other ingredients.

When those reports appeared on the front pages of newspapers in India, Coke and Pepsi executives were confident that they could handle the situation. But they stumbled.

They underestimated how quickly events would spiral into a nationwide scandal, misjudged the speed with which local politicians would seize on an Indian environmental group’s report to attack their global brands and did not respond swiftly to quell the anxieties of their customers.

UroStream might be a highly educated doctor, but even still, she admits “the single hardest phrase to utter as a practicing physician is ‘I don't know what is wrong.’”:

This is an especially difficult admission for younger docs who are just starting their practice and I have discovered that part of the maturing process as a physician is to accept that you simply cannot have all the answers. Naturally you should not proclaim ignorance too many times or you would be just plain incompetent. As a specialist, I am also very aware of the fact that I should know "my" area of the body more thoroughly, and that patients have been specifically referred to me because of this knowledge.

Hilary E. MacGregor of The Los Angeles Times reports soon cold cuts will come with a side of viruses. It’s gross, but true:

The bacteriophage additive was approved for use on ready-to-eat meats, which are normally consumed without additional cooking, said Andrew Zajac, acting director of the division of petition review in the FDA Office of Food Additive Safety.

These foods can become contaminated with listeria when they are made, and because they're not cooked the contaminants won't be killed. The phage product will be sprayed on meats before packaging so that contaminated meats will be purged of listeria before the products reach the consumer.

Blogging Baby talks about a new study designed to determine whether changes in school food and physical education will help prevent type 2 diabetes in children:

Hundreds of sixth graders in 42 middle schools will begin taking part in a study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The HEALTHY study will determine if changes in school food services and physical education classes, along with activities that encourage healthy behaviors, lower risk factors for type 2 diabetes, an increasingly common disease in youth. Participating schools will be randomly assigned to a program group, which implements the changes, or to a comparison group, which continues to offer food choices and PE programs typically seen in middle schools across the country. Students in the program group will have healthier choices from the cafeteria and vending machines (e.g., lower fat foods, more fruits and vegetables, and drinks with no added sugar) longer, more intense periods of physical activity, and activities and awareness campaigns that promote long-term healthy behaviors. After 2.5 years, all students will be tested for diabetes risk factors, including blood levels of glucose, insulin, and lipids. They will also be measured for fitness level, blood pressure, height, weight, and waist circumference.

According to the Associated Press some US health officials doubt the results of a costly cancer study. Kevin Freking reports:

Under the program, the federal government paid $130 each time a chemotherapy provider assessed a Medicare patient's pain, fatigue and nausea. The payments were designed to encourage doctors to report information that might one day lead to improved care for cancer patients.

In a report to be released Wednesday, the inspector general for the Health and Human Services Department cast doubt on whether the money was well-spent. He questioned the integrity of the data that doctors submitted.

Parallel Universes shares curiosity for why humans evolved taste buds for sour flavors:

What remains baffling to the scientists is "why a sour receptor would come to be." They can explain 'bitter' as our way of avoiding poisonous substances, and 'sweet' as our way of knowing what to eat when we need a boost in energy. But sour??? They still don't know why we would need to detect sour food items.

Tags: Cancer, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, School Food

New England Journal of Medicine: Overweight Contributes to Mortality

Posted on August 23, 2006 by Henry Abbott

Last year some researchers found that being slightly overweight actually lowered the risk of death. Kenneth Chang reports in today's New York Times that two new, larger studies tell a different tale: being even slightly overweight can increase mortality.

The researchers said the more telling analysis arose when they focused on 186,000 healthy men and women who had never smoked. Among men and women, being overweight raised the risk of death 20 percent to 40 percent compared with normal-weight people, the researchers said...

Researchers have almost universally found that obese people have considerable health risks. But there has been debate over whether someone who is less severely overweight is at a greater risk of illness. Other factors, especially smoking, can complicate analysis of the data. Smoking greatly increases the chances of deadly lung diseases, but smokers tend to weigh less.

“No single study is able to solve a controversy of this magnitude,” Dr. Leitzmann said, but he recommended that anyone overweight “should be looking to lose weight.”

A second study by researchers at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, and Johns Hopkins University looked at 1.2 million Koreans ages 30 to 95 and followed them for 12 years. The researchers looked at 82,372 deaths and correlated them with the body mass index. They found, too, that risk of death and cancer increased in people who were overweight, but not obese.

Both studies have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. You can read both the American and Korean studies online.

As we have blogged about before, Dr. Fuhrman has long been citing the work of Harvard's Dr. I-Min Lee--who studied nearly 20,000 men over nearly thirty years. She found that you practically can not be too thin: the lightest group of men had the lowest mortality. (Of course, he cautions, there is such a thing as being too thin, which is usually anorexia.)

Tags: Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Hurtful Food, Obesity, Research

Health Points: Friday

Posted on July 28, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Diabetes Daily talks about a rigorous couple of days of insulin pumping:

Just when you think that you've got it down, under control, and you know what's up... it throws you for a loop. The other day, I went to work with large ketones in my urine. I could not get my blood sugar down under 175 (which was my lowest BG that day) and I took more insulin than I ever have since going on the pump. What was causing this mess?

Not the pump. It had been fine for the past two days. There were no air bubbles I could see. Maybe all the carbs? It's my birthday week and I have not been setting the standard for a diabetic diet in any way. Cake, gelato, cookies, beans and rice- lots of beans and rice. Maybe its catching up? No, because I eat that stuff all the time and have had no problems. Maybe not in those quantities, but I certainly do take the right amount of insulin for it.

Could it have been that the insulin went bad? It has been hot. It was the day before I changed my site. I took a whole lot of insulin for the food I ate, and even more to compensate for that when my BG went through the roof. I bet that was the case. After I changed my site, my blood sugar went down to normal levels. Imagine that!

A new study claims that as many as 43% of heart attacks in women go unnoticed, Kathleen Doheny of HealthDay News reports:

Heart attacks often go unrecognized, although experts disagree on just how often. One recent study suggested that 43 percent of attacks -- more than four in 10 -- may go undetected when they occur, and more often in women than men. While other experts say that estimate is too high, they concede that unrecognized attacks are a problem.

On one point all agree: Both women and men need to know the warning signs of a heart attack and to seek immediate help if they suspect one. The worst that can happen if you're wrong? You'll be sent home from the emergency room, secure in the knowledge it was a false alarm.

Jennifer of Vegan Lunch Box fame shares a recipe for Fruit & Nut Bars over on Shoomed Food:

These bars contain no oil and no sugar; they get their sweetness from dried fruit. They are also chock full of walnuts, which contain lots of those fabulous omega-3 fatty acids. These bars are wheat and soy-free -- great for those with allergy concerns.

According to the Associated Press the U.S. government is seemingly to busy to review the issue of food label warnings. Libby Quaid reports:

The government is too strapped to handle congressional legislation that would strip state-ordered warnings from food labels, a former Food and Drug Administration official said Thursday.

The food industry wants Congress to prevent states from adding food warnings that go beyond federal law, affecting laws about milk safety in Massachusetts, Michigan and Nebraska and warnings about allergy-causing sulfites in Connecticut, Michigan and Virginia.

States would be allowed to petition the FDA to keep the warnings. But the agency is plagued by backlogs and staffing shortages, said William Hubbard, a former associate commissioner who retired last year.

The Consumerist passes on a gag idea for a new McDonald’s advertisement.

Treating Diabetes: Scientists Warming To Plant-Based Diet

Posted on July 27, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Dr. Fuhrman advocates a plant-based diet because it is the most optimal diet-style for diabetes reversal, weight-loss, and the prevention of heart disease. Sally Squires of The Washington Post explains many scientists are beginning to acknowledge its superior advantages as well:

People with Type 2 diabetes are advised to limit carbohydrates because of worries that too many carbs could overtax the body's dwindling insulin production and lessen its ability to process glucose.

Now some scientists are asking if a very-low-fat diet rich in healthy carbohydrates—whole grains, beans, fruit and vegetables—might be another option.

This prompted scientists to conduct a study comparing the standard dietary advice from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the vegetable-based diet-style of Dr. Dean Ornish:

The four-month trial, funded by the National Institutes of Health, studied 99 people with Type 2 diabetes. Half were asked to follow the standard dietary advice from the American Diabetes Association (ADA). The other half were asked to adhere to a very strict, low-fat vegan diet devoid of meat, fish, eggs, dairy or any other animal products.

Both groups improved blood sugar control and LDL cholesterol levels. Both lost weight, but the vegan group shed an average of 15 pounds, compared with six for the ADA group. As in the Ornish study, the vegan group showed no harmful changes in either HDL or triglyceride levels.

The results of the study demonstrate the overall efficiency and effectiveness of a “vegan” or a plant-based diet. Additionally 20 percent of participants following the vegetable-based diet for a year were able to cut or eliminate their insulin and other glucose-lowering medication.

Squires concludes her report with these three recommendations for those trying to overcome diabetes through diet:

Eat more plant-based foods. The more variety, the better. Groups that recommend eating more beans, vegetables (without added fat), fruit (sans added sugar) and whole grains include the American Heart Association, the National Cancer Institute, the Institute of Medicine, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the American Diabetes Association, the American Cancer Society and the American Institute for Cancer Research.

Easy on the fat. Gram for gram, fat contains more than twice the calories of protein or carbs. Being overweight or obese is a major risk factor for diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer. Whatever fat you eat, make it healthy. Skip saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol found in whole milk dairy products, fatty meat and poultry with the skin. Reach instead for fish, healthy oil such as canola or olive oil, healthy margarine, nuts, avocados and seeds.

Get plenty of exercise. The Diabetes Prevention Program—a large federally funded study of people who were just a step shy of developing diabetes—found that brisk daily exercise (yes, walking is fine) played an important part in preventing diabetes. The study found 30 minutes daily was required, but that can be broken into 10-minute increments.

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Cholesterol, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Weight Loss

Children and Obesity-Related Diabetes

Posted on July 26, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

According to The Seattle Times a new study claims children with Type 2 diabetes are at a much higher risk of kidney failure and death at middle age. Lindsey Tanner reports:

The research also lends support to warnings that diabetes and other obesity-related ills are on the verge of shortening the average life span in the United States.

The study involved Pima Indians in Arizona, who have disproportionately high rates of diabetes and obesity. They may be "the tip of the iceberg, letting us know what's in the future for the rest of America if we don't do something about the childhood obesity epidemic," said Dr. David Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children's Hospital Boston. He was not involved in the research.

The results of the study are grim:

It involved a group of Indians whom National Institutes of Health researchers have been tracking since 1965. Of the 1,865 participants with type 2 diabetes, 96 developed it in childhood. The average age of youth-onset diabetes was about 17 years, although the disease was diagnosed in children as young as 3 ½.

During at least 15 years of follow-up, 16 percent of those with childhood-onset type 2 diabetes developed end-stage kidney failure or died from diabetic kidney disease by age 55. That compared with 8 percent of those who developed diabetes after age 20.

The researchers calculated that the incidence of end-stage kidney failure and death by age 55 was nearly five times higher in people who developed type 2 diabetes before age 20 than in those who developed diabetes in adulthood.

Remember children don’t have to suffer this fate, Dr. Fuhrman’s vegetable-based diet-style and approach to nutrition is instrumental in protecting against or reversing diseases like Type 2 diabetes. Take a look at this post for more: Don’t Settle For Diabetes

The best diet for good health and longevity is also the best diet for diabetics. It is a diet with a high nutrient per calorie ratio, as carefully described in my book, Eat to Live. When you eat a diet consisting predominantly of nature’s perfect foods—-green vegetables, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, raw nuts and seeds, and limited amounts of fresh fruit, it becomes relatively easy to eat as much as you want and still lose your excess weight. In my experience, those who follow my nutritional recommendations find that their diabetes disappears astonishingly fast, even before most of their excess weight melts away.

Health Points: Friday

Posted on July 21, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Liz Kowalczyk of The Boston Globe reports increased obesity is fueling a rise in joint-replacement surgeries:

Surgery to replace damaged knees and hips with artificial joints has become so common among active baby boomers that it almost seems like a badge of honor. But evidence is growing that it's not only skiers and joggers fueling the explosion of operations, but obese Americans.

Some hospitals estimate that half to two-thirds of their patients having joint-replacement surgery are overweight or obese, and these patients are posing added challenges for medical teams.

Scott from Scott’s Diabetes Journal discusses the mental aspects of diabetes:

I don't know what the current statistics are, but those dealing with a chronic condition such as diabetes are more likely to experience clinical depression. It's something like two to four times more likely to be diagnosed with clinical depression than the average population.

I would venture to guess that this would be true for nearly any chronic condition.

But maybe diabetes is a bit different in this respect - it is said that we are in control of how things turn out. If we do "good" and follow the "rules", we shouldn't have many problems. On the other hand, if we do "bad", disregard the "rules", we are destined to live a life full of "self imposed" complications. We all know it's not quite that simple, but that is often how the medical community makes it seem.

According to USA Today kids are heavily tempted by online food marketing. Nanci Hellmich reports:

In the first comprehensive review of food marketing to children on the Web, the research found 85% of leading brands that target kids in TV ads also have games and other material on the Internet. The sites promote snacks, cereal, fast food, sugary drinks and candy.

More than 500 "advergames" such as Hershey's Syrup Squirt, LifeSavers Boardwalk Bowling and M&Ms Trivia Game were offered on 77 websites.

Many sites have special features. Oreo.com has a jingle contest for songs about Oreo cookies; McDonald's Ronald.com has pages for kids to color; Capncrunch.com, which promotes the Quaker Oats cereal, offers screensavers.

Help Jennifer from Vegan Lunch Box decide which cover to use for her book—yes I said her book!

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Healthy Parenting, Hurtful Food, Obesity

Research Suggest a Diabetes-Alzheimer's Link

Posted on July 17, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Denise Grady of The New York Times reports new studies suggest diabetes increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. According to Grady this is a daunting prospect:

The connection raises an ominous prospect: that increases in diabetes, a major concern in the United States and worldwide, may worsen the rising toll from Alzheimer’s. The findings also add dementia to the cloud of threats that already hang over people with diabetes, including heart disease, strokes, kidney failure, blindness and amputations.

Grady explains there are a number of ways diabetes detrimentally affects brain function:

Not everyone with diabetes gets Alzheimer’s, and not all Alzheimer’s patients are diabetic. But in the past decade, several large studies have found that compared with healthy people of the same age and sex, those with Type 2 diabetes are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s. The reason is not known, but researchers initially suspected that cardiovascular problems caused by diabetes might contribute to dementia by blocking blood flow to the brain or causing strokes.

More recently, though, scientists have begun to think that the diseases are connected in other ways as well. In both, destructive deposits of amyloid, a type of protein, build up: in the brain in Alzheimer’s, in the pancreas in Type 2 diabetes.

People with Type 2 often have a condition called insulin resistance, in which their cells cannot properly use insulin, the hormone needed to help glucose leave the blood and enter cells that need it. To compensate, the pancreas makes extra insulin, which can reach high levels in the blood. Too much insulin may lead to inflammation, which can contribute to damage in the brain.

In addition, abnormalities in glucose metabolism and insulin levels in the brain itself may be harmful. Some research has found that too much insulin in the brain can contribute to amyloid buildup. Researchers have even suggested that Alzheimer’s disease may actually be “Type 3 diabetes,” a form of the disease affecting the nervous system.

Dr. Rachel A. Whitmer of the Division of Research at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California believes this link does not bode well for our future:

“With the whole diabetes epidemic we’re seeing much more Type 2, so are we going to see even more Alzheimer’s than we thought we would see? If we continue in this direction, it’s a little bit frightening.”

Tags: Alzheimer's Disease, Diabetes, Research

Eating to Age Rapidly and Die Prematurely

Posted on July 10, 2006 by Joel Fuhrman

Adapted from Dr. Fuhrman’s book Cholesterol Protection For Life:

Certain foods lead to superior health and other foods lead to ill health. It is impossible to earn excellent health while consuming disease-causing foods. One cannot escape from the biological laws of cause and effect. It is impossible to eat the American diet without the eventual development of a serious disease. Autopsy studies on adult Americans who die in car accidents show over 95% have atherosclerotic heart disease. The only reason why more than 50% do not die of heart attacks and strokes is that cancer or some other illness gets them first.

Heart disease and strokes kill over half of all Americans.

If you eat the typical American diet, you will likely die of typical American diseases. In the typical American diet 40% of calories come from animal foods such as dairy, meat, eggs, and chicken, and 50% of calories come from processed foods such as pasta, bread, soda, oils, sugar, puffed cereals, pretzels, and other adulterated products. Cancer and heart disease is the consequence.

Americans consume only about 7% of their calories from unrefined plant foods defined as fruits, vegetables, beans/legumes, and whole grains. These unrefined plant foods are rich in fiber and anti-cancer nutrients, yet Americans eat very little of these nourishing foods.

Refined grain products, such as white bread, pasta, bagels, white rice, most breakfast cereals, and other denatured and processed grains are almost as nutrient-deficient as sugar. The nutritional value of these “foods” falls very low on the scale compared to healthful foods.

In a six-year study of 65,000 women, the women with diets high in refined carbohydrates from white bread, white rice, and pasta had two-and-a-half times the incidence of Type II diabetes, compared with those who ate high-fiber foods, such as vegetables, beans/legumes, whole grains, and fresh fruit.

Diabetes is not a lightweight problem; it is the fourth leading cause of death by disease in America, and the number of people developing diabetes is soaring. White flour, other refined grains such as sweetened breakfast cereals, soft drinks, other sweets, and even fruit juices are weight promoting and not only lead to diabetes, but can raise triglycerides and cholesterol levels, increasing heart-attack risk.

Every time you eat processed foods you not only exclude the important known nutrients from your diet, but also hundreds of other undiscovered phytonutrients that are essential for normal, human function. For instance, it is the outer portion of the wheat kernel (the part that is removed when white flour is made) that contains trace minerals, phytoestrogens, lignins, phytic acid, indoles, phenolic compounds and other phytochemicals, as well as all of the vitamin E. It is the diversity of micronutrients, both known and unknown, that are necessary to ward off cancer.

Additionally, when we eat baked goods, cold breakfast cereals, pretzels, and other snack foods, we are getting heart-disease-promoting trans fats and a high dose of acrylamides. Acrylamides are toxic, cancer-promoting compounds produced when foods are baked or fried at high temperatures. Chips, pretzels, cold breakfast cereals, roasted soy nuts, browned foods, crusted foods, and fried foods contain high levels of these toxic compounds that are formed when carbohydrates are exposed to high dry heat. These harmful compounds are not formed when foods are water cooked, when you steam vegetables or make soups for example.

Refined or processed foods also include salad oil. All oils are 120 calories per tablespoon and nutrient-poor. Oils leave behind the fiber and most of the nutrients that were in the original food. When eating these oils we consume more “empty” or nutrient poor calories, reducing the nutrient density of our dietary intake. Refined oils, such as olive oil, are removed from nature’s protective packaging, rich in nutrients and antioxidants. They may be a big improvement over butter and margarine (containing saturated and trans fats) but they still promote weight gain and therefore are not heart disease favorable.

Tags: Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food

Type II Diabetes Leads to Heart Disease

Posted on June 30, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

A new study published in the July 1 edition of The Lancet determines a strong relationship between type II diabetes and the development of heart disease. Ed Edelson of Healthday reports:

It's long been known that type 2 diabetes increases the risk for cardiovascular disease. In the study, Booth's team studied the hospital and death records of nearly 9.5 million Canadians -- 379,000 of them with diabetes. They hoped to determine how fast diabetes accelerates an individual's progression to higher levels of risk for cardiovascular disease.
The study found that men with type 2 diabetes entered the cardiovascular "moderate-risk" category at an average age of just under 39 years; for non-diabetic men, that transition didn't typically occur until more than 15 years later, at about age 55. Diabetic men entered the "high-risk" category at just over 49 years of age, compared to 62 years for men without diabetes, the researchers found.

The numbers for women were similar. Women with type 2 diabetes were classified as being at moderate risk for heart disease at an average age of 46, compared to 62 years for non-diabetic women. And women with type 2 diabetes entered the high-risk category at 56 years, compared to just under 69 years of age for women without diabetes.

Perhaps the most striking numbers in the report involved life expectancy. People with type 2 diabetes who were also classified as being at moderate or high risk for cardiovascular disease died an average of about 18 years earlier than non-diabetics, the researchers found.

Worried about type II diabetes? You can fight back. Check out this previous post: Don't Settle For Diabetes

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes

Eat to Live: Knowledge Motivates Change

Posted on June 22, 2006 by Joel Fuhrman

Adapted from Dr. Fuhrman's book Cholesterol Protection For Life:

When I began my medical practice as a specialist in nutrition, I focused my attention on individuals who were looking for nutritional intervention as a means of reversing their medical conditions to recover their health and avoid taking medication or having invasive surgery. The inevitable outcome was that when my patients were committed to superior health through nutritional excellence, they were able to reduce and eventually stop their dependency on medications for high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and a host of other conditions. Spectacular disease reversals were the norm, not the exception.

I found that when people ate a diet comprised of the most nutritious and powerful "anti-cancer" plant foods their cholesterol dropped more powerfully than it could from the typical cholesterol-lowering medication. Their diabetes went away. I soon said, "Let's not just treat your diabetes and control it. Let's get rid of it and make you non-diabetic."

The focus was never on caloric restriction; rather, it was on eating more high nutrient food, and as a result, eating less of everything else that was not a high nutrient food.

Besides reversing chronic disease and preventing heart disease and cancer, I found that my patients were able to reach their ideal weight with ease. No calorie counting, no complicated formulas, pills or unfulfilled promises. The basic plan is simple: just take the healthiest foods and make them taste great and eat as much as desired. My patients dropped the weight they could not lose before, and they achieved these results relatively quickly.

The traditional viewpoint is often stated that if you lose your weight too rapidly it won't stick and you will gain it all back. I have never advocated that people be in a race to lose their excess weight. I see no reason, however, to eat unhealthy foods or to eat when you are not hungry under some notion that losing weight slower would be better. The reality is that your body just drops its unhealthy weight relatively quickly and naturally when you eat so well under the Eat to Live program.

The permanence of the results can be attributed to the fact that the program is knowledge-based. Knowledge motivates the change, not willpower. The Eat to Live diet-style supplies spectacular results in the weight loss arena that are permanent because once a person becomes a nutritional expert and experiences the results, they Eat to Live forever. The secret is to gain the education first. You must do the work; read Eat to Live, or gain the knowledge on line from my membership services, but you must study and understand the science. If the preponderance of evidence and logic does not make perfect sense to you, don't do it. The more you learn, the easier it becomes to eat this way for the rest of your life.

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Cholesterol, Diabetes, Healthy Food

Dr. Fuhrman: Low Carb vs. Eat to Live in Diabetes Reversal

Posted on June 16, 2006 by Joel Fuhrman

Dr. Fuhrman reacts to the recent buzz surrounding claims that low-carb meat-based diets cure diabetes:

Research on extremely low carbohydrate diets and diabetes illustrates that both the safety and effectiveness are poor. Just because the standard American diet (rich in processed foods) is so dangerous, does not make the small improvements in weight or glucose with low-carb or Aitkin's type diets favorable. We don't purchase a car by comparing it to a junk yard wreck.

Even the researchers, who studied these meat-based diets which demonstrate only modest benefits in glucose or weight loss, continually warn against the potential long term risks and that benefits of these diets are only moderate at best.1 Furthermore the lower amount of phytochemicals in a diet and receiving the majority of one's calories from animal products predisposes followers to higher inflammatory markers, which are associated with cardiovascular disease.2

I have reviewed over 60,000 research articles on nutrition and disease and reference more than a thousand in Eat to Live. Obviously, I only offer a few articles here but the point is that I come to my recommendations based on the vast preponderance of the evidence not on the basis of one or two studies. My recommendations are not designed to appeal to the many who are addicted to harmful foods, but rather are for those who want the most effective and most longevity-promoting diet-style.

It is accurate to say that vegetarian diets in the manner they are most typically designed (heavy in processed foods) are not ideal either. Nevertheless, the studies done on vegetarian diets and diabetes are at least as favorable as those done on very low carbohydrate, meat-based diets.3

The vegetarian diet contains a portfolio of natural substances that protect against inflammation and lipid abnormalities in diabetes and has various metabolic advantages for the prevention and treatment of diabetes and its complications. DiseaseProof has discussed this in the past (Vegetarian Diets are Not All Created Equal: An Example), my Eat to Live program differs from a vegetarian diet and because of some critical differences has been shown in the scientific literature (Metabolism, April 2001) to improve lipid parameters and reduce weight and blood glucose much more significantly. So the issue for diabetes is not whether one is a vegan or not, the issue is the nutrition per calorie and micronutrient quality of the diet.

Low-carb or meat-based diet advocates may be able to critique a grain/flour heavy vegan diet, but not Eat to Live. It contains the benefits of a vegetarian diet, without the risks from all the lower nutrient, higher glycemic potatoes and grains. And Eat to Live's profound benefits to blood vessel health does not require total exclusion of animal products. It simply keeps to safer, reduced levels.

Regular readers of DiseaseProof know it is not a question of the precise balance of the three macronutrients (fat, carbohydrate and protein) that enables the body to get well, but the ratio of micronutrients per total calorie. My Eat to Live diet-style is unique and simply the healthiest way one can eat. It is not a vegetarian diet in the conventional sense, so studies on vegetarian diets do not accurately speak to the effectiveness of Eat to Live.

In fact, a recent study conducted by Dr. Sarter of USC (pending publication) revealed 63 people following my Eat to Live diet-style showed more weight loss, cholesterol lowering, and diabetic reversal than any other study in medical history. The average patient lost 52 pounds and they were followed for two years. The fact that this diet style is profoundly more successful for weight loss than the meat-based diets, illustrates it is significantly more effective for diabetics too. In fact, most of my patients quickly get rid of their diabetes and are able to stop all their medications following my recommendations even before all their excess weight is lost. My recommendations are mathematically and scientifically calculated to maximize micronutrients and food volume per calorie and enable people to rid themselves of their food addictions and naturally desire fewer and fewer calories.

However, the fact that my high nutrient diet is unique and not broadly studied in no way lends support to the benefits of other better investigated diets, such as the recommendations of the American Heart Association and the American Diabetic Association. In my advocacy of nutritional excellence for diabetic patients I actually speak negatively about all types of diets, including the aforementioned traditional vegetarian diet. So when I discuss the dangers of Atkins type diets, in no way am I supporting or advocating diets high in refined carbs, flour or sweets, they are dangerous too.

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Diet Myths, Weight Loss

Surprise: Obesity Leads to Diabetes

Posted on June 13, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

I honestly thought this was common knowledge by now, but according to Healthday News multiple new studies conclude obesity increases diabetes risk. Randy Dontinga reports:

Nearly three out of four morbidly obese 18-year-old men, for example, will develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime. And 35 percent of 18-year-old women who are simply overweight will contract the disease.

"This is the first time we were able to collect the type of data needed for these observations," said study author Dr. K.M. Venkat Narayan, chief epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The research "can help us to know where to focus our attention."

Narayan's report is one of several studies into diabetes risk factors that are being released at the American Diabetes Association's annual scientific sessions, in Washington, D.C.

In the Narayan study, researchers examined the results of a national survey of almost 800,000 U.S. adults completed between 1997 and 2004. The researchers wanted to find out how body mass index (BMI) -- a ratio of weight to height -- translates into diabetes risk.

According to the study, an obese man with a BMI around 30 -- say, a 6-foot-tall man who weighs 225 pounds -- has a 57 percent chance of developing type 2 diabetes. A woman with the same BMI -- say, weighing 190 at 5-feet, 6-inches -- has a 55 percent chance.

Tags: Diabetes, Obesity

"The Diabetes Epidemic"

Posted on June 12, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

According to The New York Times diabetes continues to evolve as one of the major health problems facing the global community. In fact, the International Diabetes Federation cites a jump of 200 million more afflicted individuals over the past two decades. Marc Santora reports:

There are many factors driving the growth in diabetes worldwide, but most experts agree that changes in lifestyle and diet are the chief culprits, in addition to genetic predisposition. As developing countries rapidly industrialize, people tend to do work involving less physical activity. At the same time, the availability of food that is cheap but high in calories becomes more common.

The combination causes weight gain, which leads to greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease.

The other form, Type 1, is responsible for only 5 percent to 10 percent of cases, and is not associated with behavior, but rather is believed to stem almost entirely from genetic factors. In either form, diabetes is characterized by high blood sugar levels that result from the body's inability to make or use insulin, which can lead to a host of complications that include kidney failure and blindness.

"Diabetes is one of the biggest health catastrophes the world has ever seen," said Dr. Martin Silink, the president-elect of the International Diabetes Federation.

"The diabetes epidemic will overwhelm health care resources everywhere if governments do not wake up now and take action."

Tags: Diabetes

Baseball's Worst Burger

Posted on June 7, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Why are so many Americans fat and unhealthy? Keep asking long enough and you'll get a bunch of answers.

Some people will tell you, "It's those darn ad agencies peddling all that junk on us!" Others might contend lifestyle is the problem, sedentary jobs being a classic example. And of course you've got the genetics contingency, "My mother and father were fat, so were their parents, and their parent's parents, so it's not my fault I'm single-handedly supporting the local fast food industry!"

I think most people are unhealthy or overweight because they make bad dietary decisions, sometimes spitefully. Let me explain what I mean.

This weekend I was watching a news report on "Baseball's Best Burger." Ever heard of it? It's the number one attraction of the Gateway Grizzlies, a minor league baseball team in Illinois. This burger is Dr. Fuhrman's worst nightmare.

First you grill up a thick juicy piece of cow, top with cheese and bacon, and then (brace yourself) you sandwich it between two halves of a grilled Krispy Kreme Original Glazed doughnut. This burger is so unhealthy, that if you asked me years ago before I even knew who Dr. Fuhrman was, I still wouldn't have eaten one.

As part of the feature the reporter interviewed local fans about the burger. Everyone crowed about how strangely good it tasted. Given the number of Atkins disciples out there I wasn't surprised (although even they'd scoff at the doughnut), but it wasn't until they talked to one particular gentleman that I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

The man was seated at a picnic table eagerly chomping away at one of these burgers. He was older, maybe late fifties or early sixties, and looking pretty overweight. When asked to give his opinion on the burger he gave quite the glowing endorsement, in fact he said that despite his DIABETES after he finished the one he was eating he'd probably go order another.

Pretty amazing right? Here you have an older, overweight man with diabetes eating arguably the unhealthiest creation on the planet, and doing so in spite of his illness. Where's the logic in that? Sure diabetes is a terrible burden, but how does eating something clearly horrible for you help matters? Does he think by eating two of these burgers he's saying, "Ha diabetes I showed you!" Whether you're sick or not, when you indulge in food like Baseball's Best Burger you're only hurting yourself. Any disease (in this cases diabetes) is not separate from you, it's part of you!

I think this is why so many people are unhealthy and overweight. They distance themselves from what they eat. It's as if they never heard the expression "you are what you eat." I also think this is a major reason why so many people take umbrage with Dr. Fuhrman's Eat to Live plan. Some people don't want to believe that certain foods just aren't health promoting no matter how good they taste, consequently so many people refuse to give them up; even if they've developed a diet related disease like diabetes. I guess it's too hard to accept that you can't have your cake and eat it too or in this case burger, bacon, cheese, and doughnut.

Here's what Dr. Fuhrman had to say about this whole thing:

Food is addicting in proportion to its unhealthiness. Until people learn about toxic hunger and food addiction they won't understand how our ability to think rationally about what we eat is clouded by addiction, and the drive of the addicted individual to avoid the discomfort and anxiety that change provokes.

Research: Canadians Have Less Disease than Americans, Too

Posted on May 31, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

First the redcoats, now the red leaves! Last week DiseaseProof looked at a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing the British are healthier than Americans. This week new research indicates our neighbors to the north are healthier too. MSNBC reports:

Americans are 42 percent more likely than Canadians to have diabetes, 32 percent more likely to have high blood pressure, and 12 percent more likely to have arthritis, Harvard Medical School researchers found. That is according to a survey in which American and Canadian adults were asked over the telephone about their health.

This graph from the Associated Press shows additional health disparities found during this study:

The knee-jerk reaction to this study (other than panic) is to point to Canada's national health insurance program as an explanation. Some researchers adhere to the idea, but others dismiss it as anecdotal:

Canada's national health insurance program is at least part of the reason for the differences found in the study, Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a co-author of the Canadian study said. Universal coverage makes it easier for more Canadians to get disease-preventing health services, she said.

James Smith, a RAND Corp. researcher who co-authored the American-English study, disagreed. His research found that England's national health insurance program did not explain the difference in disease rates, because even Americans with insurance were in worse health.

"To me, that's unlikely," he said of the idea that universal coverage explains international differences.

Research like this is fascinating. But it does little improve your health, no matter where you live. In the meantime do your own research. Check out all the research on a nutrient-rich vegetable-based diet and how it can protect against diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc.

Tags: Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Research

Report: One Third of Americans are Diabetic

Posted on May 26, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

According to HealthDay News a new study concluded that 30 percent of American adults are diabetic or pre-diabetic. Researchers also determined nearly 30 percent of diabetics remain undiagnosed. Steven Reinberg reports:

The number of Americans diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has now topped 19 million, and a new study says a third of adults with the disease don't even know they have it.

The researchers found that another 26 percent of adults had "impaired fasting glucose," a precursor to diabetes.

"So, if you add that together with the 9.3 percent of people with diabetes, that means that fully one-third of the adult population -- 73 million Americans -- have diabetes or they may be on their way to getting it," said lead researcher Catherine Cowie, director of the diabetes epidemiology program at the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Her team's report appears in the June issue of Diabetes Care.

Tags: Diabetes, Research

Diet and Disease Prevention

Posted on May 24, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

A new study shows the British are healthier than Americans despite U.S. health care spending per person that is more than double what Britain spends.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concludes:

The US population in late middle age is less healthy than the equivalent British population for diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, myocardial infarction, stroke, lung disease, and cancer. Within each country, there exists a pronounced negative socioeconomic status (SES) gradient with self-reported disease so that health disparities are largest at the bottom of the education or income variants of the SES hierarchy. This conclusion is generally robust to control for a standard set of behavioral risk factors, including smoking, overweight, obesity, and alcohol drinking, which explain very little of these health differences. These differences between countries or across SES groups within each country are not due to biases in self-reported disease because biological markers of disease exhibit exactly the same patterns. To illustrate, among those aged 55 to 64 years, diabetes prevalence is twice as high in the United States and only one fifth of this difference can be explained by a common set of risk factors. Similarly, among middle-aged adults, mean levels of C-reactive protein are 20% higher in the United States compared with England and mean high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels are 14% lower. These differences are not solely driven by the bottom of the SES distribution. In many diseases, the top of the SES distribution is less healthy in the United States as well.

Conclusion
Based on self-reported illnesses and biological markers of disease, US residents are much less healthy than their English counterparts and these differences exist at all points of the SES distribution.

No one is sure why the two similar cultures have such different results. Gina Kolata of The New York Times takes a crack at it.

The question of which country is healthier, Dr. Nortin M. Hadler, professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina and others say, turns out to be a perfect illustration of an issue that has plagued American medicine: the more health problems you look for, the more you find. And Americans, medical researchers say, are avid about looking.

The British, doctors say, are different.

"The U.K. has a tradition of independent and perhaps more skeptical primary-care practitioners who are probably slower to label and diagnose people and more reluctant to follow guidelines than their U.S. counterparts," says Dr. Iona Heath, a general practitioner in London. "I have heard it argued that the U.S. believes more in the perfectibility of humanity and the role of science than the Europeans."

Some people call it disease-mongering, says Dr. Lisa Schwartz of Dartmouth Medical School. She once calculated that if everyone had the recommended tests for blood cholesterol, blood sugar, body mass index and diabetes, 75 percent of adults in the United States would be labeled as diseased. And new diseases arise by the minute, she says, her favorite example being "restless legs."

Maybe it's overanalysis. Maybe it's stress. Maybe it's something else. We can all guess why it might be that Americans are "sicker" than Brits even though we spend more money on healthcare. (Your thoughts?)

But one thing is certain: the killer diseases in America today, afflictions like type-II diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, need not ruin your health no matter where you live. On DiseaseProof we have trotted out study after study showing that we could make a huge dent in those diseases by abandoning the standard American diet (SAD) in favor a diet based on vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts, and seeds.

This post summarizes many of the benefits of a healthy diet in preventing disease. Here is a collection of some of the most important research behind Dr. Fuhrman's work. The role diet can play in precenting cancer is discussed in detail here and here. Dr. Fuhrman says you need not settle for diabetes and that there is a counter attack for heart disease.

The result? Let's not wait around until researchers unravel the mystery of what makes English people seem to be healthier. Instead, let's do what has already been shown to be effective preventing and reversing the chronic diseases that are killing so many of us, starting with a plant-based, nutrient-dense diet that is effective in both Americans and the British.

Tags: Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Obesity, Research

Wal-Mart Going Organic

Posted on May 15, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Wal-Mart, the nation's largest grocery retailer, will soon be selling a vast array of organic products, including organic produce, breakfast cereals, and macaroni and cheese. According to The New York Times the move is an attempt broaden its appeal to urban and other upscale consumers. The initiative has met mixed reviews, Melanie Warner reports:

Wal-Mart's interest is expected to change organic food production in substantial ways.

Some organic food advocates applaud the development, saying Wal-Mart's efforts will help expand the amount of land that is farmed organically and the quantities of organic food available to the public.

But others say the initiative will ultimately hurt organic farmers, will lower standards for the production of organic food and will undercut the environmental benefits of organic farming. And some nutritionists question the health benefits of the new organic products. "It's better for the planet, but not from a nutritional standpoint," said Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. "It's a ploy to be able to charge more for junk food."

Nestle makes an interesting point. Just how beneficial is all this organic food?

In a previous post entitled "Is Organic Safer?" Dr. Fuhrman talks about organic produce:

Organic food is certainly your best bet, to further limit exposure to toxic chemicals. No one knows for sure how much risk exists from pesticide residue on produce, but here's what we do know: the younger you are, the more your cells are susceptible to damage from toxins. It seems wise to feed our young children organic food whenever possible.

Of course, wash your vegetables and fruit with water and when possible, use a drop of dishwashing detergent and then rinse well to remove all detergent residues for a little more efficient cleaning. Specialty pesticide removal products have not clearly demonstrated any more effectiveness than mild soap and water.

Besides the heightened exposure to chemicals and pesticides from animal products, the most hazardous pesticides are used on some plant foods responsible for the majority of the plant-food-related dietary risk. These foods with the most pesticide residue are: strawberries, peaches, raspberries, blackberries, grapes, cherries, apples, and celery. Imported produce is also more likely to contain higher levels of pesticides.1

There is another reason to feed our children organic food when possible. Organic food usually has more nutrients than conventional.2 One study performed at the University of California at Davis found that foods grown organically had higher amounts of flavonoids, which have protective effects against both heart disease and cancer. The researchers found flavonoids were more than 50 percent higher in organic corn and strawberries. They theorized that when plants are forced to deal with the stress of insects, they produce more of these compounds, which are beneficial to humans.3 Overall, organic foods taste better, and organic agriculture protects farmers and our environment.

But here's the important thing to remember: when it comes to nutrition, what you eat is much more important than whether it's organic or not. Processed cereal, frozen pizza, and macaroni and cheese don't magically become health foods when they're organic. And, watermelon or apples don't become unhealthy when they're not organic. Again Dr. Fuhrman:

The large amount of studies performed on the typical pesticide-treated produce have demonstrated that consumption of produce, whether organic or not, is related to lower rates of cancer and disease protection, not higher rates. Certainly, it is better to eat fruits and vegetables grown and harvested using pesticides than not eating them at all. The health benefits of eating phytochemical-rich produce greatly outweigh any risk pesticide residues might pose.

Tags: Cancer, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food

Using Healthy Food vs. Type II Diabetes

Posted on May 2, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Most people don't know Type II diabetes can be prevented and reversed. Eat to Live explains how maintaining a healthy body weight with a nutrient-rich vegetable-based diet plan can help rid them of the disease. Dr. Fuhrman expounds:

Diabetes can take a severe toll�causing heart attacks and strokes, as well as other serious complication. More than 70 percent of adults with Type II diabetes die of heart attacks and strokes. The statistics are even more frustrating when you watch people gain weight, become even more diabetic, and develop attendant complications, all while under the care of their physicians.

This is a dangerous trend. Dr. Fuhrman points out that as our country's weight has risen, diabetes has increased accordingly. Dr. Fuhrman finds support in a recent headline appearing in Health Day News. The report printed in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine links an increase in Type II diabetes with overweight adolescents. Steven Reinberg reports:

"Among adolescents who have diabetes, the majority of cases are still type 1 diabetes," the inherited form of the disease, Glen E. Duncan, an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Nutritional Sciences Program at the University of Washington in Seattle said. "However, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes, a condition once seen only in adults, has increased over the past decade," he said

"Roughly 29 percent of all adolescents with diabetes now have type 2 diabetes, and the prevalence of impaired fasting glucose�a risk factor or precursor to developing type 2 diabetes�is substantial in this population," Duncan added.

Based on this report, it seems poor dietary digressions set us up for failure. Dr. Fuhrman would agree. Years of consuming the standard American diet (SAD) leads us down the slippery slope of disease and premature death. Why not do something about it? Eat to Live provides the all the framework you'll need:

Type II diabetics adopting this approach can become undiabetic and achieve wellness and even excellent health. They can be diabetes-free for life! Almost all my Type II patients are weaned off insulin in the first month. Thanks to their excellent nutrition, these patients have much better (lower) blood sugars than when they were on insulin. The horrors of diabetes about to befall them are aborted.

Tags: Diabetes, Obesity

Don't Settle For Diabetes

Posted on April 21, 2006 by Joel Fuhrman

In a past edition of his Healthy Times newsletter (they're archived in the member center) Dr. Fuhrman discusses his approach to beat type II diabetes and get off insulin:

How can diabetics safely lower the high glucose levels that are slowly destroying their bodies? How can they lower their lipids and blood pressure, lose weight, and avoid taking dangerous drugs, such as insulin and sulfonylureas? They need to adopt a diet based on nutritional excellence.

Fortunately, the best diet for good health and longevity is also the best diet for diabetics. It is a diet with a high nutrient per calorie ratio, as carefully described in my book, Eat to Live. When you eat a diet consisting predominantly of nature's perfect foods---green vegetables, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, raw nuts and seeds, and limited amounts of fresh fruit, it becomes relatively easy to eat as much as you want and still lose your excess weight. In my experience, those who follow my nutritional recommendations find that their diabetes disappears astonishingly fast, even before most of their excess weight melts away.

Predictable success
I have achieved marked success with diabetic patients and the success at becoming "non diabetic" or almost "non-diabetic" regularly occurs on the Eat to Live program whether the patient follows a strict vegan diet or not. I describe the diet-style as a "vegetable-based" diet because the base of the pyramid is vegetables, not grains. Even though most animal products are excluded, it is not necessary to adopt a completely vegan diet to achieve the goals. I offer patients the choice of adding two servings a week of low fat fish, such as tilapia, flounder, sole, and scrod, as well as an egg white omelet, once or twice each week. A few servings of very low saturated-fat animal products each week can be interspersed with the vegan meals without diminishing the results achievable from the vegetable-based diet.

Real-life success
Jim Kenny walked into my office for the first time weighing 268 pounds and suffering complications from poorly controlled diabetes. Jim was taking a total of 175 units of long- and short-acting insulin each day, and he already had suffered from severe complications of type 2 diabetes, including two heart attacks and Charcot (destructive inflammation) joint damage in his right ankle. In spite of this huge dose of insulin and six other medications, Jim's glucose readings averaged between 350 and 400, even though he was following the precise dietary recommendations of a dietician who worked in the office of his endocrinologist.

A better approach
After his initial visit with me, Jim began following my nutritional program for diabetics. I initially reduced his insulin dose to 130 units per day, and continued to decrease it gradually over the next few days. After five days, his glucose readings were running between 80 and 120, and he had lost ten pounds. At this point, I put him on 45 units of Lantus insulin at bedtime and 6 units of Humalog regular insulin before each meal, for a total of 63 units per day. By the time Jim returned for his two-week visit, he had lost sixteen pounds. We were able to discontinue some of his blood pressure medications and reduce his daily insulin intake to a total of 58 units per day.

One-month follow up
After one month on the program, we were able to totally discontinue Jim's insulin intake and start him on Glucophage (one of the safer oral medications). He lost twenty-five pounds in the first five weeks, and his blood glucose readings were well controlled without insulin. His blood pressure also came down to normal, and he no longer needed any blood pressure medications. An evaluation of Jim's blood test results revealed an elevated homocysteine level. With the appropriate supplementation with a specific form of folate (methyl tetrahydrofolate) that Jim required, his homocysteine returned to normal range.

No more medication
Five months after beginning the program, Jim was off all medications for diabetes, he no longer had high cholesterol or high blood pressure, and he was more than sixty pounds lighter. His kidney insufficiency had normalized, as well. Jim's case illustrates how powerful my high-nutrient approach to eating is when it comes to reversing diabetes. It also illustrates the sad fact that the standard dietary advice given to diabetics by conventional physicians and dieticians is not merely insufficient; it is dangerous. Jim Kenny would likely be dead by now had his nephrologists not referred him to me for an effective dietary approach.

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food

I'm Not Fat

Posted on April 11, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Dr. Fuhrman begins his book Eat to Live with this observation of America's dietary indiscretions:

Americans have been among the first people worldwide to have the luxury of bombarding themselves with nutrient-deficient, high-calorie food, often called empty-calorie. By "empty-calorie," I mean food that is deficient in nutrients and fiber. More Americans than ever before are eating these rich, high-calorie foods while remaining inactive�a dangerous combination.

Unfortunately millions of people don't acknowledge the consequences of these habits. Notably obesity. According to Dr. Fuhrman the effect of the standard American diet (SAD) is like digging our graves with forks and knives.

To make matters worse the Associated Press reports a new study reveals many obese people don't categorize themselves as such. A dangerous mistake when you consider the increased health risks associated with being obese. Tim Whitmire reports:

"If somebody doesn't perceive themselves to be obese, they are most likely not going to pay attention to any public health information about the consequences of obesity," said Kim Truesdale, a nutrition researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Among those consequences are heightened risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis.

The study of 104 adults, ages 45 to 64, showed that only 15 percent of people who fit the body type for obese correctly classified themselves that way.

Tags: Arthritis, Blood Pressure, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Obesity, Research

Research: Magnesium Does a Body Good

Posted on March 28, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

According to Ed Edelson of the HealthDay News a recent study published in the March 28 issue of Circulation links high intake of magnesium with a reduced incidence of metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome refers to the cluster of conditions that contribute to heart disease and diabetes. Edelson explains:

The components of metabolic syndrome include high blood pressure, high blood sugar levels, elevated blood fats and low levels of HDL cholesterol, the "good" kind that helps keep arteries clear. Having at least three of these factors increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

The study began in 1985 and monitored more than 4,600 Americans. The conclusion showed that individuals consuming increased amounts of magnesium had a 31 percent lower chance of developing metabolic syndrome than those who did not.

According to researchers good sources of magnesium are halibut, dry roasted almonds, cashews, spinach, whole-grain cereals, avocados, bananas and raisins. Although, Dr. Fuhrman contends you should avoid halibut due to mercury contamination. (More on mercury.)

Dr. Ka He, an assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University encourages people to incorporate nutritious food into their diet when they are young so that can enjoy better health as they age. He urges that eating magnesium-rich food is only part of being healthy:

Magnesium is just a small part of the healthy heart story, He said. The standard recommendations for avoiding smoking, getting more physical activity, eating more fruits and vegetables and fewer fatty foods are essential for health.

Tags: Blood Pressure, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Healthy Food

Documentary Charts Group Diabetes Reversal with Diet

Posted on March 22, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

In his book Eat to Live, on this blog, in the media, and in his practice Dr. Fuhrman often discusses his many patients who have completely reversed their diabetes with diet. Here's a quote from Eat to Live:

Diabetes patients are told to learn to live with their diabetes and to learn to control it because it can't be cured. "No, no, and no!" I say. "Don't live with it, get thin and get rid of it, as many of my patients have!" More than 90 percent of my Type II diabetics are able to eventually discontinue their insulin within the first month.

Here are a couple of sample stories:

A documentary is currently being made that follows the progress of diabetics who go to a desert spa and give up sugar, junk food, meat, dairy, alcohol, fried foods--and instead eat mainly fresh fruits and vegetables for 30 days.

The diabetes, at least in many cases, effectively disappears.

You can watch an early version of the documentary online, which is well worth it. (If you have trouble opening that video file--it uses Windows Media Player--click here for more options.) Very interesting stuff. You can learn more about the movie on the official website.

Via We Like it Raw

Tags: Diabetes

European Research: Restricting Animal Products Reduces Weight Gain, Cancer

Posted on March 16, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

In Eat to Live Dr. Fuhrman warns against eating regular quantities of animal products, refined grains, and oils, urging you instead to get most of your calories from vegetables, fruits, legumes, seeds, and raw nuts:

Vegetable and fruits protect all types of cancers if consumed in large enough quantities. Hundreds of scientific studies document this. The most prevalent cancers in our country are mostly plant-food-deficiency disease. Raw vegetables have the most powerful anti-cancer properties of all foods.

Research shows that those who avoid meat and diary have lower rates heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity.1

Studies have confirmed that individuals consuming a vegetarian diet (one based on plant matter and not dairy or refined grains) live longer than non-vegetarians and almost never get heart attacks.

With this in mind, consider this recent weight loss study from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. The eating habits of 22,000 people, meat eaters and vegetarians, were tracked over five years. In the end results found that all participants gained a few pounds, but individuals who adopted a vegetarian or vegan diet gained the least. Reuters reports:

"The weight gain was less in the vegans than in the meat-eaters and somewhere in between in the other groups," said Tim Key, of Britain's Cancer Research UK charity and the University of Oxford, who conducted the study.

"The lowest weight gain was in people who changed their diet to eat fewer animal products," he told Reuters.

In addition to stressing the importance of physical activity for sustained health, the study also comments on the link between diet and cancer:

[The study] also showed that diet is second only to tobacco, as a leading cause of cancer, and, along with alcohol, is responsible for nearly a third of cancer cases in developed countries.

Tags: Blood Pressure, Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Cholesterol, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Obesity, Research, Weight Loss

Informed Eating

Posted on March 3, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

DiseaseProof isn't the only online information source for healthy eating and living. Recently Dr. Fuhrman came across InformedEating.org an organization that advocates a diet based on whole, unprocessed, organically grown plant foods; very similar to Dr. Fuhrman's position. Their current newsletter has lots of articles worth reading:

Kraft and Philip Morris Scientists Caught Comparing Notes
Economics of Fast Food: It's the Burgers Stupid
Industrialized Food Linked to Mental Illness

Kellogg and Nick Sued Over Food Marketing
Update on Connecticut's School Food Battle
Florida Students Protest Candy Sale
Suing the Pants Off SpongeBob

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Obesity, School Food

Glucosamine and Chondroitin in the News

Posted on February 23, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a study claiming that two popular arthritis supplements don't work. Gina Kolata of The New York Times reports that despite the $734 million Americans spent on glucosamine and chondroitin in 2004, trials revealed few results.

In the member section of his website, Dr. Fuhrman has said "I think glucosamine and chondroitin are safe and have some clinical evidence to show they are mildly helpful. So if they are helping you, great."

He is more interested in looking at the bigger picture. He says that poor diets can cause rheumatoid arthritis and similar conditions. Adopting a nutrient rich vegetable based diet offers you the chance to eradicate it. This is from Dr. Fuhrman's book Eat to Live:

Some people, especially other physicians, may be skeptical. There are so many exaggerated and false claims made in health field, especially by those selling so-called natural remedies. Nevertheless, it is wrong to underestimate the results obtainable through appropriate nutritional intervention. Even many of my patients with autoimmune illnesses (such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and hyperthyrodism) are able to recover and throw away their medications.

When one of my patients who had a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis went back to her previous physician, a rheumatologist, and told him she was now well and did not require any medication, he replied, "It must just be that you are resting more." She said, "I'm not resting more. In fact, I am more active than ever because my pain is gone, and I stopped the drugs." He replied, "It's just a temporary remission; you'll be back soon with another crisis." She never went back.

He also includes this table of diseases that can be caused by poor diet.

**Dietary-Caused Illnesses with High Prevalence**
acne	allergies	angina
appendicitis	asthma	arthritis
atherosclerosis	constipation	colonic polyps
diabetes(adult)	diverticulosis	esophagitis
fibromyalgia	gallstones	gastritis
gout	headaches	hemorrhoids
high blood pressure	hypoglycemic symptoms	indigestion
irritable bowel syndrome	kidney stones	lumbar spine syndromes
macular degeneration	musculoskeletal pain	osteoperosis
sexual dysfunction	stroke	uterine fibroids

Tags: Arthritis, Asthma, Blood Pressure, Diabetes, Healthy Food, Lupus, Migraine Headaches, Osteoporosis, Success Stories

The Sugar Conspiracy

Posted on February 14, 2006 by Henry Abbott

If you're someone who tries to avoid eating a lot of refined sugar, you know how it lurks here, there, and everywhere. Sometimes it seems like everyone just wants you to eat cakes, cookies, and pudding all the time.

Today BoingBoing has news of a shop in Japan that's taking the game to a new level, disguising sugary desserts as fast food:

A shop in Tokyo hopes to overcome the unmasculine stigma attached to consuming sweets in public by cleverly disguising its wares as fast-food burgers and fries. The hope is that men will be willing to be seen eating elaborate cakes if they resemble savory snacks instead.

The Mamido burger, for instance, which sells for �390 ($3.25 at �120 to the dollar), is a highlight of the menu. The "bun" is actually a sponge cake, the "patty" inside is chocolate cream, and the "pickles" are kiwis. The deep-fried fish burger, meanwhile, priced at �440 ($3.70), features a banana shaped like a fish fillet in sponge cake. It is topped with "tartar sauce," which is actually fresh cream. And the gratin burger, also at �440, is a sandwich with a cream cheese and fruit filling.

It's popular too... look at them lining up in the photo at the bottom of this page.

U.S. Cities Weigh in on Bad Diets and Obesity

Posted on January 20, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Earlier this month DiseaseProof.com spotlighted The New York Times coverage of how NYC is facing increased diabetes, but New York isn't the only city concerned with expanding waistlines. Consider these other recent reports from around the nation:

The Chicago Tribune reports that the human brain is wired to love sweets and America's obsession with Oreo cookies captures the nation's dietary dilemma.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Kellogg and Nickelodeon parent Viacom Inc. are accused of enticing children to crave low-nutrition food and drinks.
American dietary digressions become very apparent when examining the plight of recent immigrants who, as the Boston Globe reports, forgo the healthy eating habits of their homeland and assimilate to the way people eat here.
The Washington Post provides a free fast food calorie calculator that will make you unhappy about your recent Happy Meal, Crispy Chicken Strips, or Beef Gordita Supreme.
And in the Seattle Times there is an examination of the report that about a third of U.S. teens would flunk a treadmill fitness test, meaning that reportedly more than 7 million youngsters could face higher risks for heart disease later in life.

Tags: Diabetes, Healthy Food, Hurtful Food, Weight Loss

Study: Certain Diabetes Drugs Tied to Mortality

Posted on January 17, 2006 by Henry Abbott

Jeff Minerd of MedPageToday writes about a study from the Jan. 17 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal that examined diabetic drugs Daibinese (chlorpropamine) and Orinase (tulbutomide).

Patients were placed into three groups. There were 120 who received a first-generation sulfonylurea, either Daibinese (chlorpropamine) or Orinase. A second group included 4,138 who received Diabeta (glyburide), and the third group included 1,537 who received the non-sulfonylurea drug metformin, which improves insulin sensitivity.

Each of these groups was further divided into a high-dose or low-dose group, with the median daily dose serving as the dividing line.

Participants were followed until death or termination of Saskatchewan Health coverage. Average follow up was about five years. The main outcomes were all-cause mortality and death from an acute ischemic event.

There were 1,503 deaths during the study period, of which 372 (about 25%) were attributable to an acute ischemic event. First-generation sulfonylurea users had the highest mortality (67.6 deaths per 1,000 person-years), compared with Diabeta users (61.4 deaths per 1,000 person-years) and metformin users (39.6 deaths per 1,000 person-years).

Compared with the low-dose patients, a greater risk of death was found in the high-dose patients receiving first-generation sulfonylureas (adjusted hazard ratio=2.1; 95% confidence interval=1.0-4.7) and Diabeta (HR=1.3; 95% CI= 1.2-1.4), but not metformin (HR=0.8; 95% CI=0.7-1.1).

The study also found an increased risk of death from ischemic event in the high-dose patients receiving first-generation sulfonylureas, though it was not statistically significant (HR=1.21; 95% CI=0.10-3.75). A significant association was found for Diabeta (HR=1.37; 95% CI=1.25-1.50). A slight and non-significant association was found for metformin (HR=1.10; 95% CI=0.75-1.30).

Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes

Asian-American Diabetes Trends Point to Diet

Posted on January 12, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

According to New York Times reporter Marc Santora the current diabetes epidemic is hitting the city's Asian population like a tsunami. The article warns that immigrants abandoning their traditional diets for typical American foods are at extremely high risk of developing diabetes. Santora explains:

Asians, especially those from Far Eastern nations like China, Korea and Japan, are acutely susceptible to Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease and the subject of this series. They develop it at far lower weights than people of other races, studies show; at any weight, they are 60 percent more likely to get the disease than whites.

And that peril is compounded by recent immigrants' sudden collision with American culture. Many of them left places where factory and fieldwork was strenuous, televisions were rare and advertising was limited. They may speak little English and have poor access to medical care.

Many have never even heard of diabetes, much less the recent scientific studies showing that a Western diet, high in fat and sugar, puts them in danger of getting Type 2 diabetes, which has been linked to obesity and inactivity, as well as to heredity. (Type 1, which comprises only 5 percent to 10 percent of cases, is not associated with behavior, and is believed to stem almost entirely from genetic factors.)

Many recent Chinese immigrants have come from places where food was scarce, and experts say some view fat as a trophy of wealth and status. Their children try to fit into their new country by embracing its foods and its sedentary pastimes.

In Asia diabetes is so rare that many people have never heard of it, yet as the Times reports, we now know that many Asians have the genes to be highly susceptible to the disease. Of course, genes don't change much when people move to a new country, but diets certainly do.

In his book Eat to Live Dr. Fuhrman offers some insight in to why some Asians are facing severe shocks to their health when switching to the typical American diet:

The Chinese [living in China], who on the average consume more calories, are thinner than Americans.1 In China the calorie intake per kilogram of body weight is 30 percent higher than in the United States. The Chinese eat about 270 more calories per day than Americans, yet they are invariably thin. Exercise cannot fully explain this difference, as researchers discovered the same thing with Chinese office workers as well.

This may be because calories from carbohydrates are not as likely to increase body fat as the same number of calories from high-fat foods such as oils and meats, which make up such a high proportion of the American diet. The data suggests that when a very low fat diet is consumed (15 percent average dietary fat in rural China), as compared to the typical Western diet (30-45 percent of calories from fat), more calories are burned to convert carbohydrate in fat, so the body cannot store fat easily.

The modern American diet receives about 37 percent of its calories from fat, with lots of sugar and refined carbohydrates. The combination of high fat and high sugar is a metabolic disaster that causes weight gain, independent of the number of calories.

Diabetes Funding Doesn't Focus on Long-Term Success

Posted on January 11, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

The New York Times coverage of the diabetic crisis in New York City continues with an alarming investigation into modern health insurance's coverage and treatment options for people living with diabetes. As the Times reports, most insurance companies do not focus on long-term treatment with intent to cure. Instead, the funding is directed to expensive procedures that address acute symptoms. Ultimately the patient remains sick and continues that way indefinitely.

Ian Urbina of The New York Times reports that in the treatment of diabetes, success often does not pay:

With much optimism, Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan opened its new diabetes center in March 1999. Miss America, Nicole Johnson Baker, herself a diabetic, showed up for promotional pictures, wearing her insulin pump.

In one photo, she posed with a man dressed as a giant foot - a comical if dark reminder of the roughly 2,000 largely avoidable diabetes-related amputations in New York City each year. Doctors, alarmed by the cost and rapid growth of the disease, were getting serious.

At four hospitals across the city, they set up centers that featured a new model of treatment. They would be boot camps for diabetics, who struggle daily to reduce the sugar levels in their blood. The centers would teach them to check those levels, count calories and exercise with discipline, while undergoing prolonged monitoring by teams of specialists.

But seven years later, even as the number of New Yorkers with Type 2 diabetes has nearly doubled, three of the four centers, including Beth Israel's, have closed.

They did not shut down because they had failed their patients. They closed because they had failed to make money. They were victims of the Byzantine world of American health care, in which the real profit is made not by controlling chronic diseases like diabetes but by treating their many complications.

Insurers, for example, will often refuse to pay $150 for a diabetic to see a podiatrist, who can help prevent foot ailments associated with the disease. Nearly all of them, though, cover amputations, which typically cost more than $30,000.

Patients have trouble securing a reimbursement for a $75 visit to the nutritionist who counsels them on controlling their diabetes. Insurers do not balk, however, at paying $315 for a single session of dialysis, which treats one of the disease's serious complications.

Dr. Fuhrman continually stresses that the best way to prevent, control, and eventually cure diseases like diabetes is through nutritional excellence (as described in his books) and exercise. Many of his diabetic patients are able to maintain excellent health without any medications--some of their stories are in DiseaseProof's Success Stories.

In the member center of Dr. Fuhrman.com, he recently talked to members about the importance of exercise for diabetics:

The most effective prescription for diabetes is exercise. An essential component of my prescription for diabetes is daily exercise; it is more important than daily medication. Two hundred calories a day of formal exercise on an incline treadmill and an elliptical machine are a great goal to shoot for. It is not an official recommendation of anyone except me.

Tags: Diabetes

Reversing Diabetes: Harnessing the Power Within Ourselves

Posted on January 11, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Janice S. Lehet discusses how Eat to Live changed her life (This story originally appeared on Dr.Fuhrman.com):

"There is no failure, except in no longer trying; no defeat, except from within; no insurmountable barrier, except our own inherent weakness of purpose." Anonymous

Four months ago, I was grossly overweight, had triglyceride and cholesterol levels of nearly 400, and received reports that my liver function tests exceeded the normal range by 25%. Experiencing numbness in my face and foot, I checked into the emergency room at a local hospital fearing that I might have been experiencing a stroke. I don't think I had a stroke since I was released after an overnight stay, but my admittance to Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington, New Jersey changed my life.

After ten years of knowing that I had diabetes, I had regressed to a position of taking three daily potent time release pills to manage my glucose levels in spite of my sincere efforts to manage the disease as carefully as possible. I found that as my pill intake increased so did my glucose levels. Still, my doctors continued to increase the medicine's dosage in spite of my discussions with them about articles in the New York Times and other publications revealing that the drug could potentially cause heart failure and kidney disease. One doctor dismissed the articles and touted the benefits of taking the drugs, again weighing such "benefits" against the deleterious effects of the disease.

The pills prescribed to lower my triglycerides and cholesterol levels ravaged my body with pain since I was among the small percentage of patients who cannot safely tolerate statin drugs. Still, the doctor who prescribed the drugs kept changing the prescriptions to other statins, which caused the same symptoms.

As I noted the drugs' potential side effects that I had read about on the Internet, my doctor at the time advised me, "Stay off the Internet. You need to take these or suffer the consequences." Then, he gave me several packets of Baycol. Of course, Baycol was removed from the market because of its serious side effects! Luckily, I had graciously taken the packets but never ingested them.

I don't believe that traditional doctors mean to overmedicate their patients. I believe that they do the best they can based on their training and current medical practices. Most doctors follow a specific path according to having always treated illnesses by medicating their patients. I must add in their favor that some modern medicines have prolonged the human life span even though medicines are not the "magic bullet" for all patients or all diseases.

I need to mention that I did try a nutritional approach to management throughout my bout with diabetes, and I committed myself fully to following the advice of those nutrition professionals. I now believe that I did not receive suitable or even accurate advice in both of the programs. My previous nutritionist kept telling me how "great" my diet was although my glucose average kept rising.

I believe I am an example that Type 2 diabetics can reverse their disease, but only the most courageous and innovative thinkers in the medical profession can help us free ourselves of medicine and direct us to healing our own bodies by eliminating the causes of the disease. I found such a doctor in Joel Fuhrman, M.D.!

Dr. Fuhrman, a board-certified family physician in private practice in New Jersey who specializes in preventing and reversing disease through nutritional and natural methods, had recently opened an office at the hospital's professional center, and I read about his work in reversing patients' diseases while I was waiting to leave the hospital.

In mid-June, I had my first appointment with Dr. Fuhrman who put me on a nutritional plan phasing in specific kinds of healthy foods, supplements and exercise as part of a program that worked wonders for me within a four month period. By July, I had lost 11 pounds. By August, I had lost 21 pounds and reduced my serum cholesterol to 180 and my glucose level to a thirty-day average of 110. Now, in October, my thirty-day average is 103. To date, I have lost 40 pounds and still plan to lose an additional ten since the plan is so easy to follow.

Under the guidance of this knowledgeable physician, I found that I had the power within myself to be healthy and diabetes free once again. The journey to restored good health took only four months under Dr. Fuhrman's direction.

I sincerely hope that my personal renaissance-my delivery to excellent health-will be an inspiration of hope to many other senior citizens and others who suffer from Type 11 diabetes, high triglycerides, high cholesterol, and/or potential liver or kidney failure or worse. At age 66, I am now in better health than I was twenty years ago since I no longer have diabetes, high serum cholesterol levels or high triglycerides, and I am medicine free.

At this writing, I find myself in excellent health once again. I feel great and look six dress sizes better-since I literally plummeted from a size 12 to a size 6 within the first three months under Dr. Fuhrman's care. Most important, is that I have enormous energy and can complete five miles of rigorous exercise on my tread mill within an hour with little effort each day. I feel better now than I did at age 50!

Dr. Fuhrman is one of our country's leading experts on nutrition and natural healing. I feel lucky to have discovered him. He has appeared on hundreds of radio and television shows including Good Morning America, CNN, Good Day NY, TV Food Network and many more. He has been interviewed for Esquire, Woman's World Magazine, Food and Wine, Ebony, Health Confidential, Mothering Magazine, Health Science, Bottom Line, and many others.

Dr. Fuhrman is committed to sharing his formula for successful diabetes reversal through this book, for diabetics, this is a "must own" publication. I can testify to that-by my "new" body, my flood of energy, my good health, and the knowledge I have gained that will help me control my own future health. I am a living example that Dr. Fuhrman's writings and practices are most effective!

A footnote: To those senior citizens who feel that it is too late to improve their health, I point them to Alexander Graham Bell who said,

"Sometimes we stare at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open."

A Tale of Two Cities: New York's Diabetic Dilemma

Posted on January 10, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Continuing from yesterday's story, New York Times reporter N.R. Kleinfeld probes deeper into New York City's diabetic epicenter. In East Harlem diabetes is extremely common. The next neighborhood to the South, on the other hand, has one of the lowest rates in the city. As the article explains, culture and income drive important dietary differences:

A few things to notice. On Third Avenue, around the corner from the art shop, a banner outside McDonald's proclaimed, "$1 Menu." Down the way, plastered on Burger King, "New Enormous Omelet Sandwich. It's Huge." At KFC, a sign boasted, "Feed Your Family for Under $4 Each."

The art-shop gatherers sometimes talked about 96th Street, the tangible southern divide of a neighborhood and of a disease. Go north of 96th Street and you enter a constricted world laden with poverty. Go south and you find promise and riches, thin not fat, the difference between East Harlem and the Upper East Side, the difference between illness and health.

Go north and the chances of bumping into a diabetic are maybe 20 times greater than if you go south. For the Upper East Side, according to the health department, has the lowest prevalence in the city, about 1 percent.

In East Harlem, people sometimes have to choose between getting their diabetes medication and eating. They sometimes share their pills, cut them in half and take half-dosages. They improvise. Everywhere blare the signals that the best meal is the biggest meal.

Nutritious food exists, but it isn't easy to find. Dr. Carol R. Horowitz, an assistant professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, heads an East Harlem coalition trying to improve diabetes care. She oversaw a study several years ago that tracked the availability of diet soda, low-fat or fat-free milk, high-fiber bread, fresh fruit and fresh vegetables in food stores in East Harlem and the Upper East Side.

Stores on the Upper East Side were more than three times more likely than those in East Harlem to stock all five items. It did not seem to matter that East Harlem has more than twice as many food stores per capita as its wealthier neighbor to the south.

The plot thickens. Kleinfeld points out that a person's image also has a lot to do with their food selection. A resident of East Harlem comments:

"We've got cultural differences. Here, for a guy to eat a salad, he's a wimp. He'll eat a big portion of rice and beans and chicken. The women can't be chumps, either. A woman can eat a salad but has to eat it on the low. She has to do it quiet. They make fun of you: What are you, a rabbit?"

Diabetes Mine also has news that New York City recently announced plans to track people with diabetes.

For more of Dr. Fuhrman's thoughts about the diabetes epidemic, refer to New York City's Diabetes Epidemic from yesterday.

New York City's Diabetes Epidemic

Posted on January 9, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

One in twenty people has diabetes in this country, more than 16 million Americans. New York City in particular is quietly approaching a diabetes crisis. N.R. Kleinfield of the New York Times reports:

An estimated 800,000 adult New Yorkers - more than one in every eight - now have diabetes, and city health officials describe the problem as a bona fide epidemic. Diabetes is the only major disease in the city that is growing, both in the number of new cases and the number of people it kills. And it is growing quickly, even as other scourges like heart disease and cancers are stable or in decline.

The dangers of diabetes are twofold. Not only is the disease itself dangerous, but more than 70 percent of adults with Type II diabetes die of heart attacks and stroke. Kleinfield points out additional complications resulting from diabetes:

Diabetics are two to four times more likely than others to develop heart disease or have a stroke, and three times more likely to die of complications from flu or pneumonia, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Most diabetics suffer nervous-system damage and poor circulation, which can lead to amputations of toes, feet and entire legs; even a tiny cut on the foot can lead to gangrene because it will not be seen or felt.

Women with diabetes are at higher risk for complications in pregnancy, including miscarriages and birth defects. Men run a higher risk of impotence. Young adults have twice the chance of getting gum disease and losing teeth.

There is a simple explanation for instances of diabetes in New York City and the entire country. As our country's weight has risen, diabetes has increased accordingly. The worldwide explosion in diabetes parallels the increase in body weight. Kleinfield presents the factors attributed to climbing rates of diabetes in our sedentary nation:

An aging population

A food supply spiked with sugars and fats

A culture that promotes overeating and discourages exercise

In Dr. Fuhrman's book Eat to Live he outlines a vegetable-based, high-nutrient diet that is instrumental in preventing and reversing disease. For those already stricken with the disease he offers some dietary suggestions to help control its effects:

Refined starches such as white bread and pasta are particularly harmful; avoid them completely

Do not consume any fruit juice or dried fruits. Avoid all sweets, except fresh fruit in reasonable quantities. Two or three fruits for breakfast is fine, and one fruit after lunch and dinner is ideal. The best fruits are those with less sugar � grapefruit, oranges, kiwis, strawberries and other berries, melons, green apples

Avoid all oil. Raw nuts are permitted, but only one ounce or less

The name of your diet is the "greens and beans diet"; green vegetables and beans should make up most of your diet

Limit animal food intake to no more than two servings of fish weekly

Try to exercise regularly and consistently, like dispensing your medication. Do it on a regimented schedule, preferably twice daily. Walking upstairs is one of greatest exercises for weight loss

Check out this previous post for success stories about how how the Eat to Live diet can help defeat diabetes.

Tags: Diabetes

Pharmaceutical Rep Urges Healthy Diet Over Drugs

Posted on January 5, 2006 by Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese

Here's a great e-mail that recently came into Dr. Fuhrman's office:

I just wanted to tell you that I've been eating primarily a vegan diet for the last seven months, with a lot of it being raw fruits and veggies.

I have personally dropped ten pounds, and feel great. I really didn't need to lose this weight, but I am loving it! I am 5'2" and now weigh 112lbs. That being said, I workout almost everday so I am also a lot of muscle.

Recently my HDL increased substatially as well, which is truly amazing. My fiance has lost over thirty pounds, and I am so proud of him!

I also find your way of practicing medicine ideal. I am personally a pharmaceutical rep and promote a diabetic medicine. It is interesting to me the corelation between diabetes and eating. You would also be amazed at the offices I call on. When I order healthy, vegetarian lunches for offices, they complain that it's not some deep fried chicken choice! And these are the same people who are telling their patients to eat well.

It's astonishing. I am constantly being picked on in these same offices for my dietary choices too! It's weird. This is the problem with our society today. It's easier for physicians to just throw medications at patients, rather then really consult with them about diet and exercise.

That being said, those that do consult with these patients--a lot of the patients are not compliant. It's like asking an alcoholic to quit drinking. These behavioral patterns are embedded early into these patients.

I want to tell you thank you for all the good work you do. If more people followed your advice, we would find Americans would be living much healthier, productive lives. Let's face it: diabetes and cancer are expensive! Seeing the typical diabetic will be on about six medicines, if not more!

Thank you.

Study: A Better Measure than Body Mass Index

Posted on November 16, 2005 by Henry Abbott

Canadian researchers have just had an article published in The Lancet that suggests their may be a simple technique to determine your risk of heart disease that is more effective than the standard Body Mass Index. Nicholas Bakalar reports in The New York Times. Warning: you'll be wanting a tape measure and a calculator, so you might as well get those now...

A waist-to-hip ratio (waist measurement divided by hip measurement) below 0.85 in women or 0.9 in men is average. Anything above that is a risk for heart disease.

The researchers, led by Dr. Salim Yusuf, a professor of medicine at McMaster University near Toronto, studied 12,461 people who had had a first heart attack and compared them to a matched group of 14,637 without heart disease.

A body mass index greater than 28.2 in women or 28.6 in men did indicate an increased risk of heart attack, but the relationship disappeared after adjusting for age, sex, geographic region and tobacco use.

Waist-to-hip ratio, on the other hand, showed a continuous relationship to heart attack risk even after adjusting for other risk factors. Those in the highest fifth were 2.52 times as likely to have a heart attack as those in the lowest fifth.

Dr. Fuhrman wrote about this in his book Eat to Live. In fact, Amazon.com will let their customers read that part of Eat to Live online for free.

You'll see he cites the work of Harvard's Dr. I-Min Lee--who studied nearly 20,000 men over nearly thirty years. She found that you practically can not be too thin: the lightest group of men had the lowest mortality. (Of course, he cautions, there is such a thing as being too thin, which is usually anorexia and is a topic for another time.)

And as you can read, Dr. Fuhrman describes various favored techniques for measuring body fat: like Dr. Yusuf, he finds that fat around the waist is a more useful measure than body mass index.

Two quickie rules of thumb from Eat to Live to assess whether or not you are at your ideal weight:

Men shouldn't be able to pinch more than a half-inch of skin near the belly button. Women should not be able to pinch more than an inch.
If you have gained as little as ten pounds since you were 18 or 20 years old, then you could have a significantly increased risk for health problems like heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

Tags: Blood Pressure, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Research

Diet-Sensitive Chronic Diseases are Top Global Killers

Posted on October 5, 2005 by Henry Abbott

Shaoni Bhattacharya of the NewScientist.com news service passes along news of a major new report of the World Health Organization, which says chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are causing far more deaths around the globe than all other causes combined.

By the end of 2005, twice as many people will have died from chronic diseases as from all infectious diseases, starvation and pregnancy and birth complications combined, international experts have warned.

The "neglected epidemic" of chronic disease will take 35 million lives in 2005, out of the total 58 million who will die globally. And contrary to popular belief, most of the deaths - 80% - from chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer will be in low to middle-income countries.

The two factors behind this epidemic are smoking and obesity, says Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, in a commentary accompanying four studies published on Wednesday. "These risks and the diseases they engender are not the exclusive preserve of rich nations."

If action is taken now, 36 million lives could be saved by 2015, says a major World Health Organization (WHO) report on chronic diseases also published on Wednesday.

If you poke around DiseaseProof.com a bit, you'll see that Dr. Fuhrman has had a lot of success treating and preventing these exact same chronic diseases with a healthy diet. This "silent epidemic" is a terrible thing. The only good news: as the WHO acknowledges, we already have the knowledge we need to reverse the epidemic. It's just a question of spreading the word and putting what we know into practice.

Tags: Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Research

Kentucky's Chronic Disease

Posted on September 26, 2005 by Henry Abbott

Laura Ungar reports in today's Louisville Courier-Journal about the terrible state of things in Kentucky. The state is among the worst in the US when it comes to cancers, heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases that are influenced by diet, exercise, and quitting smoking.

The title of her article is Bad Habits Give Birth to Chronic Diseases. The title implies the good news: changing habits can reverse chronic disease.

Ms. Ungar points out that the nature of fighting disease is shifting. It used to be that people got sick (with infections, etc.) and doctors cured them. The prevalant diseases at the moment, however, are not curable by doctors, but instead are best prevented with a long-term healthy approach.

Kentuckians would be much healthier if their major diseases were caused by germs.

Then a vaccine or antibiotics might prevent or cure what ails us.

But in the Bluegrass State, we suffer from such chronic illnesses as lung cancer, colorectal cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes � which are much more difficult to control because they are linked to harmful habits long accepted in Kentucky.

And we start down this road at a young age with habits that too often continue into adulthood.

The state ranks worst in the nation for teen tobacco use and above the national average for high school students who are obese. Adults smoke at the highest rate in the nation and exercise at the lowest rates. Many residents eat high-fat diets without enough fruits and vegetables, which combine with sedentary lifestyles to help make Kentucky the seventh-fattest state in America.

The article also quotes a nursing professor:

"It's ridiculous. It's just way out of whack," Ellen Hahn, a University of Kentucky nursing professor, said of spending on prevention. As a society "we don't value prevention. We just wait until a crisis happens and throw money at it."

Tags: Cancer, Cholesterol, Diabetes

Nutrition Researcher: Frank Hu

Posted on September 20, 2005 by Henry Abbott

One of the world's most respected nutrition and disease prevention researchers is Frank Hu, MD, Ph.D., who is an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Hu has been instrumental in many of the studies that Dr. Fuhrman cites. Anyone who wants to know more about nutrition research would be smart to follow his work. Here are some of the studies Dr. Hu has been involved with.

2002 Diabetes in Men Study
This study, released in 2002, tracked 42,000 men for twelve years. At the beginning of the study, none had diabetes. 1,321 cases of type 2 diabetes were diagnosed during the study. All participants were asked repeatedly about their diets, and those who ate what the researchers called the "western diet" (high in red meat, processed meat, high-fat dairy products, and refined grains) and were obese and inactive were at a mich higher risk to get type 2 diabetes.

A Harvard School of Public Health press release describes the study. "The implications of the study are straightforward," says Dr. Hu in the release. "To substantially decrease the chances of getting type 2 diabetes and developing potentially serious complications like blindness, kidney failure and heart disease, men should change their eating pattern and increase their intake of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and fish. They should also get plenty of exercise and avoid weight gain."

2004 Study of Weight and Exercise in Women
More than 115,000 women were studied between 1976 and 2000. The findings were clear: being overweight and not exercising both significantly affected mortality. "There is no question that one should be as active as possible no matter what your weight is, but it is equally important to maintain a healthy weight and prevent weight gain through diet and lifestyle," Dr. Hu says in a press release describing the study.

2004 Study of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
This study attempted to assess some of the impact of sugar-sweetened beverages on health. More than 91,000 participants filled out questionnaires between 1991 and 1999, and the results were remarkable: those who had more than one sugared soft-drink per day had an 80 percent increased risk of diabetes compared to those who had one per month.

"This is the first study to show a strong positive association between sugar-sweetened beverages, including regular sodas and fruit punches, and diabetes risk," said Frank Hu in a press release describing the study. "Our study suggests that limiting consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, especially soft drinks, is an important public health strategy to curb the epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes."

2000 Studies of Coronary Heart Disease in Women
Two studies taken together showed coronary heart disease was dramatically reduced among women who stopped smoking and ate a healthier diet. The studies tracked 86,000 women over a 14-year period.

Here's how Dr. Hu summarized his findings: "Taken together, these studies give strong support to the theories that much of heart disease can be prevented through changes in diet and lifestyle. This newest study shows that a person's risk can drop very quickly by improving their diets and by quitting smoking."

You can read more about Dr. Hu's research at the Harvard School of Public Health website.

Tags: Diabetes, Hurtful Food, Research

The Diet That Defeats Diabetes

Posted on September 15, 2005 by Joel Fuhrman

How can we lower high glucose levels, lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, lose weight and not need to take drugs such as insulin and sulfonylureas which cause weight gain?

Here is the simple answer---the best diet for humans to live longer in superior health is also the best diet for one with diabetes. That is a diet with a high nutrient per calorie ratio as described in my book, Eat To Live. When one eats a diet predominating in nature's perfect foods---green vegetables, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, raw nuts and seeds and limited amount of fresh fruit, it becomes relatively easy for people to eat as much as they want and still lose weight relatively quickly. This includes lots of great tasting food, great recipes, but no oil, butter, cheese, flour or sweets. My experience has demonstrated that those choosing to follow my nutritional recommendation have their diabetes melt away astonishingly fast even before they have lost most of their excess weight.

One of Many Success Stories
James Kenney was referred to my office from his nephrologist at St. Barnabus Hospital in Livingston, NJ. Mr. Kenney was originally referred to the nephrologist by his endocrinologist (diabetic specialist) at the Joslin Clinic because of kidney damage that resulted from very high glucose readings in spite of maximum medical management.

First Visit
At his first visit, Jim weighed 268 pounds and was taking a total of 175 units of insulin per day. He had already suffered from severe complications of Type 2 diabetes, including two heart attacks and Charcot (destructive inflammation) joint damage in his right ankle. In spite of this huge dose of insulin and six other medications, Jim's glucose readings averaged between 350 - 400. This was the case "no matter what I eat," he said. Jim told me that he was already on a careful ADA diet, and was following the precise dietary recommendations of the dietician at the Joslin Clinic.

He started my Eat To Live program right away and I immediately reduced his insulin dose down to 130 units per day. Jim and I spoke on the phone over the next few days, and I continued to decrease his insulin gradually.

Five Days
After five days, Jim's glucose was running between 80 and 120, and he had lost ten pounds. At this juncture, I put him on 45 units of Lantus insulin at bedtime and 6 units of Humalog regular insulin before each meal for a total of 63 units per day.

Two Weeks
At his two week visit Jim had lost 16 pounds. I stopped his blood pressure medications and he was taking a total of 58 units per day of insulin.

One Month
After the first month of my Eat To Live program, I was able to stop all of Jim's insulin and start him on Glucophage. He lost 25 pounds in the first five weeks and his blood glucose readings were well controlled without insulin. His blood pressure also came down to normal and he no longer required any blood pressure medications.

Five Months
Five months later: No more diabetes medication, and a 60-pound weight loss Five months later, Jim was off all medications for diabetes, no longer had high cholesterol or high blood pressure, and was more than 60 pounds lighter. His kidney insufficiency had normalized as well.

This case illustrates not merely how powerful the diet from my Eat To Live approach is, but how the standard dietary advice given to diabetics from conventional physicians and dieticians is insufficient. Jim Kenney would likely be dead by now had his nephrologist not referred him to me for an effective dietary approach.