Category Archives: Uncategorized

As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

–H. L. Mencken

Adam Brown over at DiaTribe has been experimenting with diet to see effects on his blood sugar:

“Over the past 80 days, I’ve seen excellent results from eating higher fat (65% of my calories) and a bit lower carb (about 90 grams per day) than I have in the past. I’ve spent 76% of the past 11.5 weeks in the tight range of 70-140 mg/dl [3.9-7.8], with a low average (118 mg/dl) [6.6 mmol/l], low hypoglycemia, and low diabetes burden. Combined, these are the strongest numbers I’ve ever seen in myself over such a long time period. I’ve also lost 5 lbs [2.3 kg].”

Source: Adam’s Corner: Diabetes on a 65% Fat Diet, Chia for Breakfast, and Intermittent Fasting | diaTribe

Also see his comments on chia pudding and intermittent fasting.

Evolutionistx thinks so. She started pondering this in view of the fact that one of every four women in the U.S. is on medication for depression or anxiety. Why so many drug users? A quote:

People seem to do best, emotionally, when they have the support of their kin, some degree of ethnic or national pride, economic and physical security, attend religious services, and avoid crowded cities. (Here I am, an atheist, recommending church for people.) The knowledge you are at peace with your tribe and your tribe has your back seems almost entirely absent from most people’s modern lives; instead, people are increasingly pushed into environments where they have no tribe and most people they encounter in daily life have no connection to them. Indeed, tribalism and city living don’t seem to get along very well.

RTWT.

Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: Here’s a starter article on how to find a church.

“Roll the clock forward, and here we are in 2016 with whole countries refuting the fat is bad, sugar is good mentality. Sweden has adopted a low-carbohydrate approach to public health messaging, lifestyle choice, and health interventions. The switch in dietary advice followed the publication of a two-year study by the independent Swedish Council on Health Technology Assessment. The committee reviewed 16,000 studies published up until 31 May 2013 and upended existing advice in favour of a low-carbohydrate model. Here in the UK we see, almost weekly, documentaries and publications advocating that we reduce our carbohydrate intake, especially for the treatment of obesity and diabetes, and yet the accepted advice is still low fat.”

Source: BMJ Blogs: The BMJ » Blog Archive » Paul Buchanan: What are we meant to eat?

“I see this comment SO many times. “I have to take insulin anyways, so my diet is not THAT important. I can eat what I want and cover it with insulin.”

When I hear it in people with Type 2, I shake my head. We should know better!  Poor lifestyle choices are what got most of us in this place to begin with.  Giving insulin to a population that still usually makes plenty of insulin just to cover poor lifestyle choices is beyond disturbing. Insulin in this population should be for those that have made every effort at living a healthy lifestyle and still need a little help achieving NORMAL blood sugar.”

Source: I HAVE to Take Insulin Anyways – My Diet is Not THAT Important – Low Carb RN (CDE)

If you’re one of the 114,000 users of this device in the U.S. or Canada, listen up:

“Johnson & Johnson is telling patients that it has learned of a security vulnerability in one of its insulin pumps that a hacker could exploit to overdose diabetic patients with insulin, though it describes the risk as low.

Medical device experts said they believe it was the first time a manufacturer had issued such a warning to patients about a cyber vulnerability, a hot topic in the industry following revelations last month about possible bugs in pacemakers and defibrillators.

J&J executives told Reuters they knew of no examples of attempted hacking attacks on the device, the J&J Animas OneTouch Ping insulin pump. The company is nonetheless warning customers and providing advice on how to fix the problem.”

Source: J&J warns diabetic patients: Insulin pump vulnerable to hacking | Reuters

CNN has a few details on the Medtronic MiniMed 670G, which should be available to consumers this spring:

“The Food and Drug Administration approved a so-called artificial pancreas Wednesday. The first-of-its-kind device, the size of a cell phone, monitors and treats patients with type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes.In those with type 1 diabetes, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, a hormone people need to get energy from food. The Medtronic MiniMed 670G system continuously monitors glucose (blood sugar) levels and delivers needed insulin to patients.

“This is a revolutionary day for the treatment of diabetes. We’ve been long awaiting the artificial pancreas, and it’s exciting to see it,” said Dr. Robert Courgi, an endocrinologist at Northwell Health’s South Side Hospital in Bay Shore, New York.”

Source: ‘Artificial pancreas’ for type 1 diabetes wins FDA approval – CNN.com

Cost and insurance coverage issues should be interesting.

Harriet Hall, M.D., looked at the evidence for Plavinol as a diabetes treatment. She’s skeptical about it:

“In a recent article on SBM, Scott Gavura quoted a pharmacy customer who said “I don’t want to take any drugs. Do you have something natural I can use to cut my blood sugar?” Scott went on to cover the questionable evidence for cinnamon in that article. Many other “natural” remedies have been proposed. Here’s an alphabetical list: acetyl L-carnitine, aloe, alpha-lipoic acid, banaba leaf (not banana!), basil, berberine, bilberry, biotin, bitter melon, cinnamon, chromium, coQ10, crepe myrtle, fenugreek, fish oil, fructo-oligosaccharides, green tea, ginseng, glucomannan, gymnema, hibiscus, Indian kino tree extract, magnesium, mistletoe, olive leaf, onion, psyllium, purslane, resveratrol, starch blockers, thiamine, vanadium, and vitamins. I compiled that list from just three websites; I’m sure there are many more natural remedies that I missed. These natural remedies have been recommended on the basis of rather shaky preliminary evidence that they lower blood sugar, usually by only a small amount. Even the CAM-friendly National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) concluded: “There is not enough scientific evidence to suggest that any dietary supplements can help prevent or manage type 2 diabetes.”

Source: Plavinol and Other Natural Remedies for Diabetes: “Condimentary Medicine”? « Science-Based Medicine

…according to an article at American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

“Metabolic syndrome” may be a new term for you. It’s a collection of clinical features that are associated with increased future risk of type 2 diabetes and atherosclerotic complications such as heart attack and stroke. One in six Americans has metabolic syndrome. Diagnosis requires at least three of the following five conditions:

• high blood pressure (130/85 or higher, or using a high blood pressure medication)
• low HDL cholesterol: under 40 mg/dl (1.03 mmol/l) in a man, under 50 mg/dl (1.28 mmol/l) in a women (or either sex taking a cholesterol-lowering drug)
• triglycerides over 150 mg/dl (1.70 mmol/l) (or taking a cholesterol-lowering drug)
• abdominal fat: waist circumference 40 inches (102 cm) or greater in a man, 35 inches (89 cm) or greater in a woman
  fasting blood glucose over 100 mg/dl (5.55 mmol/l)
• fasting blood glucose over 100 mg/dl (5.55 mmol/l)

I don’t plan on reading the full text of the report because it’s a meta-analysis and I’ve likely reviewed the four component studies here already. Here are the results:

Four RCTs [randomized controlled trials] that involved 159 participants were included. The 4 control diets were based on distinct national nutrition guidelines but were broadly similar. Paleolithic nutrition resulted in greater short-term improvements than did the control diets (random-effects model) for waist circumference (mean difference: −2.38 cm; 95% CI: −4.73, −0.04 cm), triglycerides (−0.40 mmol/L; 95% CI: −0.76, −0.04 mmol/L), systolic blood pressure (−3.64 mm Hg; 95% CI: −7.36, 0.08 mm Hg), diastolic blood pressure (−2.48 mm Hg; 95% CI: −4.98, 0.02 mm Hg), HDL cholesterol (0.12 mmol/L; 95% CI: −0.03, 0.28 mmol/L), and fasting blood sugar (−0.16 mmol/L; 95% CI: −0.44, 0.11 mmol/L). The quality of the evidence for each of the 5 metabolic components was moderate. The home-delivery (n = 1) and dietary recommendation (n = 3) RCTs showed similar effects with the exception of greater improvements in triglycerides relative to the control with the home delivery. None of the RCTs evaluated an improvement in quality of life.

Ways to improve or cure metabolic syndrome include the paleo diet, Mediterranean diet, low-carb diets, ketogenic diets, and exercise. Losing excess fat weight with any reasonable diet would probably work. Enhance effectiveness by exercising.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Reference:Eric W Manheimer,  Esther J van Zuuren, Zbys Fedorowicz, and Hanno Pijl. Paleolithic nutrition for metabolic syndrome: systematic review and meta-analysis. AJCN. First published August 12, 2015, doi: 10.3945/ajcn.115.113613