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Could Diabetes Spread Like Mad Cow Disease? (sciencemag.org)

sciencehabit quotes Science magazine: Prions are insidious proteins that spread like infectious agents and trigger fatal conditions such as mad cow disease. A protein implicated in diabetes, a new study suggests, shares some similarities with these villains. Researchers transmitted diabetes from one mouse to another just by injecting the animals with this protein. The results don't indicate that diabetes is contagious like a cold, but blood transfusions, or even food, may spread the disease.

The work is "very exciting" and "well-documented" for showing that the protein has some prionlike behavior, says prion biologist Witold Surewicz of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, who wasn't connected to the research. However, he cautions against jumping to the conclusion that diabetes spreads from person to person. The study raises that possibility, he says, but "it remains to be determined."

128 comments

  1. "spread" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Food may cause diabetes... WOW, that's SHOCKING!

  2. Prion-Free Diet now in stores by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    the anti-paleo plan

  3. No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, as usual. (unless diabetes is based on a fucked up protein.

  4. It's known that diabetes can spread by cheesybagel · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's called the pancreatitis virus. Much like there is a hepatitis virus that can destroy the liver, there is a pancreatitis virus that can destroy the pancreas and lead to diabetes. The prionlike protein in the article though seems to be new and this is much welcome research.

    I've heard similar things with people with metabolic syndrome, e.g., twins one is fat and the other isn't fat, one has metabolic syndrome and the other doesn't. Take a bit of fat from the one with metabolic syndrome and inject it in the skinny one and they start getting more abnormal fat concentration in the place where it was injected. Perhaps it's a similar issue?

    1. Re:It's known that diabetes can spread by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This idea is at least twenty years old.

      I see it's making the rounds again.

      captcha: glutton

    2. Re:It's known that diabetes can spread by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Very interesting. Thanks for the layman's scientific perspective otherwise it sounds like rocket science and paranoia. If they are going to implant a pancreatitis virus that destroys the liver, a healthy being then by its nature with this virus will result in diabetes. Thats logical, if the body loses control of its ability to remove excess sugar, then by nature they will develop diabetes.

    3. Re:It's known that diabetes can spread by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      The poster is full of shit. Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease. Any form of diabetes caused by pancreatitis (which isn't all that common in people with pancreatitis) is NOT type 1 by definition, since, instead of the immune system destroying the cells that produce insulin, digestive enzymes produced by the pancreas activate while still in the pancreas, damaging it.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    4. Re:It's known that diabetes can spread by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Why that may be true, people with various reasons who don't have native insulin production (including things such as bullet damage) are treated pretty much the same as type 1s.

    5. Re:It's known that diabetes can spread by cheesybagel · · Score: 4, Informative

      Since when did I mention Type 1? I said diabetes. Diabetes just means that someone has elevated blood glucose due to impaired insulin production.

      Pancreatitis is listed as a possible cause of diabetes here:
      https://www.niddk.nih.gov/heal...

      I hope the NIH is good enough for you. But you seem to be all knowing so perhaps it isn't good enough for you.

      I'll give you a hint: doctors typically give names to disease symptoms not to disease causes.

    6. Re:It's known that diabetes can spread by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 0

      Again, the poster is still full of shit. That was my point. While people who lose the function of their pancreas for other reasons also require exogenous insulin, it has zero to do with type 1 diabetes. Type one is NOT transmitted by a virus. The guy is an idiot, in the same realm as the anti-vaxxers and flat earthers.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    7. Re:It's known that diabetes can spread by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 0

      And yet it's absolutely not type 1 diabetes. Type one is an auto-immune disease, end of story. Any other cause of diabetes - even those that require exogenous insulin - are not Type 1.

      From your link:

      What causes type 1 diabetes?

      Type 1 diabetes occurs when your immune system, the body’s system for fighting infection, attacks and destroys the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas.

      The rest of the paragraph is just speculation that has not been proven - even the paragraph you cite admits it's just speculation. Also, it wouldn't be the virus causing the destruction of the insulin-producing cells directly, but the body's immune system failing to distinguish between an infectious agent and the Islets of Langerhans. Even cow's milk getting into the bloodstream from the gullet in an infant can cause such a reaction, as the antibodies fail to distinguish between the cow protein and the islets.

      And you're wrong when you say "I'll give you a hint: doctors typically give names to disease symptoms not to disease causes.". Doctors call diabetes Type One or Type two based on cause. Type 1 (used to be called Juvenile Diabetes) is inherited, type 2 isn't.

      Same as there are two types of strokes, depending on the cause - ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke, depending on whether a blood vessel gets blocked or blows out. Both end up with the same symptoms (including death), but the treatments are vastly different, same as type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

      You really don't know shit.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    8. Re:It's known that diabetes can spread by redcliffe · · Score: 2

      There's a vaccine about to go to trial for a virus thought to trigger the auto-immune disease.

    9. Re: It's known that diabetes can spread by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mate, you're out of touch.

      Many of my doctors have told me they don't care what kind of diabetes I have, they just treat the symptoms with what is effective, and there is a lot of overlap in treatment.

      There are also many kinds of diabetes (type 1.5, LADA, etc...), but good luck getting someone to care enough about you to finalise a diagnosis, if they even can.

      I've noticed a lot of posts to this story from people claiming they are the definitive voice on all things diabetes. My experience has been that the medical profession doesn't know shit about this disease and nothing about it is black and white....

    10. Re:It's known that diabetes can spread by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dogma aside, There is a theory that Type 1 diabetes begins as an inappropriate auto-immune reaction to a viral infection, which means that diabetes may be transmissable by virus between vulnerable individuals. That's a theory, not proven.

    11. Re:It's known that diabetes can spread by cheesybagel · · Score: 1

      There are multiple causes for diabetes. In some cases it seems to be an auto-immune disease with several possible (known and unknown) trigger factors. But you can make someone diabetic just by removing their pancreas. Most of my family is Type 2 and I know people with Type 1 diabetes as well so I am pretty familiar with the disease, diagnosis, and treatment.

      Did you even bother reading the page further and looking at the "What else can cause diabetes?" section? Pancreatitis is clearly labelled as a possible cause. Not all the world is Type 1. In fact most diabetics are Type 2 and only get the disease in like their late 30s or early 40s.

    12. Re:It's known that diabetes can spread by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      The rest of the paragraph is just speculation that has not been proven - even the paragraph you cite admits it's just speculation.

      The genetic factor has been well known since Fredrick Banting figured out insulin and how to use it in treatment. He specifically looked for individuals who were at high risk of developing type 1 after animal trials. Things like trialnet if you turned around and read it are looking at possible primary triggers besides genetic factors, which may or may not also cause type 1.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    13. Re:It's known that diabetes can spread by Major+Blud · · Score: 1

      The study in the article references Type 2 diabetes. The method you're describing seems to more closely describe Type 1.

      --
      If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.
    14. Re: It's known that diabetes can spread by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 0

      Maybe some of us who actually know our shit got it through personal experience. Type 1 diabetes cannot be controlled by diet alone - ever. Makes a hell of a difference in treatment strategies right out of the gate, being able to eat a normal "non-diabetic" diet, for example. That's why it's so important to be able to determine the type - so you don't waste time putting someone with Type 1 on Metformin (a pill that is only used for Type 2 diabetes) who cannot benefit from it, or alternately, putting someone with Type 2 on insulin injections without first trynng just taking a Metformin pill every day and adjusting their diet.

      From your latest comment you still don't know shit. Go talk to a few endocrinologists first.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    15. Re:It's known that diabetes can spread by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      "theory" means it isn't proven. Simple as that. And your argument is full of logical errors. The virus does not,. in ANY case, transmit diabetes. That ANYTHING that may trigger an ill-targeted auto-immune response in some individuals is far from the same thing - it's still caused by the auto-immune response, not the virus.

      Time was when people believed that malaria was caused by sleeping near certain trees. Turns out that was wrong too.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    16. Re: It's known that diabetes can spread by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      so you don't waste time putting someone with Type 1 on Metformin (a pill that is only used for Type 2 diabetes) who cannot benefit from it

      That AC is right, you have no idea of what you're talking about -- this is coming from someone who has multiple members of their family with diabetes. Metformin is routinely used with Type 1 diabetics especially those who are having problems with insulin resistance, and for some people who have higher blood sugar levels with type 1 -- it can be used as part of treatment with long-acting insulin to avoid dangerous spiking. It's also been found useful as a pretreatment option for those who have a history of heart disease in their family and diabetes, in helping to repair the heart itself.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    17. Re: It's known that diabetes can spread by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Metformin is only used to treat insulin resistance. Type 1 diabetes is not caused by insulin resistance, but by the body's inability to produce sufficient (or any) insulin. That doesn't mean that Type 1 diabetics can't also develop insulin resistance as they age - particularly if they're obese fat slobs who don't exercise much and stuff their mouths with carbs and have to take increasingly high doses of insulin - but insulin resistance is caused by the body's tissues being insensitive to insulin due to the constant exposure to high insulin and sugar levels, and Type 1 diabetics who watch what they eat and make sure they stay active rarely develop it.

      Also, the longest-acting insulins (ultra lenté) are now avoided like the plague by anyone with a brain. They caused way too many hypoglycemic events, and as a consequence, way to much weight gain as people had to eat excess carbs to get their blood sugar back up to normal. Even the relatively shorter acting insulins such as NPH are still a problem because you can't always predict how active you're going to be 8-12 hours later, but between rapid-acting insulin and the slightly slower acting ones, it's the best we have for now, short of getting up in the middle of the night and taking another shot of rapid-acting insulin.

      I dumped ultra lenté 35 years ago. Took a while for doctors to discover what every other user I knew already knew - to quote my current endocrinologist, "it's garbage". Even NPH has its problems. Ideally we'd just use rapid-acting insulin based on calories in and out over the next few hours. Or use an insulin pump and adjust it based on activity.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  5. Re:Or Sugar by hey! · · Score: 5, Informative

    One recent study found that 3/4 of the food purchased by American households contain added sugar, so it's not that easy for most people.

    That said, I prepare nearly all of my own meals from scratch; having grow up in a restaurant family it's second nature. The last 4 pound bag of sugar I bought was purchased maybe three years ago and it's still not empty. So I don't eat much sugar one way or the other, and I'm certainly waay below the average 100 pound/per capita/per year average for an American.

    Yet I still developed Type 2 diabetes, which two of my siblings also have and which killed my mother and grandmother.

    IT's not as simple as "people who eat sugar get diabetes." Some people do and do; some people do and don't. Others like me don't touch the stuff and still get it.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  6. Not the best summary by LordNelsonthe2nd · · Score: 5, Informative

    In case others wonder about the same, the article is about TYPE 2 diabetes. Just writing "diabetes" is quite pointless since type 1 and 2 are completely different. (Got type 1 myself for 26 years)

    1. Re:Not the best summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then stopping stuffing your gullet with cake and pie.

    2. Re:Not the best summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As usual, the one, we already have a method of prevention for more than 90% of the cases: for chrism sake, don't get fat! Most research funds are on the wrong one. But obesity is growing, big market.

    3. Re:Not the best summary by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      As usual, the one, we already have a method of prevention for more than 90% of the cases: for chrism sake, don't get fat!

      Now if only we had a method of prevention for getting fat.

      For some people, just eating less is simple. For some people, just eating less is scarcely effective. For some people, just eating less is damned near impossible. You can feel any way you want about their self-control, but this is yet another area that needs more solutions.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:Not the best summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      >Now if only we had a method of prevention for getting fat.

      For like 99% of the population, we have got a solution : eat less and do some exercises!

      Just a hint: prepare yourself all you eat from nearly raw ingredients (I don't ask to make your own flour), no dessert if not made by yourself, no sauce if not made by yourself, no marinade on you beef. Being a lazy bastard is an advantage with this simple rule: you don't eat.

    5. Re:Not the best summary by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      What, no marinade? Just don't use sugar. Although to be honest, I only use spices on a steak, anyway.

      I, for one, can kind of lose weight, and get down to the point that I'm basically healthy (I've been down to around 14-15% fat) If I'm happy enough.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    6. Re:Not the best summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no marinade if not homemade. But I agree marinade sucks.

    7. Re:Not the best summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Trying to eat less does not work. You need to count calories and strictly eat less calories per day than your body burns per day. That's the only way to loose weight. While doing that, it may help to eat healthier - that means, no processed food and drinking mostly water. On a side note, processed, pre-fabricated food tastes horrible or at least suboptimal, but it takes at least a year of cooking for yourself and not eating it to realize it. I'm amazed at what kind of junk I used to like and when I try it now think "WTF this is horrible, how can they offer this to anyone".

    8. Re:Not the best summary by hord · · Score: 1

      It's not about eating less. It's about eating the correct diet that induces a healthy and stable body which includes what we refer to as "normal" weight. It is not about self control. I know this from first hand experience because I have several times now starved myself on calorie restricted diets.

      What finally worked for me was switching to a ketogenic diet (high-fat, low-carb). I can lose weight regardless of the quantity of food I eat or activity level. I never exercise, eat as much as I want until satisfied, and maintain 180-185lbs. through dietary composition alone. You can claim what you will but I used to weight over 300lbs and know for a fact this works. I'm never going back.

    9. Re:Not the best summary by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The first time I did low carb it was great, I lost 130 lb.

      The second (and last) time it didn't work at all.

      I was 380 lb before I started dieting. I got down to 250. I am currently around 290. I'm usually at 300 and have been eating banana waffles and lost 10 pounds, over the course of six months or something. Yeah, it's the waffle diet. I'm gonna write a book.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    10. Re: Not the best summary by LordNelsonthe2nd · · Score: 1

      I see you know what you're talking about and read and understood my comment, jerk... I'm pretty sure I do much more sports than you, even though I got type 1 diabetes which makes several weeks of bikepacking or mountaineering a bit harder, but at least its possible nowadays. Now go back stuffing chips into your lazy body and watching fox news...

    11. Re: Not the best summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow you're a fat fuck

    12. Re:Not the best summary by hord · · Score: 1

      I think I got stuck around 295lbs. at some point. Then another plateau at 265lbs. They can be pretty challenging to get through. I really pushed myself to eliminate carbs completely for a few weeks and that changed something. Sugar and sweet foods have tasted differently for a long while now. I've had to eat strawberries with sour cream because they were too sweet and I can't remember a time in my life I'd ever thought that. I can't eat bananas or most fruit anymore either.

      Congrats on the loss of 130lbs. I hope it gives you confidence to keep going even if it's waffles all the way down :)

    13. Re:Not the best summary by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

      type 1 and 2 are completely different.

      And Type 3 is definitely NOT spread by a virus. Unless you consider the surgeon who removes your pancreas to be a virus....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    14. Re:Not the best summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I enjoy making you pay for my bad eating habits. Don'cha love those extra taxes I depend on ? Gonna order me an extra double-rainbow waffle-cone of sugar-molasses ice-cream on-da-house. your emotional pain is my enjoyment cause you feel sooooo entitled to disciplines virtue. Pay Rander shit-head pay libertoon sweat-cunt what thou mostly owest !

    15. Re: Not the best summary by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Wow you're a fat fuck

      And you're riding a fat fuck's dick

      Snootchies

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    16. Re:Not the best summary by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 1

      I'm old enough that risks of Type 2 diabetes are a real concern for my doctor and me. We've discussed it, and he's pointed out for me that Type 2 diabetes is primarily a resistance to insulin. And this resistance increases insulin levels, which triggers hunger and tends to encourage people to gain weight, while the reduced effectiveness of the insulin and raise in blood sugar levels causes lethargy. The result is that weight gain is often a _symptom_ of Type diabetes, not its cause.

      It can be difficult to avoid obesity, especially for we wealthy technology people who spend our time in front of keyboards and are reasonably well paid. It's also becoming difficult for our younger colleagues, who spend more time on phones and on Facebook.

    17. Re:Not the best summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except for the kid with cystic fibrosis that I remember from diabetes camp. (Loved him to pieces, knew he would die young, I've tried to show a *fraction* of his will to enjoy life during my 5 decades with Type 1.) And oh, dear lord, there was "Mickey Martin", from the old Usenet days on the misc.health.diabetes newsgroup. He, later she, made nonsensical claims about how all us Type 1's should live on one shot of long-acting insulin a day, and how women try to entrap men into marrying them into making babies and real men didn't care about babies.

      When I confronted them on this, they called me a baby-crazy Mexican. Never realized I'm *Cuban*, and just what an ethnic insult I was. Turned out they had Klinefelter Syndrom, XXY chromosomes, which is why they switched gender and why their diabetes was so atypical.

    18. Re:Not the best summary by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 2

      > It's not about eating less

      I'm afraid to say that it's about eating less. Getting to that state in a way one can live with can be difficult, and complex.

      > eat as much as I want until satisfied

      This is one of the keys. "Being satisfied" can be very awkward to achieve.

      > What finally worked for me was switching to a ketogenic diet (high-fat, low-carb)

      Please, also note: "ketogenic" means "producing ketones". It does not necessarily mean "high-fat, low carb". It can also mean "high protein, low carb", or simply "low carb, nothing else". I understand that it used to be very common among humans during winter, or outside the local growing seasons.

    19. Re: Not the best summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fat shaming is a progressive compulsion, not a blue collar one, bigot.

    20. Re: Not the best summary by LordNelsonthe2nd · · Score: 1

      Probably I just don't understand your comment (because I'm not a native english speaker) or it simply doen't make any sense at all?...

  7. Re: Liberalism spreads like mad cow disease by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    COTY!

  8. Not even possible by hunter44102 · · Score: 0

    If this was remotely true, then everyone would have diabetes by the age of 60 with all the food and exposure.to this protein. My dad is 85 and is still diabetes free!

    1. Re:Not even possible by gurps_npc · · Score: 2

      By your logic, everybody should have AIDS, as it's transfer is similar.

      The study made it clear that it requires unsual circumstances to transfer, you are the only person that thinks it said it was transferable from eating any food.

      --
      excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
    2. Re:Not even possible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope. It depends on a concentration threshold on multiple parameters. The most accepted hypothesis about prion diseases (mad cow, ...) is that some not well folded protein by contact prevent or provoke the mis-folding of his siblings and produce some kind of cascade effect. BUT proteins are not eternal after some time, they are degraded. If the degradation if faster than the production of new mis-folded proteins, no issue at all otherwise you are fucked up.

      IRL, the process is more complex than here described, for example a high rate of production of healthy protein can induce the cascade effect. The bad news is the mathematical models describe something irreversible when the threshold is reached. Other bad news, there are stochastic variation (just because you are unlucky) between individuals, between cells, proteins, those variation sometimes provoke the activation of a undesirable effect. You can be sane, never met the shit and stil develop it. Shitty shit.

    3. Re:Not even possible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >AIDS is only transferred when you fuck someone in the ass or share needles.

      WTF! Are you retarded? Fucking not true.

    4. Re:Not even possible by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      AIDS is only transferred when you fuck someone in the ass or share needles. It is VERY difficult to catch unless you are a stupid drug addict or you like to sodomize other people and not use a condom.

      Are you trolling, or do you really believe this? If the latter, please tell us that you're not actually sexually active. If you are, by all means, please give this speech to any prospective partners.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re:Not even possible by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's only when politicians discovered that they can get HIV from having penis/vagina sex with female prostitutes that government research funding took off.

      This isn't a public health issue? Check out the rates world-wide.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    6. Re:Not even possible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Step 1: Actually state supposed error.

      Step 2: Cite evidence.

    7. Re:Not even possible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      *mostly

    8. Re:Not even possible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AIDS is only transferred when you fuck someone in the ass or share needles. It is VERY difficult to catch unless you are a stupid drug addict or you like to sodomize other people and not use a condom.

      Are you trolling, or do you really believe this? If the latter, please tell us that you're not actually sexually active. If you are, by all means, please give this speech to any prospective partners.

      Well, he's not entirely wrong. Contagion risk per HIV+ penis in vagina encounter is much lower than the risk per HIV+ penis in anus encounter ... for the recipient. On the giving side, the risk isn't much different if your penis goes in an HIV+ vagina or in a HIV+ anus.

      Vaginal sex, female-to-male, studies in high-income countries - 0.04% (1:2380)
      Vaginal sex, male-to-female, studies in high-income countries - 0.08% (1:1234)
      Vaginal sex, female-to-male, studies in low-income countries - 0.38% (1:263)
      Vaginal sex, male-to-female, studies in low-income countries - 0.30% (1:333)
      Vaginal sex, source partner is asymptomatic - 0.07% (1:1428)
      Vaginal sex, source partner has late-stage disease - 0.55% (1:180)
      Receptive anal sex amongst gay men, partner unknown status - 0.27% (1:370)
      Receptive anal sex amongst gay men, partner HIV positive - 0.82% (1:123)
      Receptive anal sex with condom, gay men, partner unknown status - 0.18% (1:555)
      Insertive anal sex, gay men, partner unknown status 0.06% (1:1666)
      Insertive anal sex with condom, gay men, partner unknown status - 0.04% (1:2500)
      Receptive fellatio 0.00% to 0.04% - (1:2500)

      https://www.hivlawandpolicy.org/sites/www.hivlawandpolicy.org/files/Routes%20Risks%20Realities.pdf

    9. Re:Not even possible by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 1

      > AIDS is only transferred when you fuck someone in the ass or share needles. It is VERY difficult to catch unless you are a stupid drug addict or you like to sodomize other people and not use a condom.

      Infected blood supplies from transfusions have been a dangerous vector since the disease first became noticeable anywhere. Unprotected anal sex is risky, at aa rate of roughly 138 of 10,000 acts For ordinary penis/vaginal sex, the rate is roughly 4 out of 10,000 acts. Moher/infant sex, from childbirth itself and from breast feeding, is also not without risk. This is according to http://www.healthline.com/heal...

      "VERY difficult" does not mean a zero risk. And the spread among health care workers and their patients was devastating among poorer nations and poorer communities with less access to gloves, gowns, and the tools and human resources to provide good sterile handling of patients for the 10 years between initial infection and the first clear symptoms of the disease.

  9. Re: Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "That, or maybe eating too much sugar."

    Or, apparently, eating too many diabetics.

  10. Re:Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Wrong in DJT voice. Type I Diabetes is not caused by too much sugar. Educate yourself.

    http://www.jdrf.org/t1d-resources/symptoms/children/infants-toddlers/

  11. which brings up a point about the paleo diet by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

    Cannibalism is an easy way for prion transfer to occur... and cannibalism was a whole lot more common in the paleolithic age. Is it really 'paleo' if you don't eat your neighbor? Or well... the people in the next town over, I guess.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  12. Oh great, the next Goop and Food Babe article.... by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 1

    Good job science for writing the next article for Goop and the Food Babe.....they will just remove all hedges of knowledge and any possible explanations for this behavior and turn it into the next clean eating nonsense.

  13. Slashdot saves the day! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Could Diabetes Spread Like Mad Cow Disease?

    It was possible that it could have done but now Slashdot has used the power of Betteridge for good - the answer is now "no" and we never have to worry about this again.

  14. could something happen? only in august by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the slowest news month always has tons of could something happen articles - skip anything where the headline ends in a ?

  15. Re:Or Sugar by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 0

    Well, since they're only talking about type 2 diabetes ... (type one is an autoimmune disorder).

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  16. Re:Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nearly 90% of the type II diabetes is associated with overweight and sedentary. You know statistics and so on. Still, maybe your family are in the 10%, genetic factor? Maybe. Did you do a genetic test?

  17. Re: Or Sugar by longk · · Score: 2

    Sugar is just one of many sources of carbohydrates. You may want to try cutting them altogether. I won't claim it's the magic cure-all, but it certainly fixed a lot of issues for me. (I eat 15g carbs/day.)

  18. Re:WHY ARE YOU RESEARCHING THIS!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is a very modern viewpoint. Don't like climate change? Blame the climate scientists. Don't like autism? Blame the pediatricians. Don't like gun violence? Blame the police. Oh, wait.

  19. Great. by Colourspace · · Score: 1

    Now no-ones going to fuck me.

    1. Re: Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now?

  20. Geometry kills by mveloso · · Score: 1

    It's fascinating that a misfolded protein can create all this havoc. It's surprising it doesn't happen more often, really.

    1. Re:Geometry kills by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It happen all the time: unfolded protein is not a rare event. In fact, there is always some unfolded, mis-folded proteins as stated by the statistical mechanic/thermodynamics (a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_distribution">Boltzmann ). But the degradation of proteins (all proteins are degraded and some machinery is able to detect the unfolded proteins and destroy them faster) keep the level of unfolded protein under control.

    2. Re:Geometry kills by PoopJuggler · · Score: 1

      Don't be so sure it doesn't. There are innumerable things that happen that humans have no idea about.

    3. Re:Geometry kills by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      There are innumerable [scary] things that happen that humans have no idea about.

      Some diseases even make you grab pussies, tweet all night, turn orange, run for president, and insult allies.

  21. unlikely by doctorvo · · Score: 2

    Although there is an effect of vegetarian diets on diabetes (beyond BMI), I don't think it is strong enough to suggest that Type 2 diabetes is a zoonotic disease: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...

  22. Re: Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    You throw cutting carbs out like it is some easy task. Getting down to 15g/day is not trivial and takes a fair amount of dedication and changing almost everything you eat. Most people I've converted to keto have trouble getting to under 50g/day consistently. Use 2tbp of ketchup? Close to the limit. Eat two carrots? Close to the limit. Drink a glass of milk? Over the limit.

    Now you don't mention replacing carb calories with fat, so I'm not sure if you're even a keto or low carb high fat (LCHF) follower...but I will agree that LCHF/keto diet has my body & mind feeling and operating better than ever.

  23. Re: Or Sugar by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yes, eating other carnivores is how you get prion-based diseases.

    Eat vegans instead, letting them do the work of eating vegetables for you. And besides, everyone around them will thank you.

  24. Re:Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sugar is almost completely unrelated to causing either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Type 1 is caused by your body attacking itself (just like 250+ other autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, possibly as a result of heavy metal exposure or other material combined with a genetic factors). Type 2 is a mostly a combination of pancreas producing less insulin, and the body becoming more insulin resistant due to age, weight, lack of exercise and genetic factors). Obviously too much sugar can be a factor in weight gain, but otherwise sugar is unrelated to causing diabetes.

    As far as managing life with diabetes, avoiding sugar in quantity is a good idea.

    As a type 1 diabetic, managing it is on our minds every second of every day to avoid coma or death from hypoglycemia.

  25. Re:Or Sugar by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 1
    There is a huge amount of evidence* that a lot of type 2 DIabetes is caused by bad gut bacteria manipulating your system to make more sugar available to it. It may not be conclusive proof yet, but that is because credible research takes a while.

    The problem is likely worsened by killing off your entire gut bacteria from time to time with antibiotics.

    If this is right, then ultimately, most people would be cured by eating a cup or two of suitable Yoghourt.

    However, it is likely there are two or three other causes.

    * (1) If people have a large part of their stomach removed - because of cancer, injury, or to reduce weight, often their diabetes is cured instantly (ie blood sugar level becomes normal) while any significant weight loss takes months. (2) Fecal transplants have been shown to cure it in a large number of experiments. (3) Other things I forget, but equally strong evidence.

    Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, or medical researcher, and don't work for a pharmaceutical company or Yoghurt manufacturer. I just read the news.

    --
    Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
  26. Re: Or Sugar by hord · · Score: 1

    I'll admit it's not easy at first but when I went through it I found it got a lot easier once my body started healing and I could feel that high fat foods were every bit as satisfying as a sugary desert. It does take will power but I also started with 100g of carbs per day. I'd probably start with that for a target and work down from there. I also drank a lot of half and half or cream instead of milk.

    That feeling you mention is what motivated me to keep pushing it. Currently I do eat some sugar but for the most part am strictly meat, eggs, butter, and cheese. I've been pretty hard core keto for over two years now so I'm definitely convinced. I had trouble with obesity for over 30 years and now I can just lose when I want to by not eating carbs.

  27. Re:Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I presume you've got normal weight, do regular exercise and primarily drink water, practically never soda and only rarely alcohol? If not, then you now know the source of your diabetes.

  28. Re:Or Sugar by hey! · · Score: 2

    I agree on Type 1. On Type 2 -- it's complicated. Sugar is certainly associated with risk factors like central obesity, and there is now some evidence that there is a link, and more evidence pointing to sugar's effect on the liver. But the point is that even if there *is* a link, it's not as simple as "people who get type 2 diabetes because they eat too much sugar."

    I believe what drives that misperception is the need to believe that bad things only happen to bad or irresponsible people.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  29. Re:Or Sugar by hey! · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's so common in my family I hardly need to do a genetic test. Autoimmune diseases also run in my family, and there is some evidence that Type 2 for some people at least has an autoimmune component.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  30. Re: Or Sugar by hey! · · Score: 1

    I'm fortunate in that unlike many people I've never had a sweet tooth, or a special attachment to pasta or muffins. Cutting down carbs was easy for me, although I don't specifically try to go ketogenic.

    I also learned to deal with the feeling of being hungry. People react to a hunger pang like it's a health emergency. In fact the first pangs are just an early signal to go look for food soon. I enjoy the way I feel when I'm on calorie restriction (1800 calories per day usually), I feel sharper, more energetic, although I do occasionally feel hungry. I am not wasting away.

    However calorie restriction does require a great deal of attention to quality; blowing 350 calories on a flour tortilla means you have to do without a lot if you are going to make your overall goal for the day for nutrients.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  31. Re:Or Sugar by SNRatio · · Score: 1

    Genetics certainly decides who is most likely to become diabetic within a population, but environment is determining how many will become diabetic within that population. And the change in environment over the past two generations has doubled (or more) the incidence of diabetes in pretty much every major ethnic group in the USA.

  32. Re:Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nice paid comment by the sugar industry.

  33. Re: Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or like in my case too many jellybellies

  34. Re:Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not sugar. That's a myth. Consumption of food containing added sugar beyond what is naturally occurring or beyond what we evolved to eat or began to eat starting at the dawn of agriculture WILL cause a spike in blood glucose, but that's all.

    CHRONICALLY high blood glucose levels are caused by one of two basic things, and I'm speaking to "proximate" cause, not "ultimate," which is what they're talking about here. One of those things is the body not PRODUCING sufficient insulin, and the other is the body's cells being unable to import or use it, (probably the former, though I confess that's just speculation and could be different person to person, or a combination of both).

    I think the jury's still out on which of those possibilities plays what role, but at the END of the day, the thing that causes chronically high blood glucose is taking in too many calories in the first place, and the body not being able to produce enough fat. Ironica, isn't it? It's the result of having too much 'raw material' as it were on the factory floor of metabolism, and it causing all manner of difficulties.

    This is why there are people who are super-morbidly obese, great tubs of lard of people, embarrassing disgusting globs of fat... who are NOT diabetic nor insulin resistant.

    They took in demonstrably WAY more calories over time than they needed (or used,) but stored it away PROPERLY.

    Wouldn't it be funny if the cause was a low-fat diet confusing the body as to what constitutes a healthy balance?

    LOLWCQI (laughing out loud while crying quietly inside)

  35. Re:Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And on the other side I'm 57 years old and could never keep my eating or cravings under control, and sugar is my weakness. I was a fat kid who grew up to be a fat adult and for about four years in my thirties I managed to resist chucking food down my gob long enough to reach a healthy weight.

    Soon enough I caved and got fat again, and in my mid 40s I gave up and figured I'll die sooner than I should but I'd be free of the criticism in my own head over everything I ate - and I ate freely from then on. I'm still fat and I still dump shit food down my gob at a moment's notice.

    It'll kill me sure enough, sooner or later. probably.

    I still have a dead normal insulin response though. Go figure.

  36. I haven't eaten any gratuitous sugar in 27 years by HBI · · Score: 1

    Since I was diagnosed at 21, actually. I was 6'7" (200cm) and 230 lbs (104kg) at the time. I could have stood to lose 10 pounds at the time, but otherwise I was pretty solid muscle. I didn't eat much sugar even before I was diagnosed.

    I have shrunk a tiny bit in the interim. I took pancreatic stimulants (glipizide) until it stopped working due to degeneration of the pancreas. For the last 18 years it has been insulin for me.

    I avoid starches, also. They don't make me feel great either.

    The warped view of non-diabetics about what diabetes actually is...is not helped by the frequent obese gobblers of sweets that frequently have the disease. But I still resent being lumped in with that crowd.

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
  37. Re: Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You eat 15 g/day ... nobody else does. Fuck off.

  38. Re: Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i think this research is extremely interesting.

    As a type 1 adult onset diabetic I have always been unimpresse with the attention my doctors have shown to what caused it.

    This is purely anecdotal but I visited a diabetic friend six months before my diagosis.

    I am not surprised to hear that diabetes may be contageous, and it could be a pretty simple thing: no one is looking.

  39. Re: Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fuck off you asshole. Actually I can say yes to all of those.things yet was still diagnosed with type one adult onset diabetes.

    It may be easy and cool to fat shame those with this disease but there is a fuck load about it that is not understood.

    So cut the crap, ok?

  40. Re: Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i agree that there is a lot more to this than is known. But as a fit healthy athletic adult male who spontaneously developed type one diabetes, and has failed to receive any guidance from the medical community as to why. The doctors don't know shit about diabetes.

  41. Re:Or Sugar by jenningsthecat · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... Autoimmune diseases also run in my family, and there is some evidence that Type 2 for some people at least has an autoimmune component.

    Interesting connection there, given that carbohydrates, (especially the simple ones), are implicated in inflammation. So maybe sugar causes inflammation that can eventually degrade to an autoimmune disorder, while in other people the autoimmune component is genetic, as in your case.

    Maybe in people whose Type 2 diabetes is eliminated when they change their diet, the inflammation response never developed into an autoimmune disorder. So perhaps there are 3 different varieties of Type 2 diabetes - lifestyle-triggered reversible, lifestyle-triggered irreversible, and genetic-therefore-irreversible. Just a thought ...

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
  42. Re:Or Sugar by Immerman · · Score: 1

    Also that damning line in the method section of scientific research paper after paper into diabetes: "The rats/mice were fed sugar until they developed diabetes."

    Granted not everything translates between species perfectly, but there's a pretty concrete link that *enough* sugar can consistently cause diabetes in a metabolically similar species .

    --
    --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  43. Type 1 or Type 2? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Type 1, the far more severe condition where the insulin producing cells are typically destroyed, has been well established as being primarily an auto-immune problem. Dr. Faustmann's work at Mass. General Hospital has demonstrated a successful cure in lab animals, and is in its second round of human testing: the auto-immune problem is treated by small doses of the BCG vaccine, used primarily for tuberculosis worldwide, in small doses for 30 days with very tight blood sugar control. Decades, in fact 5 decades of research, provide strong evidence that Type 1 is triggered by a changing set of flu viruses. So, yes, it's conceivable that the right infection could trigger Type 1 broadly. What's not feasible is that it could be a full pandemic: Type 1 is nasty, and expensive to treat, but still only strikes about 1 in 400 people worldwide, even with the wide exposure of children to various viruses. And such viruses mutate *very* rapidly in the wild.

    There are some other "Type 1" diabetics, such as those who've had a pancreas removed surgically or cystic fibrosis or XXY genes (Klinefelter's syncrome), but they're far more rare. It's confusing to class them as Type 1 diabetics, but ever since the American Diabetic Association got all sniffy about calling it "juvenile onset diabetes", the labels have gotten funky and they get mixed in with the classic juvenile onset cases.

    Type 2? That's a whole different story. Sedentary lifestyle aggravates it, active lifestyle often treats it silently and effectively, much as not living near oceans used to treat shellfish allergies or living in Arizona treated hay fever. But Type 2 is tyypically a *resistance* to insulin, not a lack of production. Whether a virus could trigger that is fascinating, but again, viruses mutate fast and immune systems adapt pretty rapidly, especially with quick vaccine development. So a pandemic seems unlikely. And franly, 1 in 20 people worldwide eventually develop it *anyway*, so it's going to be tough to boost that number drastically or beyond the ability to treat. And the basic treatment is the same one for treating most American's major medical problems: get some exercise, eat less, and lose some weight.

  44. Nano particles.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The nano particles used in various processed foods like sugar, toothpaste, sweats, cakes, evaporating paints end up destroying the insulin producing cells, as per local research. Cant escape these day to day products.

  45. Re: Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Keto for diabetes? Idiotic.

    https://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-not-to-die-from-diabetes/

  46. Re: Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jesus christ dude, you're probably gonna be dead in no time from atherosclerosis.

  47. Unlikely, given how "Mad Cow Disease" spread? by ytene · · Score: 1

    OK, here's a huge detour - a bit of potted history of mad cow disease...

    Human's don't contract "mad cow disease" (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, to give the disease its full name). Rather, we contract what medicine knows as vCJD, or variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.

    One of the most disturbing aspects of the history of BSE actually concerns the way that it was introduced to the animal population and how it spread.

    Western nations like the UK (where BSE was most prevalent) have followed intensive farming practices since at least the end of the Second World War, a time where national farms simply had to produce as much food as possible given the rationing that was necessary during the conflict. For beef and dairy farmers, "intensive farming" includes the act of turning livestock not just into omnivores, but cannibals. Included in the "meal" fed to cattle we can find quite high levels of ground-up bone meal which is produced from recycled bones harvested from abattoirs. Crucially, that source of bones included the spines of processed beef cattle, which of course includes the spinal column, essentially an extension of brain tissue.

    A couple of years before the outbreak of BSE in the UK, the animal feeds lobby persuaded the British government that it would be safe to make a small but significant change in the way that animal feed based on these recycled bones was made. The change reduced the amount of time for which the ground-down material had to be "cooked", on the basis of the fact that doing so would reduce the amount of [gas] energy required to cook it, significantly reducing production costs and thereby "bringing down prices for the consumer".

    Everything up to this point in this post can be validated from information sources widely available on the internet. What follows contains more conjecture because the facts are less widely available. The readers is invited to evaluate and form their own opinions.

    This small and apparently harmless change to the preparation and recycling of bone meal [including spinal matter] for animal feed meant that not all of the brain or spinal tissue was completely cooked at the end of the process. It was therefore possible for any latent BSE infection in the brain/spine of one cow to be ground up into meal and fed to another cow. It is possible that the bacterial infection was not killed by stomach enzymes after ingestion, but was in fact able to enter the bloodstream of the subject, flow to the brain or spine and thereby infect a new subject.

    It is similarly possible that the widespread nature of the feed generation practices allowed the creation of a feedback loop in which ultra-low levels of the BSE infection were returned to herds, thus allowing for a gradual but progressive increase in levels of the infection. Evidence that shows this is scarce.

    When forming their own opinion as to the truth or otherwise/probability or otherwise of this account being accurate, the reader is invited to search for or recall news coverage of the UK BSE outbreak from the late 1980s. At that time, it may be remembered that outbreaks were reported that were initially isolated to single farms. This gave the impression that the issue could have been caused by geographic factors. It was far less obvious, but equally likely, that it could have been caused by the feeding practices of individual farmers.

    It was theorised [but never really shown conclusively] that BSE in cattle made the leap to vCJD in humans when processed beef - i.e. ground-up beef that included bonemeal, such as that used in beefburgers - entered the human food chain without being properly cooked. If that meat had been prepared in an abattoir that did not have good controls over the break-up of bovine spinal matter, then it was possible that microscopic particles of uncooked brain/spine could enter the human food chain.

    OK, end of huge detour...

    Unless Diabetes can be spread by one aspect of its infection vector being successi

  48. "I love the smell of apocalypse in the morning" by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    The work is "very exciting" and "well-documented" for showing that the protein has some prion-like behavior, says prion biologist...

    "Very exciting"? Bad choice of words. No, it's fucking "scary".

  49. Re:Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My doctor believes my diabetes was caused by my consistent weight loss over more than a decade, My body was producing glucose (converted from the fat in my body) continuously, basically poisoning my body.

  50. Lipitor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I developed Type 2 Diabetes after taking Lipitor. Thanks, Doc.

  51. Anonymous Coward by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's late, and I don't want to take the time to create an account so ðY-But do search Type 2 Diabetes & Lipitor

  52. Re: Or Sugar by yithar7153 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Jesus christ dude, you're probably gonna be dead in no time from atherosclerosis.

    I'm assuming you're talking about the saturated fat content. It's a myth that saturated fat clogs arteries.
    From here:

    The epidemiology of saturated fats and atherosclerosis doesn't look good for the old theory that one is caused by the other. Mostly it's been confounded by the fact that intake of preserved meat (which is high in saturated fat) correlates with atherosclerosis. But it's a proxy because intake of fresh meat and dairy and tropical oils, all does NOT correlate with it.

  53. The news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you're getting health information from the news, then you are grossly misled.

  54. Re:Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When I was maintaining my hummingbird feeders I was purchasing at least 25 lbs. of sugar per week (1300 lbs. per year). Feeding hummingbirds is fairly common. Made me wonder how much the data on sugar consumption is skewed just by that.

  55. Re:Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sucrose is only one kind of sugar. Eating tons of potatoes, rice, pasta, and other simple carbohydrates is no different metabolically than sugar.

  56. Re: Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Arteries are clogged by triglycerides, which are deposited in your arteries when your body converts blood sugar into fat. The more carbs you eat the more triglycerides in your blood.

  57. Re:Or Sugar by rl117 · · Score: 1

    They are superficially similar but are actually different. They have different kinetics, absorption rates, and may be processed via different pathways (complex carbohydrates may require breakdown by gut flora into other forms) and in different organs (fructose and other sugars require conversion to other forms in the liver). Eating a spoonful of sucrose is very different than eating a spoonful of rice, potato or pasta.

  58. Re: Or Sugar by burnetd · · Score: 1

    ...l when I'm on calorie restriction (1800 calories per day usually)

    You're a lucky git, I have to eat less (or up the exercise levels to burn down to less than that) than that to maintain my current weight.

  59. Re: Or Sugar by hey! · · Score: 1

    You're a lucky git

    Aside from the diabetes and autoimmune diseases, absolutely.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  60. Re: Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Correlation is not causation.

  61. Re:Or Sugar by transporter_ii · · Score: 1

    I see other people posted something similar. But if you are eating bread, it has a higher glycemic index than table sugar:

    http://edonn.com/2013/12/24/wh...

    Also, exercise plays an important role in Type II. Also, look into lipid overload. It's a legit thing. Cells get so stuffed full of fat that insulin can't get into your cells. If insulin never gets into the cells, then it never tells the cells to pull glucose out of the blood and into your cells. This causes your blood glucose to rise.

    I've lost a lot of weight on a High(er) Fat, Low(er) Carb diet. In general, I think a higher fat diet is better. But lipid overload is how they induce Type II in lab animals. I'm hesitant to recommend HFLC diets to people that don't exercise.

    I had metabolic syndrome. I've still got 99 problems, but pre-diabetes is no longer one.

    --
    Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
  62. Re:Or Sugar by hey! · · Score: 1

    And it's different whether you eat that pasta with meat sauce or rice with a steak too. The fructose in a banana is the same compound as in HFCS sweetened soda; but it's not the same because it bound up with fiber and protein.

    Digestion and energy metabolism is incredibly complicated, and people are looking for/selling shortcuts and simplications which almost never work. Like equating all carbs, regardless of their exact form or the way they're incorporated into food.

    There are really only four rules that I've found to be useful:

    (1) Avoid manufactured food. Prepare your food yourself as much as possible.
    (2) Eat a wide variety of real foods over the course of a week, and rely on that for nutrition rather than supplements.
    (3) Exercise every day and do a variety of exercise over a week.
    (4) However much fiber you're consuming, try to get a little more.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  63. New Book "The End Of Diabetes" by Dr. Fuhrman by Paul+Fernhout · · Score: 1

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
    "Why are diabetics often given inadequate -- or just plain wrong -- dietary advice?
        Much of the inadequate and dangerous advice stems from a belief that diabetic patients will not be sufficiently motivated to make the necessary lifestyle changes to heal their diabetes. The typical watered-down, nutritional guidelines are designed to merely manage blood glucose by balancing carbohydrate, fat and protein to keep medication needs consistant. These guidelines are not designed to promote long-term health or fix the problem. To achieve excellent health, it is not the ratio of carbohydrate, protein and fat that is important; it is the combination of micronutrient quantity, micronutrient variety, and staying within our caloric requirements to achieve and maintain an ideal weight.
        Many physicians are unaware or skeptical that type 2 diabetes can be reversed with superior nutrition. Other physicians agree that weight loss and high-nutrient eating can lead to diabetes reversal, but either don't know how to motivate their patients or simply doubt that their patients would be willing to make or capable of making the necessary changes. Instead, well-meaning physicians prescribe drugs to bring dangerously high glucose levels down; they want to protect their patients against complications, but the medications cause more problems. Insulin and several oral diabetes medications promote weight gain, which makes the patient even more diabetic, increasing risk for heart disease and necessitating even larger doses of medications -- the patient is caught in a never ending cycle of more and more drugs. Patients are told that medications will take care of their blood glucose.
        This reliance on medication gives patients a false sense of security and allows them to avoid personal responsibility -- exercising frequently and eating right is not a life-or-death matter when you can "just take a pill." Many patients don't realize that their health will continue to deteriorate over time, even with their somewhat more "controlled" glucose levels. Medications can't do what removing the cause of the diabetes (the standard American diet and a sedentary lifestyle) can do. I say that people with diabetes deserve to know that drugs are a poor option, because my nutritarian diet is infinitely more effective and protective which can grant them the potential to reverse their disease and live healthfully into old age. ..."

    --
    A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
  64. Re: Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, about that, read this.

    And then, when you're done, you can watch this.

    Then read up on human heritage, specifically our ~60 millions years of herbivourous heritage. Indeed, I have only heard one factor more compelling than saturated fat in relation to heart disease, consumption of animal proteins. Satfat and Animal proteins are often married together though.

    Like the Tobacco Industry of the 1950s and 1960s, meat/dairy/egg industry loves funding studies to confuse the issue. Tobacco had near a thousand studies on its side when the surgeon general made his landmark 1964 report (something like 6,000-7,000 studies on the other side).

  65. Re: Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It probably was milk, which has a similiar protein as on your pancreas and can trigger and auto-immune reaction.

  66. Re: Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thank you for sharing! A link to type 2 diabetes has also been suggested in exposure to depleted uranium used in armor piercing rounds. The dust even blows from the Middle East battle fields to England.

  67. Re: Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://healthylongevity.blogspot.ca/2014/12/saturated-fat-heart-disease-meta-analysis.html

    "The meta-analyses published by Siri-Tarino and colleagues and Chowdhury and colleagues contained erroneous estimates for several positive studies which in-turn biased against showing an adverse effect of saturated fat. Given the fact that these researchers were well informed in this area of research, it is difficult to accept that they were simply unaware of any of the issues described here. In the meta-analysis by Siri-Tarino and colleagues there was clear evidence of potential conflicts of interest. The meta-analysis was funded in part by the National Dairy Council, and the senior researcher, Ronald Krauss had reported receiving grants from the National Dairy Council, the National Cattleman’s Beef Association and the Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Foundation. Similarly, several of the researchers of the meta-analysis by Chowdhury and colleagues have reported receiving grants from the food industry. Suggestive evidence of these researchers intention to downplay the role of saturated fat on fatal heart disease have also been described previously.

    Although receiving grants from a particular industry does not necessarily negate the findings of a study, when errors are made that bias the study results in favor of the concerned industry, the intentions of the researchers should be questioned. The lines of evidence described here lends support to the likelihood that these researchers put their own interests before that of the general public, driving the public to follow dangerous dietary patterns at the hands of fad diet advocates who promote these studies."

    https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2014nl/mar/krauss2.htm

  68. Re:Or Sugar by beastofburdon · · Score: 1

    It's not just sugar, it's all carbohydrates. Some are worse than others, but all of them are bad for you in any large quantities. So eating bread is just as bad for you as eating cake. The key is to keep your carbohydrate consumption fairly low. I don't know all science about thresholds on this, but you don't need to be in ketosis, so I would say between 50 and 200 grams of carbohydrates( including sugar) per day.

    Diabetes runs very strong in my family, on both sides, so this is what I'm doing to prevent it. Also to lose weight, which is working very well. I've lost 35lbs since April, and I'm still losing more. I'm personally keeping below 40 grams per day.

  69. Re: Or Sugar by beastofburdon · · Score: 1

    Good going man. I'm on low carb too. I'm keeping it below 40 grams per day and it is working out great for me. You do need to eat some vegetables though. We can get the vast majority of vitamins from meat, but you do need some vegetables to get the rest. There's also a lot of breads you can make with almond or coconut flour. My roommate found a great recipe for chocolate chip cookies that have very low carb content. They have enough that I will not eat more than two of them in a day, but it is an awesome treat that you don't have to feel guilty about.

  70. Re: Or Sugar by beastofburdon · · Score: 1

    Go peddle your lies somewhere else.

  71. Re: Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Then why is a low fat high carb diet the only one shown to have reversed heart disease?

    http://www.dresselstyn.com/site/study10/

  72. Re: Or Sugar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What an informational retort... have your bunless bacon greaseburger and die at 59 with no clue how you got there.

  73. Re: Or Sugar by yithar7153 · · Score: 1

    Well, I trust Chris and he also talks about statistically significant vs clinically significant. But maybe Chris is just trying to mislead people to push his agenda. \_()_/

    https://chriskresser.com/cocon...