How to Avoid the Worldwide Diabetes Epidemic

The cause of this diabetes epidemic is what the worldwide population is eating. China is emerging as the “epicenter” of this rising prevalence.

Last year, data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that more than one-third of all Americans are pre-diabetic, yet nine out of 10 of them don’t know they are.

In 2014, more than 29 million Americans were diagnosed with full-blown type 2 diabetes. That is a staggering statistic, since researchers predicted in 2001 that this level of diabetes wouldn’t be reached until 2050!

Recent research, which was just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on September 8, 2015, suggests nearly HALF of all American adults had either diabetes or pre-diabetes from 2011 - 2012.
Diabetes can lead to permanent disability.

Who is going to pay for everyone on disability? The many can carry the few, but the few can’t carry the many.

Pre-diabetes is a term used to describe a state of progressing insulin resistance, in which your blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not quite high enough to actually be called diabetes. You may be diagnosed with pre-diabetes if your fasting glucose numbers are between 100 and 125. Having pre-diabetes is a strong risk factor that you will get type 2 diabetes in the future.

Risk factors that can trigger pre-diabetes and eventually contribute to your becoming diabetic include the following:

1. Being over 45 years old
2. A family history of diabetes
3. Being overweight
4. Having high blood pressure
5. Physical inactivity
6. Being depressed
7. A personal history of having gestational diabetes
8. Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease
9. HDLs under 35 mg/dL
10. Fasting triglycerides over 250 mg/dL
11. Treatment with atypical antipsychotics, glucocorticoids
12. Obstructive sleep apnea and chronic sleep deprivation
13. Member of high-risk population (African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native, or Asian American)
14. Certain health conditions associated with insulin resistance

How do you get tested for pre-diabetes?

While a fasting glucose tolerance test used to be the standard test to determine whether you had diabetes in years past, today there are a number of newer tests available:

1. Hemoglobin A1C – This is not a fasting test. Red blood cells last for 2- 3 months. As these red blood cells circulate, they pick up glucose. The higher the average glucose levels are in your blood, the more glucose the hemoglobin in the red blood cells pick up. This is an excellent test for determining the average sugar levels in your blood over the last 2 - 3 months. This test should be part of a standard annual blood test, but it is not. A normal A1C level is below 5.7. If you have A1C numbers of 6.5 or higher, you have diabetes. Pre-diabetes is the diagnosis if your A1C is between 5.7 and 6.4. It is my opinion that this test is the most important of these 4 tests.

2. Fasting Plasma Glucose (FPG) – You must be fasting to take this test, meaning that other than water, you haven’t had anything to eat or drink for at least eight hours. Glucose levels are measured from blood samples and diabetes is diagnosed when your level is greater than or equal to 126 mg/dL. You have pre-diabetes if the levels are 101 to 125. Normal is considered about 70 to 100. These numbers can vary slightly by blood lab.

3. Oral Glucose Tolerance Test or OGTT – This was the old “gold standard”. With this test you’re given a special sweet drink. Your blood glucose levels are measured just before you drink it and two hours after. You’re diagnosed with diabetes if your blood glucose is equal to or greater than 200 after two hours. You have pre-diabetes if your numbers are 140 to 199. Because of the “sugar rush”, this test can cause a patient to feel shaky, ill or pass out. It is not my personal choice because the test itself can increase your probability of becoming a diabetic. This test is also done as a standard protocol for pregnant women to test for gestational diabetes.

4. Random Plasma Glucose Test – This is a blood check that your doctor may do if you have immediate and severe diabetes symptoms. Diabetes is diagnosed if your blood glucose is equal to or greater than 200 mg/dL. Depending on what you ate, how much you ate and when you ate, this number can vary greatly and is the least significant test. The significance of this test is to see if the blood glucose is sky high, or is the patient is very weak and lethargic, the blood glucose could be dangerously low.

Fructose Is #1 Driver of Diabetes:

One recent meta-review published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings confirmed that all calories are not equal and that calories from fructose (high-fructose corn syrup) and other added sugars are the worst, when it comes to increasing the risk of diabetes.

The researchers looked at how calories from the following types of carbohydrates, which include both naturally-occurring and added sugars, affected health:

• Starch
• Pure glucose
• Lactose (natural sugar found in dairy)
• Sucrose (table sugar)
• Fructose, found both in fruit and in processed high-fructose corn syrup

As reported by Time Magazine:

“What they found was that the added sugars were significantly more harmful. Fructose was linked to worsening insulin levels and worsening glucose tolerance, which is a driver for pre-diabetes. It caused harmful fat storage, visceral fat on the abdomen and promoted several markers for poor health like inflammation and high blood pressure. ‘We clearly showed that sugar is the principal driver of diabetes,’ says lead study author James J. DiNicolantonio...”

As a standard recommendation, you should try to keep total fructose consumption below 25 grams per day, which is about six teaspoons. If you have signs of insulin resistance, such as hypertension, obesity, or heart disease, you’d be wise to limit your total fructose consumption to 15 grams or less per day, until your weight and other health conditions have normalized.

Research shows that once you reach 18% of your daily calories from sugar, there’s a two-fold increase in pre-diabetes and diabetes.

Antibiotics Also Raise Your Diabetes Risk:

According to a recent study, type 2 diabetics tend to have been more overexposed to antibiotics in the years prior to their diagnosis, compared to non-diabetics. Antibiotic exposure is one reason why you should avoid eating foods from factory farmed animals, as they tend to be raised on antibiotic growth promoters. Every time you eat meat from these animals, you’re getting a small dose of antibiotics, which over time can upset your gut bacteria and have a notable impact on your weight and metabolism.

Food and Beverage Industries Are the Primary Culprits:

Research shows that the primary drivers of diabetes are processed foods and added sugars. Fructose, such as high-fructose corn syrup, is particularly dangerous.

It’s quite clear that the food and beverage industries play a significant role in the diabetes epidemic and we are bound to fail to reduce prevalence unless we change our dietary habits.

Diabetes Is Preventable & Easily Treatable with Diet Alone:

The easiest way to accomplish this is by swapping processed foods for REAL FOOD, ideally organic foods. This means cooking from scratch with fresh ingredients.

The ideal replacement is a combination of:

1. High quality healthy fats (including saturated and monosaturated). Those with insulin resistance may benefit from upwards of 50 to 85% of their daily calories in the form of healthy fats. Good sources include coconuts and coconut oil, avocados, butter, wild caught salmon, nuts and beef from grass fed hormone free cattle.

2. Eat as many non-starchy vegetables as you want

3. Eat a low-to-moderate amount of high quality protein. Substantial amounts of protein can be found in meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, legumes and nuts. When selecting animal-based protein, be sure to opt for organically raised, grass-fed, or pastured meats, eggs and dairy. This will avoid antibiotics, GMOs and pesticides.

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