This article appeared in the Los Angeles Times the end of August, and was reprinted in the San Antonio Express News the next week. The author, Greg Critser, has written two books, "Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World" and the soon to be published "Eternity Soup: Inside the Quest to End Aging."
I've been chewing this over for about a month trying to figure out what to think about this guy's conclusions. I think he has made a very concise and cogent analysis of the threat of Diabetes, but completely misses the mark with his conclusions. To Summarize the article:
(Begin Paraphrase)
"Diabetes -- Darwinism In Our Time"
Cases of Type 2 Diabetes, the "cryptic epidemic," are rising; and now are estimated to affect 7% of California's population (although some put the figure closer to 10%.)
Pre-diabetes -- a risky level of sugar and inflammatory agents in the blood, is approaching 20% of the population. One UCLA professor this summer called these numbers "the tip of the iceberg."
When a condition that leads to disability and premature death affects up to 20% of the population, is it evolution in our own time? Critser relates Darwin's tale of the short-beaked finch, the one that couldn't crack the best nuts on the Galapagos Islands and died out. He believes that Type 2 diabetes marks the genes and challenged pancreas can't keep pace with today's "calorically unbalanced world," where sugary, fatty foods are abundant and our jobs pay us to be sedentary.
In Western Europe during the post-Renaissance period crop yields exploded, personal fortunes grew and famine became less frequent. This time also produced the first literature of public and occupational health, with an emphasis on hygiene, self-control and actual diagnosis by physicians. The growing population began
displaying widespread symptoms we now recognize as diabetic:
** unquenchable thirst
** numbness and pain in the extremities (often mis-diagnosed as gout or arthritis)
** blindness (Johan Sebastian Bach, a diabetic, died after two eye operations)
Critser believes simple steps can help fight the disease. Humans have invented relatively inexpensive tools to mitigate the ravages of diabetes:
** The handheld inexpensive glucose meter, which came into circulation in 1965
** The concept of "diabesity" -- the connection between sugary foods, obesity and diabetes -- which originated at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles through the pioneering work of Dr. Fran Kaufman.
** The pedometer is cheap and easy to understand, and it serves an important psychological role as a prompt toward exercise.
California health officials, who are on the front lines of the diabesity fight, are pressing for a smarter, earlier and more sustained focus on glucose control. Critser suggests teaching every California ninth-grader how to use a glucose meter, and use the state's "vast purchasing power" to make the devices nearly free for every family. Also show every California fifth-grader how and why to use a pedometer -- and then give them one. He also wants to include simple, glucose-control educational information in any application process for immigrants. Finally, he wants to appoint and fund a state diabetes czar.
(End Paraphrase)
Well, it doesn't take long to figure out this guy's a leftist. He bleives in evolution; he embraces the concept; and he thinks government should solve all our problems through it's "vast purchasing power." Right up to that point I was pretty much agreeing with him.
I agree he has a point about the "sugary" (i.e., carbohydrate laden) diet we westerners consume. Asians eat much more fish and vegetables than Westerners do, and have correspondingly lower rates of diabetes, not to mention less heart disease, high blood pressure, and strokes.
Plus the problem with buying everyone a pedometer is that these things cost money -- about $5.00 each. With the population of California nearing 36 million people, that's approximately $180 million just for the pedometers. Now imagine glucometers at about $75.00 each -- that's $2.7 BILLION dollars just for glucometers -- almost $2.9 BILLION with the pedometers, too -- not counting the cost for the glucose-control educational information in any application process for immigrants.
Actually, I like the idea of the glucose-control educational information in any application process for immigrants; but let's take it a step further. I personally didn't know jack about nutrition until I became diabetic, even though I've been a nurse for almost 27 years. I think it's fair to say most people don't, either. So why not just make it mandatory to put Nutrition into the curriculum of all Elementary, Middle, and High Schools?
I don't think giving out the pedometers is a bad idea either; in fact, make it part of the homework for students to bring in their pedometers with greater than 10,000 steps per day -- and more will count as extra credit. Get them in th habit ot walking as exercise -- and give classes on how simple exercise (20 minutes a day, three times a week) can control blood sugar and reduce weight.
And I don't think making diabetes supplies free to diabetics without health insuarnace is a bad idea, either. (Blame my youth as a liberal.)
~~JD~~
