American Indians, Insulin Levels and Fabricated Foods

Indians are hyperinsulinaemic, have greater hyperinsulinaemic responses to food and keep their blood sugars in constant range even while they are becoming obese. So it is not uncommon to see, obese Indians with hyperinsulinemia and absolutely normal blood sugars.

Palm oil makes this condition worse by increasing hyperinsulinaemia, and keep the blood glucose levels in the normal range, while increasing obesity in the average person (laboratory studies)

We are looking for a reason why a group of people who were all thin, have all become overweight. There has to be something in their metabolism that didn’t agree with the environmental changes that made them all overweight. The finger points to ingredients in the food( palm oil, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenation of fat etc) rather than the composition of food ( Carbs/fat/protein).

When my Meskwakia teacer said to me, it is the free food that the govt gave us that brought us sickness, I didn’t understand what she meant. Now many years later, as majority of the Americans are also fed fabricated and false foods and becoming obese and diabetic, I hear the prophetic voice of my Indian teacher..

These thoughts occurred to me while I was reading the following:

High-fat diet-induced hyperglycemia and obesity in mice: differential effects of dietary oils.

Ikemoto S, Takahashi M, Tsunoda N, Maruyama K, Itakura H, Ezaki O.

Division of Clinical Nutrition, National Institute of Health and Nutrition, Tokyo, Japan.

These data indicate that (1) fasting blood insulin levels vary among fat subtypes, and a higher fasting blood insulin level in palm oil-fed mice may explain their better glycemic control irrespective of their marked obesity; (2) a favorable glucose response induced by fish oil feeding may be mediated by a decrease of body weight; and (3) obesity and a higher intake of linoleic acid are independent risk factors for dysregulation of glucose tolerance.

What about Aspirin?

Aspirin 'only for heart patients'

Low dose aspirin is widely given to people who have had heart problems The use of aspirin to ward off heart attacks and strokes in those who do not have obvious cardiovascular disease should be abandoned, researchers say. The Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB) study says aspirin can cause serious internal bleeding and does not prevent cardiovascular disease deaths. It says doctors should review all patients currently taking the drug for prevention of heart disease. The Royal College of GPs says it supports the DTB's recommendations. Low-dose aspirin is widely used to prevent further episodes of cardiovascular disease in people who have already had problems such as a heart attack or stroke. Given the evidence, the DTB's statement on aspirin prescription is a sensible one Prof Steve Field, Royal College of GPs This approach - known as secondary prevention - is well-established and has confirmed benefits. But many thousands of people in the UK are believed to be taking aspirin as a protective measure before they have any heart symptoms. Controlled trials Between 2005 and 2008, the DTB said four sets of guidelines were published recommending aspirin for the "primary prevention" of cardiovascular disease - in patients who had shown no sign of the disease. FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME More from Today programme These included people aged 50 and older with type 2 diabetes and those with high blood pressure. But the DTB said a recent analysis of six controlled trials involving a total of 95,000 patients published in the journal the Lancet does not back up the routine use of aspirin in these patients because of the risk of serious gastrointestinal bleeds and the negligible impact it has on curbing death rates. Dr Ike Ikeanacho, editor of the DTB, said: "Current evidence for primary prevention suggests the benefits and harms of aspirin in this setting may be more finely balanced than previously thought, even in individuals estimated to be at high risk of experiencing cardiovascular events, including those with diabetes or elevated blood pressure." 'Sensible statement' Professor Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said the DTB was an excellent source of independent advice for medical professionals. He said: "Given the evidence, the DTB's statement on aspirin prescription is a sensible one. "The Royal College of General Practitioners would support their call for existing guidelines on aspirin prescription to be amended, and for a review of patients currently taking aspirin for prevention." June Davison, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation said: "It is well established that aspirin can help prevent heart attacks and strokes among people with heart and circulatory disease - so this group of people should continue to take aspirin as prescribed by their doctor. "However, for those who do not have heart and circulatory disease the risk of serious bleeding outweighs the potential preventative benefits of taking aspirin. "We advise people not to take aspirin daily, unless they check with their doctor. "The best way to reduce your risk of developing this disease is to avoid smoking, eat a diet low in saturated fat and rich in fruit and vegetables and take regular physical activity."

A subject close to my heart.. Environmental factors and Obesity and Diabetes

A friend of mine from Australia sent me an article about various causes of the increasing incidence of Type 2 Diabetes and it was interesting for me to read about Pesticides and other chemicals which cause Insulin Resistance, Obesity and/or Diabetes. There is a lot of information on this, available in scientific journals but the media never picks up on them... In my opinion, working with the Native American Population, I can honestly say that there is a correlation, from historical and current accounts about the chemicals in food, directly and indirectly introduced and their major health probelm: which is Obesity and Diabetes and its complications. The fact that most of the native peoples of the world have high levels of Insulin even when they are thin and without any disease, had made me think that there is something else in the environment which makes the High Insulin Levels which were teleologically helpful in the historic past, now has become harmful..

read part of the article sent to me:

Pesticides and PCBs in Blood Stream Correlate with Incidence of Diabetes

A study conducted among members of New York State's Mohawk tribe found that the odds of being diagnosed with diabetes in this population was almost 4 times higher in members who had high concentrations of PCBs in their blood serum. It was even higher for those with high concentrations of pesticides in their blood.

Diabetes in Relation to Serum Levels of Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Chlorinated Pesticides in Adult Native Americans Neculai Codru, Maria J. Schymura,Serban Negoita,Robert Rej,and David O. Carpenter.Environ Health Perspect. 2007 October; 115(10): 1442-1447.Published online 2007 July 17. doi: 10.1289/ehp.10315.

It is very important to note that there is no reason to believe this phenomenon is limited to people of Native American heritage. Upstate NY has a well-known and very serious PCB problem--remember Love Canal? And the entire population of the U.S. has been overexposed to powerful pesticides for a generation.

More evidence that obesity may be caused by exposure to toxic pollutants which damage genes comes in a study published January of 2009. This study tracked the exposure of a group of pregnant Belgian woman to several common pollutants: hexachlorobenzene, dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) , dioxin-like compounds, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). It found a correlation between exposure to PCBs and DDE and obesity by age 3, especially in children of mothers who smoked.

Intrauterine Exposure to Environmental Pollutants and Body Mass Index during the First 3 Years of LifeStijn L. Verhulst et al., Environmental Health Perspectives. Volume 117, Number 1, January 2009

These studies, which garnered no press attention at all, probably have more to tell us about the reason for the so-called "diabetes epidemic" than any other published over the last decade.

Use of Herbicide Atrazine Maps to Obesity, Causes Insulin Resistance

A study published in April of 2009 mentions that "There is an apparent overlap between areas in the USA where the herbicide, atrazine (ATZ), is heavily used and obesity-prevalence maps of people with a BMI over 30."

It found that when rats were given low doses of this pesticide in thier water, "Chronic administration of ATZ decreased basal metabolic rate, and increased body weight, intra-abdominal fat and insulin resistance without changing food intake or physical activity level." In short the animals got fat even without changing their food intake. When the animals were fed a high fat, high carb diet, the weight gain was even greater.

Insulin resistance was increased too, which if it happens in people, means that people who have genetically-caused borderline capacity to secrete insulin are more likely to become diabetic when they are exposed to this chemical via food or their drinking water.

Chronic Exposure to the Herbicide, Atrazine, Causes Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Insulin ResistancePLoS ONE Published 13 Apr 2009

Trace Amounts of Arsenic in Urine Correlate with Dramatic Rise in Diabetes

A study published in JAMA in August of 2008 found of 788 adults who had participated in the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) found those who had the most arsenic in their urine, were nearly four times more likely to have diabetes than those who had the least amount.

The study is reported here:

Arsenic Exposure and Prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes in US Adults. Ana Navas-Acien et al. JAMA. 2008;300(7):814-822.

The New York Times report about this study (no longer online) added this illuminating bit of information to the story:

Arsenic can get into drinking water naturally when minerals dissolve. It is also an industrial pollutant from coal burning and copper smelting. Utilities use filtration systems to get it out of drinking water.

Seafood also contains nontoxic organic arsenic. The researchers adjusted their analysis for signs of seafood intake and found that people with Type 2 Diabetes had 26 percent higher inorganic arsenic levels than people without Type 2 Diabetes.

How arsenic could contribute to diabetes is unknown, but prior studies have found impaired insulin secretion in pancreas cells treated with an arsenic compound.

Prescription Drugs, Especially SSRI Antidepressants Cause Obesity and Possibly DiabetesAnother important environmental factor is this: Type 2 Diabetes can be caused by some commonly prescribed drugs. Beta blockers and atypical antipsychotics like Zyprexa have been shown to cause diabetes in people who would not otherwise get it. This is discussed here.

There is some research that suggests that SSRI antidepressants may also promote diabetes. It is well known that antidepressants cause weight gain.

Spin doctors in the employ of the drug companies who sell these high-profit antidepressants have long tried to attribute the relationship between depression and obesity to depression, rather than the drugs used to treat the condition.

However, a new study published in June 2009 used data from the Canadian National Population Health Survey (NPHS), a longitudinal study of a representative cohort of household residents in Canada and tracked the incidence of obesity over ten years.

The study found that, "MDE [Major Depressive Episode] does not appear to increase the risk of obesity. ...Pharmacologic treatment with antidepressants may be associated with an increased risk of obesity. [emphasis mine]. The study concludesed,

Unexpectedly, significant effects were seen for serotonin-reuptake-inhibiting antidepressants [Prozac,Celexa, Lovox, Paxil, Zoloft] and venlafaxine [Effexor], but neither for tricyclic antidepressants nor antipsychotic medications.

Scott B. Patten et al. Psychother Psychosom 2009;78:182-186 (DOI: 10.1159/000209349)



Here is an article posted by the Mayo Clinic that includes the statement "weight gain is a reported side effect of nearly all antidepressant medications currently available.

Antidepressants and weight gain - Mayoclinic.com

Here is a report about a paper presented at the 2006 ADA Conference that analyzed the Antidepressant-Diabetes connection in a major Diabetes prevention study:

Medscape: Antidepressant use associated with increased type 2 diabetes risk.

From BBC.. Processed Food and Depression

Eating a diet high in processed food increases the risk of depression, research suggests.

What is more, people who ate plenty of vegetables, fruit and fish actually had a lower risk of depression, the University College London team found.

Data on diet among 3,500 middle-aged civil servants was compared with depression five years later, the British Journal of Psychiatry reported.

The team said the study was the first to look at the UK diet and depression.

The UK population is consuming less nutritious, fresh produce and more saturated fats and sugars Dr Andrew McCulloch, Mental Health Foundation

They split the participants into two types of diet - those who ate a diet largely based on whole foods, which includes lots of fruit, vegetables and fish, and those who ate a mainly processed food diet, such as sweetened desserts, fried food, processed meat, refined grains and high-fat dairy products.

After accounting for factors such as gender, age, education, physical activity, smoking habits and chronic diseases, they found a significant difference in future depression risk with the different diets.

Those who ate the most whole foods had a 26% lower risk of future depression than those who at the least whole foods.

By contrast people with a diet high in processed food had a 58% higher risk of depression than those who ate very few processed foods.

Mediterranean diet

Although the researchers cannot totally rule out the possibility that people with depression may eat a less healthy diet they believe it is unlikely to be the reason for the findings because there was no association with diet and previous diagnosis of depression.

Study author Dr Archana Singh-Manoux pointed out there is a chance the finding could be explained by a lifestyle factor they had not accounted for.

"There was a paper showing a Mediterranean diet was associated with a lower risk of depression but the problem with that is if you live in Britain the likelihood of you eating a Mediterranean diet is not very high.

"So we wanted to look at bit differently at the link between diet and mental health."

It is not yet clear why some foods may protect against or increase the risk of depression but scientists think there may be a link with inflammation as with conditions such as heart disease.

Dr Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said: "This study adds to an existing body of solid research that shows the strong links between what we eat and our mental health.

"Major studies like this are crucial because they hold the key to us better understanding mental illness."

He added people's diets were becoming increasingly unhealthy.

"The UK population is consuming less nutritious, fresh produce and more saturated fats and sugars.

"We are particularly concerned about those who cannot access fresh produce easily or live in areas where there are a high number of fast food restaurants and takeaways."

Margaret Edwards, head of strategy at the mental health charity SANE, said: "Physical and mental health are closely related, so we should not be too surprised by these results, but we hope there will be further research which may help us to understand more fully the relationship between diet and mental health."

Stress and Diabetes: The case of the Native Indians

Can Stress Cause Diabetes among the American Native Indians? If you had asked this question about ten years ago, to a group of medical/nursing practitioners, the answer would have been a profound NO. Whereas at the same time, a predominantly Native Indians would have said a resounding YES.

That had gotten me to think anthropologically into the high rate of obesity and why Indians become obese so quickly. Looking at laboratory studies, it was evident that it was the stressed rats that became fatter than the lean rats who could eat at will and at leisure. Many years later, there were studies to show that the stressed rats had put on the fat around the midriff and cortisol may have played a role.

Indians are generally happy people, they are the least of the miserable people of the Americas, but suffering has been their lot ever since that Genovese arrived on these shores. Neglected, subjected to rules and regulations and oppressed with different religious values, this “fatal contact” gave them a generational legacy of suffering: unresolved grief.

You can put it all together and come to your own conclusion. For those of you who would like scientific proof, here is an abstract to follow:

Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism , doi:10.1210/jc.2009-0370

The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Vol. 94, No. 8 2692-2701
Copyright © 2009 by The Endocrine Society

CLINICAL REVIEW

The Pathogenetic Role of Cortisol in the Metabolic Syndrome: A Hypothesis

Evidence Synthesis: Emerging data suggest that patients with MetS show hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which leads to a state of "functional hypercortisolism."The cause for this activation of the HPA axis remains uncertain but may be partly associated with chronic stress and/or low birth weight, which are both associated with increased circulatingcortisol levels and greater responsiveness of the HPA axis. Increased exposure to cortisol contributes to increased fat accumulation in visceral depots. However, cortisol metabolism is not only centrally regulated. The action of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-1 at the tissue level also modulates cortisol metabolism. Increased 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-1 activity in adipose tissue and liver might contribute to the development of several features of the MetS.

Conclusions: MetS shares many characteristics of CS, and cortisol might play a role in the development of MetS at both a central and a peripheral level.

MetS Metabolic Syndrome CS Cushings Syndrome/Hypercorticolism

Add to that Native Indians like most indigenous people around the world ( e.g: Australian Aboriginal People; San of Kalahari ) are hyperinsulinemic in that they have an exaggerated insulin response to meals, especially meals which have a different composition from their traditional foods.

Grieving Indians, deprived of their food culture and thus their hunting and gathering culture which made a dramatic impact on their nutrition, going from a highly balanced nutrition to one of contrived nutrition which continues to this day, were sitting ducks for the obesity epidemic to arrive.. even without much trying! Soon Type 2 Diabetes and its consequences followed.

I wish I could lament with a voice stronger than Porfirio Diaz: Pobre Mexico.. tan circa de Estados Unidos y tan lejos de Dios!

Pobre, Pobre Indios !

Better Together, a new Innovation for Diabetes Care and Prevention among UmonHon Indians of Nebraska

Better Together, the UmonHon Tribe Diabetes Programme’s Version of MoPoTsyo in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Of all my visits to Cambodia, the most fruitful one was the visit in October 08, exactly one year to the day, when I met Maurits van Pelt of MoPoTsyo Peer to Peer Health Education Centre in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. When I listened to him explain the model, I could intuitively recognize a man who was innovative and knew what works in the Cambodian Context. I realized that it will work in an International context as well.

It has taken me one year to implement a model loosely modeled on Maurits’s working model in Cambodia. Before I begin, thank you, Maurits.

Natives of America, from now on referred to as Indians, have other advantages over Cambodians and also the general population of USA.

They have clinics right where they live, usually in rural and isolated parts of the country. And they have access to doctors and educators and specialists. They also receive medications free of charge. Yet their health status remains one of the poorest in that rich country, the reasons are much more anthropological than medical, I shall dwell on it another time.

I had chosen Mr. PM, close to 70 years of age, as my Peer No 1, in this phase of educating Families with and without Diabetes who live in the Omaha Indian Reservation in the village of Macy in Nebraska, USA. He has had Diabetes type 2 for fifteen years and has been overweight for most of his life.

I had first met him about five years ago, just before he had aortic valve replacement. At that time he was on a long list of medications. In March of this year, he had decided to make dramatic changes in his way of living, for, as he said: I was sick of being tired and sick. I was short of breath and couldn’t walk up a light incline.

He weighed 264 lbs (120kg). He also knew that any diet he choose would make him loose a few pounds the first few days of trying so he decided to keep tab on his intake and be careful to create this lifestyle for him as of 1 April 2009. He was on a long list of medications. For Diabetes, he was on Metformin 500 mg twice a day ( his GP had wanted him to take 1000 mg three times a day but he was afraid of hypoglycemia and refused to follow the advice). He was also on Lantus Long Acting Insulin 50 units twice a day and Gabapentin for his diabetes related Neuropathy. He was on medications for Hypercholesterolemia, Gastro Esophageal Reflux, multiple medications for Hypertension. He had discussed with his natural therapy advisor about diet and was told that he like many others in this country was addicted to carbohydrates and that he should slowly wean himself off Carbohydrates. By chance he ran into a book at a second hand bookstore, it was titled: Carbohydrate Addict’s diet and found the advice to be much to his liking.

Tired of being sick, with his blood sugars running in the high 200s with an A1C of 11.4%, he would slump on his sofa two hours after eating, without energy for anything substantial. It was the blood sugar increase on his regular diet, then the medications kicking in and soon after wards a rebound rise of blood sugar and a flat feeling.

He began watching what he ate. He educated himself about HFCS, and the many other very dangerous chemicals in the food. One day he was told that he may be a Carbaholic when his dietary habits were analyzed. He got hold of a book called The Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet and began changing his dietary habits.

Rob Sweetgall is a prevention expert who lives in Idaho. He has the distinction of having walked across the USA several times and he has fashioned walking sticks which aid people with their walking. We had given PM a gift of these a year and half ago, and now he began using it, realizing that his upper body is also being used while walking around his village with the two walking sticks.

Soon he noticed that the sagging muscles of his upper arms were becoming tight and the scale on his bathroom revealed that he was beginning to lose weight. He became an avid reader of natural medicine and complementary medicine and began supplementing his nutrition with Cinnamon and Fish oil, among others.

He began keeping a log from 1 April 2009. His goal was to lose about one pound per week but do it on a consistent basis. By 15^th April 2009, his weight was down to 241 lbs and he was able to drop Metformin. In the weeks following, his weight chart shows: in lbs, 238, 234, 229, 227, 224. He realized that when you begin a diet or nutritional change you can expect a rapid weight loss and then it becomes a steady loss. By the ninth week of his new Life Style Therapy, his weight was down to 224 lbs and he was able to stop his Insulin. 12^th week, 216; 16^th week, 209; 20^th week, 204; 24^th week, 202 and now on the 27^th week of his Life Style Modification Therapy his weight was done to 200 lbs, a full 64 pounds from when he contemplated these changes and a full 50 pounds since he began keeping detailed records.

And on 5^th October 2009, when he presented his efforts to two groups of families of Indians, he showed his medications. From the long list of medications he was taking, right now he is not taking any medications for his Diabetes (remember this is after 15 years of various intense pharmacological manipulations including once Metformin 1000 mg three times a day!). He is coming off his Metoprolol, which he was taking 50 mg, two tablets twice a day and now he is down to ½ a tablet twice a day. He was prescribed Hydrochlorthiazide25 mg which he plans to stop as well.

Among our patients with Diabetes, we use Lisinopril or other ACE Inhibitors for renal protection, since Indians like other indigenous peoples have very delicate kidney metabolisms.

He talked in detail about his diet, since him like our patients lives in a small village with very limited access to good food. The small audience sat there with rapt attention. It was so good to hear that something like this is possible, the negative thoughts that affect you is relieved a little bit when you live in such a “diabetogenic Toxic Environment”.

From the two families, I identified, two other possible Peer Educators, a 29 year old who was diagnosed as having Type 2 Diabetes just on 17^th August 2009 and another 32 year old mother of three who is very serious about her health and of those of her children and is determined to control the hyperglycemia and hypercholesterolemia with natural and social methods of combating this ever increasing illness among the Indians.

So, it was a good beginning. We had Mila, the Filipina chief cook at this rural Indian clinic, prepare some healthy food: pancit, adobe, homemade banana bread among others. So our participants realized that good food choices don’t have to be boring! We also gave each one of them a book: Eat this and Not that, it is about making better choices at the supermarket.

Apart from my colleagues at the Tribe who helped me organize this, which now becomes a monthly event when I visit them, I would very much like to thank Maurits in Phnom Penh for his inspiration and my two moral helpers: MM in Paris and MC in Kuala Lumpur...

A heartfelt Thank You. Today you have helped me assist these ancient people of the Americas!

When to drink this poison?

it has been a while since I had drank coca-cola ( I must have been healthy?) btu this morning at Charles de Gaulle Airport- I had, not one, but three cans of Coca Cola.

Why? Because I was sick!

Doctor and Traveller, I am naturally immune to a whole host of voluntary , non voluntary immunizations: Influenza, Pnuemococcus and Hepatitis of various varieties etc..It has been a while since I have had symptoms of Flu, which used to be an accompaniment, an occupational hazard on long distance flying to Japan.

There is no vaccine against food poisoning, since a a variety of bugs cause the symptoms, depending upon the country. Yesterday, at a boulangerie, in a Paris suburb, I ate a 2 tier pita sandwich filled with avacado, cream and what tasted as crab (artificial?)

The result was almost immediate. I have the appropriate medications to stop the symptoms, but I was worried about the nine hour flight to New York.

At CDG, I drank three cans of coca-cola( regular ) within an hour and half.. so reluctantly at first to overcome the psychological hatred for this drink..Soon after the first one, the rumblings of the stomach had ceased.

This is the only time I wished, the Airlines wouldnt upgrade me, since it would be a crime to waste the good food and wine. I preferred the Economy Class where suffering is made much easier-not too much food or service, which is beneficial in a case like mine. Today.

Moral of the story is this: coca-cola is more poisonous than the poisons that give you food poisoning and coca cola can be used as an urgent/emergency measure like a snake anti-venom.

No healthy person should drink Coca-Cola Regular or Light or Diet or whatever or any other soft drink for that matter manufactured in any country.. even though not all coca cola are the same, the ones in Venezuela are still made with sugar I think, Mexico shifted from Sugar to High Fructose Corn syrup after USA took them to International Court and won over Trade practices.. Also the phosphorus added to create the bubbly feeling in your mouth sucks out the calcium in an already depressed calcium millieu of the western diet and leeches the necessary calcium from the bones, I have seen young women with osteoporosis caused by drinking litres of soft drink, Needless to say these things also cause Diabetes when drunk in large amounts regularly..

I wrote this as I was about to arrive in the land that concocts Coca Cola, hoping that i wont have any need to drink that poison!!

It is paradoxical that I got food poisoning in Europe, just few days before I was in Malaysia and indulged in delicious food (food and not fabricated rubbish) to my hearts content without any untoward health problems ..

In Cuba, for most people, a soft drink is usually a Treat since it is not available readily for most of the population and children consider a sip of Tropicola, which used to be made with cane sugar but now with artificial sweeteners, a rare treat..