Please cite your source for your statement, "The rampant increase in diabetes is no doubt related to the chemical endocrine disruptors from plastic containers". Otherwise, you are only someone stating your opinion that is not based on fact. There are innumerable other factors in our diets that make them much different from the diet that our grandparents consumed. For example, hormones feed to cattle, poultry, etc., also affect our endocrine systems. Many of these hormones predispose people to distribute fat on organs around the waistline. That type of fat distribution is related to development of Type 2 diabetes.

Another example is the increased consumption of high fructose corn syrup. No one has yet proven the connection between HFCS and diabetes, but there are many theories that they are connected. BTW, don't believe the commercials on TV that are produced by the Corn Growers Association and other manufacturers of HFCS that attempt to convince the public that there is no difference between cane or beet sugar and HFCS. It's true that the molecules involved are the same. Sucrose is sucrose. Fructose is fructose. However, the ratio of fructose to glucose is not the same in sugar and HFCS. In sugar, the ratio is one-to-one. It varies in HFCS depending on how the manufacturer mixes the two, but fructose is always in excess, hence the name high fructose corn syrup.

UMGator, I agree with you 100%.

Go back in time to around one hundred years ago and such endeavors as gyms and exercise equipment didn't exist. The main reason was that people in general performed much more physical labor and were significantly more active on a daily basis.

Today's society imposes a much more sedentary and stressful lifestyle on people, and all the gyms and exercise equipment aren't going to have much of an impact on thwarting the onset of diabetes and other diseases. This is modern life and despite longevity numbers creeping ever upward, so are these affliction rates.

I would be reluctant to place the blame on plastics and also won't place any blame on HFCS until research makes a connection to diabetes.

I've always personally believed there is a connection to excessive carbohydrate consumption and eventual diabetes. I think one hundred years ago, people's diets consisted more of protein and less carbs.

I think one hundred years ago, people's diets consisted more of protein and less carbs.

One hundred years ago, meat was not as cheap and widely available as it is today. For my great-grandparents in Asia, meat was only for special occasions; everyday diets consisted of rice and vegetables and very little animal protein compared to what we consume today. One thing is sure though, our ancestors' diets certainly consisted of fewer refined carbohydrates.

BPA is lousy for you but the connections to type 2 diabetes are not clear. THe connection between high fructose corn syrup (and sucrose) and type 2 diabetes are pretty clear and the connection gets stronger every day. The problem with both HFCS and sucrose is the molecule fructose. Sucrose (table sugar) is one fructose molecule bound to 1 glucose molecule. Once eaten, sucrose is quickly broken down into fructose and sucrose. HFCS is typically around 55% fructose and 42% glucose. The molecules are not bound to each other so they pretty much immediately enter the blood stream. The only organ in your body that can effectively use fructose for energy is the liver. When the liver uses fructose for energy, it tends to favor turning it into cholesterol and lipids (fats) which enter the blood stream raising cholesterol (especially LDL) and triglyceride levels. Some of the fat is also stored in the liver. It also causes the liver to make more glucose from its own energy stores. This is a double whammy to the body. Over time, this causes fat accumulation in the liver which promotes insulin resistance followed by type 2 diabetes. Too much fat in the blood also promotes whole body inflammation and insulin resistance in muscle and fat tissue. It turns into a vicious cycle that eventually turns into type 2 diabetes. All of this can occur in a person with a thin frame. And this can be reversed by exercise (a good combination of endurance and strength training).

This is what I do not inderstand.

Friuts have tons of fructose. You eat, say, a melon - it is all sugar - frutose, sacarose, and what not. And it is supposed to be good for you, right? But when you eat a candy/drink soda with all that HFCS - it is bad for you. Same sugars - right? Or am I missing something?

Hi ForeverSpb,

Its a bit of a myth to say fruits have tons of fructose. Most fruits are about 10% sugar by weight. There are probably many reasons why the sugar in fruit is not as harmful as the sugar in processed foods. First, you will need to eat a LOT of fruit to equal a soda. Second, the sugar in the processed forms enters your body much quicker. You will have to digest the fruit a bit to get the sugars "freed". Third, fruits contain very high amount of antioxidant compounds. A diet containing lots of fruits and vegetables will result in high antioxidant levels in the body. This will help protect the body from inflammation which is probably a major contributor to insulin resistance/diabetes.

To simplify processed foods ! Check China's data base now that they've opened the door to the western world their diets have changed and the same thing is happening in their inner cities where fast food is abundant.

Sorry about your diagnosis, but you may be able to backtrack it if you start a rigorous diet and exercise program, it's not too late for you.

What's your definition of "slim"?

She's right, the weight range for that height for "normal" weight is under 160 lbs, according to the Mayo Clinic. She's on the high end, but still normal.

Obviously, not very normal. I am 5'7 and 130, and I am definitely not too slim. I am normal. I was 120lb in high school some 30 years ago, and that was slim.

We should take offense at 'free-lance' writer Sushma Subramanian interjecting her misguided humor at 'thunder thigh' people about which this article is not. God bless her that she doesn't have an illness or condition that would make her sympathize with...anyone.

Exactly!

AMEN!

you say that like it's wrong

And Philip- I repeat the original question: WHAT is the difference between the two if they had the SAME DIET to begin with? Why would sympathy be rendered to the thin person, and hate toward the overweight?

Get this: "you say that like it's wrong"- my answer, it IS WRONG!! Or, at least it should be.

I used to be 5'2 in high school at 120 lbs and people said they couldn't believe I weighed that much, they expected much less. But I've honestly seen more sickly looking people on vegetarian diets then I have healthy. Meat, especially grass-fed and finished animals isn't inherently bad for your health. Argue as one might, we still haven't evolved away from being the omnivores we always were.

A vegetarian diet ultimately leads to needing to eat almost a ton of carbs, and even good carbs translate to sugars. We need more doctors who look at the evidence that fat isn't all bad, cholesterol is actually very much needed by the body and the amount of grains and carbs they're pushing is astonishing. Take a look at graphs showing the major jump in obesity in this country when they introduced the low-fat mostly grains diet.

Just so you know, any form of sugar turns into simple sugar when digested. It's not just HFCS. Too much sugar is too much sugar, period. I am diabetic and no one has ever said, "just cut out the HFCS, and you'll be fine".

When I asked my gastroenterologist about my adrenal gland, he said they don't mess with that...huh?!

He's full of it. Try googling Addison's Disease. If the adrenal gland fails completely, you die. Plain and simple. The gastroenterologist is the wrong person to ask, you have to ask an endocrinologist.

Always get a copy of your labs and look them up for yourself. Had an endoctrinologist that my former GP sent me to tell me that a clearly high TSH level was "right in the middle." Next doctor (friend who was a nurse recommended her) took one look at the labs and immediately wrote a prescription for higher thyroid as well as running more complete tests that I had asked the other two doctors about and was told they were unnecessary.

I truly believe there is something we have not caught yet that is causing an increase in not just diabetes, but other metabolic diseases. Maybe it is the plastics, maybe it is food additives or our modern diets, maybe modern stress, maybe it is a combination of many things.

Makes sense. they should check it out. That was what preceded a very severe case of GERD that one of my kids had to deal with for several years as a teenager, although the gastroenterologist noticed that she was on an asthma medicine that he saw a lot of kids with GERD were on. He also said that childhood and adolescent levels of GERD had dramatically increased over the last few years.

You are thinking of type I diabetes which is a disease of the immune system (the immune system destroys the cells in the pancreas that make insulin). The linkage between a virus infection and subsequent type I diabetes has been speculated for years. This piece is about type II diabetes which is not due to an immune system attack on the pancreas but instead to eventual failure of the pancreas to keep up with the demands for high insulin levels due to insulin resistance in the body. Different causes but same end results.

I was diagnosed with Type II in my 30s. No surprise due to my history, and luckily I caught at the start. However, I do believe that Type II is caused by a failure or disruption in your immune system. Very similar to Type 1, imho.

Also: "They" always say that weight gain is a sign of diabetes; however, I started gaining weight and was unable to lose prior to my diagnosis. I could look at a bowl of pasta and gain 3 lbs. With some conversations with my doctor. she confirmed that diabetes can actually *cause* weight gain... however, the medical community reports it as "weight gain causes diabetes."

There are a lot of holes in the information that is given to the public regarding this disease. The list of symptoms that is always noted isn't the complete list of symptoms. Basically, you feel like crap, you chalk it up to aging... a bunch more subtle symptoms that need to be disclosed to help the people fight the future.

Need to clarify: I do believe diabetes epidemic is due to a viral element as well.

The number of viruses we catch has not really changed much in the last 30 years. The incidences of type II diabetes has increased dramatically. It is doubtful that the increases we are seeing in type II diabetes is due to a viral cause. That DOES NOT however rule out an immune system component. There is a lot of scientific research looking at how the immune system responds to high levels of fat in the bloodstream. This can trigger an inflammatory reaction in certain cell types that are implicated in type II diabetes development. This type of immune response is of a different type than that caused by a viral infection.

When I was diagnosed nearly 15 years ago, they called it type one-and-a-half. Since I was over 40, I clearly didn't qualify as 'juvinile' but I wasn't type 2 either. Concurrent with the new diabetes, I had severe thyroid issues at the same time. Yep, the endicrinologist said viral or auto-immune.

What I get weary of is people who try to regulate my diet. I don't eat sugars (starch is another matter!) But people presume to tell me that I shouldn't eat something. Hey-as long as I take the insulin to cover it, I'm good! And I'm tired of people equating the word Diabetes with the couch potato stereotype. Hello? there is a HUGE difference between TYPE I and TYPE II.

I get far more energy and end up a lot less hungry later when a meal includes a moderate amount of fat and protein from a good meat source than I do eating just a plain salad, that's for sure.

Might as well eat your grandchildren.

I agree that the assumption that a vegetarian has taken some sort of step that should guarantee outstanding health is bs. I've been vegetarian for many years and it is not easy nor is it always clearly more of a benefit than a hindrance. The best food I've ever had in my life was freshly made unpasteurized goat's cheese that was sold as pet food due to it being illegal. I wish I could find it again, but the government has hassled farmers to the point that they won't do it. They can sell it only after it has aged for 2 months, when the probiotic benefits and enzymes are lessened if not eliminated. The government is mis-informed and it is costing all of us the level of health we deserve