DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #30: Can the BRAIN ITSELF Be Targeted To Treat Type 2 Diabetes???

From the first moment I discovered I had been diagnosed with DIABETES, I joined a HUGE “club” that has been rapidly expanding since it stopped being a death sentence in the early 20th Century. Currently, there are about HALF A BILLION PEOPLE who have Type 2 Diabetes. For the past 3500 years – dating back to Ancient Egypt – people have suffered from diabetes. Well, I’m one of them now… Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting Diabetes research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: “For several years, researchers have known that hyperactivity of a subset of neurons located in the hypothalamus, called AgRP neurons, is common in mice with diabetes.”

So…weirdly enough, I just finished a book called THE THREE POUND ENIGMA: The Human Brain and the Quest to Unlock Its Mysteries by Shannon Moffett (©2006). Granted, it’s technically nineteen (most likely 20) years out of date. Most of the book is a fascinating examination of what science and scientists had discovered about the brain up to that point.

But it didn’t talk about how playing with the BRAIN might have an effect on controlling Type 2 diabetes!

“For several years, researchers have known that hyperactivity of a subset of neurons located in the hypothalamus, called AgRP neurons, is common in mice with diabetes. These neurons are playing an outsized role in hyperglycemia and type 2 diabetes,” said UW Medicine endocrinologist Dr. Michael Schwartz, corresponding author of the paper.

What’s AgRP? “Agouti-related protein, is produced in the brain by the AgRP/NPY neuron. The cells controlled by the AgRP increase appetite and decrease metabolism and energy expenditure. It is one of the most potent and long-lasting of appetite stimulators.”

So, this protein come from the brain and makes me hungry and lazy!

How’d they figure out the connection between the brain and my Type 2 diabetes? (Not that it comes as any great surprise...)

 Once they discovered the connection, “…researchers…made AgRP neurons express tetanus toxin, which prevents the neurons from communicating with other neurons. Unexpectedly, this intervention normalized high blood sugar for months, despite having no effect on body weight or food consumption.”

“The new findings align with studies published by the same scientists showing that injection of a peptide called FGF1 directly into the brain also causes diabetes remission in mice. This effect was subsequently shown to involve sustained inhibition of AgRP neurons…Further research might help scientists to better understand the role of AgRP neurons in how the body normally controls blood sugar, and to ultimately translate these findings into human clinical trials, he added.”

WHOA!!! Amazing! (Weird how I just happened to be reading a book on how the brain works!)

So…if I understand this right, it may someday be possible for me to get a shot to the brain by a protein that makes neurons in my brain produce a TETANUS TOXIN...that abruptly causes the communication between neurons to STOP telling my body that it wants to eat more and exercise less? And this will make my blood sugars return to normal?

WOW!

Now don’t get me wrong – THIS IS NOT A TREATMENT YET!!!!!

But…it’s a possible treatment, AND has the advantage of removing from ME responsibility of taking ANY blame for being diabetic! Just the RESEARCH is communicating to the world that THIS WAS NOT MY FAULT!!! (Or the fault of my genetics!)

THIS is the definition of "weird science"!

Links: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/05/250515191148.htm
Image: https://media.istockphoto.com/id/1254574508/vector/world-diabetes-day-banner-or-flyer-with-diabetes-symbol-blue-round-frame-and-map-14th.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=lLYo37GeVPirX-phRKE-p6h64a0_BoSMZQ4nFwcS6Y4=

GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…TYPE 2 DIABETES #32: Taking Ozempic…after LOTS OF RESISTANCE…

For the first time since I started this blog eleven years ago, it’s going to be about me. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes two weeks ago. While people are happy to talk about their experiences with diabetes, I WASN’T comfortable with talking about diabetes. My wife is Type 2, as are several friends of ours. The “other Type” of diabetes was what caused the death of my Best Man a year after my wife and I got married. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was a kid. It was called Juvenile Diabetes then. Today it’s Type 1. Since then, I haven’t WANTED to talk about diabetes at all. But…for my own education and maybe helping someone else, and not one to shut up for any known reason, I’m reopening my blog rather than starting a new one. I MAY take a pause and write about Breast Cancer or Alzheimer’s as medical headlines dictate; but this time I’m going to drag anyone along who wants to join my HIGHLY RELUCTANT journey toward better understanding of my life with Type 2 Diabetes. You’re Welcome to join me!

You’re SO lucky you’re not my wife…

I’ve ranted against Ozempic pretty much ever since it first appeared. First, I thought it was a lazy way to deal with the necessary measures a person had to take to change their lives and get healthier and deal with the new information about the deadly results of just letting it run its course.

Don’t get me wrong, I WANTED to take the easy way out! But, I also wanted to maintain my sense of self. A modicum of CONTROL over what I could and couldn’t DO with my own body.

Secondly, I railed against how the pharmaceutical world had encouraged, advertised for, and pushed Ozempic (and similar drugs) as a quick, easy, painless, and SIMPLE way for a fat person to eat whatever they want to eat and then just take a shot and watch the ugly fat melt away…no more diets! No more self control (LOATHSOME WORDS to the rich, beautiful, and self-indulgent!)

So, there you have it.

And here you find me. My doctor recommended I take Ozempic – though I fought him to find a pill version. I first discovered that the actual tablet is one of the most bitter things I have ever attempted to ingest. I had to play around with placing it on the correct part of my tongue in order not to taste the horrific thing!

Right after that, and after three or four bottles, I discovered that the COST was absurd: I was being charged over $900 for a three month supply for Rybelsus after my first bottle that my insurance covered…I fought it for almost another year, then my doctor said I NEEDED it to lose enough weight not to drop dead of one of the things that can kill a Type 1 diabetic:

MAJOR COMPLICATIONS OF TYPE 2 DIABETES (as opposed to just being fat, flabby, unfit, and unwilling to do ANYTHING that someone else tells you to do. Why break a sweat when you’re rich enough to buy skinniness with a shot?) WHICH CAN LEAD TO DEATH!

Higher risk of Cardiovascular Disease: heart attack, stroke, and heart failure and its complications. High blood pressure and cholesterol: increase the risk of cardiovascular disease; higher risk of stroke leading to long-term disability and death, and narrowing of the arteries in your legs and feet. Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD - narrowing of the arteries in your legs and feet giving you decreased blood flow damaging skin, muscles, nerves and other tissues.

Chronic Kidney Disease; end-stage renal disease (ESRD); damaging blood vessels in the kidneys, impairing their ability to filter waste (leading to…) kidney failure; damage the kidneys over time which may require dialysis or a kidney transplant.

Diabetic Ketoacidosis: the body produces high levels of ketones creating a life-threatening complication where ketones build up in the blood, making it acidic.

HHS: (Hyperosmolar Hyperglycemic State) very high blood sugar leads to severe dehydration and confusion.

Infections: impaired ability to fight off normal infections and more susceptible to complications from common infections. People with diabetes are more susceptible to infections due to impaired immune function and poor blood circulation; diabetic foot infections (potentially requiring amputation) and severe systemic infections like influenza, pneumonia, a severe form of otitis externa (swimmer's ear) that can spread to the surrounding bones and tissues, particularly affecting the temporal bone and often seen in elderly individuals with diabetes; and a potentially fatal fungal infection affecting the sinuses, brain, and sometimes the eye area (aka, rhinocerebral mucormycosis). The last two are almost exclusively seen in people with diabetes and can be life-threatening.

Gum disease

Eye complications

Nerve Damage: numbness, pain, foot ulcers, infections, possible amputations

Foot problems: ulcers and infections, which can sometimes result in AMPUTATION

Vision/Eye problems such as diabetic retinopathy and blindness

Need I say more? I did NOT become diabetic because I “ate too many sweets as a child” or "REALLY let myself go as a teenager". It’s a disease inherited from your parents. And just because you haven’t been diagnosed YET…well, if you keep a porcine diet, OZEMPIC DOES NOT KEEP YOU FROM GETTING TYPE 2 DIABETES!!!!! LOSING WEIGHT, EXCERCISING, AND A GOOD DIET CAN HELP YOU AVOID DEVELOPING TYPE 2 DIABETES…and even then, there’s no guarantee…

Source: (a few of them) https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/type-2-diabetes, https://www.health.com/condition/type-2-diabetes/diabetes-complications-death, https://diabetes.org/ 

Image: https://www.hcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/living-well-with-diabetes.jpg

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #29: Type 2 diabetes mellitus: One of the Pandemics of the 21st Century (World Health Organization/WHO)

From the first moment I discovered I had been diagnosed with DIABETES, I joined a HUGE “club” that has been rapidly expanding since it stopped being a death sentence in the early 20th Century. Currently, there are about HALF A BILLION PEOPLE who have Type 2 Diabetes. For the past 3500 years – dating back to Ancient Egypt – people have suffered from diabetes. Well, I’m one of them now… Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting Diabetes research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: What Can I DO about one of the Pandemics of the 21st Century?

If you’re like me, your diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes took you by surprise.

What’s even more surprising to me, is that despite being identified as DIFFERENT conditions some 1600 years ago when Type 1 was associated with young people (hence one of the old names, “juvenile onset diabetes”), [HOWEVER, the rates of type 2 diabetes are increasing in young people today]. Type 2 was associated with being fat (I’m just gonna call it here – “overweight” is so cloyingly polite, it makes me cringe. I will call myself as I see me: I’m fat.

You can self-identify as overweight if it makes you feel better…); we’re no closer today to controlling EITHER ONE and rates of type 2 diabetes have increased markedly since 1960 in parallel with obesity.[

It's hardly surprising then that the rate of Type 2 diabetes has been steadily increasing. In the 1970s, the incidence of Type 2 was 2.7%. In the 1980s, the incidence was 3.6% (approximately 30 million in 1985); and the 1990s, it was 5.8%.

As of 2015, approximately 392 million people diagnosed with the disease. Doing a bit of calculation, given that there are now 8 billion people on Earth (8,000,000,000) and that 11% of the population (800,000,000) of Earth has some form of diabetes and that of that: “The latest IDF Diabetes Atlas (2025) reports that 11.1% – or 1 in 9 – of the adult population is living with diabetes and of THAT number, 90% (or 9 of 10) have Type 2.”

“So, what? Why bother me about it? I’m me! I’m not no one else! What are you gonna do about ME????”

Here’s a little more definition to those numbers: “…[they are] living in low-and middle-income countries. More than half of people living with diabetes are not receiving treatment. Both the number of people with diabetes and the number of people with untreated diabetes have been steadily increasing over the past decades.”

“So, whaddya want ME to do aboudit?!?!?!”

What CAN we do about The Other Pandemic? Diabetes is “…the silent epidemic that claims an estimated 6.7 million lives around the world each year – close to the total recorded death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic. One in ten adults is affected by the condition, and it is one of the top 10 causes of death globally.”

You can’t run out and “save the world” from diabetes!

BUT: Here are some things we CAN DO! https://worlddiabetesday.org/ before, during and after World Diabetes Day, Friday, November 14, 2025! And we can start doing SOMETHING now! I’ll be coming back to this in a few weeks!

Links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_2_diabetes , https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/circulationaha.106.613828 , https://diabetesatlas.org/media/uploads/sites/3/2025/04/IDF_Atlas_11th_Edition_2025.pdf , https://www.who.int/health-topics/diabetes#tab=tab_1

Image: https://worlddiabetesday.org/

GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…TYPE 2 DIABETES #31: The SUREST Way to Summer Lower Blood Glucose? MEAT!

For the first time since I started this blog eleven years ago, it’s going to be about me. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes two weeks ago. While people are happy to talk about their experiences with diabetes, I WASN’T comfortable with talking about diabetes. My wife is Type 2, as are several friends of ours. The “other Type” of diabetes was what caused the death of my Best Man a year after my wife and I got married. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was a kid. It was called Juvenile Diabetes then. Today it’s Type 1. Since then, I haven’t WANTED to talk about diabetes at all. But…for my own education and maybe helping someone else, and not one to shut up for any known reason, I’m reopening my blog rather than starting a new one. I MAY take a pause and write about Breast Cancer or Alzheimer’s as medical headlines dictate; but this time I’m going to drag anyone along who wants to join my HIGHLY RELUCTANT journey toward better understanding of my life with Type 2 Diabetes. You’re Welcome to join me!

The caveat here? DON’T BE STUPID!

As they said in the hysterically ridiculous movie from several hours of misspent young-adulthood, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, “And there was much rejoicing.” (To get the full effect of the ridiculous scene, follow this link:) https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/bd0748ad-7c88-4805-b9a4-9d401577e488/gif)

“…higher meat consumption was associated with higher type 2 diabetes incidence ... The current findings support the notion that lowering the consumption of unprocessed red meat and processed meat could benefit public health by reducing the incidence of type 2 diabetes. Uncertainty remains regarding the positive association between poultry consumption and the incidence of type 2 diabetes, and this association should be further investigated.”

Let’s be clear here: “…Red meat refers to beef, veal, lamb, mutton, pork, goat and venison. (It does not include chicken, turkey, goose, duck, game and rabbit.)

“Processed meat refers to any meat that has been preserved by smoking, curing, salting or using preservatives. This includes sausages, ham, bacon, salami, pate, and canned meat such as corned beef. It may also include other meats such as sliced luncheon meat made from white meat, such as chicken and turkey.”

OK – I am going to speak for myself now. When I eat red meat (mostly hamburger, rarely steak…(What? Do I look like I’m made of MONEY???), I don’t down eight or nine burgers at a time.

I don’t LIKE processed meats – except for RARE bacon, turkey sausages, I had enough luncheon meat growing up as a kid, that I DON’T eat lunch meat anymore.

I KNOW the “average American” eats too much meat. Some of that comes from meat being associated with MONEY!!! Like, how many of us see movies where the really rich heroine dines out on filet mignon? (Have YOU ever had filet mignon? For me, it’s pretty much a big, fat, NO! We buy ground turkey, sliced turkey or chicken, and turkey breasts – the cheap ones, like from CUB or HyVee? Rarely do we get the high class stuff unless we’re making something REALLY nice.

So, when I have a reasonable meal of chicken, or decent pork loin, or even a cheap steak plus some veggies (in the summer I LOVE ME SOME GRILLED VEGGIES!!! Zucchini, corn on the cob, carrots, cauliflower, tomatoes, squash, and onions? Yessiree!) Here’s a recipe I found online – I don’t voice for it except it looks GOOD!

https://thewholecook.com/steak-roasted-veggies/

There are lots of cookbooks – and like us, you don’t need to BUY a cookbook! Check one out from the library. Specifically search, “healthy cookbooks” and add in whatever you’re looking for specifically – fish, chicken, hamburger, pork…whatever. There are SMART ways to cook practically anything on the grill!

Of COURSE stuffing my face all the time with fatty meats and veggies dripping in butter washed down with a glass of melted butter and French fried lard slices is going to make my glucose numbers soar to the high heavens!

Duh…

But being smart when you eat meat or chicken or turkey and include LIGHTLY roasted veggies with some olive oil and season NOT SALT. There ARE other seasoning things besides salt – the EASIEST is pepper! I happen to like pepper a lot. Learn to use it; and maybe pick up a seasoning that ISN’T mostly salt.

We CAN be healthy and enjoy ourselves a good meal on the barbeque!

AND KEEP OUR BLOOD GLUCOSE LEVELS AT ACCEPTABLE LEVELS! If I can do it, you can, too!

Source: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(24)00179-7/fulltext; https://www.royalmarsden.nhs.uk/oafu/diet/red-processed-meat
Image: https://www.hcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/living-well-with-diabetes.jpg

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #28: FUTURE Cure or Treatment: Shutting Down Our Liver’s Hyperactive Glucose Production

From the first moment I discovered I had been diagnosed with DIABETES, I joined a HUGE “club” that has been rapidly expanding since it stopped being a death sentence in the early 20th Century. Currently, there are about HALF A BILLION PEOPLE who have Type 2 Diabetes. For the past 3500 years – dating back to Ancient Egypt – people have suffered from diabetes. Well, I’m one of them now… Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting Diabetes research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: NEW as of May 2025... research into ways to shut down the CAUSE of our Type 2 Diabetes
This article is so new, it was a definite challenge to my goal of “translating CURRENT research on Type 2 into English understandable to a NORMAL person, not only someone with a BS in Biology!” Mt attempt follows...

“Type 2 diabetes (T2DM)…is a…disease (that shows itself by high levels of) glucose (in the blood). Insulin resistance starts in the liver, muscles, and fat…and decreases how much glucose the blood takes up. We end up with high blood sugars, technically called “hyperglycemia”. In the liver, glucose is built from noncarbs, and made instead of tiny molecules called amino acids and lactate (a kind of sugar that comes from milk.) The scientific word for what it’s doing is gluco– neo—genesis and glucose production being produced in the liver (HGP). Insulin in our blood (or injected) slows it down and makes sure it stays nice and steady – neither disappearing and feeding the cells just enough. When we are insulin RESISTANT, the body can’t regulate the insulin like it’s supposed to and causes hyperglycemia. Suppressing the hyperactivation of hepatic gluconeogenesis is THE treatment scientists are looking for: “an effective pharmacological intervention for treating T2DM”.”

The Conclusion of the Study

The upshot is that they DID discover a chemical that can be used to “Hyperactivated liver glucose production contributes to fasting hyperglycemia in patients with type 2. FOXO1, “…a shorter name for something called a ‘Forkhead box protein O1’. It helps to regulate our metabolism. It also controls insulin and other cellular processes but stopping gluconeogenesis in the liver. It IS a POSSIBLE target drug for treating type 2. However, by itself, it’s a poor candidate to make directly into a drug treatment. Scientists are working to regulate its activity or increase its stability as a pill.”

“Previous studies have shown that there ARE chemicals in our own cells that can increase the number of β-cells and improve insulin secretion. This study reveals that DYRK1B plays a crucial role in gluconeogenesis regulated by FOXO1, highlighting a previously unknown function of DYRK1B. By finding and combining molecules that would slow or stop both DYRK1A and DYRK1B we might eventually offer a comprehensive approach to diabetes treatment, opening new avenues for targeted diabetes therapies that consider both β-cell proliferation and HGP.”

It's not going to be a pill we can pop tomorrow – but it MIGHT be a pill any of our kids or grandkids or great-grandkids can use to control DIABETES!

Links: MAY 2025 – https://academic.oup.com/nar/article/53/8/gkaf319/8120560
https://www.forbes.com/sites/juergeneckhardt/2025/03/18/emerging-breakthroughs-in-diabetes-treatment-a-new-era-of-hope/ 

Image: https://asploro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Diabetes-Research_Open-Access.jpg

GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…TYPE 2 DIABETES #30: DIABETIC SUMMER EATING WITH RECIPES!

For the first time since I started this blog eleven years ago, it’s going to be about me. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes two weeks ago. While people are happy to talk about their experiences with diabetes, I WASN’T comfortable with talking about diabetes. My wife is Type 2, as are several friends of ours. The “other Type” of diabetes was what caused the death of my Best Man a year after my wife and I got married. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was a kid. It was called Juvenile Diabetes then. Today it’s Type 1. Since then, I haven’t WANTED to talk about diabetes at all. But…for my own education and maybe helping someone else, and not one to shut up for any known reason, I’m reopening my blog rather than starting a new one. I MAY take a pause and write about Breast Cancer or Alzheimer’s as medical headlines dictate; but this time I’m going to drag anyone along who wants to join my HIGHLY RELUCTANT journey toward better understanding of my life with Type 2 Diabetes. You’re Welcome to join me! The recipes you see here we either HAVE tried or we WILL try!

Summer eating is ALL ABOUT THE CARBS, right?

Who cares if my blood sugar spikes the next day (or ever try eating several handfuls on real jellybeans on Easter Day? MAN! I felt like was gonna pass out – and my blood sugars weren’t even that high…)

How come as soon as I say the words “Type 2 diabetes”, I AUTOMATICALLY feel deprived and that I should feel sorry for myself? Of course, it’s a head game to try and let force my LOGICAL brain – which knows that I’m going to be in a battle against a rebellious body who constantly tries to tell me that “IT’S NOT THAT BAD!!!” and a body that I abuse with my eyes closed, knowing that when I go get that Peanut Buster Parfait (which is ABSOLUTELY ALLOWABLE and I’m NOT punishing myself for “getting diabetes”) I am absolutely going to pay for it – and if I end up having to pay for all the stuff I eat that don’t go with DIABETES OF ANY TYPE – it will speed up an already certain death – only I might keep my feet and hands and kidneys and liver…

So: I’m going to TRY and eat for my BLOOD SUGAR!

Here’s one that’s not necessarily JUST for the grill, and it’s NOT an entire fancy meal…but IS better for me than the alternative!

Grilled hamburgers, buns, ketchup, mayo, corn-on-the-cob, brats, and oh, let’s say, cookies and ice cream with chocolate sauce?

THE ALTERNATIVE

Grilled chicken breast on Brownberry Ovens WHOLE WHEAT Sandwich thins; salsa; low fat “mayo”, grilled spaghetti squash (or, more easily, spaghetti squash MOSTLY heated to “noodles” in the microwave, then grilled up on a baking dish and mixed with a dash of butter, olive oil, and some fancy combination of a salt and mild garlic, (you CAN have brats, but make them TURKEY brats and cut them so they fit on the Sandwich thins); and lastly, there are COUNTLESS chocolate chip (DARK CHOCOLATE!) cookies that are diabetic friendly (though you’ll need to EXPERIMENT so that you can fool your grandkids!); and finally something I discovered a few days ago! Take a container of your favorite lowfat/1%/2% or whatever level you want that’s NOT FULL FAT!; yogurt, pop it into the freezer for a bit, then scoop it out, sprinkle with Splenda or Monk Fruit or any other artificial sweetener (NO, DON’T USE TEN TEASPOONS!!!) but to taste, THEN add a MODERATE amount of chocolate syrup. Stir it in, and voila! You have summer grill out food that WON’T DESTROY you blood sugars – AND you can have fun with the rest of the family!

Source: It’s What We Do!
Image: https://www.hcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/living-well-with-diabetes.jpg

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #27: After Fasting, Why Are My Blood Sugars STILL High???

From the first moment I discovered I had been diagnosed with DIABETES, I joined a HUGE “club” that has been rapidly expanding since it stopped being a death sentence in the early 20th Century. Currently, there are about HALF A BILLION PEOPLE who have Type 2 Diabetes. For the past 3500 years – dating back to Ancient Egypt – people have suffered from diabetes. Well, I’m one of them now… Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting Diabetes research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: "Why are my blood sugars high even AFTER I've had nothing to eat all night???

“The World Health Organization (WHO) considers type 2 diabetes, one of the pandemics of the 21st century…it is a condition that results in high levels of circulating glucose – the cellular energy fuel – due to a deficient insulin response in the body…When blood glucose, also called blood sugar, levels rise after you eat, your pancreas [is supposed to] releases insulin into the blood. Insulin then lowers blood glucose to keep it in the normal range…In T2 patients, the glucose synthesis pathway in the liver (gluconeogenesis) is hyperactivated, a process that can be controlled by drugs such as metformin. ”

HOW does the insulin from the pancreas work? “Insulin moves glucose from your blood into cells all over your body…insulin is the key that opens the doors of the cells in your body. Once insulin opens your cell doors, glucose can leave your bloodstream and move into your cells where you use it for energy.” (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/22601-insulin)

Metformin (which is what I take) has never CURED T2. It wasn’t meant to. It’s a way to CONTROL T2. A group of researchers noticed something odd: from the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic, “…factors involved in the control of gluconeogenesis [which is the liver making blood sugars and injecting them into our bloodstream]… sometimes patients hospitalized with COVID-19 showed high glucose levels…[it] seems to be related to the ability of the virus to spark the activity of proteins involved in starting the liver up making glucose and sending it to the bloodstream…”

So, that response of the bodies of people with COVID sometimes made their body react as if they were also Type 2 diabetic. Now, I take FOUR metformin tablets every day. I was SHOCKED to read this: “The mechanisms of action of metformin, the most commonly prescribed drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, which reduces how much glucose is in the blood, are still not fully understood.”

In other words, researchers, doctors, and pharmacists DON’T KNOW HOW METFORMIN WORKS!!!!!!! While I intentionally made that more alarming than I could have, the fact is that as researches dig into the method of metformin function, they’re finding out WAY more than they expected, up to and including the effect of metformin in REDUCING AGING!!! “Early evidence highlighted the liver as the major organ involved in the effect of metformin on reducing blood levels of glucose. However, increasing evidence points towards other sites of action that might also have an important role, including the gastrointestinal tract, the gut microbial communities and the tissue-resident immune cells.”

“At the molecular level, it seems that the mechanisms of action vary depending on the dose of metformin used and duration of treatment. Initial studies have shown that metformin targets hepatic mitochondria (= “liver powerhouses”); however, the identification of a novel target at low concentrations of metformin at the lysosome surface might reveal a new mechanism of action. Based on the effectiveness and safety records in T2DM, attention has been given to the repurposing of metformin as part of adjunct therapy for the treatment of cancer, age-related diseases, inflammatory diseases, and COVID-19.”

Rest assured; I’ll be poking around this paper more as time goes on!

To briefly recap, it seems that HOW metformin works is even deeper than just at the level of CELLS – but deeper still into the “powerhouse” of every cell in your body: the mitochondria…

So, that’s it for now. Obviously I’ll continue to dig deeper into HOW metformin works. (I commented to my wife with a sigh, “Oh, great, now metformin with become as hard to get as Ozempic because the rich will start to pop the pills to stay young and beautiful!”

[*sigh* I vote we should just suppress THAT little bit of information!]

Links: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/06/240607121434.htm; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4214027/; https://fagron.com/news-media/post/exploring-the-multifaceted-benefits-of-metformin-hydrochloride-beyond-diabetes-management/; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41574-023-00833-4

Image: https://asploro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Diabetes-Research_Open-Access.jpg