DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #42 Fighting Diabetes Stigma, One Joke at a Time

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: The Stigma of  Diabetes

I’m a funny guy.

My family, friends, church members, former students, grandchildren…and even my WIFE will attest to it. I’m funny.

Which made me start to wonder with anyone was trying to face and deal with Type 2 diabetes with humor?

Turns out, they DO!

A couple years ago (Winter 2024), a group of comedians, artists, and activists gathered together under the sponsorship of DiaTribe to brainstorm, write, and create a series of videos aimed at destigmatizing diabetes. “Broadly, the videos aim to spotlight surprising facts about diabetes, increase familiarity and respect, counter harmful stereotypes and misconceptions, and encourage laughter and curiosity over judgment.”

So – what can this do to HELP me deal with being a T2 Diabetic? Or even a Type 1…can’t imagine that, though trying to deal with the self-separating issues that come from few (if anyone) really understanding not ONLY what that meant for your life, but being unable – NOT because you’re fat, disabled, or something else that people might understand for you staying out of sports…but because you’re “a diabetic” and people wondering how THAT could keep you from playing any sport at all. That was what happened to Greg; my long-time buddy and friend. He was one of the most understanding – and obNOXIOUSLY funny people I have ever known! You’d think that would have kept him happy…but his ban (personal, parental, or doctoral, he never said…) from being an athlete. It hurt him.

At any rate, these commercials and the goal of this group, make me think of Greg…so I share them with you. If you know someone who struggles with T1 or T2 diabetes, watch these, think, then make a plan to make their lives more fun. At least, more “seen” and less “blamed”.

So follow a couple of them, follow all of them.

Then talk to someone who is diabetic and find out if there’s anything you can do to help – or if you should just shut up about it. Or refuse to talk about it and ask them to teach you. THEN shut up.

(A related post of mine regarding the stigma of being T2...

https://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2026/03/guys-gotta-talk-abouttype-2-diabetes_01835368122.html

Links: https://diatribe.org/mental-health/fighting-diabetes-stigma-one-joke-time , https://www.dstigmatize.org/
Commercial 1: Above the Bias: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqelmrbFdbU

Commercial 2: DiabetesCanada: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhrGmtO3g6o
Commercial 3: Spoonful of Laughter
https://diatribe.org/understanding-diabetes/spoonful-laughter-defeating-diabetes-stigma-comedy
Commercial 4: THIS ONE IS FUNNY!!! From DIATRIBE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNuzrPO6Rko&list=PLTSsBI6NOrskpJp0iZlEBJMuw4D9ep8Yx&index=1
Commercial 5: NOT so funny, but hopeful!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2dAlR6NGho&list=PLTSsBI6NOrskpJp0iZlEBJMuw4D9ep8Yx&index=5
Commercial 6: Not exactly funny…but kinda creepy…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmp0kRqlHE4&list=PLTSsBI6NOrskpJp0iZlEBJMuw4D9ep8Yx&index=15

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

GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…TYPE 2 DIABETES #42: How About I Make A SMART Choice FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME!

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!

OK – in my regular reading of Type 2 diabetes research, here’s one I have NOT seen before: “In people with type 2 diabetes [who are] overweight…modest weight loss improves glycemia and reduces the need for glucose-lowering medications…greater weight loss substantially reduces A1C and fasting glucose and may promote sustained diabetes remission…”

Let me interpret this as I unpack it. First of all – I’ve been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes for several years now. (CHECK!) My ideal weight for my height and age? Hmmm…never looked it up/used a tool. So, here goes: I’m 69, about 5’10”. My ideal weight should be between 132-173 pounds. My ACTUAL weight as of this morning? “Nunnayerbeezwax!” OK…fine, this morning I weighed in a 237.2 pounds. Even on the HEAVIER end of the ideal, I’m about one 7-year-old grandchild overweight…

OK – I’m feeling guilty! So what am I supposed to do? Here are their recommendations:

“Metabolic surgery, which results in an average >20% body weight loss, greatly improving glycemia and often leading to remission of diabetes, improved quality of life, improved cardiovascular outcomes, and reduced mortality. Several therapeutic modalities, including intensive behavioral and lifestyle counseling, weight management pharmacotherapy, and metabolic surgery, may aid in achieving and maintaining meaningful weight loss and reducing obesity-associated health risks.”

Translations are hereby ordered: “metabolic surgery” = removal of a portion of my stomach. Medically? Nah…equally incomprehensible. How about in “normal man language”? Here we go! “A large part of the stomach is removed, leaving a banana-shaped tube…” OK…here’s a ROCK HARD PASS!!!!!

NEXT! “…A small pouch is made from the stomach and connected directly to the small intestine, skipping most of the stomach and first part of the intestines…” iow: food you eat skips the stomach and guts to get shit out unchanged…That’s disgusting even to me as a science geek/former science teacher (I taught all of them: life science, earth science, physical science (chemistry+physics), biology, chemistry, and physics; levels special-education to English Language Learners to “average students” to International Baccalaureate students.) Once again, ROCK HARD PASS!!!

In the end? “Metabolic surgery goes beyond just eating less; it changes the body's internal biology to fight obesity-related diseases, with studies showing it can be more effective for diabetes and long-term weight management than lifestyle changes.” OK – let me translate: “with studies showing it can be more effective for diabetes and long-term weight management than lifestyle changes” this obviously means that DON’T BOTHER TRYING TO CHANGE YOUR BEHAVIOR! GET EXTREME AND EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE SURGERIES THAT DO NOTHING TO CHANGE THE ROOT CAUSE OF YOU BEING OVERWEIGHT (and as a fat person myself, I am evaluating this in light of what such drastic surgery would mean for me. Maybe I just have a weak personality and an aversion to supporting an industry that makes certain people wealthy by convincing me to “DO THE EXPENSIVE THING, IT MUST BE THE BEST!”

OK – so what if all of the above “suck the big one!!!!!”

Is there something ELSE I can do? Here’s one: “intensive behavioral and lifestyle counseling”. Translation? “They go beyond handouts with health tips. The programs engage with your family to provide face-to-face opportunities to practice healthy behaviors. An IHLBT (Intensive Health Behavior and Lifestyle Treatment)program helps you change behavior in ways that are individualized… utilizing community health educators, dietitians and exercise specialists. They can take place within normal community-based organizations. It ALSO includes

non-judgmental activities that boost your self-esteem by focusing on health, not weight. Activities focus on physical activity, healthy nutrition involving the whole household to join to thrive in a healthy environment. There is a strong focus on changes to ENJOY and keep up after the program has ended. ALSO – encouraging time spent on activities, and changing routines and habits. It CAN’T happen overnight, and IHBLT programs work best when they offer plenty of time—26 hours or more, over 3 to 12 months working to help people along with their families – succeed.” [Adapted for my own life based on an article posted here:] https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/obesity/Pages/what-is-intensive-health-behavior-and-lifestyle-treatment-IHBLT.aspx?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=69654055&gbraid=0AAAAADyMpZG8kPPcbF7zA1ZXQPb5UZT7b&gclid=Cj0KCQjw77bPBhC_ARIsAGAjjV_pyGT3IxIweAYV7Xn9C21WV0jI235z_oCBVEBc0Ft94SzbFJmE7BIaAjzCEALw_wcB

THIS is something I can get behind and work at! Look for comments on this change in my own lifestyle and whether I’ve been able to implement them in future posts!”

Source: https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/48/Supplement_1/S167/157555/8-Obesity-and-Weight-Management-for-the-Prevention
Image: https://www.hcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/living-well-with-/diabetes.jpg

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #41: New Therapy Aims To Cure Type 1 Diabetes (By rebuilding insulin cells and training the immune system to protect them!); Type 2 Using Stem Cells To Regrow Islet of Langerhans Cells Promising…

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: A daring new therapy aims to cure type 1 diabetes by rebuilding insulin cells — and training the immune system to protect them.

WHOA!!!

This has been something the Community has been talking about for years! Currently, at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), researcher Leonardo Ferreira, Ph.D. somehow re-starting the pancreas to produce insulin for Type 1 diabetics.

The team specializes in modifying the immune system using chimeric antigen receptors. These receptors help guide “regulatory T cells” or Tregs, to specific targets in the body. These Tregs are important in keeping immune responses under control. The immune response is the body’s way of sending “troops” to destroy infections – colds, flu, and germs that get into your body through cuts and even surgery. Type 1 is a “mistake” of the body that leads to it attacking itself.

In simple terms, immune system (white blood cells, act like bodyguards, preventing the immune system from going too far and harming healthy tissue.

By combining stem cell biology, gene editing, and immune regulation, the team is developing more than a single therapy. They are building a framework for teaching the body to repair itself. If successful, this work could eventually free patients from daily insulin injections and shift type 1 diabetes care from lifelong management to a true cure.

"I think this can change how medicine is done," Ferreira said. "Instead of treating symptoms, we can actually replace the missing cells. By doing this work, we are likely to further understand how T1D starts, how it develops and how it can be treated."

Likewise, there have been advances in treating Type 2 research. “The Stem Cell Medical Center of Antigua has expertise and cutting-edge approaches that go beyond symptom management to address the root causes of this challenging condition. Stem cell therapy DOES show great promise, but it’s essential to approach any new treatment with informed caution. Recent breakthroughs, including a case where a patient’s diabetes was effectively cured through stem cell-derived islet transplantation, offer hope for the future. For now, stem cell therapy is viewed as a potential way to significantly improve diabetes management and quality of life for some patients.”

Links: (T1) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260302030648.htm#:~:text=Researchers%20are%20developing%20a%20two,protect%20them%20from%20autoimmune%20attack;
(T2) https://stemcellmedicalcenter.com/treatments/endocrine-metabolic-diabetic/diabetes-type-2-can-stem-cells-succeed-where-traditional-treatments-fail/#:~:text=In%20a%20groundbreaking%20case%20reported,Generating%20functional%20pancreatic%20islet%20cells

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

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #37A: The Stigma of Being Diagnosed with Type 2 (or even Type 1!) 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: Diabetes Technology: Standards of Care in Diabetes—2026.

Being a Type 2 diabetic sometimes bugs me.

I wonder how I could have screwed up so much in my life that I wrecked my body so badly, it broke! Turns out, I’m not the only one who carried the stigma of being diabetic: “Diabetic Stigma is defined as negative attitudes, judgment, discrimination, or prejudice against someone because they have diabetes. It comes from the false idea that people with diabetes made unhealthy food and lifestyle choices, which resulted in their diagnosis. These false beliefs don't consider key factors that can cause diabetes, such as family medical history. They also don't factor in social determinants of health, which are the conditions where people grow, work, live and age. Diabetes stigma can particularly affect people with overweight or obesity. More than half of people with diabetes report that they have experienced stigma. Diabetes stigma can exist anywhere: in the family, school, workplace, and even in health care settings. Diabetes stigma can be experienced internally or externally. Internal stigma is a belief that a person with diabetes has about themselves. It can include feelings of self-blame, shame, and guilt. External stigma is blame and judgment that comes from other people and society. It can include awkward or mean looks, rejection, exclusion, and difficulty maintaining relationships and friendships.”

The word “stigma” derives from the Latin word, “stigmata”. A stigmata was literally religiously produced spots on the skin. At one time, claims were made bearing the stigma was a holy sign of God.

That’s not what it means any more: stigma: “a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person.”

While I learned as a kid, I can’t control what people THINK about me, I CAN control what I think about myself.

“Technology is rapidly changing, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to technology use in people with diabetes. Insurance coverage can lag behind device availability, people’s interest in devices and willingness for adoption can vary, and health care teams may have challenges in keeping up with newly released technology. An American Diabetes Association resource, which can be accessed at Link to Diabetes Technology Guidediabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/treatment-care/diabetes-technology-guide, can help health care professionals and people with diabetes make decisions on the initial choice of device(s). Other choices including device manufacturers, can help people troubleshoot when difficulties arise.”

When I first read this last year, I pretty much skipped over it because it seemed OBVIOUS that these would all be things providers should be doing to help manage Type 2 diabetes. I had also started thinking about the stigma I carried. Like it says above, I was working with a load of self-imposed self-dislike; and even though I was a science teacher, I still couldn’t get around what I thought of myself!

So, what do I do?

I took one step two weeks ago: I talked to my doctor about keeping up on Ozempic; by changing the frequency to every TWO weeks. I’ll be taking my shot tomorrow, and have discovered that walking is going to be IMPORTANT, MAYBE EVEN VITAL, to keeping my blood sugars down.

It sure has altered what I think of myself. I don’t feel so helpless any more…

I’ll keep you posted!

Links: https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/articles/diabetes-stigma.html ; https://www.everydayhealth.com/weight-management/can-taking-glp-1-drug-every-other-week-help-you-keep-weight-off/#:~:text=More%20Than%203%20Out%20of,same%20after%20the%20reduced%20dosing. 

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

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #36: What I’ll Be Following In 2026!

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 I'll be following in 2026.

As it’s STILL technically “the holidays”, I’m going to lay out my path of “reporting” on Type 2 research for the next several weeks. “My AI” brought up the following and surprised me with the possibility of insight and commentary!

“Type 2 Diabetes research in 2026 focuses heavily on advanced treatments (like single-dose gene therapies, CagriSema, digital health integration for better management, new prevention strategies, and updated clinical guidelines; [which emphasizes] personalized care, technology, and overcoming barriers like side effects from current medications…improving patient engagement, new drug development (like targeting specific fat transport), and establishing benchmarks for future care.

“Key Research Areas & Trends for 2026

“Moving beyond GLP-1s with approaches like RJVA-001 which MIGHT be a one-time treatment; and combining drugs or more effective blood sugar/weight control.

“Digital Health Integration: Using FDA-cleared digital tools to improve access, engagement, and outcomes, with NIH funding for research in this area.

Personalized & Preventative Care: Developing strategies for youth-onset T2D and tailoring care across the lifespan, with new guidelines emphasizing person-centered approaches.

“Understanding Disease Mechanisms: Deeper dives into how factors like free fatty acids (FFA) affect the liver and insulin resistance to find new therapeutic targets.

“Key Resources & Events: ADA Standards of Care 2026: The latest evidence-based guidelines released in late 2025, guiding care for 2026 and beyond, with updates on technology and management.

“New Journals: Launch of Diabetes, Obesity, and Cardiometabolic CARE by the ADA, focusing on primary care needs.

“Conferences: Events like the ADA's Clinical Update Conference (Feb 2026) and Keystone Symposia (2026) will discuss new research.

“NIH Funding: Calls for research on digital health (RFA-DK-26-315) and grants for diabetes translation research.

“Baseline Data Collection: For programs like Target Type 2 Diabetes, 2026 is a "dry run" for new activity reporting, establishing benchmarks for awards in 2027.

Clinical Trials: New drug trials, like CagriSema, are expected to reach completion or report primary results in mid-2026, potentially changing treatment landscapes.”

All these AND MORE as GGTA moves into the new yea!

Links: Google – type in “Type 2 Diabetes Research in 2026”

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

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #35: Are Blood Glucose and Blood Pressure Connected?

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: Blood glucose and blood pressure…what’s the connection?

There seems to be a pretty simple answer; but no one ever made the connection for me until I had the idea for this blog post. A paper in the JOURNAL OF HYPERTENSION, noted: “Yes, there is a strong connection between blood glucose and blood pressure, as both conditions share risk factors, have common underlying mechanisms, and can worsen each other. High blood sugar can lead to high blood pressure by damaging blood vessels, while the two conditions often coexist due to shared factors like obesity, inflammation, and insulin resistance.”

As well, the website of New York-Presbyterian Hospital’s Diabetes Resource Center notes, “Two out of every three people with Type 2 diabetes also have high blood pressure. Both are diseases of lifestyle and aging and share common risk factors. The good news is that diabetes and hypertension can be modified through behavior, including eating a healthful diet, exercise, weight control and, if your doctor prescribes it, medication. Either a T2 diabetic does not have enough/or effective enough insulin to process glucose so that it accumulates in the bloodstream causing widespread damage to the blood vessels and kidneys.”

While this sounds dire – and it IS, the good news is that both can be modified through behavior, including eating a healthful diet, exercise, weight control as well as medication.”

What started me on this is looking at my numbers after I started taking Ozempic-brand semaglutide (what does it do, anyway??? I know it lowers my blood sugars, BUT HOW? “semaglutide works by mimicking a hormone called GLP-1 to help the pancreas release insulin, lower blood sugar, and reduce the amount of sugar released by the liver.”)

Ohhhh! So, that’s what happens?!

But you know what? Shooting myself once a week with semaglutide does NOT work miracles! I can’t eat like a pig, take my shot and then slim down to my high school weight and build! I had to make LOTS of changes in how I ate – fewer in what I DID (During the brief period of “warm Minnesota weather”, I bike somewhere between 4 and 20 miles a week. More difficult is the rest of the year – so this winter, I’ve decided to walk a mile (working up to two, and MAYBE three) every other day. I’ve never done that before. It’s a new adventure.

All that to point out a couple things. First, is that I’m a retired science teacher. I LOVE data. So, when I began my journey in T2, I started to record on a chart EVERY DAY – the date, time, blood pressure, weight, and blood sugars. Starting on February 24, 2023 with a BP of 155/80, weight of 253.8, and blood glucose 189…I pretty much ignored the numbers until my doctor prescribed semaglutide in August of 2025 (yes, only three months ago!). My current (as of yesterday) data is BP = 127/71; weight = 233.8; glucose = 134 (average of last 10 days, 124.86).

I discovered VISCERALLY that when I walk and watch what I eat, my blood pressure comes down as does my blood glucose. So, I can report to you that I KNOW the statement is true: blood pressure and blood sugars ARE intimately connected…

Just so you know.

Links: https://journals.lww.com/jhypertension/fulltext/2025/05002/the_correlation_between_blood_glucose_levels_and.76.aspx 

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

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #34: Type 2 LAME Excuse: Diabetics CAN Be Reversed If You Lose Weight!

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: “Researchers See Type 2 Diabetes Develop for the First Time”

This scientific report – usually written in language I have to translate – spells out this discovery (EDITORIAL COMMENT: “How the…_ _ _ _ is this a “discovery”???”): “We saw that when a person accumulates too much fat, which should be stored under the skin, then it has to go elsewhere,” said Taylor. “The amount that can be stored under the skin varies from person to person.”

“When fat cannot be safely stored under the skin, it’s pushed into the liver and over-spills to the rest of the body including the pancreas, ‘clogging it up’. The clogs switch off the genes which direct how insulin should effectively be produced, and this causes type 2 diabetes.”

The end result of the study seems more a “duh!” moment than a revelation: “Excess calories leads to excess fat in the liver. As a result, the liver responds poorly to insulin and produces too much glucose. Excess fat in the liver is passed on to the pancreas, causing the insulin producing cells to fail. Losing less than 1 gram of fat from the pancreas through diet can re-start the normal production of insulin, reversing Type 2 diabetes. This reversal of diabetes remains possible for at least 10 years after the onset of the condition.”

This graphic sums up their result – though it hardly needs a scientist to either draw it or interpret it:

https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S155041311930662X-fx1.jpg

The end result of this (I don’t know if I was more startled by the results or the idea that someone said, “Let’s make everyone lose weight, then figure out if their blood sugars return to normal.”) is that it does. Rocket science? I think not…

HOWEVER, read my post from last month, here: https://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2025/10/guys-gotta-talk-abouttype-2-diabetes-36.html

One last thing, and this did come as both a surprise and a vindication to my current condition of having Type 2 Diabetes, “The amount [of body fat] that can be stored under the skin varies from person to person, indicating a ‘personal fat threshold’ above which fat can cause mischief.” So…not EVERYONE, not even everyone in a family will be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

That diagnosis DEPENDS on their “subdural lipid storage capability”.

Link: https://beyondtype1.org/researchers-type-2-diabetes-develop/?lead_source=PPC&lead_source_detail=Google&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_campaign=bt1|general|pmax&utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=6188803963&hsa_cam=21858550764&hsa_grp=&hsa_ad=&hsa_src=x&hsa_tgt=&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21868968196&gbraid=0AAAAADgX8fMJFJZJsVOhfeNhUkWEpsSxj&gclid=Cj0KCQjw35bIBhDqARIsAGjd-ca23s834Puk0eXYUcHrrbW9OqM0t3YyB5fCo2IiGMQSPFYQgHQBo4MaAjcdEALw_wcB 

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

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #33: THE Sure Cure For TYPE 2 Diabetes DISCOVERED!!!!!

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: THE SURE CURE FOR TYPE 2 DIABETES DISCOVERED!!!!

A recent article at CNN Science read, “The development of blockbuster type-2 diabetes and weight-loss drugs that mimic a hormone called glucagon-like peptide 1, or GLP-1, has shaken up the world of health care.”

“SGLT2 inhibitors, which include empagliflozin (the active ingredient in JARDIANCE), as a treatment option for adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease, with or without metformin.”

“One in 8 people in the world live with obesity — a figure that has more than doubled since 1990 — and the medication, which lowers blood sugar and curbs appetite, has the potential to usher in a new era for obesity treatment and related conditions such as type 2 diabetes.”

As a beneficiary of that research and the development of drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Metformin, manufactured insulin (“…using recombinant DNA technology, where the human insulin gene is inserted into bacteria (like E. coli) or yeast cells. These genetically modified microorganisms then ferment and produce human insulin, which is extracted, purified, and prepared for use in people with diabetes.”)

What caught my attention today was the phrase, “…people in the world live with obesity – a figure that has more than doubled since 1990.”

In 35 years, the prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes has DOUBLED???? THE HECK?!?!?!?! So, I started to DIG…

“To our knowledge, this study is the first global analysis of trends in both diabetes prevalence and treatment coverage that covers all countries. We reanalyzed and pooled hundreds of population-representative studies with measurements of glycemic biomarkers and data on diabetes treatment. We used a diabetes definition that included both FPG and HbA1c, thus closing a major gap between global health statistics and clinical practice and guidelines.”

After I read several summaries of different reports, I ran into THIS gobbledygook: “The number of people with untreated diabetes increased…from 1990 to 2022 (figure 5). The largest contributor to this rise was the increase in the size and age of population, because diabetes is more prevalent in older age groups…In other places, population change accounted for 61–83% of the increase in untreated diabetes cases, and rise in diabetes prevalence accounted for 15–42% of the increase in untreated diabetes cases. In high-income western countries, followed by central and eastern Europe, Latin America, and east Asia and the Pacific, the rise in the number of people with diabetes was countered to some extent by the improvement in treatment…”

That’s great data, BUT WHY? People getting older is the sole cause of the sky-rocketing number of people diagnosed with Type 2? Really?

I am, to say the least, skeptical.

The Mayo Clinic headquartered here in my home state of Minnesota, has a very neat and clinical explanation: “Type 2 diabetes…is caused mainly by cells in muscle, fat and the liver [that] don't respond to insulin as they should. As a result, the cells don't take in enough sugar. The gland that makes insulin, called the pancreas, can't make enough to keep blood sugar levels within a healthy range.” OK – https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/type-2-diabetes/symptoms-causes/syc-20351193

So, WHY are blood sugars so high that the pancreas can’t make enough insulin to control the level of sugar (to be clear, it’s NOT like…Cinnamon Toast Crunch sugar! That’s SUCROSE. It can’t control the level of GLUCOSE…) But again, WHAT? Where does the glucose come from that overwhelms an organ that EVOLVED (or was created) a very, very long time ago and seemed perfectly adequate for that very, very long time IN THE PAST 32 YEARS???

My spiffy little AI summarized ALL pertinent internet information and came up with the following: “Widespread obesity: Excess body fat, particularly around the abdomen, is the strongest risk factor for Type 2 diabetes and directly contributes to insulin resistance. The epidemic of obesity mirrors the rise in diabetes cases globally. Sedentary lifestyle: Lack of physical activity is a major contributor, as regular exercise improves insulin sensitivity, helps control weight, and encourages cells to use glucose for energy. Unhealthy diet: Diets high in processed foods, refined grains, and sugar-sweetened beverages contribute to weight gain, insulin resistance, and inflammation.”

Lemme see if I can translate this: “people are fat”; “people are lazy”; “people eat shit (aka, too much white sugar)”

Shocking, eh? If you are like me, you probably responded by saying, "Duh!"

Let me be clear: THE FINGER I’M POINTING AT Y’ALL HAS THREE FINGERS POINTING RIGHT BACK AT ME.

So with my succinct diagnosis, what do I (we) need to do: “Stop overeating, MOVE enough to make you tired, cut out most of the sugar you eat.”

KNOW that most of the sugar is hidden by big words and methods of cooking and baking. Know also, JUST FROM MINNESOTA: “2.278 million Short Tons Raw Value, which corresponds to a stocks-to-use ratio of 18.0 percent, up 1.8 percentage points from last month and edges 2012/13 to be the highest in 20 years.”

And so, I am proud to announce the CURE FOR Type 2 Diabetes!

Stop eating too much ALL THE TIME; move MORE (notice I avoid using the “E-word”, oh, fine!) I HAVE TO exercise more!; and I NEED TO STOP EATING SO MUCH SUGAR. OK -- let's get to work!

Links: https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/04/science/nobel-prize-worthy-scientific-discoveries , https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/fromdnatobeer/exhibition-interactive/recombinant-DNA/recombinant-dna-technology-alternative.html, https://patient.boehringer-ingelheim.com/us/products/jardiance/type-2-diabetes/type-2-diabetes-and-your-heart?s_kwcid=AL!6545!3!738671423413!p!!g!!manage%20type%202%20diabetes&cid=cpc:GoogleAds:EA_JAR-T2D_DTC_GADS_US_EN_NONBRAND_GENERIC_TRAFFIC_DISCOVERY_g::T2D_Manage_%26_Avoid_p_kwd-manage%20type%202%20diabetes&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=13541658712&gbraid=0AAAAADEx4vCmVl9_t-RD4Fh7lHvxsQGgS&gclid=CjwKCAjwi4PHBhA-EiwAnjTHuQ7NfP9LFg39oalhGVIndNkh_R478JmUyI0Wu98W3kQh8KkwsLqZGRoCfkIQAvD_BwE, https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/diabetes-lancet-1.7383245 , https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)02317-1/fulltext

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

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #32: Will developments in treatments be able to counteract the resulting impact on Type 2 morbidity and mortality?

THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN THIS MORNING AT 5 AM...BUT I'VE SORTA BEEN BUSY. SORRY!

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: The incidence of Type 2 diabetes is increasing for a number of reasons. Will technology be able to keep pace with that increase?

As far as I can tell, there's no new, magic pill coming out that all I have to do is pop it and BOOM! my blood sugars will return to normal and I can live the life I lived when I was 15 and could eat everything in sight and watch TV 24/7 and still weigh 150 pounds...

“Before the availability of insulin in the 1920s, hailed not only as the cure for diabetes but also as one of the greatest advances in the treatment of any disease, a person diagnosed with diabetes would have faced death within a few years.”

That would have been the news for me if I’d been diagnosed with diabetes in 1922 instead of in 2022, I “…would have faced death within a few years.”

Like, now. Instead of writing this column, I’d have been dead. Possibly even LONG dead…

OK – I need to stop jumping up and down in excitement. In the research paper linked below and posted on the NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE, “In reality, the impact of diabetes is so significant that it is affecting overall life expectancy: in the United States (US), life expectancy is falling for the first time since statistics were collected, due to obesity…”

Whaaaat??? (My younger grandson would have said). I’m taking my metformin, lisinopril, glipizide, Ozempic, and rosuvastatin. I’ve been part of this trend because I’ve been fat since I was a kiddo; then lost weight when I went to West Africa (returning at 180); and gaining weight until recently and topping out at 260+. With the help of Ozempic and diet changes and MAKING GOOD CHOICES, I’m finally down to 240. Still WAY beyond my ideal weight (according to the Mastermind of the Internet – AI Overview) “For a 5'10" 68-year-old male, the ideal weight is a range that allows for a healthy Body Mass Index (BMI), generally between 132 to 174 pounds”…ouch.

So…I’m not in IMMINENT danger of dropping dead (but who knows?) But, I’m still interested in what might be to come? How about Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support (DSMES) programs???

Apparently, they might be covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and most other insurance plans to help people with diabetes manage their condition, improve their health, and prevent complications. To access these programs, patients need a doctor's referral. Supposedly, this kind of program helps with meal planning, medication management, coping with the condition, and setting realistic goals to achieve better health outcomes. I drew a line through what I don’t really need help with at this time. What I DO need help for is to set realistic goals for.

To find an Accredited Program, our doctors can refer us, or we can use online tools to find accredited DSMES programs near us. How about at my clinic? It would have to be a “hands on”, rather than a lecture. Speaking of which, have you ever noticed that there are NO fancy-pants “Cooking Shows” aimed at people with diabetes? I know, I’ve checked. There are LOTS of shows that help me to cook my way into an early Obesity Grave. I’ll check again…just a second…I guess there ARE a couple! First: IN THE KITCHEN WITH DIABETES CANADA

2024 series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz218ICsOY9obzaVUGsSLdQbRLArc1jTW
The 2025 series is coming soon!
https://www.diabetes.ca/get-involved/local-programs-events/in-the-kitchen-with-diabetes-canada#panel-tab_Weeklythemes

This might be what I’m looking for – a better way to control my blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. A DSMES could conceivably help prevent or delay diabetes-related complications, leading to a better quality of life. By improving health outcomes and reducing complications, DSMES can help lower overall healthcare costs. Increased confidence, gaining knowledge, and skills might help me feel more confident in managing my diabetes effectively.

Follow me here to see where THIS adventure takes me.

Links: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3498849/ (see above!)

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

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #31: A VERY Brief History of Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes and What They Mean To Me, Today, Now

YES: THIS IS A REAL, HEALTHY PANCREAS...

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: Past, Present, and the Future of Diabetes and HOW it affects me...Treatment – in fact the very existence of Type 2 diabetes is NOT expected to vanish any time soon – of Type 2 are not going to disappear any time soon.

Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes have similar names, but their causes, development, and treatment approaches are WILDLY different. “We don’t know when diabetes was first discovered but it was mentioned in Egyptian medical papyri dating back to 1500 BCE. These ancient documents describe a malady characterized by frequent urination, a symptom that is now associated with diabetes mellitus. However, the term ‘diabetes’ itself did not exist until around 250 BCE, when a Greek physician, Apollonius of Memphis, coined it.”

Type 1 diabetes wasn’t treatable. In the olden days, people DIED FROM IT. (In these days people DIE FROM IT as well…) “Canadian doctor Banting and his assistant Best discovered how to treat Type 1. Leonard Thompson, a 14-year-old boy, became the first patient to receive an insulin injection, significantly improving his health. Banting and Macleod won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1923 for their important discovery.” Scientists eventually discovered that the cause of Type 1 diabetes comes from a Human body attacking itself. “Type 1 is a condition that starts in childhood. It happens when the body’s immune system attacks and destroys cells in the pancreas that make insulin.” It was this form of diabetes that my best male friend at the time, who was best man in our wedding, died a truly ugly death in direct result (one might even say direct DEFIANCE) of his Type 1 diagnosis…

My Type 2 is treatable. In fact, I just got a shipment of a brand-name semaglutide an hour or so ago…but what it comes down to is this. My best man had NO CHOICE in developing Type 1 diabetes. Unlike HIM, “Type 2 diabetes is largely a disease of lifestyle and usually develops later in life. Type 2 diabetes was first described in the 1930s, although its history is not as well-documented as Type 1 diabetes. It was recognized as a distinct condition, different from Type 1 diabetes, that generally affected adults and wasn’t dependent on insulin. The disease likely existed long before but was not distinguished from other forms of diabetes.”

They start differently and are treated differently…but could they be CURED the same way?

The key is an organ in your belly called a really WEIRD looking thing called a pancreas.

What IS this thing? Something oogy. Gag-inducing. Ugly. (You probably noticed it when you followed my link…)

But so important that last year, treating the main malady of this tiny organ cost the world over a trillion dollars. Yes, that’s right: treating everyone who had diabetes (Type 1 and 2 together) in 2024 cost $1,000,000,000,000. https://www.statista.com/statistics/241831/health-care-costs-due-to-diabetes-worldwide-by-region/#:~:text=Health%20care%20expenditure%20due%20to,433%20thousand%20diabetes%2Drelated%20deaths.

The emotional cost is far beyond that. In 2024, diabetes, both type 1 and type 2, was responsible for 3.4 million deaths globally; at least one person loved every one of those people who died. This equates to one death every nine seconds. The Western Pacific region had the highest number of diabetes-related deaths, with approximately 1.2 million.” https://diabetesatlas.org/#:~:text=to%20tackle%20it.-,589%20million%20adults,3

This is serious stuff people. VERY serious. And I am one of a very small group of people who can afford to treat something I brought on myself (with a little help from my genetics…) But I DO have resources…

I’ve probably depressed you by now, so I’ll stop for here. But I’m not done. One last thing – I’m not pointing a finger or making accusations at YOU: I’m reflecting on the choices I MADE MYSELF. You can make your own choices…up to you.

And while I’m only RESPONSIBLE to myself, my choices affect the lives of many other people…and so do yours…

Links: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5278808/ 

Image: https://diabeticinfobiology.weebly.com/uploads/2/5/3/7/25377896/6064508.jpg?601

GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…TYPE 2 DIABETES #33: Type 2 Diabetes & Alzheimer’s

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!

Over the years (14 of them, actually…), I’ve written on breast cancer (my wife was diagnosed with it in 2011); Alzheimer’s (my dad was diagnosed in 2016) and finally Type 2 diabetes when I was diagnosed in October of 2022.

Well, my nightmare is coming true: “The relationship between diabetes and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) has increasingly been recognized.” The paper, “Diabetes and Alzheimer’s Disease” (published in JOURNAL OF DIABETES, 2025 May 19, see Source: below) concludes:

“There is, then, a strong connection between diabetes and AD, reflecting underlying insulin resistance leading to [Aβ accumulation and tau hyperphosphorylation] (colloquially known as plaques and tangle). Appropriately powered clinical trials of GLP‐1 RAs and SGLT2 inhibitors, as well as of further potential therapies, are needed to determine effective strategies for prevention and treatment. Conceptually, physical activity and a healthy diet can improve insulin sensitivity and should be effective in reducing AD, but existing evidence to develop effective lifestyle approaches is limited, and this too appears to be an important potential area for research.”

The first part is totally disheartening, and makes me feel like there’s nothing for me to do but to lie down and let the Alzheimer’s and resign myself to sharing inappropriate anecdotes with my children and other friends, or forgetting the name of my youngest child…

Both of those happened with Dad. Outbursts of anger, as well (though, to be perfectly frank, Dad was well known for not only the anger thing, but also a getting in fights thing when he was a kid growing up in Loring Park (downtown Minneapolis).

It was the loss of his grip on reality that frightens me most. He called me a 3:00 am more than once to tell me that he thought that “Your mother has left me. I don’t know why.” I would have to calm him with the tale that my mother had passed away a few days/months/years ago. Which would bring him crashing into reality in total silence.

Those times, or when I had to explain that the person driving him home from a fishing trip was my younger brother, Paul. Or explaining over and over that Mom had died…

Now, I find out that my being a Type 2 diabetic increases the chance of my developing those plaques and tangles and a greater chance of developing Alzheimer’s.

Finally, I read the WORST part: “Clinical trials are underway to investigate the potential of the GLP‐1 RA semaglutide (which you may know as the WONDERDRUG used by people desperate to lose weight by giving themselves shots of…well, I could write out the actual name, but the brand names of semaglutide start with O, W, M, Z and their ilk) rather than controlling their appetites. This has led to insurance coverage being reduced or eliminated in modifying Type 2 diabetics. It is also preventing the potential to control and treat Alzheimer’s Disease among early‐stage symptomatic patients. The sodium‐glucose co‐transporter 2 Inhibitors (SGLT2i; known as those letters listed a few sentences ago) may also have neuroprotective antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory effects, increasing neurogenesis and synaptic activity and decreasing ischemic neuronal damage and mitochondrial dysfunction, as well as improving hyperglycemia and insulin sensitivity.”

So, there you go. First, Type 2 diabetes may lead to Alzheimer’s; and the treatment for both prevention and treatment has been adjudged to be nothing more than a cure for obesity. (and therefore ELECTIVE and therefore probably not covered by insurance or cash on the barrelhead...)

Have a nice day.

Breast Cancer: https://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2011/04/observations-of-breast-cancer-husband.html
Alzheimer’s: https://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2016/09/guys-gotta-talk-aboutalzheimers-1.html
Type 2 Diabetes: https://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2022/10/guys-gotta-talk-aboutdiabetes-1.html

Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12088849/#:~:text=The%20relationship%20between%20diabetes%20and,these%20factors%20with%20insulin%20resistance.

Image: https://img0.etsystatic.com/il_170x135.112225675.jpg

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=

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/

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

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

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #26: POSSIBLY Protecting the Pancreas!

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 highlight Type 2 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: “Are treatments that protect the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, potentially slowing or even preventing the progression of diabetes possible?”

Early in March of this year, a study was done together by research universities with grants and scientists from the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, and the European Union to protect the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. A particularly damaging condition called glucolipotoxicity enables the progression of type 2 diabetes (T2D).

T2D, as you probably know if you have read about the condition in yourself or people you love, is “…a chronic condition where the body doesn't use insulin properly, causing blood sugar levels to become too high because the body can't effectively utilize glucose for energy; this often occurs due to a combination of factors like genetics, obesity, and lack of physical activity, and is characterized by the body's resistance to insulin, meaning cells don't respond normally to the hormone that helps glucose enter them.”

In earlier GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…DIABETES, I’ve written about the possibility of growing a new pancreas from cells cloned from your own, albeit damaged pancreas; creating an artificial pancreas, stimulating your pancreas to repair itself, and well as new drugs that might be used to either repair or replace the insulin WE need to live.

This approach has NEVER been tried. First you need to know what “glucolipotoxicity”. I’ll be using my ability to translate technical terms into ones more people can understand. (I can do that because I have BS in biology and spent the last four decades teaching science (of various sorts) to kids who ranged in age from 10 to 18.

So, let me have at it: “glucolipotoxicity”. First I’ll break it into its “parts”:

“gluco” – is pretty obvious: it’s the kind of sugar that runs our bodies, as in “glucose”. (There are other kinds, like dextrose, sucrose, fructose, cellulose, lactose, and galactose (all of which are sugars we EAT).

Then there are sugars we USE like cellulose (the sugar wood is made of); maltodextrin; ribose (the sugar part of “deoxyribonucleic acid”, usually known as DNA); trehalose (used by bacteria); ethanol (while it’s the basic component of drinking alcohol it can be used to make the polyethylene, the plastic used to make Target and CUB-style plastic bags, and plastic food containers)…there are lots of others!

“lipo” should be obvious to anyone who has ever used the word “liposuction” – it’s fat.

And finally, “toxicity” is self-explanatory. Toxic is BAD! Put them together, and now the definition makes sense: glucolipotoxicity is “a term used to describe the harmful effects of high levels of glucose and fatty acids on pancreatic beta cells.”

So…what? What’s THAT mean?

It means that when my glucose regulation circuits are haywire, then the levels of glucose in my blood are NOT BALANCED. Insulin was MADE to keep the amount of glucose in my blood level pretty much all the time. This treatment will protect your pancreas from the ravages of the assault of genes + sugars + fatty acids + lack of REGULAR exercise and keep it producing proper levels of INSULIN.

It ALSO was made to control the levels of fatty acids (which come from stuffing my face with unhealthy amounts of sugary, fatty foods. I’d be HAPPY to blame it all on my parents! I got my DNA from them, after all! It’s THEIR fault!) from destroying the pancreas.

And they would have to accept that because there IS a genetic piece of Type 2 diabetes (and Type 1 as well…), but there’s also a part of this that I AM responsible for! I absolutely admit to poor eating habits AND counting on wme being young and active and happy to eat whatever I wanted to. “But, NOBODY WARNED ME!!!!!!!” (I whine loudly…) and the fact is that while nobody grabbed me by the front of my sweaty T-shirt and shook me and said, “You should eat healthier…”, I wasn’t born stupid, either. I have always had a choice regarding what I choose to put in my mouth and exactly how much I move my legs and arms and torso and ass.

But, I was absolutely certainly NOT going to let anyone dictate ANYTHING TO ME. And now that I am firmly living with Type 2 diabetes, I am also THRILLED to see that the World Pharmaceutical Conglomerate has produced a shot I can take. And apparently, I can keep right on stuffing my face with AS MUCH BOOZE, SUGAR, FAT, and anything else I want to because I can BUY drugs that will fix it all…

And “Yes, thank you, I HAVE taken Ozempic (pills (currently offered at a 3 month supply for HORRIBLY BITTER pills for some $3200.00 dollars for a three month supply of which my health insurance covers $10,800 and I need to come up with some $2000 a year…which I don’t have: and which anyone on a lower income than MINE would find totally and completely impossible to cover…

And you know what else, I WILL lose weight. My blood sugars WILL go down and I’ll be able to eat whatever the hell I want to and live longer than anyone who can’t afford to pay for the drugs...

Are you detecting a note of bitterness in my words? Yes. You are.

Don’t be me…though I doubt that anyone young will bother to read this because, assuming they thought like I did when I was between 15 and 45…they’ll live forever because of the Miracle Of Modern First World Medicine…and no one reading this will print it off and give it to their kids or grandkids. And if they did, the wonderful kidlings and grandkidlings won’t actually believe it…‘cause because of the wonder of magic pills and shots, we can EAT whatever we want and we can take a pill or a shot or a surgery that will let us CONTINUE to EAT whatever the heck we want to and be just fine.

And worst of all, this rant will fall on mostly blind eyes…

Links: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/03/250304113808.htm Image: https://asploro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Diabetes-Research_Open-Access.jpg

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #25: Diabetes 2050 [I have to change or die...]

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 is the FUTURE of Diabetes?

So, the study below estimated in 2020, that by 2025…today… “ The total number of people with diabetes will rise from ∼11 million in 2000 to almost 20 million in 2025. By 2050, this is projected at >29 million people—a 165% increase over the 2000 level. Note that these projections imply a steady increase in the overall prevalence of diabetes, from 3.99% in 2000 to 7.21% in 2050.”

So – what ARE the numbers today? Well, in something I think is WEIRD, but critical, and possibly even criminal:

“By 2045, International Diabetes Foundation projections show that 1 in 8 adults, approximately 783 million, will be living with diabetes, an increase of 46%. Over 90% of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes, which is driven by socio-economic, demographic, environmental, and genetic factors. The key contributors to the rise in type 2 diabetes include: urbanization, ageing population, decreasing levels of physical activity, increasing overweight and obesity prevalence.”

“We CAN reduce the impact of diabetes by taking preventive measures for type 2 diabetes and providing early diagnosis and proper care for all types of diabetes. These measures can help people living with the condition avoid or delay complications.”

This is both immediate and personal – 1 in 8 adults. NEARLY 1 billion OF US or ONE EIGHTH OF THE PLANETARY POPULATION will be dealing with (mostly voluntarily) messed up blood sugars.

Instead of focusing on reducing a PLANETARY EPIDEMIC, we insist on worrying about “tiny bits of plastic”, and CLIMATE CHANGE (of course we won’t talk about diabetes because it can’t be BLAMED for most of US on something so far away as “climate change”, rather on our deliberately and with total abandon ignoring our own behavior – type two diabetes can be FIXED if we stop acting like human swine, eating whatever we want and then clamoring for INJECTABLES or PILLS we can take to FIX IT while we continue to EAT OURSELVES TO DEATH from an ALMOST completely avoidable disease.

“But, it’s just diabetes! My doctor keeps trying to scare me with stuff but I feel perfectly fine! I’m doing good!”

The RESULTS of living without personal control and a dependence of doctors and scientists coming up with pills and shots that absolve us from responsibility is as follows.

PLEASE NOTE I AM SPEAKING TO MYSELF AS WELL! I am NOT better than any of you who have taken this fatalist view of their health. I am TRYING, but not very hard:

High blood sugar
MORE and worse infections
You have to pee a LOT more than everyone else
You have to DRINK a lot more water (which of course makes you pee more)
Diabetic Ketoacidosis (= “If I can’t say it, it doesn’t exist.”) Let’s try and make it understandable:


THE FINAL EFFECT OF TYPE 2 DIABETES IN LITTLE WORDS: “Ketones (say: “key tones”) are made by your wonky body. Your blood starts to turn acidic, kinda like vinegar or orange juice. You get dizzy; you wanna barf, so you do; you have no idea where you are or who you’re giving your cash card to; you get major cramps; your breath smells like you just chugged a half gallon of orange juice; you pass out; and if no one gets you to a hospital, you die.”

THE FINAL EFFECT OF TYPE 2 DIABETES IN SCIENCE WORDS: Ketones are a byproduct of this diabetes process. As they accumulate in the blood, they can make it too acidic. Symptoms of Diabetic Keto-acidosis include: dizziness; nausea and vomiting; confusion; abdominal pain; fruity-smelling breath; a loss of consciousness and possibly a diabetic coma.”

Do we GET THIS? Yes, we will.

Do we UNDERSTAND THIS? I hope so. It seems clearer to me now.

Our Type 2 is NOT going to go away. My Type 2 is NOT going to go away if I just sit on my fat…buttocks…and not do anything about it. Everything up above (in either LITTLE WORDS or SCIENTIFICALLY) is going to happen.

Do you get it?

DO I GET IT???? I’m going to stop hoping someone’s gonna rush right over and gonna save my sorry butt with a pill I can take that will let me keep on living the way I have been for a long, long time.

So. I need to get going. I have kids, grandkids, and friends I'd like to be with as much as possible before I shuffle off this mortal coil.

Links: CURRENT STATISTICS: https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/24/11/1936/24758/Projection-of-Diabetes-Burden-Through-2050Impact ; https://www.ajmc.com/view/diabetes-prevalence-expected-to-double-globally-by-2050

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