We hear a lot about the epidemic of Type II diabetes today. For an epidemic to occur, it requires several things to go wrong concurrently….like the “perfect storm” that occurred, meteorologically, on October 31, 1991, in the northeastern U.S. when three separate weather fronts collided at the same time, in the same place. And, indeed, for the “epidemic” of Type II diabetes, the bad weather has been building on different fronts for decades.
Today, most experts recognize Type II diabetes is a multifactorial disease. In other words, many factors contribute to its development. But too few researchers seem to make the obvious observation that “genetics” alone can’t cause such dramatic increases over such a short time. We need more experts to acknowledge that what has been causing the exponential increase (in other words, epidemic) of Type II diabetes in recent years is in our environment.
As I see it, three major environmental factors contribute to the Type II diabetes epidemic…
First, the government told us for decades to cut dietary cholesterol and saturated fat. (They finally admitted earlier this year, that advice was all wrong, all along.) Of course, the processed food manufacturers aided and abetted the situation by marketing low-fat packaged foods laden with carbs and sugar. So when people tried to follow the government’s bad advice, they cut back on healthy foods like butter, eggs, meat, and shellfish. And they ate more carbs and sugars, which we now know are far more dangerous because they set the stage for Type II diabetes.
Second, an entire generation of people began taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. Big pharma still claims the drugs combat the epidemic of heart disease. We now know they don’t lower heart disease risk at all. But they do cause Type II diabetes, which is ironically the leading cause of cardio-metabolic heart disease.
Amazingly, doctors still debate whether the supposed “benefits” of these toxic, ineffective poisons can possibly outweigh the obvious risks.
What is there to debate?
The leading drug used to prevent heart disease doesn’t actually decrease heart disease risk. But it does increases the risk of Type II diabetes, which causes heart disease. It is certainly a circular firing squadyou want to avoid at all costs.
Third, there is a lot of concern and politicized “science” regarding the effects of climate change. Unfortunately, the “global warming” debate takes attention away from the real and immediate crisis regarding environmental pollution with pesticides.
Pesticides clearly hurt bee and butterfly populations, which disrupts global ecology. Research also links pesticides with cancers, endocrine disorders, and other diseases in humans. And now, a new study out of Europe links pesticides with Type II diabetes.
Researchers recently presented this startling evidence at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in September 2015. Working together with researchers from the Imperial College, London, and the University of Ionnina, Greece, they studied pesticide exposure in more than 80,000 people. Their analysis is actually an extension of similar research commissioned by the European Food and Safety Authority (EFSA) that looked at links between Type II diabetes and pesticides between the years 2006 and 2013.
The new meta-analysis included a total of 25 observational studies from North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Pesticides included among the studies were chlordane, dichlorophenyldichloroethylene (DDE), dichlorodiphenyltrichoroethane (DDT), oxychlordane, and trans-nonachlor.
Three studies used a questionnaire regarding pesticide exposure. These studies found an odds ratio of 1.10, or increased risk of diabetes of just 10 percent. But as I’ve said before, studies that rely on participant questionnaires are notoriously inaccurate. You have to consider the fact that many people may not realize the degree of their exposure to pesticides. And others might knowingly or unknowingly underreport their exposure.
On the other hand, 19 studies tested for the actual presence of pesticides in blood or urine. These much stronger studies found an odds ratio of 1.75–or increased risk of 75 percent for developing Type II diabetes among men and women with pesticide residue in the blood or urine. People are being poisoned and they don’t even know it.
Overall, when the researchers combined all the studies, the pesticides increased the risk of developing Type II diabetes by 60 percent.
Looking at individual pesticides, the two most dangerous pesticides for increasing Type II diabetes risk were DDE (80 percent increased risk) and DDT (95 percent increased risk, or nearly double).
Amazingly, all the pesticides tested have been banned worldwide, yet they are still found in body fluids. Pesticides accumulate in body fat and continue to expose individuals to their toxic effects for years. Pesticides also promote fat storage in the liver, pancreas, and muscles (perhaps by being cytotoxic) all of which contribute to the development of Type II diabetes. (That’s one reason I warn that weight loss can release toxins from fat tissue, which then have to be processed and removed from the body. This detox may cause feelings of malaise during a period of initial weight loss.)
So we now have a perfect storm of diet, drugs, and environmental exposures increasing the risk of Type II diabetes. No wonder we have an epidemic on our hands.
The good news is, you can work your way back through this toxic tangle.
First, cut sugars and carbs from your diet and get light-to-moderate, regular exercise (We’ll report on a study later this month showing a daily 25-minute walk increases lifespan by seven years, even if you don’t start until age 70.) These steps will help you lose weight, which reduces the risk of developing Type II diabetes and will even help reverse diabetes itself. Also, your body will release stored, fat-soluble chemicals like pesticides as it melts away fat.
Second, make sure you get 10,000 IU daily of the fat-soluble vitamin D. As I told you in September, researchers found vitamin D can help control and even prevent Type II diabetes and its dangerous complications.
Third, if you currently take a statin drug, get off it as soon as possible. Read my special report The Insider’s Guide to a Heart-Healthy and Statin-Free Life to learn how to safely and effectively detox from these toxic drugs.
Fourth, don’t re-expose yourself to pesticides. Don’t pour chemicals on your lawn.
I want to give some due credit to Montgomery County, Maryland, where my daughter grew up and has worked as a Park Ranger. The county recently became the first nationwide to ban the use of pesticides in residential yards. Most of their nanny regulations make no sense except to generate more fees for the county and make more work for expensive county employees. But the citizens got lucky for once.
Avoid golf courses in the U.S., which are drenched and drowning in pesticides. If you must play golf, go to Scotland, where they invented the game, and have natural turf. “I’ll take the high road, and you’ll take the low road, and I’ll be in Scotland before you. “ But we still have to get everyone off the low road of the wrong dietary, drug and environmental exposures to turn around today’s epidemic of Type II diabetes.
Source:
- “Pesticides Linked to Increased Risk of Diabetes, “ Medscape (www.medscape.com) 9/25/2015