Diabetes Solved Naturally: Discovering the Causes, and the Foods, Herbs and Strategies for Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

By Case Adams

This book disproves much of the "conventional wisdom" about type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Recent scientific research has proven there are a number of natural strategies shown to control blood sugar and sometimes even reverse diabetes - both type 1 and type 2. Yes, that's right. Scientific research done by doctors and universities has proven there are natural strategies that can control blood glucose, boost insulin production, and boost insulin sensitivity.

That is what this book is all about. Explaining what really causes diabetes and what can be done about it according to the latest scientific research.

Diabetes is surging at an unprecedented pace, resulting in millions of deaths and disabilities. What really causes diabetes? Can we make changes in our diets and lifestyle to better control our glucose? Are there herbs and superfoods that help our bodies control blood sugar? Are there lifestyle changes that can help reduce dependence on insulin? This book gives the clear answers based on hundreds of clinical studies from renowned researchers and doctors from around the world. This book also shows the evidence proving that a number of strategies can significantly reduce type 1 and type 2 diabetes symptoms and even turn around insulin production and sensitivity issues. On top of this, this book also lays out commonsense natural strategies that have been shown to significantly help glucose metabolism.

This book is for diabetes beginners and veterans, for the public and for doctors. Here you will find specific information on the best diabetes diet, and even information for making a diabetes logbook and even can be used as companion to a cookbook. The bottom line is our need for information. Information based on science, not anecdotal information - this person's opinion or that person's opinion - but hard scientific proof based on clinical studies. This book offers that kind of hard scientific evidence to a condition that has been the subject of anecdotal heresy. Get the facts, and talk to your doctor about this evidence. You will be surprised what you find out.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Logical Books
• Release date: Jan 16, 2024
• ISBN: 9798215202197

Case Adams

“One summer decades ago, as a pre-med major working my way through college, I hurt my back digging ditches. I visited a doctor who prescribed me with an opioid medication. I didn’t take the drug but this brought about a change of heart regarding my career in medicine. I decided against prescribing drugs and sought an alternative path. During college and afterwards, I got involved in the food business, working at farms, kitchens, and eventually management in the organic food and herbal supplement businesses. I also continued my natural health studies, and eventually completed post-graduate degrees in Naturopathy, Integrative Health Sciences and Natural Health Sciences. I also received diplomas in Homeopathy, Aromatherapy, Bach Flower Remedies, Colon Hydrotherapy, Blood Chemistry, Obstetrics, Clinical Nutritional Counseling, and certificates in Pain Management and Contact Tracing/Case Management along the way. During my practicum/internships, I was fortunate to have been mentored and trained under leading holistic M.D.s, D.O.s, N.D.s, acupuncturists, physical therapists, herbalists and massage therapists, working with them and their patients. I also did grand rounds at a local hospital and assisted in pain treatments. I was board certified as an Alternative Medical Practitioner and practiced for several years at a local medical/rehabilitation clinic advising patients on natural therapies.“My journey into writing about alternative medicine began about 9:30 one evening after I finished with a patient at the clinic I practiced at over a decade ago. I had just spent two hours showing how improving diet, sleep and other lifestyle choices, and using selected herbal medicines with other natural strategies can help our bodies heal themselves. As I drove home that night, I realized the need to get this knowledge out to more people. So I began writing about natural health with a mission to reach those who desperately need this information and are not getting it in mainstream media. The health strategies in my books and articles are backed by scientific evidence combined with traditional wisdom handed down through natural medicines for thousands of years.I am hoping to accomplish my mission as a young boy to help people. I am continuously learning and renewing my knowledge. I know my writing can sometimes be a bit scientific, but I am working to improve this. But I hope this approach also provides the clearest form of evidence that natural healing strategies are not unsubstantiated anecdotal claims. Natural health strategies, when done right, can be safer and more effective than many conventional treatments, with centuries of proven safety. This is why most pharmaceuticals are based on compounds from plants or other natural elements. I hope you will help support my mission and read some of my writings. They were written with love yet grounded upon science. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.”Contact: case(at)caseadams.com

Book preview

Diabetes Solved Naturally

Discovering the Causes, and the Foods, Herbs and Natural Strategies for Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

By Case Adams, Naturopath

Diabetes Solved Naturally: Discovering the Causes, and the Foods, Herbs and Strategies for Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

Copyright © 2022, 2024 Case Adams

LOGICAL BOOKS

All rights reserved.

Printed in USA

The information provided in this book is for educational and scientific research purposes only. The information is not medical advice and is not a substitute for medical care or personal health advice. A physician or other qualified medical practitioner expert should be consulted prior to any significant change in lifestyle, diet, herbs or supplement usage. There shall neither be liability nor responsibility should the information provided in this book be used in any manner other than for the purposes of education and scientific research. While animal research may be referenced in the text, neither the author nor publisher supports the use of animals for research purposes.

Publishers Cataloging in Publication Data

Adams, Case

Diabetes Solved Naturally: Discovering the Causes, and the Foods, Herbs and Natural Strategies for Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

First Edition

1. Medicine. 2. Health.

Bibliography and References; Index

Print ISBN-13: 978-1-936251-58-2

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. What is Diabetes?

2. What Causes Diabetes?

3. Diabetes and Diet

4. The Anti-Diabetes Diet

5. Superfoods that Fight Diabetes

6. Herbs for Diabetes

7. Our Microbiome and Diabetes

8. Sweets and Fats

9. Other Strategies for Diabetes

References and Bibliography

Other Books by the Author

Introduction

Diabetes is swamping our society. Type 2 and type 1 diabetes has been increasing over the recent decades so fast that they might be considered a contagion. What is causing this?

Of course diabetes is not a contagious disease. But it is one that can develop as a result of dietary, lifestyle and environmental conditions that are spreading through our society on a worldwide basis like a contagion.

This book will clearly define what those causes are, and how we can immediately change our lives to help mitigate those causes.

I will also lay out strategies that can have immediate and long-term effects on our glucose metabolism for the better. Most of these strategies are easy to apply to our lives. Some are simply to avoid certain environmental toxins. Others are simply adding certain foods to our diet.

Then there are the superfoods, and medicinal herbs that have been used for centuries and are now proven in clinical research to boost our insulin production, reduce our blood sugar and/or increase our glucose and insulin sensitivity.

On top of these I add simple strategies to include delicious probiotic foods and supplements to our daily lives. I provide the science that proves how probiotics can help diabetics and prediabetics alike to help manage and control blood sugar.

To this I add a number of simple lifestyle and conditioning strategies that have been proven to significantly help our glucose metabolism.

In addition, I define the various sweeteners available, both natural and synthetic, and their effects on our blood sugar and glucose metabolism. Indeed, there are several sweeteners that will not only minimally affect our glucose control: But there are some that will improve our insulin production and insulin sensitivity.

Then of course there is the elephant in the room. This pertains to our regular diets. What diets are best for diabetics? And what diets can help prevent diabetes for those who may be prediabetic?

I have devoted a significant portion of this book to discussing the scientific research on diet and diabetes. I have laid out the foods and diet types that science has shown will harm our glucose control. I factually prove, from a scientific perspective, what parts of our diets are most responsible for the vast upsurge in diabetes today.

Okay, this may be a lot to digest (excuse the pun). And surely a giant change in our diet may not come easy. But I lay out ways to gradually improve our diet by first adding those foods that make the most impact.

Surely this book is thick, and runs deep into the science. But I have tried to simplify the science to the greatest degree possible, in order to allow the reader to absorb the science without having to go back to school to get a science degree. Yes, some of the concepts and studies involve scientific principles. But I have worked hard to boil these concepts down to practical terms whenever possible, and their potential application to either or both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

At the same time, the reader who wants to get through the strategies without deep-diving into the science can easily skim the material, reading the introductions and strategy explanations while skipping over the details on the studies.

But knowing those studies are there to back up this information is important. It is important that the material in this book is not just my opinion. It isn’t anecdotal information that I have imagined after one or two personal applications on myself or a few other people I may know or have worked with.

No. The information provided in this book is based on hundreds and hundreds of scientific studies that have been peer-reviewed and published in some of the most prestigious scientific and medical journals by leading medical experts who are physicians, professors, dieticians and doctors that have dedicated their lives to studying and informing us on what can make us healthier.

It takes a community of these sorts of experts to fully define type 1 and type 2 diabetes. It takes a community of experts to figure out what causes these two conditions and what strategies can be employed to combat them.

This book embraces that community of medical experts, and lays out the results of their expertise for the reader to immediately absorb in the simplest yet clearest terms possible.

I thank every member of this community for all they have done to contribute to this important collection of information, and hope that you, the reader, will appreciate the vastness of this scientifically-based yet practical knowledge aimed to help solve the virtual contagion of diabetes.

1. What is Diabetes?

There are two types of diabetes. The first type, or type 1, is assumed to have been inherited. Are we sure about that? The second type of assumed to have developed over a few years, but is also assumed by conventional medicine to have been inherited. Again, are we sure about that?

Let’s take a quick look at the two types, and what conventional medicine says causes it.

Diabetes rates around the world are at epidemic levels, according to scientific research. Almost 350 million adults have diabetes worldwide, and over 37 million U.S. adults or about one in ten of U.S. persons have diabetes - most of which is type 2.

Diabetes is also associated with a number of other conditions. Most assume that diabetes increases the risk of having these diseases. These include heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, kidney disease, liver disease, retinopathy and many others.

Type 1 Diabetes

This is medically called diabetes mellitus type 1. Only 5 to 10 percent of cases of diabetes is type 1. The rest are type 2 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is also called insulin-dependent diabetes by conventional medicine. The physiology is that the pancreas, which typically produces insulin, stops producing enough insulin.

Modern medicine doesn’t understand why this occurs. The most popular theory is that the body’s immune system has damaged the pancreas in a process called autoimmunity. But why, we must ask, would the immune system attack it’s own necessary organ?

We’ll discuss the potential causes later.

What is insulin?

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas. Its purpose is to accompany glucose into our cells. You might consider insulin the escort mechanism for glucose. Without insulin, glucose cannot get through the cell membrane. This excess glucose will build up in the blood and wreck havoc to our cardiovascular system.

What is glucose?

Glucose is what our body’s cells use for energy. Without enough glucose, our muscles, organs, brains and other parts of our body simply run out of energy.

Glucose is the basic energy packet the body uses. It is a simple sugar that is produced when we digest any type of sugar or carbohydrate. The body breaks down these to form the simple glucose sugar.

If glucose is not used by the cells for energy, the blood will contain too much glucose – called high blood sugar. If glucose levels in the bloodstream remain too high, this can damage your blood vessels, organs and nerves throughout the body. This is why diabetes is often linked to circulatory issues, kidney problems, blindness and other conditions.

What are the symptoms of type 1 diabetes?

Starting with a lack of energy, fatigue and weakness, a person with type 1 diabetes may experience blurred vision, dramatic weight loss, mood changes, significant thirst and hunger and sometimes significantly frequent urination and for children, sudden bed-wetting.

How is type 1 diabetes diagnosed?

The primary test for diabetes is the glycated hemoglobin (A1C) test. This is a test of your blood that shows your average blood sugar level for the past 60 to 90 days.

The A1C test does this by measuring the percentage of blood sugar that is attached to a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. This protein is called hemoglobin.

Higher blood sugar levels are indicated by more hemoglobin with more glucose attached. A1C scores of 6.5 percent or higher on two different tests will typically be diagnosed as diabetes.

The A1C test can be inaccurate during pregnancy or if there is a hemoglobin variant in the blood.

Otherwise, blood glucose levels can be tested at different times. Often these are done in the morning before eating. This is called a fasting blood sugar test.

If a fasting blood sugar test shows 126 milligrams per deciliters (mg/dL) of blood (or 7 millimoles per liter (mmol/L)) on two different tests, it will be diagnosed with diabetes.

If the fasting blood sugar level ranges from 100 to 125 mg/dL (or 5.6 to 6.9 mmol/L) it will be diagnosed as prediabetes.

But if your blood sugar levels are less than 100 mg/dL (or less than 5.6 mmol/L) it will be considered normal. The target that doctors expect a treated diabetic to reach with insulin therapy is below 7 percent, or about 150 mg/dL (less than 8.5 mmol/L).

Random blood sugar tests are also sometimes done. These will test blood sugar at different times and then repeated at random times. In these cases, a random blood sugar level of equal to or more than 200 mg/dL (or 11.1 mmol/L) would be diagnosed as diabetes if it is shown multiple times in tests.

This is especially true if other symptoms are present.

Also, an oral glucose tolerance test may be used. This will often be used to diagnose gestational diabetes. This test will also require fasting overnight and then drinking a sugary drink at the testing site.

Then blood sugar levels are tested over two hours. Test results lower than 140 mg/dL (7.8 mmol/L) are considered normal, while 200 mg/dL (11.1 mmol/L) or more after the two hours will indicate diabetes.

Sometimes a doctor will also run tests for autoantibodies commonly seen in type 1 diabetes. These tests will help distinguish between type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Also the presence of ketones in your urine would also suggest type 1 diabetes, rather than type 2. Ketones are byproducts produced when fat is broken down in the body.

On an ongoing basis, blood testing is used, and A1C testing is periodically used to indicate how treatments are working. If the A1C levels are too high, it may mean the treatment needs to be adjusted.

In addition to these tests, diabetics will also typically undergo urine testing and blood testing to check on organ health and cholesterol levels.

Type 2 Diabetes

About 9 out of 10 cases of diabetes mellitus will be type 2. While type 1 will typically occur rather quickly, type 2 diabetes will often gradually develop.

Type 2 diabetes is often called adult-onset diabetes but it can occur at any time in a person’s life. Many children also develop type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is typically related to insulin resistance as opposed to the pancreas stopping the production of insulin as in type 1. There is sometimes a slower production or release of insulin, but this may also be because of a feedback loop. This is typical in the release of most hormones in the body. When there is an ample supply in the bloodstream, less is produced and released.

In the case of type 2 diabetes, because of insulin resistance and sometimes the slower production of insulin, the body’s cells won’t absorb enough glucose and insulin. This leaves higher levels of insulin and sugar in the blood, resulting in high blood sugar.

What are the symptoms of type 2 diabetes?

As we see in type 1 diabetes symptoms, the overly high levels of glucose in the blood (high blood sugar) produces symptoms that include fatigue and weakness, frequent urination and increased hunger and thirst.

A person with type 2 diabetes may also experience a dramatic loss of weight, blurred vision, sores that heal slowly, numbness or tingling in the feet or hands, and more frequent infections.

But type 2 diabetes will also result in metabolic disease that includes heart disease, hardening of the arteries, strokes, diabetic retinopathy, kidney failure and others.

The problem is that the high levels of glucose and insulin in the blood create high levels of free radicals in the blood. These free radicals damage the inside of the blood vessel walls.

This blood vessel damage can be so bad that people can lose their limbs due to a lack of proper circulation.

How is type 2 diabetes diagnosed?

Pretty much the same as type 1 diabetes is diagnosed with respect to gauging the levels of glucose in the blood. The tests that will differentiate the types includes testing the blood for autoantibodies, and the presence of ketones in the urine.

Positive or higher levels of either or both of these will typically mean type 1 diabetes. No higher levels would indicate type 2 diabetes.

What is insulin resistance?

Just to be clear, insulin resistance is when the insulin receptors on the cell membranes become less interested to bond with insulin. When this happens, less glucose gets into the cells, and the cells have less fuel for energy. This not only results in fatigue, but increases blood glucose levels, as the glucose has nowhere to go.

Glucose intolerance is sometimes related to insulin resistance, but can happen independently. In this case, the cell membranes become inhospitable to glucose. Whether this is related to insulin or not, the result is the same. Whatever glucose is in the blood cannot be consumed by the cells, leaving the blood high in glucose.

The biggest issue often leading to these situations is the dietary flooding of the bloodstream with glucose. This means overeating refined sugary foods – which spike the bloodstream with glucose after each meal and snack. When this happens repeatedly over a period of time, cells become tired of see-saw blood glucose levels and become intolerant to glucose and/or resistant to insulin.

Insulin sensitivity is related to the cells readily accepting insulin, which escorts glucose into the cell. When cells become less sensitive to insulin, the bloodstream is flooded with unabsorbed glucose, creating high blood sugar levels. This in turn creates numerous health problems, ranging from obesity to heart disease.

Metabolic disease and high glucose levels

The problem with this situation is that when blood glucose levels are high, a myriad of other problems besides diabetes can result. Sure, the situation will result in fatigue and a pro-inflammatory metabolism due to the cells not being properly energized.

But when the bloodstream is flooded with glucose, tons of oxidative radicals will result. These radicals will damage tissues and blood vessels, causing inflammation and artery diseases. One of these is atherosclerosis – the hardening and stiffening of the arteries. This of course can lead to strokes and heart attacks.

On top of this, high blood sugar levels have also been linked with kidney disease and liver disorders. On top of this, we find diabetes linked with greater cognitive decline.

In a study led by Dr. Mika Kivimaki and associates from the French government’s investigative body, INSERM with support from the U.S. National Institutes of Medicine, researchers followed 6,401 adults between 39 and 63 years old.

They found that people who were obese and suffered from metabolic disorder (cardiovascular disease and/or diabetes) had more than a 22% greater cognitive decline than those who were of normal weight with no metabolic disorder.

A 2013 Centers for Disease Control study tracked over 52 million Americans with arthritis. They found that 47 percent of those diagnosed with arthritis were also diagnosed with diabetes. Arthritis Foundation research has also linked arthritis with diabetes.

Diabetes insipidus

This text will not focus on this form of diabetes. Diabetes insipidus is a condition where the body produces more urine – a lot more – than normal. This is produced by an imbalance of the body’s hormones and fluids. Feeling significantly thirsty and needing to urinate throughout the day and night are typical symptoms.

Despite its similar name, diabetes mellitus is not related to diabetes mellitus.

What about Prediabetes?

There are many more people who have what is considered prediabetes. This is when the blood sugar is significantly high, but not all the other symptoms of diabetes are present.

The idea is that a prediabetic person is on their way to developing full blown diabetes. Changes need to be made to avoid diabetes.

In a prediabetic person, the glycated hemoglobin test (A1C) will score between 5.7 percent and 6.4 percent. Over 6.5 percent indicates full-on diabetes. 5.7 percent or less is normal.

In a fasting blood sugar test, less than 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L) is normal, but 100 to 125 mg/dL (5.6 to 6.9 mmol/L) will be diagnosed as prediabetes. Meanwhile, 126 mg/dL (7.0 mmol/L) or more from two different blood sugar tests will be diagnosed as diabetes

An oral glucose tolerance test with levels that are between 140 to 199 mg/dL (7.8 to 11.0 mmol/L) will be considered prediabetes.

2. What Causes Diabetes?

Conventional medicine typically blames obesity and a lack of exercise for type 2 diabetes. Other factors according to prevalent opinion relates to genetics, ethnicity and age. Generally, the older one gets, the higher the risk of type 2 diabetes according to the research evidence.

While most of these causes are based on scientific research, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between a cause and an association.

What is an association and why is it different from a cause?

When two things occur at the same time, it is considered an association. Many people will assume that one of them is causing the other. But that is not always true.

It could be that something else may be causing both.

Let’s say, for example, that we observe a lot of wind at the same time a lot of rain. This dual observation is called an association.

We might assume that the wind is causing the rain, or that the rain may be causing the wind. But that is not necessarily true.

A weather expert may understand through other research that what a weather system, with a varied pressure system along with a hot or cold front brings both the rain and the wind.

So back to the cause of type 2 diabetes. Because there are more diabetics that are overweight than are not, we might assume that obesity causes diabetes. But as we will illustrate in this book, what is causing type 2 diabetes can also cause obesity.

Same goes for the hereditary element of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. One might assume that because both of these sometimes run in families that there must be a genetic issue.

But is being overlooked here is a common factor that also runs in family: Diet. Families tend to eat similar diets. Kids will typically be raised on the diets of their mothers and fathers. And those kids will typically continue those diets into their adulthood.

We will discuss clear evidence that type 2 diabetes is definitely related to particular dietary patterns, and specific foods. We will discuss these relationships at length in this book.

As to whether this is the same as type 1 diabetes, we will introduce another factor into the equation:

The possibility that a dietary and toxicity pattern produces a long-term autoimmune process that targets the pancreatic cells.

Because type 2 diabetes is by far the most prevalent type of diabetes, much of this book will also be devoted to the causes and solutions for type 2 diabetes.

However, some of these causes and solutions are applicable for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes as we will point out.

Genetics and Diabetes

Most conventional doctors explain away diabetes – especially type 1 diabetes – as hereditary. This is confounded, however, by the facts.

Let’s take a look at some historical information. The rate of type 1 diabetes incidence among Western countries has skyrocketed over the past few decades.

The most obvious evidence comes from Finland, where diabetes incidence went up more than 500 percent after World War II. The rate of diabetes was 12 new cases out of 100,000 children under 15 years of age prior to the war. After the war, there were 65 new cases out of every 100,000 children. That is an increase of 541 percent.

Other studies have confirmed these kinds of rises, to the point that the more modern Western countries are now in the 15 to 20 cases per 100,000 people for type 1 diabetes.

Prevalence studies are useful in this analysis. According to a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, diagnosed diabetes prevalence went from 0.93 percent of the population in 1958 to a shocking 7.4 percent prevalence in 2015. That is an increase of nearly 8 times, or 800 percent over a half century.

When we consider all types of diabetes, there are more than 37 million people with diabetes as of 2022. This means that more than 1 in 10 people have some form of diabetes now.

That’s not genetics. It’s not like the genes have magically changed over the past half century. Something else is going on here.

Consider for example, a 2020 review of 193 studies on diabetes incidence around the world. The scientists found that type 1 diabetes rates are significantly higher among Western countries than Eastern or African countries.

For example, Asian countries averaged 15 type 1 diabetes cases per 100,000 people. African countries averaged 8 cases per 100,000 people. European countries averaged 15 cases per 100,000 while the U.S. averaged 20 cases per 100,000 people.

These statistics all point to the reality that neither type 1 or type 2 diabetes is hereditary.

So what is it that has changed over the past century to spike the incidence of diabetes then?

The Microbiome and Diabetes

When we talk about genetics, we must not only cover the genes contained within our cells. We must also cover those genes contained in the billions of bacteria within our body. In fact, the number of bacteria cells out-number our body’s cells by about 10 to 1!

Multiple scientific studies over the past decade have found that diabetes, both type 1 and type 2, are linked to our microbiome.

What is the microbiome? The microbiome relates to the bacteria that live within our bodies. The word biome more specifically relates to the genes.

Now the genes of our body are collectively called the genome. That is the collection of genes in our cells. But our bodies also host billions of bacteria and other microorganisms. The collective genes of these microorganisms is called our microbiome.

This basically means that our microbiome is a means to understand which species and strains of bacteria are most prevalent in our bodies.

Now our guts contain huge numbers of bacteria. But our mouths, sinuses, lungs, skin and other areas of our body also contain bacteria, but this is to a lesser degree.

In other words, our intestinal bacteria are largely graded by understanding the microbiome. This is primarily done by running stool through a DNA analyzer to read out the various gene sequences of those bacteria.

There are a combination of 20,000 or so gene sequences found in the human genome. This is dwarfed by the massive number of gene sequences found within our microbiome.

In fact, our microbiome dwarfs our genome by many degrees. If we were to consider our body’s entire genetic map as an apple pie, the sliver of the slice our genome would make up wouldn’t be much wider than a human hair. Our microbiome would make up the rest.

At evidence is the research of the Human Microbiome Project, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. An initial study that drew samples from 242 healthy humans found 11,174 different species of commensal bacteria and yeasts among the guts, mouths, skin and vaginas (women) of the subjects.

And each of these species can have up to 13,000 gene sequences, so we can imagine the size of our microbiome.

Our bodies contain about 100 trillion of these organisms, ten times the number of cells in our body.

As researchers have investigated the variations between gut bacteria enterotypes among different ethnicities and populations, the environment and individual dietary choices have become linked with the makeup of our gut bacteria. Research in 2013 from Yale University confirmed this. The researchers also detailed what has been discovered among chimpanzees from different locations - as common differences in gut bacteria are related to diet and environment.

Now over the past decade, a number of studies have connected type 1 diabetes incidence with the microbiome of the individuals in the study. A warning about this research—it sounds very complicated. The takeaway is that the type 1 diabetes subjects had different gut bacteria compared to the healthy kids. They had different microbiomes. Here are a few examples of the research, just from 2018 alone:

One 2018 study tested 783 healthy and diabetes kids. The study found that found children with type 1 diabetes had fewer fermentation bacteria and bacteria that processed short chain fatty acids. T1D children also had fewer Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Bifidobacterium dentium bacteria.

The diabetes children had greater amounts of Streptococcus mitis, S. oralis, and S. pneumoniae species of bacteria compared to healthy children. The diabetes kids also had fewer Streptococcus thermophiles and Lactococcus lactis species. The T1D kids had higher amounts of Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum, Roseburia hominis, and Alistipes shahii bacteria.

Another study from Europe tested 903 kids. They found that breastfeeding was significantly related to the microbiome of the kids. Kids with type 1 diabetes autoimmunity had more Erysipelotrichaceae species, more Parabacteroides, and fewer populations of Ruminococcaceae, Lactococcus, Streptococcus, and Akkermansia.

Another study found that T1D had less bacteria diversity in the gut (also called microbial diversity). They also had higher levels of Bacteroides, Ruminococcus, Veillonella, Blautia, and Streptococcus genera, and less Bifidobacterium, Roseburia, Faecalibacterium, and Lachnospira. The diabetes kids also had higher levels of Prevotella species, and lower Ruminococcus and Bacteroides abundance.

They also found the diabetes kids had greater levels of leaky gut syndrome (intestinal permeability).

This study also found that proinflammatory cytokines and lipopolysaccharides were increased in among the T1D cases.

Another 2018 study found that kids with type 1 diabetes had greater Bacteroidetes species, and less Faecalibacterium species. They also found that those with pancreas antibodies had greater levels of Bacteriodes and Bilophila species and fewer species of Streptococcus and Ruminococcaceae.

A 2018 study from Brazil tested 48 young adults with and without diabetes. They found that type 1 diabetes patients had T1D patients had more intestinal dysbiosis with more bacteria like Bacteroides vulgatus, Bacteroides rodentium, Prevotella copri, and Bacteroides xylanisolvens. Poor glycemic control was also related to greater levels of Bacteroidetes, Lactobacillales, and Bacteroides dorei species of bacteria.

Another 2018 study, from the U.S., tested 111 children and adults with and without type 1 diabetes. They found that T1D patients had more intestinal inflammation and leaky gut syndrome. Those with diabetes had greater levels of disease-causing gut bacteria compared to the healthy controls.

This is just from 2018 research. Studies going back to 2014 have shown the same types of results: That type 1 diabetes is associated with a greater abundance of unhealthy and disease-causing bacteria, and fewer species of healthy bacteria (probiotics).

Type 1 diabetes patients also showed less probiotic diversity according to the research.

The research also definitively associated these issues with gut bacteria with the autoimmunity against the pancreas islets that is prevalent in type 1 diabetes cases.

Excuse all the research quoting. But you can see in just a few studies in one year proves the association clearly: Type 1 diabetes is more associated to poor gut bacteria than to inherited genes.

And yes, our gut bacteria do to a large extent, change our body’s genes too. This is a process called epigenetics, where our genes are modified by our environment – including our gut environment.

So what makes for a difference in gut bacteria? I won’t relitigate all the information from my book on probiotics. This is a complicated subject. But we can say there are several key activities that change our gut bacteria.

First, our diet. As we’ll discuss at length in this book, there are certain foods that specifically feed certain species of bacteria in our gut.

This aspect was not only confirmed in this study, but in others. Multiple studies have shown that the makeup of ones gut bacteria is significantly related to ones diet. In one, University of Pennsylvania researchers drew fecal samples from 98 healthy people, and compared their diets and long-term diets (the diets their families had) to the makeup of their intestinal bacteria.

The researchers found that ones diet significantly correlated with the nature of their gut’s intestinal bacteria. They also found an even stronger correlation between the gut bacteria and their long-term diet, based upon their ethnic cultural foods and so on. But when their diets were changed, the researchers found that the makeup of their intestinal bacteria actually changed dramatically. They stated:

"A controlled-feeding study of 10 subjects showed that microbiome composition changed detectably within 24 hours of initiating a high-fat/low-fiber or low-fat/high-fiber diet."

Scientists from Finland’s University of Turku Department of Biochemistry and Food Chemistry studied the effects of probiotics on glucose metabolism in healthy pregnant women. Two hundred and fifty-six women in the first trimester of pregnancy were given either a placebo or a combination of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Bifidobacterium lactis Bb12.

The researchers found that the women’s blood glucose levels were lowest among the probiotics group. This was both during their pregnancy period and through their 12 months' postpartum period.

This relates to the type 1 diabetes that develops later in childhood or adulthood. For most of us, our gut bacteria develops when we are babies. This has to do with the bacteria existing in our mother’s vagina, and in our mother’s breast milk.

Breast milk has greater levels of Bifidobacterium species such as B. breve and B. bifidum. These types of species create more diversity and populate the gut faster.

Should the microbiome of our mother not be healthy, or should we not get breastfed at all as a baby, our gut’s microbiome will be, well, handicapped.

In terms of the dramatic increased levels of diabetes over the past half-century since World War II, there are two general patterns connected with this trend:

1) During this period, our diets have worsened, trending towards more processed foods, foods with less fiber, fewer fruits and vegetables and grains, and greater meat diets worldwide.

2) During this period there has been a dramatic growth in the use of antibiotics. Antibiotics have gone from being virtually unknown to being prescribed ubiquitously for any type of infection.

This second trend can be connected to the use of other antibiotic applications, such as chlorine in the water and the use of gargling disinfectants for example.

All of these have the effect of harming our gut’s probiotic species, opening the gut up to the population of various harmful species of bacteria.

And it is these that have been connected to the autoimmunity relationships connected with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

We’ll discuss more about probiotic supplementation strategies for probiotics later on.

Processed Foods

As mentioned above, one of the biggest changes that has occurred in humans over the past half century since diabetes has ballooned is the eating of overly processed foods.

This means the eating of junk foods and what are now called ultra-processed foods (UPFs). A lot of research has now connected diabetes with UPFs.

A 2021 study from the School of Medicine at Brazil’s University of São Paulo analyzed data from the UK Biobank that followed 21,730 people between 2007 and 2019. They were 40 to 69 years old and didn’t have diabetes at the beginning of the study. During the study their diets were recorded.

The research found a clear association between the consumption of UPFs and developing type 2 diabetes. Those who ate the most UPFs during the follow-up period were 44 percent more likely to contract diabetes during the study period. And for every 10 percent increase in UPF consumption, type 2 diabetes incidence increased by 12 percent.

The researchers concluded:

"Our findings demonstrate that a diet high in UPFs is associated with a clinically important increased risk of T2D. Identifying and implementing effective public health actions to reduce UPF consumption in the UK and globally are urgently required."

Basically, this means the more junk food we eat, the more likely we will get diabetes.

This is not just confirmed by one study. Another 2021 study, this from Japan’s Waseda University and Iranian researchers pooled data that followed over 230,000 adults from four different countries. This research found that higher UPF consumption resulted in a 75 percent higher incidence of type 2 diabetes.

This study also calculated the incremental risk caused by eating more ultra-processed foods. This study found that for every 10 percent increase in UPF consumption caused a 15 percent increase in type 2 diabetes.

Both of these are higher than the first study quoted above.

Why do minorities have more diabetes in the U.S.?

Ever wonder why minorities seem to have a greater incidence of diabetes? Minorities tend to eat more fast foods. Why is this? Is it just coincidence or some kind of cultural issue?

Or could it be that fast food firms have been targeting minorities? Today's conventional fast food typically consists primarily of fried foods, fatty animal foods, foods high in salt, foods high in saturated fats, foods high in trans fatty acids, low-fiber foods and foods high in refined sweeteners. Other research has tied fast foods to higher rates of heart disease, diabetes and other metabolic diseases.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that fast food consumption is directly associated with the location of fast food restaurants - particularly among low-income neighborhoods. The research, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that the closer fast food restaurants are to low-income neighborhoods, the more fast food was eaten.

This research confirms what many have suspected: That fast food may well be targeted to low-income families. The research used 15 years of data taken from the was part of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. The CARDIA study followed 5,115 adults (ages 18 to 30 years old). The study used four testing periods, totaling 15,854 person-tests.

Fast food consumption went up dramatically when a fast food restaurant was located between 1 and 3 kilometers (.6 - 2 miles) away from the home of an adult. This trend was seen particularly among the low income segment of the population. Fast food firms target same demographics

Other research has found that fast food restaurants appear to be targeting low income Americans and minorities. In another study, this one from the University of North Carolina's Gillings School of Global Public Health, found that among 21 different studies that analyzed the relationship between fast food restaurant locations and socioeconomic factors, three-quarters (76%) of them determined that fast food restaurants were predominantly placed in low-income neighborhoods.

They also found 10 of 12 studies that analyzed fast food locations and race determined that fast food restaurants were more prevalent in neighborhoods with larger populations of minority residents. This either indicates that fast food corporations are targeting low income minorities, or perhaps it is a coincidence.

Six studies of adults also found that body mass indexes and diabetes incidence were higher in areas that had fast food restaurants.

Obesity

According to the Centers of Disease Control, over 42 percent of people in the United States are obese, as of 2018. This increased from 30 percent at the turn of the century.

Among the different ethnicities, African American adults have the highest rate, at almost 50 percent. Hispanic American adults have 45 percent, while White adults are at 42 percent.

Age-wise, adults 20 to 39 years are 40 percent obese, adults 40 to 59 years are 45 percent obese, while those over 60 are 43 percent obese.

Okay that’s a lot of people in America who are obese. Meanwhile over two-thirds of adults are overweight. And those who are overweight are three times more likely to have diabetes according to large research studies.

But diabetes and obesity are definitely still associations. I use this in the plural because obesity may be associated with diabetes or diabetes may be associated with diabetes—depending on how you are looking at it.

Definitely, a lack of uptake of glucose by the cells can contribute to obesity. This is because glucose in the blood can be partitioned into fat cells where it is stored.

Obesity is also associated with a disorder now called metabolic syndrome. According to the American Heart Association, metabolic syndrome is related to the following conditions:

Blood sugar issues (diabetes, insulin resistance, hypoglycemia)

Obesity (most specifically abdominal obesity)

Cholesterol issues (high LDL, low HDL, high triglycerides)

High blood pressure

Chronic inflammation markers (including C-reactive protein, high white blood cell count, high eosinophils)

Atherosclerosis (damage and hardening to the arteries—indicated by fibrinogen, circulation problems and so on.)

Metabolic syndrome is characterized by cholesterol problems, high blood pressure, diabetes or hypoglycemia, chronic inflammation, cardiovascular disease and heart disease. All of these issues add up to the same issue: systemic inflammation.

These are all associations. They are all associated with each other. But obesity is also associated with a higher risk of cancer, severe COVID-19, arthritis, asthma, liver disease and so many other ailments. Does it mean that obesity is causing all of these conditions?

Furthermore, each of these conditions have the same underlying issues: Poor dietary choices, high levels of reactive oxygen species, increased infections, an overburdened immune system, lack of exercise and other poor lifestyle choices. Most of this can all be boiled down to higher levels of inflammation. Inflammation among the organs, tissues and blood vessels.

But there are a few other associations with obesity. Let’s talk about a few of those:

Does obesity relate to where you live in the U.S.? Certainly what part of the country one lives relates to obesity because of the weather. But what about neighborhoods within the same city or region?

This is a critical point because obesity is responsible for many health conditions. And more and more Americans are becoming obese. As far as children, according to the American Heart Association, more than a third of all children are either obese or overweight in the U.S.

Along with this early obesity comes a greater risk of heart disease and various inflammatory disorders later on. For this reason we find an increasing amount of children have metabolic disease. This means an increased risk of diabetes, liver disease, kidney disease and cardiovascular disease in the kids or when they become young adults.

Researchers from Florida State University have determined that the neighborhood a child grows up in is a significantly strong factor in determining whether the child will become obese as an adolescent and adult.

The research analyzed and tracked 9,115 adolescents during three periods - 1996, 2001 and 2008 - as part of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

The data found that overweight adolescents were more likely to live in disadvantaged (socioeconomically poor) neighborhoods, and their rate of weight gain is significantly higher over time than children from non-disadvantaged neighborhoods. Children from disadvantaged neighborhoods also had a higher likelihood of being obese during adulthood. Weight determination was gauged by measuring body mass index (BMI).

The research also found that children from African American and Hispanic American neighborhoods were more likely to be obese and had a higher rate of weight gain.

The researchers concluded that the neighborhood environment during the critical period of adolescence appears to have a long-term effect on BMI in adulthood. Policy interventions focusing on the neighborhood environment may have far-reaching effects on adult health.

This finding correlates with another study I mentioned in the junk food section. This study found that fast food corporations place a disproportionately higher number of fast food restaurants in disadvantaged neighborhoods. This strategic decision by these corporations was found to contribute directly to higher rates of obesity among these neighborhoods by the researchers.

Glycation

Glycation is produced during the manufacturing of food products, specifically when sugars and protein-foods are heated to extremely high temperatures during cooking or filling. During glycation, sugars bind to protein molecules.

This produces a glycated protein and glycation end products, both of which have been implicated in cardiovascular disease, diabetes, some cancers, peripheral neuropathy and Alzheimer's disease.

Glycation also takes place within the body. This occurs especially in diets containing high levels of refined sugars combined with considerable amounts of cooked or caramelized proteins.

To this we can add the sugar-laden Western diet. Today, nearly every processed recipe found in the mass market grocery stores contains refined sugar. Even many processed organic foods contain organic cane syrup - a form of sugar that may not be as refined as white sugar, but is definitely refined, and stripped of the natural plant fibers in cane or beets.

Today, many brands are trying to white-wash the massive refined sugar content of their products by calling their sugar content all natural. This is a deception, because nature in the form of fiber has been unnaturally stripped away from their refined sugar.

This is hardly a natural proposition. Nature attaches sugars to complex fibers and nutrients in such a way that prevents them from easily attaching to proteins. Refined sugars cooked and stripped of their fibers become immediate glycation candidates within the body.

Is there any proof glycation is linked to diabetes?

A growing database of research is proving that diabetes is connected to glycation end products. A 2021 study from China’s Qiqihar Medical University compiled research results from 29 studies that tested over 8,000 type 2 diabetes patients along with over 5,500 healthy control subjects. The research found through analysis of genetic sequences that glycation end products more than doubled the incidence of type 2 diabetes in Caucasians. Among Asians the connection averaged a 57 percent increase, with some populations experiencing a doubling of diabetes incidence.

There is no surprise that glycation among foods-and the glycation that occurs within the body as a result of the heavy consumption of refined proteins and refined sugars is connected with the increase of diabetes among Western societies over the past few decades.

This has occurred with the increased consumption of overly-processed foods and manufacturing processes that pulverize and strip foods of their fiber; and blend denatured proteins and sugars using heating processes.

We should note that a healthy type of natural glycation also takes place in the body to produce certain nutrient combinations. Unlike the glycation produced by food manufacturers, this type of glycation is driven by the body's enzyme processes, resulting in molecules and end products the body uses and recognizes.

When glycation is driven by the body's own enzyme processes, it is technically called glycosylation.

Refined Sugars

Western culture is swamped with sugar. And the dramatic growth in diabetes over the past century has tracked precisely with the consumption of refined sugars.

For example, during the 1800s in the United States, the average person consumed 4-6 pounds of refined sugar per year. This has steadily grown over the decades.

Today according to the United States Department of Agriculture, the average American consumes between 150 pounds and 170 pounds of refined sugars each year. That means an explosive 32 times the amount of sugar consumed per person.

Remember, this is the average. That means for each person that consumes say 10 pounds a year, there is another person who is consuming in the neighborhood of 300 pounds a year.

This also means on a daily basis, the average American is consuming nearly a half-pound of refined sugar per day. And for each of us who might consume say a tenth of that there is another person who is consuming ten times that. Yes, that would be over four pounds of refined sugars per day!

Many in conventional medicine have concluded that refined sugar does not cause diabetes. But we must always consider our sources. Much of this research into the links between diabetes and refined sugar has been funded in some part at least by the huge sugar or soda industries.

So we must take a broader scientific look at the relationship between consuming refined sugar and developing diabetes.

More recent research has concluded that processed sugar is toxic. Refined sugar is the cause for degenerative diseases and increased mortality according to recent scientific research.

Scientists from the University of California at San Francisco concluded that sugar is not simply empty calories: Sugar, they find, is the cause of chronic disease and early death. The paper, written by Dr. Robert Lustig, Dr. Laura Schmidt and Dr. Claire Brindis, was published in the scientific journal Nature. They stated:

"A growing body of scientific evidence shows that fructose can trigger processes that lead to liver toxicity and a host of other chronic diseases. A little is not a problem, but a lot kills — slowly."

All three authors are professors at the University of California. Dr. Lustig is a medical doctor and professor of Clinical Pediatrics. He is one of the foremost experts on the central nervous system and childhood obesity.

What is processed sugar?

White sugar is composed of primarily sucrose, while corn syrup is more than a third fructose, about a third glucose and the rest maltose - depending upon how highly refined the corn syrup is. The more refined corn syrups, such as high fructose corn syrup or HFCS, can have up to 38% fructose.

Refined sugars such as HFCS and table sugar have been stripped away of the nutrients and fiber from the original food source – cane, beets or corn. They thus subject the blood stream to immediate hikes in blood sugar levels. This overloading puts pressure on the liver and pancreas, and is linked to insulin insensitivity – eventually leading to diabetes and inflammatory conditions.

The paper illustrated research that shows that refined sugars and corn syrups are one of the primary causes for obesity, heart disease, diabetes and other metabolic-oriented diseases. Furthermore, they are addictive. This, they point out, is cause to regulate sugar products, just as tobacco and alcohol are regulated. They stated:

"If international authorities are truly concerned about public health, they must consider limiting fructose — and its main delivery vehicles, the added sugars HCFS (high fructose corn syrup) and sucrose — which pose dangers to individuals and to society as a whole."

Today, refined sugar consumption has skyrocketed in the United States, going up with rates of obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer and diabetes over the decades. Over the past three decades, Americans' sugar intake has tripled. The average American now consumes about 22 teaspoons of sugar a day – or more than 75 pounds of sugar a year.

This is well over the 6 and 9 teaspoons suggested for women and men respectively by the American Heart Association.

Most packaged foods now contain either sugar and/or HFCS as ingredients. Sodas and sports drinks supply the bulk of Americans’ sugar intake, at 36%. Desserts are second at 19%. Fruit drinks and packaged foods follow.

Sugar’s addictive quality

The authors also underscored the addictive quality of sugar. Sugar promotes the same phenomena in the brain that addictive substances do, Dr. Lustig told NBC in an interview.

A 2012 review of research from the California State University at Fullerton’s Department of Health Science confirmed that refined sugar-dense foods increase dopamine levels among the cells, which creates an addictive effect.

Furthermore, dramatic rises in blood glucose levels stimulate tryptophan absorption and conversion to serotonin – another mood chemical. The scientists confirmed this:

"There appear to be several biological and psychological similarities between food addiction and drug dependence including craving and loss of control."

What is the mechanism?

The biggest issue with refined sugar is the dietary flooding of the bloodstream with glucose. This means overeating refined sugary foods – which spike the bloodstream with glucose after each meal and snack.

When this happens repeatedly over a period of time, cells become tired of see-saw blood glucose levels and become intolerant to glucose and/or resistant to insulin. Metabolic disease and high glucose levels The problem with this situation is that when