Diabetes

[Jhanananda]

As many of you know I was diagnosed with diabetes about 3 years ago.  Almost 2 years ago a friend instructed me in the low carb diet system as a means of controlling my blood sugar.  Within the first month on that diet I found my blood sugar dropped 100 points, and, although it was still high, I felt confident enough in the diet system that I did not need to keep track of my blood sugar, and I hoped that my blood sugar would continue to lower.

About 2 months ago that same friend critiqued my diet as not low enough in carbs, and at that time we checked my blood sugar and found that after the initial lowering of my blood sugar down 100 points, it stabilized there.  So, I cut more carbs from my diet and exercised more discipline, and expected greater results.  However, I tested my blood sugar last Friday morning at abut 6AM and found it was at 250, which is quite high. 

The elevated blood sugar after almost 2 years of discipline was a great disappointment, which produced a considerable health awareness crisis in me.  So for the next few days I tested my blood sugar frequently.  I also fasted until noon on the first day and found that my blood sugar dropped to 150 by an hour and a half later and stayed there until noon, when I got tired of waiting for my blood sugar to drop further, and ate a low carb meal.

For the next few days I tested my blood sugar every 15 minutes. I observed that my low carb meals only raise my blood sugar 20 point for about 1 hour following the meal; however, I also noticed that my blood sugar would rise without a meal to about 250 by about 5:00AM and 2:30PM.

I pondered where the sugar came from, if I was staying strictly on a low-carb diet.  I recalled in anatomy and physiology that the body runs on sugar, and will convert protein and fat to sugar if it cannot find sugar are starch.  Additionally, I recalled that when the body fat is exhausted, then muscle mass will be reduced by the physiological needs of the body. With these basic physiological premises in mind I developed a number of hypotheses.

Hypotheses:
1] Without the intake of any food the blood sugar will cycle, as long as there is excess fat, because the liver will pull body fat and turn it into sugar to keep the body going.

2] One cannot understand this daily natural blood sugar cycle without fasting for a day or 2 while measuring the blood sugar hourly.

3] Once the excess fat has been removed, then the blood sugar could be brought down to normal levels, and maintained by eating only when the blood sugar level drops to 75-80 points.

4] The elevated blood sugar of the Diabetic is due to lack of discipline, high levels of nutrition, and/or old age.

5] The reason why the elevated blood sugar of the Diabetic is maintained by the body even when there is low-to- no sugar intake is because the body has become habituated to an elevated blood sugar, and it will attempt to maintain that elevated blood sugar as long as there is any nutrition coming in.

6] However, after a period of time on a low-carb diet, coupled with fasting to: 1 loose body fat; and 2 force the blood sugar down to normal levels, then it is reasonable to consider that the body will eventually realize that a lower (normal) blood sugar level should be maintained.

[Sam Lim]

The body will only turn protein into glucose for it's own use but fats will turn into ketones. One must lose the body fat to decrease the blood sugar level in the bloodstream. Magnesium is crucial to carry the glucose in your blood into the muscle tissues, hence lower blood sugar in the bloodstream. Vegetable is also carbohydrate. Take vegetable that has low glycemic index , like green leafy vegetables. Avoid tubers, beans and grains. The kind of fruits that diabetic could take are lemons, lime and pomegranates. The amount of protein should only be 20% of that meal and 10% for carbohydrate and 70% for fats. Exercise also burn blood glucose. I do an hour of brisk walking/running almost every day and I do resistant exercises (weights) once or twice a week to build muscles to burn more glucose. I hope that helps.

Incidentally, my fasting (8 to 12 hours) blood glucose is about 85 to 110. One article I've read says that beer even with very low glycemic index also raise blood sugar slightly.

[Jhanananda]

The body will only turn protein into glucose for it's own use but fats will turn into ketones. One must lose the body fat to decrease the blood sugar level in the bloodstream.

This makes sense

Magnesium is crucial to carry the glucose in your blood into the muscle tissues, hence lower blood sugar in the bloodstream. Vegetable is also carbohydrate. Take vegetable that has low glycemic index , like green leafy vegetables. Avoid tubers, beans and grains.

This is what I understand as part of the low carb diet.

The kind of fruits that diabetic could take are lemons, lime and pomegranates.

This is nice to know, because I have been avoiding all fruit.

The amount of protein should only be 20% of that meal and 10% for carbohydrate and 70% for fats.

I will keep this in mind.  I have not been paying attention to this.

Exercise also burn blood glucose. I do an hour of brisk walking/running almost every day and I do resistant exercises (weights) once or twice a week to build muscles to burn more glucose. I hope that helps.

I turn waste oils into diesel fuel for exercise.

Incidentally, my fasting (8 to 12 hours) blood glucose is about 85 to 110. One article I've read says that beer even with very low glycemic index also raise blood sugar slightly.

Yes, beer has some carbs in it, but from testing 12oz only raises my blood sugar 20 point for an our.

[Sam Lim]

Forgot to mention that organic virgin coconut oil helps increase the sensitivity of insulin which helps to lower blood glucose. Cheers

[Jhanananda]

Thanks, Sam, I do not use vegetable oils any more, except as fuel for my vehicles.  I now use butter when I am cooking.  I use just plain yogurt for salad dressing. I suppose I will have to come up with something that I can put coconut oil in.

[Jhanananda]

New research in diabetes has revealed a new enzyme that could be utilized to control blood sugar.

Identification of a mammalian glycerol-3-phosphate phosphatase: Role in metabolism and signaling in pancreatic β-cells and hepatocytes

Significance

Glycerol-3-phosphate (Gro3P) lies at the crossroads of glucose, lipid, and energy metabolism in mammalian cells and is thought to participate in glycolysis or in gluconeogenesis, lipid synthesis, and Gro3P electron transfer shuttle to mitochondria. We now report a previously unidentified pathway of Gro3P metabolism in mammalian cells with the identification of Gro3P phosphatase (G3PP) that can directly hydrolyze Gro3P to glycerol. We observed that G3PP expression level controls glycolysis, lipogenesis, lipolysis, fatty acid oxidation, cellular redox, and mitochondrial energy metabolism in β-cells and hepatocytes, as well as glucose-induced insulin secretion and the response to metabolic stress in β-cells, and in gluconeogenesis in hepatocytes. G3PP is a previously unknown player in metabolic regulation and signaling and offers a potential target for cardiometabolic disorders.

Abstract

Obesity, and the associated disturbed glycerolipid/fatty acid (GL/FA) cycle, contribute to insulin resistance, islet β-cell failure, and type 2 diabetes. Flux through the GL/FA cycle is regulated by the availability of glycerol-3-phosphate (Gro3P) and fatty acyl-CoA. We describe here a mammalian Gro3P phosphatase (G3PP), which was not known to exist in mammalian cells, that can directly hydrolyze Gro3P to glycerol. We identified that mammalian phosphoglycolate phosphatase, with an uncertain function, acts in fact as a G3PP. We found that G3PP, by controlling Gro3P levels, regulates glycolysis and glucose oxidation, cellular redox and ATP production, gluconeogenesis, glycerolipid synthesis, and fatty acid oxidation in pancreatic islet β-cells and hepatocytes, and that glucose stimulated insulin secretion and the response to metabolic stress, e.g., glucolipotoxicity, in β-cells. In vivo overexpression of G3PP in rat liver lowers body weight gain and hepatic glucose production from glycerol and elevates plasma HDL levels. G3PP is expressed at various levels in different tissues, and its expression varies according to the nutritional state in some tissues. As Gro3P lies at the crossroads of glucose, lipid, and energy metabolism, control of its availability by G3PP adds a key level of metabolic regulation in mammalian cells, and G3PP offers a potential target for type 2 diabetes and cardiometabolic disorders.

[Jhanananda]

I have spent a great deal of time pondering why obesity, diabetes, kidney disease, and heart disease have increased significantly among US Americans since the 1950s.  Most people blame the American fast-food high-carb diet for the increase in these health problems; however, I lead a disciplined life, not eating simple starches and sugars, nor eating more than necessary, and yet I too came down with diabetes.  Also, most US Americans are descendants of Europeans, who have eaten a high carbohydrate diet for thousands of years without developing significant levels of these disease.

last summer I met a Hopi woman at the public park.  She was obese as many southwestern native Americans are.  She said she had diabetes.  The argument for why some native American tribes have rampant obesity, diabetes, kidney disease, and heart disease is because alcoholism is so significant among them, and they eat too much junk food.

Well, this argument only works for the native Americans who live in cities; however, many native Americans still live in remote areas on the res, and they still manifest obesity, diabetes, kidney disease, and heart disease in significant numbers.  Also, the Hopi and other tribes have eaten a high carbohydrate diet for thousands of years without developing significant levels of these disease.  So, why now?

Below are some historic photos of some native Americans.

19th century Hopi men planting corn.


A Hopi today is at least twice the mass of Hopis of the 19th century.  Why?


Papago woman brushing girl's hair. Photo: 1916, From Papago Woman, Ruth Underhill.


Tohono O’odham (Papago) women, and men today are at least twice the mass of Tohono O’odham from 1916.  Why?

My hypothesis is at some point in the past the Native American lifestyle changed in some way to cause their diabetes, and I do not believe it is from eating fry-bread.  The contenders are:

1] Immunization programs affected the native American friendly flora which upset their health.
2] Their method of making corn and beans may have changed, such as it most probably was part of a fermentation practice, which it no longer is.  It is a fact that fermentation reduces the carbs and turns them into protein as well as alcohol.
3] The US government most probably drilled wells on many native American reservations, and that well water might be contaminated with naturally occurring radioactive elements, such as: uranium, radium, and radon.

The Indian Health Service (IHS) is an operating division (OPDIV) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). IHS is responsible for providing medical and public health services to members of federally recognized Tribes and Alaska Natives. IHS is the principal federal health care provider and health advocate for Indian people, and its goal is to raise their health status to the highest possible level.

IHS provides health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives at 33 hospitals, 59 health centers, and 50 health stations. Thirty-four urban Indian health projects supplement these facilities with a variety of health and referral services.

Formation and mission

IHS was established in 1956 to take over health care of American Indian and Alaska Natives from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to the Public Health Service (PHS) in hopes of improving the healthcare of Native Americans living on Reservations. The provision of health services to members of federally recognized tribes grew out of the special government-to-government relationship between the federal government and Indian tribes. This relationship, established in 1787, is based on Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, and has been given form and substance by numerous treaties, laws, Supreme Court decisions, and Executive Orders. The IHS currently provides health services to approximately 1.8 million of the 3.3 million American Indians and Alaska Natives who belong to more than 557 federally recognized tribes in 35 states. The agency's annual budget is about $4.3 billion (as of December 2011).

It just so happens obesity, diabetes, kidney disease, and heart disease among Native Americans started in the 50s. 

I speculate that in the 50s the US government dug wells on reservations to provide Native American communities with water.  It is a fact that ALL water wells have elevated concentrations of radon.  Is it possible that all of us who are drinking municipal water, Indians included, are being exposed to enough radon, or other radioactive elements, to cause a statistical increase in the incidence of obesity, diabetes, kidney disease, and heart disease?

History of water supply and sanitation
Modern age

Until the Enlightenment era, little progress was made in water supply and sanitation and the engineering skills of the Romans were largely neglected throughout Europe. This began to change in the 17th and 18th centuries with a rapid expansion in waterworks and pumping systems.

Water chlorination
The first continuous use of chlorine in the United States for disinfection took place in 1908 at Boonton Reservoir (on the Rockaway River), which served as the supply for Jersey City, New Jersey.[33] Chlorination was achieved by controlled additions of dilute solutions of chloride of lime (calcium hypochlorite) at doses of 0.2 to 0.35 ppm. The treatment process was conceived by Dr. John L. Leal and the chlorination plant was designed by George Warren Fuller.[34] Over the next few years, chlorine disinfection using chloride of lime were rapidly installed in drinking water systems around the world.[35]

Fluoridation
Further information: History of water fluoridation

Water fluoridation has been carried out since the early 20th century, to decrease tooth decay. The practice remains controversial, though.

Water supply and sanitation in the United States

After 1948: Enter the federal government

In the first half of the 20th century water supply and sanitation were a local government responsibility with regulation at the state level; the federal government played almost no role in the sector at that time. This changed with the enactment of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948, which provided for comprehensive planning, technical services, research, and financial assistance by the federal government to state and local governments for sanitary infrastructure. The Act was amended in 1965, establishing a uniform set of water quality standards and creating a Federal Water Pollution Control Administration authorized to set standards where states failed to do so.

Infrastructure

The centralized drinking water supply infrastructure in the United States consists of dams and reservoirs, well fields, pumping stations, aqueducts for the transport of large quantities of water over long distances, water treatment plants, reservoirs in the distribution system (including water towers), and 1.8 million miles of distribution lines.[25] Depending on the location and quality of the water source, all or some of these elements may be present in a particular water supply system. In addition to this infrastructure for centralized network distribution, 14.5% of Americans rely on their own water sources, usually wells.

Infrastructure
The centralized drinking water supply infrastructure in the United States consists of dams and reservoirs, well fields, pumping stations, aqueducts for the transport of large quantities of water over long distances, water treatment plants, reservoirs in the distribution system (including water towers), and 1.8 million miles of distribution lines.[25] Depending on the location and quality of the water source, all or some of these elements may be present in a particular water supply system. In addition to this infrastructure for centralized network distribution, 14.5% of Americans rely on their own water sources, usually wells.[11][12]

Water sources
About 90% of public water systems in the U.S. obtain their water from groundwater. However, since systems served by groundwater tend to be much smaller than systems served by surface water, only 34% of Americans (101 million) are supplied with treated groundwater, while 66% (195 million) are supplied with surface water.

Groundwater (or ground water) is the water present beneath Earth's surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock become completely saturated with water is called the water table. Groundwater is recharged from, and eventually flows to, the surface naturally; natural discharge often occurs at springs and seeps, and can form oases or wetlands. Groundwater is also often withdrawn for agricultural, municipal, and industrial use by constructing and operating extraction wells. The study of the distribution and movement of groundwater is hydrogeology, also called groundwater hydrology.

Groundwater is often cheaper, more convenient and less vulnerable to pollution than surface water. Therefore, it is commonly used for public water supplies. For example, groundwater provides the largest source of usable water storage in the United States and California annually withdraws the largest amount of groundwater of all the states.[2] Underground reservoirs contain far more water than the capacity of all surface reservoirs and lakes in the US, including the Great Lakes. Many municipal water supplies are derived solely from groundwater.[3]

[Zack]

The corn processing technique that I believe has been lost is called nixtamalization. There is a recipe for it in the book Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz. He says: "nixtamalization is not itself a fermentation process. But the traditional corn fermentation processes use nixtamalized corn as the point of departure". He then includes a recipe for it, and one for sour cornbread and a Cherokee sour corn drink called gv-no-he-nv.

edit: the full text of Wild Fermentation is on archive.org. It seems like it is an authorized open source contribution. It's a great book: https://archive.org/stream/WildFermentation/Wild_Fermentation_djvu.txt

[Jhanananda]

Thank-you, Zack for providing the two very interesting links.  It is my hypothesis that Nixtamalization is only part of the traditional way most American Indian peoples processed their corn, and other fermentable produce, into food.  I believe that all the corn that they ate was first Malted, which converts the starches to sugar; then Mashed, then fermented, prior to Nixtamalization.

Malt is germinated cereal grains that have been dried in a process known as "malting". The grains are made to germinate by soaking in water, and are then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air.[1][2][3][4] By malting grains, the enzymes required for modifying the grain's starches into sugars, including the monosaccharide glucose, the disaccharide maltose, the trisaccharide maltotriose, and higher sugars called maltodextrines are developed. It also develops other enzymes, such as proteases, which break down the proteins in the grain into forms that can be used by yeast. Depending on when the malting process is stopped one gets a preferred starch enzyme ratio and partly converted starch into fermentable sugars. Malt also contains small amounts of other sugars, such as sucrose and fructose, which are not products of starch modification but were already in the grain. Further conversion to fermentable sugars is achieved during the mashing process.

Mashing
In brewing and distilling, mashing is the process of combining a mix of milled grain (typically malted barley with supplementary grains such as corn, sorghum, rye or wheat), known as the "grain bill", and water, known as "liquor", and heating this mixture. Mashing allows the enzymes in the malt to break down the starch in the grain into sugars, typically maltose to create a malty liquid called wort.[1] There are two main methods—infusion mashing, in which the grains are heated in one vessel; and decoction mashing, in which a proportion of the grains are boiled and then returned to the mash, raising the temperature.[2] Mashing involves pauses at certain temperatures (notably 45–62–73 °C or 113–144–163 °F), and takes place in a "mash tun"—an insulated brewing vessel with a false bottom.[3][4][5] The end product of mashing is called a "mash".

Fermention
Ethanol fermentation, also called alcoholic fermentation, is a biological process which converts sugars such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose into cellular energy, producing ethanol and carbon dioxide as a side-effect. Because yeasts perform this conversion in the absence of oxygen, alcoholic fermentation is considered an anaerobic process.

Ethanol fermentation has many uses, including the production of alcoholic beverages, the production of ethanol fuel, and bread baking.

Biochemical process of fermentation of sucrose
The chemical equations below summarize the fermentation of sucrose (C12H22O11) into ethanol (C2H5OH). Alcoholic fermentation converts one mole of sucrose into two moles of ethanol and two moles of carbon dioxide, producing two moles of ATP in the process.

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a nucleoside triphosphate used in cells as a coenzyme often called the "molecular unit of currency" of intracellular energy transfer.[1]

ATP transports chemical energy within cells for metabolism. It is one of the end products of photophosphorylation, cellular respiration, and fermentation and used by enzymes and structural proteins in many cellular processes, including biosynthetic reactions, motility, and cell division.[2] One molecule of ATP contains three phosphate groups, and it is produced by a wide variety of enzymes, including ATP synthase, from adenosine diphosphate (ADP) or adenosine monophosphate (AMP) and various phosphate group donors. Substrate-level phosphorylation, oxidative phosphorylation in cellular respiration, and photophosphorylation in photosynthesis are three major mechanisms of ATP biosynthesis.

Metabolic processes that use ATP as an energy source convert it back into its precursors. ATP is therefore continuously recycled in organisms: the human body, which on average contains only 250 grams (8.8 oz) of ATP,[3] turns over its own body weight equivalent in ATP each day.[4]

ATP is used as a substrate in signal transduction pathways by kinases that phosphorylate proteins and lipids. It is also used by adenylate cyclase, which uses ATP to produce the second messenger molecule cyclic AMP. The ratio between ATP and AMP is used as a way for a cell to sense how much energy is available and control the metabolic pathways that produce and consume ATP.[5] Apart from its roles in signaling and energy metabolism, ATP is also incorporated into nucleic acids by polymerases in the process of transcription. ATP is the neurotransmitter believed to signal the sense of taste.[6]

The structure of this molecule consists of a purine base (adenine) attached by the 9' nitrogen atom to the 1' carbon atom of a pentose sugar (ribose). Three phosphate groups are attached at the 5' carbon atom of the pentose sugar. It is the addition and removal of these phosphate groups that inter-convert ATP, ADP and AMP. When ATP is used in DNA synthesis, the ribose sugar is first converted to deoxyribose by ribonucleotide reductase.

Nixtamalization (IPA: [ˌnɪkstəmɑlɪˈzeɪʃn]) typically refers to a process for the preparation of maize (corn), or other grain, in which the grain is soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution, usually limewater, and hulled. The term can also refer to the removal via an alkali process of the pericarp from other grains such as sorghum.

Maize subjected to the nixtamalization process has several benefits over unprocessed grain: it is more easily ground; its nutritional value is increased; flavor and aroma are improved; and mycotoxins are reduced. Lime and ash are highly alkaline: the alkalinity helps the dissolution of hemicellulose, the major glue-like component of the maize cell walls, and loosens the hulls from the kernels and softens the corn. Some of the corn oil is broken down into emulsifying agents (monoglycerides and diglycerides), while bonding of the corn proteins to each other is also facilitated. The divalent calcium in lime acts as a cross-linking agent for protein and polysaccharide acidic side chains.[1] As a result, while cornmeal made from untreated ground corn is unable by itself to form a dough on addition of water, the chemical changes in masa allow dough formation. These benefits make nixtamalization a crucial preliminary step for further processing of maize into food products, and the process is employed using both traditional and industrial methods, in the production of tortillas and tortilla chips (but not corn chips), tamales, hominy and many other items.

Since the archaeological record shows all agrarian societies around the world practiced fermentation, and the fermentation process clearly converts grains and fruit into a far more nutritious food source, then we can conclude it is very possible that the reason why US Americans, and Native Americans are developing a wide range of related diseases, such as: obesity, diabetes, kidney disease, and heart disease, is because the grain and fruit that we commonly consume has not been processed as above prior to consumption.

[Jhanananda]

Sweat-monitoring patch releases diabetes drugs when required
This device could be useful for all diabetics.

[Jhanananda]

good news for all diabetics

Creation of insulin-releasing cells in a dish offers hope of diabetes therapy

A molecular switch could hold the key to a personalized cell replacement therapy for diabetes. Both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are characterized by an inability to produce (or process) insulin, which is required to regulate blood sugar levels. This has been linked to malfunctioning or failing beta cells in the pancreas, but so far scientists have struggled to produce effective replacement cells in the lab. Now a team at Salk Institute believes the problem has been solved.

The Salk scientists found a protein switch – one of several transcription factors in a beta cell – called ERR-gamma that makes the lab-grown cells more responsive to glucose and gets them releasing insulin at a normal rate. This ERR-gamma switch appears to be the master regulator for maturing glucose-responsive beta cells.

To test the discovery, the researchers transplanted mature lab-grown beta cells into Type 1 diabetic mice, with the ERR-gamma protein switched on. Two months after transplantation, around half of the diabetic mice showed normal (non-diabetic) blood glucose levels.

[Jhanananda]

Here is a link to another development in sensing technology that is paving a path to real-time biological data of critical importance to some people such as diabetics.


Flexible e-skin display is thinner than Saran wrap and tracks blood oxygen levels

[Jhanananda]

A friend sent me this link for the use of mango leaves to treat diabetes.  I will have to try it.

[roamer]

Interesting thread.  I have been  aware of the western metabolic syndrome since a young age.  I often remember as a kid my total bemusement at the increasing numbers of fat and increasingly sick in our population.  I apologize  for my lack of sensitivity in talking about the subject but those were my impressions. 

I do think that processed carbs of higher prevalence are a very large part of the equation.  Higher amounts of non physical chronic stress and over stimulation an additional component and most importantly lack of the proper short duration high intensity stress ors needed to maintain overall system fitness another component.

I don't think any particular poisons or toxins are the problem in themselves, its that our overall lifestyles have degraded in such a way that we are no longer able to metabolize the higher cumulative toxic loads which primarily come from excessive carb and caloric loads in conjunction with chronic low grade stress.

The most coherent explanation I know of is to view our illness through an evolutionary lens, Art Devany http://getfitboomer.com/downloads/EvolutionaryFitness.pdf does this well.


Through that lens what we are seeing is a systemic failure of our food systems culture acting together to create massive health failures.  Its really a paradox of plenty.  To much of too little quality is killing us.  This is not the environment our genome evolved in and no amount of mechanistic medicinal intervention will fix our issues.

The answer is IMO in imitating the key aspects of our evolutionary past.  But obviously its not practical nor desirable to replicate the various harsh aspects of hunter gather lifestyle.  What we are after is making the fewest number of changes to salvage the weakest link our our cultures epidemic metabolic failure rates.  Maintaining or restoring insulin sensitivity is the lowest hanging fruit here.  This is done by the following.

1. Maintaining a carb adequate diet over an average period of time with periods of intermittent fasting .  For most people this is roughly 1 carb per lb of lean muscle per day.  People think they eat well until they quantify their diet, quality of food is important but irrelevant if average intake exceeds true carb needs over the long run.  I can not tell you the number of people who delude themselves on this simple point.  It is so easy to do in our carb abundant environment.
2.  Intermittent intensity is a must, our energy output ought to follow a fractal expression of a power law, prior cultures expressed this in playing and hunting and wandering.  Our mechanistic linearization of the world has eliminated those patterns for most, particularly for the poor. 
3.  Daily natural movement must accompany number one and two.  Being sedentary in a high carb high stress environment is a deadly.

Our evolutionary past contradicts modernizations attempts to eliminate stress-ors and provide a steady amount of plenty.  We can overcome it though by consciously changing our patterns to mimic key aspects of our past.  Our genes are not a death sentence and though some are more predisposed to western metabolic syndrome none are incapable of applying deep evolutionary patterns to influence overall epigenetic expression, for none of our genes have really changed that much since the recent Pleistocene environment from which we came.

[Jhanananda]

Good to read a message from you, roamer. You make some good points; however, the acceleration of diabetes, and its associated diseases, it suggests to me a causal relationship with one or more behaviors of western civilization starting about 1940.  I suspect a significant rise in exposure to radioactivity might just be the primary cause.  It could also be extensive use of immunizations, and/or antibiotics.

Thanks to Sam, I found this articles of interest. These 11 Foods Have Been Found By Science To Lower Blood Sugar.