DIABETES - AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION

WHERE HAS ALL THE MONEY GONE?

      The official WebPage of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) is located at:

http://www.diabetes.com

      Last year the ADA raised $118 million dollars for scientific research. I'll come back to that subject in a few moments, but first let me tell you a story.

NATURE'S PERFECT MEAL?

      Lieutenant Columbo (Peter Falk) and Inspector Gadget (Don Adams) worked together on a safari movie in the early 1980's in Kenya. While doing location work, they visited with a tribe of Maasai warriors. The Maasai are proud people and raise cattle, relying upon the milk and blood as the staple of their diets. So as not to insult their hosts the detectives accepted the dinner offering of fresh milk mixed with blood taken from the jugular vein of a cow. It would have been ill mannered to refuse seconds and thirds. They drank until they could drink no more--blood and unpasteurized milk. Later that evening they retired to their tent and went to sleep.

      Some hours later Columbo woke up with great pain in his stomach and heard Gadget groaning. Neither man was doing well but both took comfort in the other's company and misery. They just laid there in their sleeping bags when Columbo nudged Gadget and said:

      "Look up at the sky and tell me what you see." Gadget looked and said,

      "I see thousands and thousands of stars, my friend. The Milky Way, if you will excuse the expression." Both men laughed and groaned.

      "So, what does that tell you, Gadget?" asked Columbo.

      Gadget stopped moaning and thought for a moment.

      "Astronomically, it tells me that there must be a million or more galaxies and at least a billion planets. Some of them might even support life, as we know it. Some might even have dairy cows!" Both laughed and groaned again. "Astrologically, I observe that Jupiter has entered Pisces. Theologically, I can deduce that God is great and all-powerful and we are tiny insignificant specks when compared with the infinite night sky. Weather-wise, I can tell you that the sky is clear and it probably will not rain tomorrow. What does it tell you, Lieutenant Columbo?"

      In the blink of an eye Columbo spoke. "It tells me that one of those Maasai stole our tent!"

      Anyway, last year the ADA raised $118 million dollars. During that same year they funded less than $13 million dollars for actual research. Seems clear to me that somebody has stolen the tent!

DIABETES PREVENTION

      Over the years, hundreds of millions of research dollars have been invested to cure diabetes and improve the lives of the increasing numbers of Americans so diagnosed, but how much money is actually invested to PREVENT this disease, according to the language contained in the official ADA motto?

      "To PREVENT and cure DIABETES and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes."

      I called the ADA corporate office (703-549-1500) and spoke with Dwayne Telesford (extension 2362). My questions to Mr. Telesford were "How much funding did you do last year for the prevention of diabetes? Could you put me in touch with any of those researchers?" His response was quite simple. "As far as I know we do not fund studies to prevent diabetes." I then spoke with Matt Peterson of the same office. Mr. Peterson was aware of the DIABETES/MILK controversy but was not aware of any ongoing studies exploring a possible link.

AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION

      The use of dairy products has been linked to Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM), OR Type-I diabetes. There are nearly sixteen million Americans with Type-I or Type-II diabetes in America. Epidemiological and empirical studies have recently hinted at a relationship between early exposure to bovine proteins and the onset of diabetes.

A RECIPE FOR DIABETES

      The official WebPage of the American Diabetes Association includes a daily recipe. On Wednesday, January 6, 1999 (as I began to write this column) that day's blue plate special was CREAMY POTATO SOUP and the recipe called for 1-1/2 cups of skim milk.

      This being the ANTIDAIRY Coalition weekly newsletter, you can understand how a milk recipe on a diabetes site hit me right in the gut. You might also get a bit of indigestion after reviewing the following studies.

IGNORED RESEARCH

      Each one of the following scientific references identifies early exposure to bovine proteins in milk and dairy products as a cause of diabetes. Presented together, these studies collectively point the finger of blame at more than milk and dairy products. The medical establishment must certainly be aware of these studies and the etiology of the autoimmune response resulting in diabetes. Before reviewing the studies ponder this question: Is it in the best interest of MEDICINE not to cure this disease? Diabetes treatment is estimated to cost Americans $100 billion dollars each year!

      Read the shocking pieces of this staggering jigsaw puzzle. Put those pieces together and you will end up with a provoking and disturbing conclusion.

      Keep in mind that the motto of the ADA includes the keyword:

IGNORED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

      It is interesting to note that Finland has the highest rate of diabetes in the world and the highest rate of milk and cheese consumption (LANCET, 1992; 339, 905-909. Greene, et al.). Researchers compared the rates of Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM) to milk consumption in Finland, Japan and the United States, discovering the following:

NATION	# CASES OF IDDM PER 100,000 PEOPLE	AVERAGE DAILY MILK PROTEIN (GRAMS)
Finland	28	30
United States	15	19
Japan	1	5

      Studies in which people move from one country to another negate the genetic hypothesis for diabetes. One study (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1990, 51(3), 489, Scott, F.W.) demonstrated a doubling of diabetes rates after native born Polynesians moved to Australia and changed their diets from fish proteins to cow proteins.

      The July 1990 issue of Scientific American asked the question, What Causes Diabetes? Authors Mark Atkinson and Noel Maclaren recognized that an autoimmune response in which the body's own pancreas cells (beta cells) are "ambushed" is the key to Type-I and Type-II diabetes.

      Two years after the publication of this profound determination, Scientific American wrote (October, 1992):

"The National Dairy Board's Slogan, 'Milk. It does a body good,' sounds a little hollow these days."

      The journal then identified a team of Canadian researchers who found evidence that early exposure to a protein in cow's milk may sometimes lead to juvenile diabetes. Eighty-five percent of the people identified in this study came from families with no previous history of diabetes. Scientific American further cited a study, which appeared in July of 1992 in the New England Journal of Medicine (July 30, 1992, page 302, Karjalainen, et. al). The authors of this study wrote in their abstract:

      "Studies in animals have suggested that bovine serum albumin is the milk protein responsible for the onset of diabetes."

Their conclusion:

      "Patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus produce antibodies to cow milk proteins that participate in the development of islet dysfunction... Taken as a whole, our findings suggest that an active response in patients with IDDM (to the bovine protein) is a feature of the autoimmune response.

THE PREVENTION OF EXPOSURE TO COW'S MILK
EARLY IN LIFE PREVENTS THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THIS DISEASE."

      In June of 1992, the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition recommended that cow's milk was not suitable as an alternative to breast milk for the first year of life. (Pediatrics, 1992; 89; 1105-1109). A letter in a subsequent issue of that journal written by pediatricians Lane Robson, MD and Alexander Leung, MD of the Alberta Children's Hospital asked:

      "In lieu of the recent evidence that cow's milk protein may be implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus, we believe that the Committee on Nutrition should clarify whether cow's milk is ever appropriate for children and whether or not infant formulas that are based on cow's milk protein are appropriate alternatives to breast milk."

      In October of 1996 (LANCET, 348; 926-928) Cavallo, et al discovered that antibodies to BETA-CASEIN are present in over a third of IDDM patients and relatively non-existent in healthy individuals. Their work supports the sentiment that bovine proteins play a key role in the pathogenesis of IDDM.

      In December of 1996 (LANCET, vol. 348, Dec 14, 1996) Simon Murch, MD, of the Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology of the Royal Free Hospital in London wrote:

      "Cow's milk proteins are unique in one respect: in industrialized countries they are the first foreign proteins entering the infant gut, since most formulations for babies are cow milk-based. The first pilot stage of our IDD prevention study found that oral exposure to dairy milk proteins in infancy resulted in both cellular and immune response...this suggests the possible importance of the gut immune system to the pathogenesis of IDD."

      In that same issue, researchers from New Zealand (R. B. Elliot, MD, et. al, Department of Pediatrics, University of Aukland) paralleled earlier studies and investigated diabetics in three locations: Auckland, New Zealand, Giessen, Germany and Sardinia, Italy. They reported finding a higher level of antibodies to bovine proteins, particularly CASEIN in diabetics than in healthy individuals.

MEDICAL STUDIES

      There are presently 167 ongoing studies investigating therapies for Diabetes Mellitus Types I and II. A state-by state review is available at:

http://www.mediconsult.com/diabetes/trials/

      A visit to that WebPage and review of those trials does not reveal even one study related to the effects of milk or dairy products. Should there be? There are a number of converging lines of evidence suggesting that those who currently fund and perform research are ignoring what very well may be the cause and the cure.

A CURE FOR THOSE WITH DIABETES

      Thirty years ago I remember sitting in a high school math class wondering what purpose algebraic and geometric formulas would serve me once my schooling was completed. After all, it's nice that A + B = C but who really cares? Did I really need proofs and formulas to live the rest of my life?

Consider this simple formula -

      Diabetes MINUS the "killer proteins" equals healthy new BETA CELLS.

THE WISDOM OF YOUR BODY

      The human system contains genetic coding that continuously manufactures new cells for every part of your body. We make new hair, nails, lung, and blood cells. There are hundreds of thousands of different cells within the human system and an innate intelligence, a blueprint consisting of chromosomes and genes and DNA, continuously referring to that code by using it to build new cells. We likewise continuously build new pancreatic BETA CELLS.

      The average American diet includes megadoses of bovine proteins, which trigger the autoimmune response killing BETA CELLS. What would happen if sixteen million people with diabetes completely abstained from milk and dairy products for six months? Would they re-culture an environment of BETA CALLS in the Islets of Langerhans within their pancreases?

      Three mothers have recently contacted the ANTIDAIRY Coalition with exciting news. Each took their newly diagnosed IDDM infants completely off all milk and dairy products. Six months later their kids were again producing insulin. Their physicians refer to each individual recovery as a MIRACLE. I call the recoveries simple biology.

ELIMINATE THE POISON AND FIND THE CURE

      New clinical studies are most certainly called for. If you read this and have diabetes, become your own study of ONE. Your cure will become "ANECDOTAL." Let the ANTIDAIRY Coalition know about your MIRACLE and we'll relate your story to the world.

      The cure is NOTMILK for six months. No cheese, ice cream, yogurt or butter. Read the labels on cans and boxes of food. If you see the word CASEIN (tuna fish, Special "K" Cereal, cakes and processed foods), then eliminate that POISON from your diet. Have the will to find the way and you and sixteen million other Americans can end a multi-billion dollar self-perpetuating business that feeds itself on the pain of each unfortunate diabetic.