The Canadian $100 Bill
The Keto Diet Is Born
If you received a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes before 1922, there was only one treatment – a treatment we today call the Keto Diet. Diabetes prevents the body from making insulin which is necessary to remove sugar from the blood. The result is that sugar builds up in the blood, leading to death. As such, the only treatment was to put diabetics on a strict diet of fat and protein to get their bodies to stop using carbohydrates (sugar) for energy. Those that cheated with a midnight slice of cake probably wound up licking the fork of their last meal.
Type 2 Diabetes
Currently, the most common form of diabetes is type 2 diabetes. This is the type you get from eating donuts to power your robust television habit. With this type of diabetes, the body stops responding to insulin and sugar builds up to dangerous levels in the blood.
Diabetes Is A Real Pandemic
In 2021, 34 million people have diabetes, or 10% of the US population. Frighteningly, 88 million are on the cusp of getting it. At current rates, 1 in 3 Americans will have diabetes by 2050. Talk about a pandemic!
Diabetes Causes Heart Attacks
What does higher than normal blood sugar do to our bodies? Sugar “gunks” up our blood vessels making heart attacks the leading cause of death in diabetics. In fact for every 1 point increase in HgbA1c (diabetics know what this is!), the risk of a heart attack increases by 21%. The risk of diabetes causing heart attacks is so high that patients are automatically put on statin medications to prevent one.
Diabetes Causes Lots Of Other Problems
Gunked up blood vessels also cause strokes, dementia, loss of vision, infections, kidneys not working, blocked arteries all over the body, nerve damage, and pretty much the zombie apocalypse.
Why Is There An Insulin Bottle On The Canadian $100 Bill?
So back to the good old days when most diabetics were type 1. Enter Frederick Banting, born to Methodist farmers in Alliston, Ontario, Canada in 1891. Banting almost became a Methodist minister but decided his calling was medicine. After medical school, he became a surgeon – the second best type of doctor. He struggled financially but to make ends meet, took a job at the local medical school. In 1920, Banting was preparing a lecture on the pancreas when he became interested in determining how the pancreas was involved in diabetes. A university researcher named Dr. John MacCloed was unimpressed with Banting’s ideas but reluctantly gave him research lab space and a medical student assistant named Charles Best. Banting and Best soon discovered that extracts from the pancreas could lower blood sugar in a diabetic dog. They rushed to share these findings at a medical conference in the US and were met with adulation and invitations to the White House. Just kidding – actually, they were derided and criticized for their work because as may not be well known – doctors are a critical bunch if it’s not their own idea.
How To Prevent Diabetes
Speaking of criticism, get your bumper off the couch, put down the donuts, and…oh sorry, I was talking to my teenage son there.
Type 2 diabetes is a first world problem from too many calories and too little movement. One study showed that for people who were borderline diabetic, that losing weight and exercising for 150 minutes/week, was more effective than a medication called Metformin at preventing diabetes. Weight loss is crucial because for every 11 pounds over your “healthy weight” you are, your risk of diabetes increases by 30%. For tips on losing weight, go here. For tips on exercise, go here.
If You Have Diabetes, Your A1c Should Be At Target
The HgbA1c or “A1c” is a blood test that shows your average blood sugar over the prior three months. A normal A1c is about 5.5. Pre-diabetes is 6.0-6.5 and a diabetic has an A1c over 6.5. Studies show that the ideal HgbA1c in diabetics to prevent a heart attack is around 7.0.
Eating A Mediterranean “Diet” Can Help Diabetics Prevent A Heart Attack
For a description of this diet, go here.
Both Aerobic AND Strength Training Should Be Done To Lower The A1c
One study showed a significant reduction in A1c with 150 minutes of exercise weekly like walking. They also showed a more significant reduction in A1c by adding weight lifting to the walking. The amount of weight lifting wasn’t a lot either – two times a week of five different exercises. The number of lifts in each set was 8 to 12.
There Is A Right Type Of Aerobic Exercise To Lower The A1c
The most effective form of aerobic exercise to lower the A1c is high intensity interval training. Interval exercise means doing something like fast running for 4 minutes at a time, then walking for four minutes, then repeating that several more times. Do this three times a week.
Blood Pressure Should Be At Target
The ideal top number of the blood pressure in diabetics to prevent a heart attack is between 130-140mmHg. Lowering it below 130mmHg has shown no further benefit at preventing heart attacks.
Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction
Back to our story. When Banting and Best discovered that the pancreas contained a substance to lower blood sugar, MacCloed brought in a biochemist, named Collip, who figured out how to purify this “anti-diabetes” compound that today we call “insulin.” The first successful test on a human was a 14 year old boy in 1922. On May 3, 1922, they announced their discovery to the world. Banting and Macleod won the Nobel prize in Medicine one year later.
The twist to the story is that Banting and Best detested MacCloed and Collip and vice versa. Each pair thought the other was trying to steal credit for the discovery. Even with this uncomfortable dynamic, Banting, Best, and Collip sold the patent for insulin to the University of Toronto for a total of $3 – one dollar for each of them – a sum fantastically below what they could have gotten. Banting said later in life: “Insulin does not belong to me; it belongs to the world.” And now you know why the Canadian $100 bill contains a picture of an insulin bottle.
In Summary, Diabetics Should:
- Eat a plant based diet with nuts and olive oil
- Do interval training type exercises three times weekly
- Do strength training exercises twice weekly
- Keep systolic blood pressure between 130mmHg to 140mmHg
- Maintain a HgbA1c around 7.0%
- Take a statin cholesterol medication
- Lose their belly
Hmmm…that all sounds familiar.
A fun and informative news letter. I really enjoyed it as well as the wit and data you used to point use in a better direction.
Thanks.