Insulin not only moves glucose into the cells, but it also escorts Vitamin C. Blood sugar hogs the seats on the bus in most diabetics, therefore reducing the amount of Vitamin C we can absorb. This is the premise of The GAA Theory: high glucose levels hinder vitamin C entry into cells.

Vitamin C is vitally important for many functions throughout the body - a big one being metabolism. Glucose and Vitamin C are similar in the way they enter the cells. Both molecules require help from insulin. The name for the process that brings glucose and Vitamin C through cell membranes is insulin-mediated uptake. The insulin-mediated uptake of glucose and vitamin C uses white blood cells. White blood cells have more insulin pumps and they may contain 20 times the amount of vitamin C as ordinary cells.

So does increasing your Vitamin C help boost your glycemic control? Diabetes Health cited a study that confirms daily doses of 2,000 mg of absorbic acid improved both fasting blood glucose and HbA1c readings in patients with type 2 diabetes. Next time you swing by the store - see if some Emergen-C can help you achieve better glycemic control. With 1,000 mg of Vitamin C per packet - their homepage says: Feel The Good. Little did they know how good it could be for Type 2 diabetics!

Thomas Smith began reviewing scientific literature after conventional medicine failed him in controlling diabetes. Smith found research that shows dietary toxins impair cell membrane function. These toxins include trans fatty acids and refined sugars. Cells begin to have trouble absorbing nutrients, and the blood sugar rises. Over time, this results in chronic elevated blood and urine sugar levels. Sounds like a growing epidemic, doesn't it?

This damage to cell membranes, caused by a poor diet, can be repaired. The diabetic syndrome can be cured by eliminating all processed fats and oils. The protocol calls for supplementing high-dose Omega-3 fatty acids. This protocol normalizes blood sugars because the body is continuously repairing cell membranes by using the fats and oils available in the diet. One caution: the speed of recovery is related to the length of the illness. Some Type 2 diabetics may require up to one year for dramatic reductions in blood sugar.

A gaping hole exists between conventional medicine and diet. Conventional medicine claims that the cause of Type 2 diabetes is unknown. Medical doctors, as practitioners of conventional medicine, are not trained to explain how it happened. They treat symptoms with medicine. The business of medicine is medicine. The business of diabetes would be devasted if the cure was as simple as diet. The explanation Thomas Smith provides in his empirical studies is fascinating and I encourage anybody with competing or supporting evidence to open the debate.

I don't mind high sugars as much as I loathe lows. Personally I'm not so ruffled by shots either (but my liver begs to differ). However, in a message posted on The Islet Foundation, Pfizer reported that insulin-dependent diabetics declared they most hate taking shots. Was this the warm-up for the Exubera campaign? Here's a fact I support! A close second to this hatred is the hypos. Any diabetic will confess -- hypos are unforgiving. So what if you could catch two birds with one capsule?

I must reiterate the scientific genius behind the Oramed gel caps. The encapsulated insulin bypasses destruction in the stomach cavity. It reaches an entry point in the intestines where it reports for duty to the liver. This allows the liver to resume command of the glucose metabolism, just like Mother Nature intended. Whey you inject insulin - you are overriding the livers ability to monitor blood sugar and putting yourself in the line of fire for the dangerous lows. We all know this state of derangement too well. You won't find my lows picture on a milk carton if I happen to lose it, either.

Frequent episodes of hypoglycemia (even mild ones) force the brain to become accustomed to the low glucose. Unfortunately this also causes suppressed signaling of adrenaline, the livers last resort before dangerous lows. More specifically, the glucose transporters located in the brain cells are damaged from frequent episodes of hypoglycemia. So what was once the hypo threshold for the brain to signal adrenalin release becomes lower. Clinically, the result is hypoglycemic unawareness. Down with the shots, down with the lows and big ups with the future of diabetes control! Now we're getting somewhere.

Nutrigenetics is the study of the interaction of genes and diet. The Diet Channel has published an article explaining what nutrigenetics is and how it will revolutionize the world of diabetes.

Researchers believe elevated blood sugar can be mapped back to a genetic reaction. Drugs are only overriding the cause of elevated blood sugar and forcing the sugar into the cells, causing damage over time. Nutrigenetics is addressing the cause of the elevated blood sugar and may suggest a better diet to control your diabetes. Genes control how you metabolize certain vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. These genes can vary from one individual to the next. See what happens to Buddy the Elf when he consumes way too much coffee? Yes, I know - that's Hollywood. Nevertheless - a comical example of what nutrigenetics explores.

Consumer-friendly tests are available for these gene and diet interactions. The tests are done with a cheek swab. You send your swab off to a specialized lab, which analyzes DNA from the cheek cells. You receive a report identifying your gene variations. A qualified health professional can explain the test results, and make specific diet and supplement recommendations to optimize your health. If this is a test you're interested in taking, Sciona's Mycellf Program will be happy to prepare your profile. Open up and say Ahhhh.

We could all benefit from added fiber in our diets. However, it seems the type of fiber consumed is important too. A new study concludes that vegetable fiber is a good defence against type 2 diabetes. The study comes courtesy of researchers at the University of Sydney, Australia, who found that adults eating five grams of vegetable fiber daily were 24 percent less likely than other adults to develop the disease. People over the age of seventy enjoyed a thirty-one percent risk reduction.

The study tracked the eating habits of more than two thousand people over a ten year period. Wow. The researchers also reported that those whose diets contained fiber from mainly cereal or fruit sources did not fare so well - they had a higher risk for type 2 diabetes than those getting lots of fiber from veggie sources. The reason could be that foods high in vegetable fiber produce smaller fluctuations in blood glucose and insulin levels than would cereal or fruits. Lead researcher, Alan Barclay, says legumes are the best fiber source of all.

The results have been published in the latest Diabetes Care.

Ever heard of MedCo Health Solutions? It's not a household name like the big pharmaceutical companies Novo, Glaxo etc. However, MedCo, which happens to be in the prescription benefit management business, is a large and powerful company. Now it's about to become even larger: the company is poised to pay $1.5 billion for PolyMedica Corporation, the nation's biggest supplier of diabetes-related products.

According to a Forbes report on the deal, PolyMedica has nearly one million patients using its products. Its product line includes Liberty Healthcare brand, blood glucose test kits and meters, lancet kits, insulin and the like. The Forbes article says the move is basically a smart one on the part of MedCo: it can cash in on the growing demand(14.5 % growth, annually!) for diabetes supplies. MedCo's chief exec, David Snow, told Forbes he anticipates the purchase could make his company (indirectly) the supplier of diabetes treatment products to half of all insured Americans with diabetes.

Factoid: ads for PolyMedica star "Cocoon" and "Seinfeld" actor Wilford Brimley.

I'm outraged at the coverage CNN provided on diabulemia. They accuse diabetics who suffer with the condition of doing the wrong thing. CNN neglected to address the cause of diabulemia. The drug all insulin dependent diabetics must use is a synthetic hormone that has been genetically modified. It is nothing like human insulin or any natural vertebrate insulin, for that matter.

The fact that 1 in 3 diabetics choose to take less insulin is not because they wish to eat more food. It is a reaction provoked by an inadequate and dangerous genetically modified drug. The reason a diabetic would take less insulin is to avoid experiencing the unnatural side effects the insulin is causing. CNN sensationalized diabulemia and put a damaging veneer on the victims without fully researching the facts. Genetically modified insulin does not penetrate the blood-brain barrier like natural human insulin. Genetically modified insulin distorts hormone responses to hunger. Genetically modified insulin does not protect diabetics from entering ketoacidosis when their blood sugar becomes too high. An inadequate drug causes diabulemia. Accuse the drug manufacturers of making the wrong choice. Or is that biting the hand that feeds you?

Make it right, CNN. Mass media should be the defenders of righteousness, not the accomplices to Big Pharma. Do a study comparing human insulin (natural vertebrate insulin) and genetically modified insulin. The comparison should include: penetration zones of the body, hormonal reactions stimulating and suppressing hunger, amino acids, c-peptide, lipophilic and hydrophilic nature, and pH values. The difference in natural human insulin and Lantus pH is remarkable: 7.5 to 4.0. How similar is that? CNN you've slipped on the peel and missed the facts. Now perform your due diligence to help make it right. I ask every insulin dependent diabetic to email CNN and ask them to put the facts on the line. Link to this blog so they have an idea of where to start. Thank you!

Drug War '07: drug giants Novo Nordisk and Sanofi-Aventis have been sparring recently over their insulin pen designs. Novo alleges Sanofi has stolen its design ideas, basically. Check out Bev's post on this to learn more.

The reason it's such a big deal to them is money. The insulin pen could be super-lucrative for investors. Meanwhile, here's some news that's bound to get big pharma even more excited: a new study reports that insulin pens are cheaper and more effective than insulin shots.

Why so good? Fewer trips to the emergency room and fewer visits to the doctor. Insulin pens boast a pre-measured dosing system, with each dose of insulin contained in a single, disposable cartridge. This eliminates the risk of over- or under-dosing, says senior author of the study, Dr. Rajesh Balkrishnan of Ohio State University in Columbus. The researchers say that study participants who used an insulin pen instead of a regular syringe ended up reducing their annual healthcare costs by nearly $17,000. Wow.

What I'm not clear on here is whether or not they factored in the added expense of upgrading from syringes to insulin pens.

Want to know more? The study has been published in the latest issue of Clinical Therapeutics, but you can click here to read a summary.

I contacted Novo Nordisk back in March to tell them about the remarkable effects C-peptide had on reversing complications of Type 1 diabetes. I asked if they would bring the drug to market. A mass of excitement overwhelmed me when I learned about C-peptide missing from insulin all these years. The response from Novo? No thanks, it's not one of our targets. Targets, eh?

C-peptide is a byproduct of the production of insulin. In Type 1 diabetics, the level of C-peptide eventually becomes undetectable due to the body not making any insulin of its own. Long-term complications of diabetes frequently develop despite insulin therapy and optimal blood glucose control. C-peptide could quite possibly be the missing link in perfect diabetes control. I sent the following document to Novo Nordisk and asked them to make C-peptide available to reverse and ameliorate renal and nerve dysfunction for Type 1 diabetics. Read the document and see for yourself the eye-popping beneficial results C-peptide offers Type 1 diabetics. I received it directly from Dr. Wahren, lead researcher for C-peptide.

After 5 months consideration, Novo called me back. They said C-peptide is not a target for their company. I understand and now Levemir is not a target in my diabetes control, either. For all the Type 1 diabetics out there controlling your sugars with insulin not really made with you in mind -- do you understand why Novo does not wish to develop this critically important treatment? I guess insulin is good enough, right? Wrong. It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it. Just not Novo. When you are in the business of diabusiness -- no thank you says so much about what could potentially hurt your business.

This is sad: an elderly British man was the victim of an accidental insulin overdose. Leslie Avenell, who was 82, had diabetes. He was living in a care home where he had the assistance of a nurse. Turns out, the nurse injected Mr. Avenell with 84 units of insulin - ten times the correct dose. The death has been ruled an accidental mishap caused by neglect. The awful mistake took place after the nurse misread discharge papers for Mr. Avenell from a local hospital, which stated the patient should be given "8U" (eight units) of insulin. So ruled the coroner assigned to investigate the case.

Complicating the case: postmortem results show that Mr. Avenell died from bronchial pneumonia. However, the coroner says he cannot rule out the fact that the overdose contributed to Mr. Avenell's death. He also observed the situation could have been avoided had the nurses involved taken more care over the injection.

The nurse involved in the case did not give evidence in court after being warned that she might incriminate herself. A factor here could be language. The nurse who gave the shot and her colleague - and brother - who was also present, are both Indian and completed their nursing training there. An officer with the local police who interviewed them after the incident says neither is fluent in English.

Mr. Avenell's family members are deciding whether or not to purse legal action against the home where the incident took place. His son has questioned how any nurse could give such a huge overdose and still be considered competent. "As far as I'm concerned," he says, "they should never work as nurses again."

A man en route to Sydney, Australia, collapsed mid-flight during a 25-hour trip from Norway to Australia. The man, an engineer whose home is in Sydney, has diabetes and was prevented from bringing his medical supplies on board the plane. Can you believe it? It was all due to new airline security rules requiring that people with diabetes carry documentation along with their medications. The passenger arrived at the airport with a supply of insulin, but was forced to leave it behind because he did not have the required letter from his doctor. He was very sick on arrival in Sydney and had to be rushed to hospital in an ambulance.

Don't risk your life to get from A to B. That's the moral of this story. Okay, maybe the security rules go a bit overboard. Yes, it's a shame we live in an age where such rules are deemed necessary etc etc. Bottom line: if you plan on taking anything even slightly unusual on board a flight, do yourself a favor and find out in advance if there are any applicable restrictions. Assume anything unusual could be a problem. Assume airline/airport security staff don't know about diabetes and don't particularly care about your personal well-being. If you have web access, the info you need is probably just a few clicks away. I don't know what the circumstances were, but if that were me, I would not have boarded the plane.

Works by the modernist painter Charles Demuth (1883-1935) are now on display at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. Add Demuth to the pantheon of notable Americans with diabetes. Demuth lived nearly his entire life in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He had a hard life, being type 1 diabetic at a time before digital meters and pumps and all that good stuff. Not only that, he was diabetic at a time when insulin was only beginning to be used.

So, you may well ask: what did they do in the dark, dark pre-insulin days? Well, dear reader, the treatment was pretty unsophisticated. Starvation, basically. They got you eating as little as possible. Not surprisingly, life expectancy was not good in those days! Demuth suffered from a lack of energy and eyesight problems. Eventually, he was started on insulin and his health improved as a result.

For subject matter, Demuth frequently turned to the increasingly industrialized landscape of his hometown, Lancaster. Icons of the industrial skyline - smokestacks, water towers and the like - were often the subject of his paintings. The Amon exhibit is titled "Chimneys and Towers: Charles Demuth's Late Paintings of Lancaster." The exhibit will remain on display in Fort Worth through October, when it will relocate to the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, FL, then it's off to the Whitney Museum in New York City.

Click here to read more about Demuth and this new exhibit.

A little something in the news the other day caught my eye: schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area of North Carolina have organized an informational meeting especially for families of diabetic pupils. The meeting was titled "Diabetes: Back to School Basics." Reports The Charlotte Observer, the idea is to prepare parents and children for the school-year, looking specifically at how diabetic kids should expect to deal with their condition during school hours, what parents can and cannot expect of school staff and so on.

Also included on the agenda was a chance for parents and kids to work on personalized care plans for while they're at school. The meeting is also a chance for everyone to meet the diabetes nurse who has just joined the Charlotte-Mecklenburg district. The nurse is trained in diabetes management and will be available to help kids and parents with educational materials and resources.

Here's to the powers-that-be at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. You can see there is a problem with so many diabetic kids in your schools, (The Observer says around four hundred kids in that school district are diabetic), and you are tackling it head-on. What I'm not clear on is what the schools' policy is on insulin-dependent type 1 kids who need shots during school hours. This has become so problematic of late, with schools concerned about liability issues in having staff assist with supervising/administering shots. But, nevertheless, this is a sign of the times and a good one. In fact, this is so good I'm wondering...why don't all schools do this?

Last November, I forgot to take my Swiss Army Champ Knife out of my purse before going to JFK Airport. So, for being stupid, it cost me a kick-ass pocket knife I'd had since 6th grade. Live and learn. But this is pretty interesting - turns out a fellow blogger over at Gadling had an airport security faux pas, as well. Dare I suggest another forgetful diabetic was the culprit permitting the breach of security?

Jamie Rhein's husband was chosen for a routine safety inspection before the family boarded the Skybus. His carry-on was inspected. The goods included: liquid hand-cleaner, a pair of scissors and a mini-wine tasting kit. The kit, unopened at the time - was opened and the corkscrew was confiscated by security. There was a knife attached. The pair of full-metal scissors was allowed. The liquid gel wasn't given back. Red alert danger - I know how tricky soap can be. Watch out!

The irony of Jamie's experience is that halfway through the flight she found an unused hypodermic needle and syringe still in the packaging and two empty medicine vials under her 5 year-old son's seat. One of the crew said there had been a diabetic on board the previous flight. Good cleanup crews are hard to find. That's fine, but with all that security, it was an awakening to be on the lookout for a used needle when searching for her son's spilled crayons. Guess there's no avoiding being on incessant heightened alert. Speaking of -- I asked JFK security to donate my Swiss Army knife, after they told me I had to surrender it. Yeah right. I'm sure the dude who patted me down took it home. Keep it sharp, buddy!

A year ago, competitors were out to produce their own versions of Pfizer's Exubera, the inhalable insulin. However, now it's clear that Exubera is a bomb. Yes, a slick new ad campaign might revive its fortunes, so don't count Exubera out of the race quite yet. But it's not likely to be the blockbuster product many thought it could be.

Now the fallout is hurting those companies that were scrambling to compete/cash in by producing their own inhalable insulins. According to a report in Forbes, those same companies are ready to beat a smart retreat. Meanwhile, they're trying to reassure nervous investors. Case in point: MannKind Corp. shares fell nearly ten percent on Monday after it was announced the company could take longer to line up a partner for its inhalable insulin, the Technosphere Insulin System.

Not only that, MannKind postponed the release of its second quarter financial report. Wall Street analysts downgraded the stock, saying its short-term outlook is "challenged" and cited disappointing sales of Exubera as a factor. The outlook could be even worse if it looks like insulin caps will make it to market. As I said in a previous blog on that topic, who wants to tote a bulky inhaler around if you can pop some capsules instead?