Anyone watch the recent CBC Nature of Things episode on Toxicity?

Hi all:

Saw a very interesting episode of the Nature of Things with David Suzuki on CBC last night which focused on toxicity, obesagens, and how chemicals and other environmental factors contribute to diseases such as diabetes.

I also made note of an interesting book called "Toxic Overload", written by one of the researchers in the episode.

Very interesting show, covering the wide range of people and researches going on ALL over the WORLD regarding this topic!

Definitely uplifting, and I hope they find some good answers as to why obesity and diabetic incidence is so prevalent, without clear answers as to WHAT the cause of the incidence is.

When I was diagnosed as T1 in 1989, the doctors honestly had no CLUE as to why I would have symptoms, as my general profile did not have sufficient factors (in their opinion) as to why I would trigger problems with my pancreas.

They said I fell into the 3% category of "unknown cause", and that I likely got my condition from some unknown infection or other issue.

Hoping these wonderful and talented doctors and scientists help find us all some answers and some insight, even as attempts at a cure are postulated.

-marcus - Ottawa, Canada

Hiya Marcus (and fellow Canuck!),

Saw the episode - very interesting!

When I was diagnosed w/T1 (in 1998) I was told there are a hundred reasons and no specific one as to why my pancreas decided to bail...they ran a list passed me that was so long I probably stopped listening part way through, LOL.

I hope they continue all the work they are doing - be interested to hear if you read the book ;)

Bests,
Bec

Hi RR/Bec:

I've begun researching books on toxicity on Amazon, and one book that looks particularly good is Sherry Rogers' "Detoxify or Die!" book.

Suzanne Somers has interviewed her for some of her books on the causes of disease, and depending on what all specials Amazon has going on over the weekend, I might pick up one of hers as well.

Will let everyone know what all I find out when I start reading! If there is an electronic version on iTunes I might actually end up purchasing that instead!

Cheers,

-marcus

3% "unknown cause" implies that 97% of T1 diabetics have a "known cause"???? As in something they ate or something they did that caused them to get diabetes?

I would've guessed that the percentages are the other way around. That very few T1 diabetics know what specific thing caused them to get T1 diabetes.

Tim:

You're probably right. I wasn't trying to set up or imply anything, merely just stating what I was told by doctors and a nutritionist who was there at the time.

Right or wrong, though, it's pretty hard for me to forget that stat, as that was one of the first things I was repeatedly told when I was diagnosed.

When I was first diagnosed the doctor reassured me that not only can I live with diabetes, I might live for 15, 20, even 25 years after diagnosis. That would've gotten me up to the ripe old age of 39. I remember that moment pretty clearly too (despite the haze and pain of DKA... I wouldn't get out of the hospital for two weeks) but even better I outlived all those predictions based on stone age knowledge and biases about diabetes.

A lot of things said at diagnosis are spoken by people who don't grok diabetes. Don't take them all as gospel. But in general "we don't know exactly what caused your T1 diabetes but research is ongoing" is nearly as true today as when I was diagnosed back in the stone knives and bearskins days.

Oh yeah, they also said there might be a cure in 5 years. That would've been 30 years ago now. :-)

Well, in some sense there is a clear set of conditions which are identified as the "cause" of T1, thes are not root causes. Some of the causes of T1D include autoimmune distruction of the pancreas, chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, etc. So these are not "root causes" only the intermediate mechanism by which the final damage is done.

That being said, there are a number of theories about what might trigger T1 and pathogens are one of the theories. Dan Hurley explored this hypothesis in his book "Diabetes Rising." The "association is there, but it doesn't prove causation. There are a number of ways that pathogens could be associated with T1 yet still not be a cause.

I'm going to have a wee chat w/my mother-in-law, she works for TPL - maybe see if I can get her to grab me a copy ;) However, I do not get much reading time (my almost 2 year old has me going full tilt boogie most of the time!), LOL.
Cheers,
Bec

It seems to be that because there is no one answer they riffle a whole bunch at you and seem to want you to 'cling' to the one that suits you best - they never gave me a clear anything at point of diagnosis; I was shuffled between 3 or 4 doctors for the first 2 weeks.
I was also told, by the very first endo I ever saw, that there would be a cure in 5-10 years...that was 14 years ago ;)