Here are 25 Diabetes facts.
1-5 Diabetes Facts
1. To understand diabetes, a lock and key analogy is useful. To provide energy to cells, insulin (the key) unlocks cells to let sugars in. Type-A is the pancreas producing too few keys, so insulin is injected. Type-B means rusty keyholes, which can be fixed with exercise, weight loss, or medicine. – Source
2. Alzheimer’s disease is considered by some scientists to be Type 3 diabetes because it results from resistance to insulin in the brain. – Source
3. A woman with Type 1 diabetes underwent an islet cell transplant. Since the transplant, her glucose levels have remained at a healthy level, and she was taken off insulin and has no dietary restrictions. “She is like a nondiabetic person but requires antirejection drugs.” – Source
4. In ancient India, Diabetes was called “madhumeha” or “honey urine” as the urine would attract ants. Indian physicians Sushruta and Charaka identified Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes as separate conditions for the first time in 400-500 CE. – Source
5. Doctors before the eleventh century would drink the urine of their patients to determine whether or not they had diabetes. A sugary taste indicated the person was diabetic. – Source
6-10 Diabetes Facts
6. Drinking one soda a day can increase Diabetes risk by 22%. – Source
7. Miraculin, a protein found in the West African “Miracle fruit” and unique sweetener that could help people with diabetes was mysteriously shot down by the FDA in the 1970’s. – Source
8. A time capsule was buried in Sir Frederick Banting Square, on the scientist’s 100th birthday, Nov. 14, 1991. Banting was part of a team that received the 1923 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the isolation of insulin. The time capsule will be opened once a cure for diabetes has been found. – Source
9. Breastfeeding helps to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes in maternal. – Source
10. People with a certain type of dwarfism are genetically protected against getting diabetes. – Source
11-15 Diabetes Facts
11. Banting and Best sold away their rights to profit off insulin for $1 and today it can cost a person living with diabetes as much as $400 a month for their own insulin needed to survive. – Source
12. A study found that Type II Diabetes is reversible with a short-term low-calorie diet. – Source
13. Approximately 70,000 people a year have feet amputated due to diabetes in the USA alone. – Source
14. Sugar-sweetened fizzy drinks have been proven to cause T2 diabetes, even when controlling for calorie intake, with each can you drink increasing the likelihood. – Source
15. Exposure to blue light, prominently in electronic devices, before bed suppresses melatonin release during sleep, increasing risks of diabetes. – Source
16-20 Diabetes Facts
16. The urine of a diabetic contains so much sugar that it can be purified and made into a high end, single malt whiskey. – Source
17. In the UK you can get a medal for living with diabetes for a certain number of years. – Source
18. Primary teeth and wisdom teeth contain millions of stem cells, and people are preserving their own teeth in order to treat medical issues later in life, such as Diabetes. – Source
19. Camp Sweeney is a summer camp for children with diabetes (primarily type I). The camp takes care of everything, from medical supplies to specially made meals. Because the camp takes so much of the burden, the kids can spend their 3 weeks worry free, just having fun. – Source
20. Diabetics can fail a breathalyzer test with little or no alcohol in their system due to the production of acetones in the breath. – Source
21-25 Diabetes Facts
21. Consuming a tea made out of the plant Gymnema Sylvestre, or simply chewing its leaves, will suppress the ability to taste sweetness and has been used in the treatment of diabetes for nearly 2,000 years. – Source
22. Since 1921 there has been no generic insulin which people with type 1 diabetes need to survive. – Source
23. Gordon Alles who researched insulin died of diabetes because he was unaware he had the disease. – Source
24. Regular moderate alcohol consumption may reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes by up to 40 percent. – Source
25. Google developed contact lenses that can monitor blood sugar level, greatly helping the quality of life of those with diabetes by providing a passive way to monitor blood sugar. – Source
Type one diabetic here. Point 11 states up to 400. That number is unfortunately low depending on the diabetic. For me it takes about 3 vials of Apidra insulin a month, and EACH vial is about 300 dollars plus, meaning before insurance, it’s about 900 dollars. After insurance, it’s about 271. A MONTH.
We need generic insulin, but it won’t come because it’s easy to make money off of namebrand medication when it’s the only option on the market.