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Media Outburst

Reading the remarks that most people have written I can only agree with most of what you are all saying
Some of the other things to consider are, throughout history there have always been heavy people.....did they all suffer from diabetes?
No, of course not....
It has fast become a modern day problem and probably more to do with what`s actually in the food that we are eating, how its prepared by the manufacturers adding all the chemicals that we can hardly pronounce....all the preservatives that we are oblivious to and in many cases are included in the food and disguised under different names on the labels.
Even fruit and vegetables that we eat are subjected to herbicides and insecticides, destroying the benefits that we should be getting from the products and damaging us as well.
I read an article recently that mentioned, arsenic that is injected into chickens to make them grow quicker, could be attacking our pancreas and damaging the beta cells that produce insulin......

There are so many factors to consider, in combination that could be the cause of Diabetes.....WILL WE EVER, REALLY KNOW????
 
I heard the interview on radio 4. I didn't hear the reply from diabetes uk though. The interview really upset me.
I don't drink, don't smoke and have been to hospital precisely once, with a broken foot. - before diagnosis, I didn't go to the doctors one year to the next. Yes, I am over weight, but not THAT over weight, and I'm fairly fit. I also know how to eat and cook and shop, thank you very much. - oh, and I'm not stupid! However valid his message about us all needing to be more aware of what we eat, was, I found his attitude to be insulting and needlessly confrontational. He came across as a man out to start an argument, when he should be taking the opportunity to educate. - I feel sorry for his students.
Larger people have enough to deal with without people WHO ARE CHARGED WITH EDUCATING AND SHAPING THE MINDS OF THE NEXT GENERATION telling them that its ok to be cruel to fat people, because, as everyone knows, they are all stupid, lazy, useless drains on the health service. (???!) - come on? Really??
- if these things were being said by someone about say, another religious or ethnic group, there would be an out cry and arrests would follow. - But it's ok, us porkers will just grunt and go back to our McDonalds filled trough.
He's made the problem worse. People are even less likely to come forward for help now that they have heard, from the national media, all those things that are usually whispered behind hands.
Personally, I'm actively looking for a way to reverse this and come off medication. But I certainly won't be telling anyone who doesn't already know about my condition, not after the media has effectively turned me into a dart board!


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sparkyrich said:
*fatties. Who's going to be next?
I've managed the toilet alone for 50 odd years and I'm more than capable of making my own lifestyle choices. How about worrying about the health aspects of Syria's chemical warfare or the sweat shops of the Far East and leave me to my self inflicted heaven?
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Either do something about it (which I presume you do or you wouldn't be on here) or pay for your own healthcare, because I don't want to pay for zillions of lazy porkers who ignore advice and don't take responsibility for their own bodies.

Of course not all diabetics are in that camp, so don't take offence unless you are.
 
toncra1 said:
It has fast become a modern day problem and probably more to do with what`s actually in the food that we are eating, how its prepared by the manufacturers adding all the chemicals that we can hardly pronounce....all the preservatives that we are oblivious to and in many cases are included in the food and disguised under different names on the labels.
Even fruit and vegetables that we eat are subjected to herbicides and insecticides, destroying the benefits that we should be getting from the products and damaging us as well.
I read an article recently that mentioned, arsenic that is injected into chickens to make them grow quicker, could be attacking our pancreas and damaging the beta cells that produce insulin......

There are so many factors to consider, in combination that could be the cause of Diabetes.....WILL WE EVER, REALLY KNOW????
Click to expand...

Here we go again - denial - its someone else's fault.

There have always been large people but not as many or as large as now. We have got to the point where vast numbers of people are consuming too many calories and tipping over the edge into diabetes, which incidentally has always been with us its just that most people were thinner back then. Stop looking for excuses. For the majority of diabetics the cause and solution are simple. You're too fat so do something about it. The prof was quite correct in what he said and was right to say it as bluntly as he did!
 
I, like so many others here, pay for my own test kit and supplies. I'm afraid I do find the things you've posted offensive, cruel and more than a little bullying. It's this sort of attitude that stops people seeking the help and support they desperately need.
- I don't do extreme sports or fight, so I should object to people who do getting patched up? I don't drink, or smoke or party so hard I need treatment, should I be screaming about the drain on the police and hospitals? - I don't have children. - education is a complete waste of my hard earned tax money. Isn't it?? Not to mention social services, playgrounds, child care,etc.

I also find it extremely sad that we're even having this conversation a on a forum designed to offer help and support. - To all!


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So we've all done it to ourselves, have we?

When my Mother was pregnant she was given a drug called diethylstilbesterol (DES) in the belief that it would prevent miscarriage. Studies from ten years earlier had already proven that it didn't but it's use wasn't stopped for another five years. It continued to be used until 1985 to stop lactation in new mothers. It was also used to stop precocious puberty, as a morning after pill, and in the treatment of breast and prostate cancer. The irony of that being that it has since been shown to increase the risk of breast cancer.

When I was nine years old I had to face the reality that I will spend my life with a higher risk of vaginal, cervical, and breast cancer than I would have if my Mother hadn't been given DES. I also have to deal with other effects of DES that have only been discovered in recent years.

In the generations since they've found that sons and daughters born to women given DES during their pregnancy are passing on the epigentic changes to their offspring. Fourth generation children are showing the same problems as the babies who were exposed to DES in-utero. Epigentic changes have been shown to last up to eight generations in labratory animals. As a consequence I've chosen not to have children.

They're still discovering the whole range of effects of DES. It is not just a carcinogen it is also an edocrine disruptor. That means that the endocrine system of those exposed to and born to those exposed to DES is affected. Some of the wonderful affects include feminisation of males and hypospadias, fertility problems in females, PCOS, an increase in phychological problems, adult obesity, and hormone imbalances that include insulin metabolism.

Do you want to know the scary part? DES was used in the dairy industry until 1997 to increase milk production and, yes, it was present in the milk but thought to be in a low enough concentration to be safe. They were wrong. It's unlikely there is a human alive in the developed world who hasn't been exposed to DES in some way, either through the food they eat or through epigenetic changes passed on by their parents.

That's just one example of a substance in common use that has been discovered to be a factor in obesity and diabetes.

Do you really think we've all done this to ourselves?

Welcome to a new reality.
 
I agree.

I don't think it's helpful to assign blame here, but we are all a product of the culture in which we grew up. People who recognise the damage western civilisation is doing to itself and speak out, are labelled crackpots. - "diet" products are bad for you. Full of all sorts of junk. But they are big business. We are constantly being told to eat this, not that, - look at the margarine verses butter debate, and how that came about. It's all about money.




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Geocacher said:
So we've all done it to ourselves, have we?

When my Mother was pregnant she was given a drug called diethylstilbesterol (DES) in the belief that it would prevent miscarriage. Studies from ten years earlier had already proven that it didn't but it's use wasn't stopped for another five years. It continued to be used until 1985 to stop lactation in new mothers. It was also used to stop precocious puberty, as a morning after pill, and in the treatment of breast and prostate cancer. The irony of that being that it has since been shown to increase the risk of breast cancer.

When I was nine years old I had to face the reality that I will spend my life with a higher risk of vaginal, cervical, and breast cancer than I would have if my Mother hadn't been given DES. I also have to deal with other effects of DES that have only been discovered in recent years.

In the generations since they've found that sons and daughters born to women given DES during their pregnancy are passing on the epigentic changes to their offspring. Fourth generation children are showing the same problems as the babies who were exposed to DES in-utero. Epigentic changes have been shown to last up to eight generations in labratory animals. As a consequence I've chosen not to have children.

They're still discovering the whole range of effects of DES. It is not just a carcinogen it is also an edocrine disruptor. That means that the endocrine system of those exposed to and born to those exposed to DES is affected. Some of the wonderful affects include feminisation of males and hypospadias, fertility problems in females, PCOS, an increase in phychological problems, adult obesity, and hormone imbalances that include insulin metabolism.

Do you want to know the scary part? DES was used in the dairy industry until 1997 to increase milk production and, yes, it was present in the milk but thought to be in a low enough concentration to be safe. They were wrong. It's unlikely there is a human alive in the developed world who hasn't been exposed to DES in some way, either through the food they eat or through epigenetic changes passed on by their parents.

That's just one example of a substance in common use that has been discovered to be a factor in obesity and diabetes.

Do you really think we've all done this to ourselves?

Welcome to a new reality.
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Nobody has said we've all done it to ourselves. All the media reports are saying obesity is responsible for a large percentage. Clearly, we all know of exceptions to this.
 
Ummm, some people ARE saying that.

Also, the prof didn't make room for any exceptions in the interview, and, in the eyes of the media, and the general public, - our colleagues, the people we meet every day! We are now all fat, lazy and stupid, and a drain on resources, because we deserve it! All of us. No exceptions.


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hornplayer said:
Ummm, some people ARE saying that.

Also, the prof didn't make room for any exceptions in the interview, and, in the eyes of the media, and the general public, - our colleagues, the people we meet every day! We are now all fat, lazy and stupid, and a drain on resources, because we deserve it! All of us. No exceptions.


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Who ?
 
Some people will say that just as some will not take any personal responsibility. I have relistened to the broadcast. I don't hear anyone.

We all know there are exceptions and that being overweight is not the only factor.

Do you really believe your friends think it's alk your fault? Colleagues, well here is your chance to ask them if they heard it and ask what they thought. Do a bit of education. I suspect very few will have heard it and that even less will have given it a moment of their time.



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hornplayer said:
I, like so many others here, pay for my own test kit and supplies. I'm afraid I do find the things you've posted offensive, cruel and more than a little bullying. It's this sort of attitude that stops people seeking the help and support they desperately need.
- I don't do extreme sports or fight, so I should object to people who do getting patched up? I don't drink, or smoke or party so hard I need treatment, should I be screaming about the drain on the police and hospitals? - I don't have children. - education is a complete waste of my hard earned tax money. Isn't it?? Not to mention social services, playgrounds, child care,etc.

I also find it extremely sad that we're even having this conversation a on a forum designed to offer help and support. - To all!


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Well said horn player ! I couldn't have put it better. We should all know the correlation between being overweight, lack of exercise, poor diet and the effects this can have on our health. However, it's not always as simple as that ! Education , assistance and encouragement would go much further than the the blanket berating of those already struggling.

With regard to paying for own own drugs ! I believe I have, and continue to pay enough taxes/ NI contributions over the years to entitle me to the medication required ! Especially when people can come into this country having paid nothing in ! and received free treatment ! Now I'm not necessarily saying that this shouldn't be the case . But don't then tell me that I am not entitled to medication when I have paid in all my working life !!

Tim


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The fact that obesity and poor dietary choices can lead tp Type 2 diabetes is not in doubt. The problem as I see it with the professor's comments is that they were unbalanced and misleading. His comments reinforce a stereotype rather than expanding public knowledge. An approach with less "shock value" would also spread the word that people who are of a healthy body weight with a healthy lifestyle are also at risk. Awareness on this needs to be raised. How many people out there think diabetes has nothing to do with them due to biased media coverage? His choice of words was insulting and derogatory and completely unnecessary. He could have made his one sided point just as well without stooping to name calling.

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Could it be that the same medications given to livestock to increase their fertility, produce more milk, or help them gain weight faster for the market are also affecting humans? Could it be that the residue of antibiotics given daily to those same livestock to keep them healthy until slaughter are causing changes to the flora in the human gut? Could it be that residual pesticides, many of them being neurotoxins, are affecting the ability of the human brain to regulate hormones and metabolism? Could it be that herbicides that are used on the wheat and cereal crops also end up in our bread? What about oral contraceptives that don't break down in the environment and are affecting the wildlife, are they also affecting the endocrine system of the person using them? Could it be that all of these in combination are working against us? Bring in what we are learning from the study of epigentics and suddenly a whole new realm of suspects comes to light. Consider that this is also affecting our pets -- 30 years ago was there a market for diet pet foods? It was a rare thing to see an obese dog and an ever rarer thing to see an obese cat. What happened to them?

If "we" are doing this to ourselves - just who are the "we"? The people eating the food, the people growing and manufacturing the food, the manufacturers of the chemicals and medications, or the governments that regulate their use?

Time to start to think about fixing the cause, not just the effect. People used to be able to effectively regulate their food consumption, just as dogs and cats did, why can we not do so now? I suppose it's just easier to fix the blame, isn't it?
 
hornplayer said:
Well, the researchers from Cardiff University, for one.

- maybe I'm guilty of over generalisation, no, wait, it's ok to do that, radio 4 said so.


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Nobody from the research team has said all diabetics are fat ! The only derogatory remark I can see is "essentially, we are a nation of lazy porkers"
No reference to any particular group and unfortunately quite true. Clearly this doesn't apply to you or 1000's of others but for the vast majority it does. There is some shock value to some quotes and clearly some have taken them personally but it is because of these remarks that at least we are all discussing it. That is the idea. Encourage debate.
 
That maybe true here mo1905, but how many people who have heard that interview or read similar things in the press are going to debate it? They'll just accept. The interview didn't help awareness as much as it assigned blame. Blame is not useful. People who are in danger are now too scared to seek help because they'll be labelled.

I don't have your confidence I'm afraid, mongoose39. I won't be starting a debate with my work colleagues. My job is stressful enough without that.


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