Rethinking Diabetes

Informationen zum Autor GARY TAUBES is the author of six books, including the best sellers Good Calories, Bad Calories and Why We Get Fat . He is a former staff writer for Discover and correspondent for Science , and his writing has appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine and in The Atlantic , Esquire , and numerous best of anthologies, including The Best of the Best American Science Writing. He has received three Science in Society awards from the National Association of Science Writers and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Award in Health Policy Research. He lives in Oakland, California. Klappentext "Before the discovery of insulin, diabetes was treated almost exclusively through diet, from subsistence on meat, to reliance on fats, to repeated fasting and near-starvation regimens. After two centuries of conflicting medical advice, most authorities today believe that those with diabetes can have the same dietary freedom enjoyed by the rest of us, leaving the job of controlling their disease to insulin therapy and other blood-sugar-lowering medications. Rather than embark on "futile" efforts to restrict sugar or carbohydrate intake, people with diabetes can lead a normal life, complete with the occasional ice-cream cake, side of fries, or soda. These guiding principles, however, have been accompanied by an explosive rise in diabetes over the last fifty years, particularly among underserved populations. And the health of those with diabetes is expected to continue to deteriorate inexorably over time, with ever-increasing financial, physical, and psychological burdens. In Rethinking Diabetes, Gary Taubes explores the history underpinning the treatment of diabetes, types 1 and 2, elucidating how decades-old research that is rife with misconceptions has continued to influence the guidance physicians offer--at the expense of their patients' long-term well-being. The result of Taubes's work is a reimagining of diabetes care that argues for a recentering of diet--particularly, fewer carbohydrates and more fat--over a reliance on insulin. Taubes argues critically and passionately that doctors and medical researchers should question the established wisdom that may have enabled the current epidemic of diabetes and obesity, and renew their focus on clinical trials to resolve controversies that are now a century in the making."--Publisher marketing. Leseprobe 1 The Nature of Medical Knowledge In diabetes?.?.?.??the chief difficulty lies in the fact that the danger is one of the future. This is the insidious peculiarity of diabetes. We do not at all disturb for the present the general well-being of the diabetic if we treat him badly and overweight his weakened functions; yes, we may even improve by psychical influence his momentary well being if we permit a more liberal diet. We are, however, playing a dangerous game. We are thinking only of the present and forgetting the future, the fortunes of which depend upon the vigilance of the practitioner. Carl von Noorden, New Aspects of Diabetes: Pathology and Treatment, 1912 In the writer's experience, there is nothing more disturbing than the diabetic who acquires the disease in childhood; who apparently is a picture of robust healthwho looks and feels perfectly wellbut whose blood vessels have been degenerating insidiously for years; who, in the early 20's or 30's and probably married and with a family, is beginning to feel the effects of the degenerative changes, either because of a progressive hypertension, kidney failure, disturbance of sight due to retinitis, or a sudden attack of coronary thrombosis.?.?.?. To prevent such cases, or at least reduce their occurrence, is the purpose of this report. Israel Rabinowitch, Canadian Medical Association Journal, 1944 A 32-year-old white male was seen at the [Mayo] Clinic in July, 1921, by Dr. ...

Auteur

GARY TAUBES is the author of six books, including the best sellers Good Calories, Bad Calories and Why We Get Fat. He is a former staff writer for Discover and correspondent for Science, and his writing has appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine and in The Atlantic, Esquire, and numerous “best of” anthologies, including The Best of the Best American Science Writing. He has received three Science in Society awards from the National Association of Science Writers and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Award in Health Policy Research. He lives in Oakland, California.

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"An eye-opening, comprehensive history of diabetes research and treatment, by the best-selling author of Why We Get Fat and award-winning journalist"--

Résumé
An eye-opening investigation into the history of diabetes research and treatment by the award-winning journalist and best-selling author of Why We Get Fat • "[Gary] Taubes’s meticulous, science-based work makes him the Bryan Stevenson of nutrition, an early voice in the wilderness for an unorthodox view that is increasingly becoming accepted."—Niel Barsky, The Guardian

Before the discovery of insulin, diabetes was treated almost exclusively through diet, from subsistence on meat, to reliance on fats, to repeated fasting and near-starvation regimens. After two centuries of conflicting medical advice, most authorities today believe that those with diabetes can have the same dietary freedom enjoyed by the rest of us, leaving the job of controlling their disease to insulin therapy and other blood-sugar-lowering medications. Rather than embark on “futile” efforts to restrict sugar or carbohydrate intake, people with diabetes can lead a normal life, complete with the occasional ice-cream cake, side of fries, or soda.

These guiding principles, however, have been accompanied by an explosive rise in diabetes over the last fifty years, particularly among underserved populations. And the health of those with diabetes is expected to continue to deteriorate inexorably over time, with ever-increasing financial, physical, and psychological burdens. In Rethinking Diabetes, Gary Taubes explores the history underpinning the treatment of diabetes, types 1 and 2, elucidating how decades-old research that is rife with misconceptions has continued to influence the guidance physicians offer—at the expense of their patients’ long-term well-being.

The result of Taubes’s work is a reimagining of diabetes care that argues for a recentering of diet—particularly, fewer carbohydrates and more fat—over a reliance on insulin. Taubes argues critically and passionately that doctors and medical researchers should question the established wisdom that may have enabled the current epidemic of diabetes and obesity, and renew their focus on clinical trials to resolve controversies that are now a century in the making.

Échantillon de lecture
1

The Nature of Medical Knowledge

In diabetes . . . ​the chief difficulty lies in the fact that the danger is one of the future. This is the insidious peculiarity of diabetes. We do not at all disturb for the present the general well-being of the diabetic if we treat him badly and overweight his weakened functions; yes, we may even improve by psychical influence his momentary well being if we permit a more liberal diet. We are, however, playing a dangerous game. We are thinking only of the present and forgetting the future, the fortunes of which depend upon the vigilance of the practitioner.

—Carl von Noorden, New Aspects of Diabetes: Pathology and Treatment, 1912

In the writer’s experience, there is nothing more disturbing than the diabetic who acquires the disease in childhood; who apparently is a picture of robust health—who looks and feels perfectly well—but whose blood vessels have been degenerating insidiously for years; who, in the early…