The Great Diabetes Lie

Many of us are told that the development of diabetes is a personal failure. New research shows us why this couldn’t be more wrong. Action Alert!
Intriguing research into the diabetes epidemic has shed new light on the main drivers behind this disease. Conventional wisdom tells us that sugar consumption, lack of exercise, and obesity are behind the surge in diabetes. While these are contributing factors, new work in this area implicates environmental toxins as a far more important cause of diabetes, including chemicals like BPA (bisphenol A) and phthalates that are found in many everyday consumer goods. And while the evidence mounts demonstrating the toll these chemicals are taking on our health, the government is stubbornly refusing to do anything about it.
Joseph Pizzorno, ND, demonstrates that the rise in sugar consumption predated the diabetes epidemic by four decades, casting doubt on the idea that sugar is a primary causal factor in diabetes. The increased incidence of obesity is another common culprit, but Pizzorno argues that obesity is caused by the same things as diabetes: persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Pizzorno demonstrates that the rise in production of synthetic organic chemicals is closely aligned with the prevalence of diabetes.
Research has shown that, while obesity is linked with diabetes, the level of our exposure to toxins also has a dramatic impact. Obese people in the bottom 10% of toxin load do not have an increased risk of diabetes; 30% of lean people with a high toxin load will develop diabetes. These findings are a true testament to the havoc these chemicals are wreaking on the human body.
Pizzorno and his colleagues have been working to estimate the percentage of disease that is caused by POPs (you can read about their methodology here). The results are stunning. According to their research, about 90% of diabetes cases could be attributed to the “massive increase in body load of toxins.” The worst chemicals are BPA, arsenic, phthalates, and PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons).
How do POPs like BPA and arsenic cause diabetes? Arsenic, for example, decreases insulin production. BPA blocks insulin receptor sites and causes insulin resistance, which increases the risk of diabetes in addition to obesity.
The next question is how to avoid these chemicals. We’re exposed to arsenic mostly through our food and water. Pizzorno writes that 13 million Americans use public water that exceeds Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limits for arsenic. Many water sources, both public and private, have not been tested. Dietary sources of arsenic include mushrooms, seafood, rice, and poultry.
ANH has written extensively about BPA. It is a chemical used in the production of certain plastics and is used in many consumer goods, such as food and drink packaging, cash register receipts, water bottles, implanted medical devices, and many more. Researchers have found BPA in 90% of Americans tested.
Although BPA is used widely in consumer goods, the FDA banned its use in baby bottles and infant formula packaging—though the agency said this wasn’t due to safety concerns, but because the chemical industry was simply no longer using BPA in its packaging for those products.
Recent information, however, shows that the FDA’s conclusion that BPA is safe is based on testing that dramatically underestimates the amount of BPA that we’re exposed to, throwing into question the federal government’s overall approach in determining the safe exposure level of all kinds of chemicals. Some experts estimate that BPA may have an effect on human health at levels 20,000 times lower than the FDA’s limit.
To set a safe human exposure level for a chemical, industry and government scientists start by exposing lab animals to high doses of a chemical, incrementally reducing the dose until no ill effects are detected. They then round the last number down to create a “safe” exposure limit. The problem is that we’re learning that endocrine disruptors like BPA can have negative effects at extremely low doses. A small change in hormone concentration—the equivalent of one drop of water in 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools—is enough to have an effect on the human endocrine system, which could impact growth, metabolism, sleep, and other important bodily functions.
In fact, an investigation into the FDA’s treatment of BPA showed efforts to ignore evidence of harm, biased data interpretation, and sharp disagreements between FDA and health officials at the National Institutes of Health on the safety of BPA. The reporting concluded that “US regulators may be operating at the fringes of scientific integrity, possibly with the intent to keep the current testing and regulatory regime intact and to avoid scrutiny.”
Concern about the health risks of BPA led many companies to abandon the chemical and slap a “BPA-Free” sticker on their products, but as we’ve written previously, the alternatives are often close chemical relatives of BPA and are just as toxic. ANH filed a Citizen’s Petition with the FDA to remove BPA from receipts, but the petition was denied.
Laboratory tests can help determine our body load of these different POPs. Pizzorno writes that the most important and easily available is the γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT), also known as GGTP.
The best way to deal with these toxins is to avoid them as best we can. Other strategies for detoxification include increasing glutathione production, increasing dietary fiber, and toxin-specific interventions to prevent damage and facilitate detoxification. But avoidance is best; once in the body, these chemicals can be difficult to get rid of, as they store and accumulate in fat.
Given this alarming evidence, it is time to take meaningful steps to protect Americans from these exposures. An easy and exceedingly obvious step would be to ban BPA, something the FDA has so far appeared unwilling to do. When given the choice between stemming the diabetes epidemic and protecting the profits of the chemical industry, which do we think government agencies will choose?
To avoid BPA, remember that glass is best when it comes to food and drink containers, and cans are typically the worst—even those that say BPA-free!
Action Alert! Write to the FDA and demand they ban BPA and adjust how they evaluate safe exposure limits for chemicals. Please send your message immediately.

49 comments

  1. Research has shown that, while obesity is linked with diabetes, the level of our exposure to toxins also has a dramatic impact. Obese people in the bottom 10% of toxin load do not have an increased risk of diabetes; 30% of lean people with a high toxin load will develop diabetes. These findings are a true testament to the havoc these chemicals are wreaking on the human body.
    Pizzorno and his colleagues have been working to estimate the percentage of disease that is caused by POPs (you can read about their methodology here). The results are stunning. According to their research, about 90% of diabetes cases could be attributed to the “massive increase in body load of toxins.” The worst chemicals are BPA (bisphenol A), arsenic, phthalates, PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons).
    How do POPs like BPA and arsenic cause diabetes? Arsenic, for example, decreases insulin production. BPA blocks insulin receptor sites and causes insulin resistance, which increases the risk of diabetes in addition to obesity.
    The next question is how to avoid these chemicals. We’re exposed to arsenic mostly through our food and water. Pizzorno writes that 13 million Americans use public water that exceeds Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limits for arsenic. Many water sources, both public and private, have not been tested. Dietary sources of arsenic include mushrooms, seafood, rice, and poultry.
    ANH has written extensively about BPA. It is a chemical used in the production of certain plastics and is used in many consumer goods, such as food and drink packaging, cash register receipts, water bottles, implanted medical devices, and many more. Researchers have found BPA in 90% of Americans tested.
    Although BPA is used widely in consumer goods, the FDA banned its use in baby bottles and infant formula packaging—though the agency said this wasn’t due to safety concerns, but because the chemical industry was simply no longer using BPA in its packaging for those products.
    Recent information, however, shows that the FDA’s conclusion that BPA is safe is based on testing that dramatically underestimates the amount of BPA that we’re exposed to, throwing into question the federal government’s overall approach in determining the safe exposure level of all kinds of chemicals. Some experts estimate that safe levels of BPA are 20,000 times lower than the FDA’s limit.
    To set a safe human exposure level for a chemical, industry and government scientist start by exposing lab animals to high doses of a chemical, incrementally reducing the dose until no ill effects are detected. They then round the last number down to create a “safe” exposure limit. The problem is that we’re learning that endocrine disruptors like BPA can have negative effects at extremely low doses. A small change in hormone concentration—the equivalent of one drop of water in 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools—is enough to have an effect on the human endocrine system, which could impact growth, metabolism, sleep, and other important bodily functions.
    In fact, an investigation into the FDA’s treatment of BPA showed efforts to ignore evidence of harm, biased data interpretation, and sharp disagreements between FDA and health officials at the National Institutes of Health on the safety of BPA. The reporting concluded that “US regulators may be operating at the fringes of scientific integrity, possibly with the intent to keep the current testing and regulatory regime intact and to avoid scrutiny.”
    Concern about the health risks of BPA led many companies to abandon the chemical and slap a “BPA-Free” sticker on their products, but as we’ve written previously, the alternatives are often close chemical relatives of BPA and are just as toxic. ANH filed a Citizen’s Petition with the FDA to remove BPA from receipts, but the petition was denied.
    Laboratory tests can help determine what our body load of these different POPs. Pizzorno writes that the most important and easily available is the γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT), also known as GGTP.
    The best way to deal with these toxins is to avoid them as best we can. Other strategies for detoxification include increasing glutathione production, increasing dietary fiber, and toxin-specific interventions to prevent damage and facilitate detoxification. But avoidance is best; once in the body, these chemicals can be difficult to get rid of, as they store and accumulate in fat.
    Given this alarming evidence, it is time to take meaningful steps to protect Americans from these exposures. An easy and exceedingly obvious step would be to ban BPA, something the FDA has so far appeared unwilling to do. When given the choice between stemming the diabetes epidemic and protecting the profits of the chemical industry, which do we think government agencies will choose?
    To avoid BPA, remember that glass is best when it comes to food and drink containers, and cans are typically the worst—even those that say BPA-free! I demand that the FDA ban BPA and adjust how you evaluate safe exposure limits for chemicals.

    1. Seriously? You cut and paste the entire article as your comment? There are some that might consider that plagiarism!

  2. Please ban BPA and adjust how you evaluate safe exposure limits for chemicals. The number of toxins we are being exposed to on a daily basis even when trying to live as cleanly and responsibly as possible is staggering, and is a contributing factor to so many health conditions.

  3. Is BPA (and BPS) exposure a cause of diabetes?
    If so, when will we ban it’s use?

  4. I think the FDA should ban BPA and adjust how they evaluate safe exposure limits for chemicals in our food and water. It’s past time to ramp up their game.

  5. Now I am a diabetic. This is long story so I will shorten it. Began with heart attack. 1. Stent used. Coated with chemo. 2.
    Heart meds . 3. 2 more stents don’t know why. One coated with taxon chemo and one coated with immune suppressant drug.
    These 3 things has caused me to become a diabetic. I’ve talked to all doctors and I am told the truth only by one.
    Primary doctor wants me to take glipside (spelling?) It’s a sugar lowering drug with unbelievable side effects. Called bad drug.. Other doctors want me to take it too. I didn’t take it long term. Why? It didn’t work and I’m really not a genuine diabetic. I’m a pharma designed diabetic. My A1C was 5.9. After 3.5 years it is 8.1. I’m taking Amla it dropped to 7.4 after 3 weeks.
    If people are taking drugs and find themselves a sudden diabetic pls check and research the drugs you are taking before you have your lifestyle ruined by having to use blood testing needles 5 times a day. I hear commercials on tv saying diabetic epidemic. Also hear about blood sugar monitor that doesn’t use needles only drawback, it cost 1k ($1,000.00) plus tax. I wish that people get 1 years past test results prior to taking any pills.

  6. Obviously BPA should be banned, but thinking this is the only hormone disruptor in plastics would be a mistake. My guess is there are thousands of others, it’s just that BPA got caught and the others have not been identified yet. Plastic is essentially solidified elements of petroleum. It should not be in contact with food or drink.
    These environmental chemicals are deadly. But if they were in fact the main causes of diabetes, Dr. Cousens could not have demonstrated complete cures of diabetics in 30 days, which he has repeatedly done with juice fasting followed by whole, live organic foods and a clean lifestyle. Processed foods are probably a primary cause of diabetes and numerous other disease conditions, and fasting in various forms is the body’s built-in detoxification system, to be followed by live food nutrition and avoidance of poisons, plus exercise, sun exposure (which FDA and CDC of course say to avoid), normal sleep patterns, grounding, and positive attitude/consciousness adjustment, all of which cures almost any condition (actually they allow the body to heal itself)..
    FDA and the other government agencies, in partnership with global corporate partners, are under the control of forces above and within them, which have an agenda of intentional destruction. It is not sloppiness or technical confusion/oversights, and at the top it is not at all about money. The goal of the top-level rulers is not population reduction, it is extermination, including of themselves. This is not usually understood, as normal people would not imagine it. I spent decades investigating what is the larger agenda. To avoid the success of their plans, the consciousness and intent of those in control has to change. That would reverse all of the various sub-agendas involved, and instead of their intended Hell on Earth followed by extermination of life, the opposite could be achieved.
    The biggest secret, of all the secrets they are hiding from humanity, is the unlimited potential hidden in each of us. There are ways to awaken that and use it, which would in turn affect our rulers. Whether we will do this in time to save life on this planet is the question. If we are too late, we will continue elsewhere. “Death” is not what we are told either (big surprise, right?). We will be OK in the end, guaranteed, but it is in our hands whether we will turn things around in our present environment. I think we should try. Yes, of course the corrupt FDA should ban BPA and thousands of other things, but this is about a lot more than that. Consciousness, barely even understood at all, is where the keys to all of it are hidden, and that’s inside you, just to be clear. It’s the entire issue, at the base of everything else. You still do what you can in all these positive campaigns, like to ban BPA. But the ultimate results will depend on what you’re doing internally. It affects everyone else without your even saying a word.
    Richard Sacks, Host
    Lost Arts Radio
    Independent health scientist since 1965
    Essene teacher and private health consultant

  7. Dear F D A, please recheck your information on safe levels of bpa for ALL Americans, not just infants. Your limits vary greatly from those of the National Institutes of Health. Americans’ lives are at risk. Perhaps you need to do further research!
    Thank you for responding to conscientious people’s concerns; this needs to be done.

  8. While you may have found new reasons for the cause of Type 2 diabetes, the bottom line is diabetes can be reversed by going VEGAN.

    1. BULLSH*T!!! Maybe you should research how many chemicals that nearly all vegetables and fruits contain, even from farms that are supposedly organic. Maybe you also don’t realize that a huge percentage of those vegetables and fruits come from outside the US where they even use chemicals that have been banned here. Then you also need to consider the fact that plants “ingest/take up” any chemicals and heavy metals that are in the soil, air, and water. It is literally impossible to prevent ingesting many of these cancerous chemicals and metals — the solution lies in 1) being aware of where your food comes from and what it is cooked in, and 2) properly purging your body of these toxins through fasting and eating certain foods. What most idiot vegans/vegetarians don’t understand is that there are certain vitamins, amino acids, and minerals that you don’t get from plant based foods, but are essential for proper health, and taking processed vitamin supplements doesn’t solve it because many of the chemical vitamins and minerals are either synthetic or the wrong form for your body to process properly.

    1. That’s backwards. Diabetes RESULTS IN high glucose levels in the blood. The CAUSE is insulin resistance. If you measured insulin in your patients as well as glucose you could see that.

  9. DECADES OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, for research, by our ‘Smartest’ yields nothing!! Not even lower prices! They’re smart alright, screwing everyone, for greedy few.
    $$ 4 PAIN
    its OK we Doctors

  10. Many of us are told that the development of diabetes is a personal failure. New research shows us why this couldn’t be more wrong. Action Alert!
    Intriguing research into the diabetes epidemic has shed new light on the main drivers behind this disease. Conventional wisdom tells us that sugar consumption, lack of exercise, and obesity are behind the surge in diabetes. While these are contributing factors, new work in this area implicates environmental toxins as a far more important cause of diabetes, including chemicals like BPA and phthalates that are found in many everyday consumer goods. And while the evidence mounts demonstrating the toll these chemicals are taking on our health, the government is stubbornly refusing to do anything about it.
    Joseph Pizzorno, ND, demonstrates that the rise in sugar consumption predated the diabetes epidemic by four decades, casting doubt on the idea that sugar is a primary causal factor in diabetes. The increased incidence of obesity is another common culprit, but Pizzorno argues that obesity is caused by the same things as diabetes: persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Pizzorno demonstrates that the rise in production of synthetic organic chemicals is closely aligned with the prevalence of diabetes.
    Research has shown that, while obesity is linked with diabetes, the level of our exposure to toxins also has a dramatic impact. Obese people in the bottom 10% of toxin load do not have an increased risk of diabetes; 30% of lean people with a high toxin load will develop diabetes. These findings are a true testament to the havoc these chemicals are wreaking on the human body.
    Pizzorno and his colleagues have been working to estimate the percentage of disease that is caused by POPs (you can read about their methodology here). The results are stunning. According to their research, about 90% of diabetes cases could be attributed to the “massive increase in body load of toxins.” The worst chemicals are BPA (bisphenol A), arsenic, phthalates, PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons).
    How do POPs like BPA and arsenic cause diabetes? Arsenic, for example, decreases insulin production. BPA blocks insulin receptor sites and causes insulin resistance, which increases the risk of diabetes in addition to obesity.
    The next question is how to avoid these chemicals. We’re exposed to arsenic mostly through our food and water. Pizzorno writes that 13 million Americans use public water that exceeds Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limits for arsenic. Many water sources, both public and private, have not been tested. Dietary sources of arsenic include mushrooms, seafood, rice, and poultry.
    ANH has written extensively about BPA. It is a chemical used in the production of certain plastics and is used in many consumer goods, such as food and drink packaging, cash register receipts, water bottles, implanted medical devices, and many more. Researchers have found BPA in 90% of Americans tested.
    Although BPA is used widely in consumer goods, the FDA banned its use in baby bottles and infant formula packaging—though the agency said this wasn’t due to safety concerns, but because the chemical industry was simply no longer using BPA in its packaging for those products.
    Recent information, however, shows that the FDA’s conclusion that BPA is safe is based on testing that dramatically underestimates the amount of BPA that we’re exposed to, throwing into question the federal government’s overall approach in determining the safe exposure level of all kinds of chemicals. Some experts estimate that safe levels of BPA are 20,000 times lower than the FDA’s limit.
    To set a safe human exposure level for a chemical, industry and government scientist start by exposing lab animals to high doses of a chemical, incrementally reducing the dose until no ill effects are detected. They then round the last number down to create a “safe” exposure limit. The problem is that we’re learning that endocrine disruptors like BPA can have negative effects at extremely low doses. A small change in hormone concentration—the equivalent of one drop of water in 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools—is enough to have an effect on the human endocrine system, which could impact growth, metabolism, sleep, and other important bodily functions.
    In fact, an investigation into the FDA’s treatment of BPA showed efforts to ignore evidence of harm, biased data interpretation, and sharp disagreements between FDA and health officials at the National Institutes of Health on the safety of BPA. The reporting concluded that “US regulators may be operating at the fringes of scientific integrity, possibly with the intent to keep the current testing and regulatory regime intact and to avoid scrutiny.”
    Concern about the health risks of BPA led many companies to abandon the chemical and slap a “BPA-Free” sticker on their products, but as we’ve written previously, the alternatives are often close chemical relatives of BPA and are just as toxic. ANH filed a Citizen’s Petition with the FDA to remove BPA from receipts, but the petition was denied.
    Laboratory tests can help determine what our body load of these different POPs. Pizzorno writes that the most important and easily available is the γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT), also known as GGTP.
    The best way to deal with these toxins is to avoid them as best we can. Other strategies for detoxification include increasing glutathione production, increasing dietary fiber, and toxin-specific interventions to prevent damage and facilitate detoxification. But avoidance is best; once in the body, these chemicals can be difficult to get rid of, as they store and accumulate in fat.
    Given this alarming evidence, it is time to take meaningful steps to protect Americans from these exposures. An easy and exceedingly obvious step would be to ban BPA, something the FDA has so far appeared unwilling to do. When given the choice between stemming the diabetes epidemic and protecting the profits of the chemical industry, which do we think government agencies will choose?
    To avoid BPA, remember that glass is best when it comes to food and drink containers, and cans are typically the worst—even those that say BPA-free!
    Action Alert! Write to the FDA and demand they ban BPA and adjust how they evaluate safe exposure limits for chemicals. Please send your message immediately.

  11. I found out that pharmaceutical company paid two research scientist who where studying the effect
    of sugar on the human body in 1950. They found it was bad for us. They paid them each $50,000 to
    Change their report. They did. The food pyramid is wrong. Diabetes is a man made disease that they are making
    Billions on!!! People are dying, amputations etc. It’s all about the money not the people!! Humalog
    Contains poison!! They don’t care, and the doctors believe the fda. Horrible!

  12. I am very aware that it is not sugar that raises my blood sugar, but stress, sickness, and antibiotics. It is raised by exposure to petrochemical toxins and fragrances, and yet nobody is regulating these carcinogens, mutagens, and fetus alterers. It jumps from 140 to 250-260-280 when I take antibiotics and when I’m exposed to known petrochemicals, such as pesticides, synthetic fragrances, teflon chipping off cookware, and off-gassing from plastics. I do not eat much sugar at all and I try to eat healthy with some vegetables daily.

  13. Pizzorno and his colleagues have been working to estimate the percentage of disease that is caused by POPs (you can read about their methodology here). The results are stunning. According to their research, about 90% of diabetes cases could be attributed to the “massive increase in body load of toxins.” The worst chemicals are BPA (bisphenol A), arsenic, phthalates, PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons).
    How do POPs like BPA and arsenic cause diabetes? Arsenic, for example, decreases insulin production. BPA blocks insulin receptor sites and causes insulin resistance, which increases the risk of diabetes in addition to obesity.
    The next question is how to avoid these chemicals. We’re exposed to arsenic mostly through our food and water. Pizzorno writes that 13 million Americans use public water that exceeds Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limits for arsenic. Many water sources, both public and private, have not been tested. Dietary sources of arsenic include mushrooms, seafood, rice, and poultry.

  14. We bring the curse of the universe upon those spiritless souls and their families till the life giving sun of this world is no more. The destroyers of life by active complicity or active neglect will have their blood spirituality marked with their children’s, and shall find no rest in the spirit world. No unholy water or forgiveness requested with the last breath will pardon the wrath of the universe. Blessing, protection and healings for those whose spirit is in combat and must breathe the same air as the demonic forces who inflict harm. . Ban BPA to lessen the curse, but your children tears and cry’s will still resonate in your spiritless place of aloneness. So it is spoken.

  15. Hello, the diseases that lie in wait for us today did not come from the sky, but changes in our way of life which include our food mode, our increasingly polluted and stressful environment, the best way to remedy it is to adopt a healthy lifestyle from a food and social point of view.
    best wishes of Algeria

  16. I demand the FDA ban BPA and adjust how they evaluate safe exposure limits for chemicals.

  17. Please stop putting profits before people. If you are not protecting the American citizens from harm, there is no point in having your government positions. Ban BPA and adjust how you evaluate safe exposure limits for chemicals.

  18. I have been saying that BPA is the source of many of the new & spiraling health issues we face these daze & am glad to finally see it in print!!

  19. You and your children are exposed to BPA everyday and will suffer the lasting effects. Unless, you think you are immune. Which you are not. BAN BPA FOREVER. BPA has no useful purpose as evidenced by the few companies that have taken BPA’s out of their plastics.

  20. I appreciate your bringing these health issues to my attention. I have taken action in writing to the FDA demanding that they not only ban BPA but, also, adjust their evaluation of safe exposure limits to all chemicals.

  21. FDA should ban all chemicals banned in any other country worldwide. This would and should include the immediate ban on the production and sale of Round Up. Allowing anything into the food chain that is not as Nature intended should also be banned. This would take all GMO’s off the market and ban the production of Franken Food.

  22. What’s next? Global warming causes diabetes? NO, sugar consumption is the cause of plaque build-up in the arteries, high cholesterol(which is a non-issue) and high triglycerides. I have been on a low carb eating plan and my sugar is fine, triglycerides cut in half and cholesterol has plummeted! It’s all about the sugar and not the toxins in the air.

  23. The FDA’s answer to why they banned BPA for infant formulas and packaging was incomplete and deceptive. They didn’t say why the industry stopped using BPA in those items. And if safety was not the issue and BPA was no longer being used in those items, then there is no reason to issue a ban on the items.
    It seems odd that the industry would stop using it in certain packaging and not stop for others. It seems they wanted to protect infants. They should want to protect all people.

  24. Chronic exposur of very very slow leaching of phthalets from passive plastic articals such as buckets , containers other plastic gadgets etc. also causes diabetes in vulnerable individuals in population.So it is very important to ban all low level leaching chemicals from all plastic articals along with EPA, BPA, POPs, & PAHs for eradicating socalled diabetic epidemic from all countries.

  25. It seems like many commenters expect someone else to take care of the problem. That’s only going to happen if you vote, and if you vote for someone who cares about this type of problem. Does anyone seriously expect the current FDA to do anything about environmental toxins. Or the EPA, or the Dept. of Agriculture…

Comments are closed.