Diabetes News

Do you have diabulimia? In other words, do you have type 1 diabetes and you skip your insulin to lose weight. (Or perhaps you have type 2 diabetes and do the same thing.)

If you're one of some 450,000 type 1 diabetic women suffering from diabulimia, a national TV show would like to talk to you for a story to shed light on this serious health problem.

FYI, yesterday, this SUGAR SHOCK! Blog ran a post about diabulimia, a potentially health-harming, life-shortening condition. Today, we received a comment on the blog from the TV producer seeking people with this devastating condition.

The TV producer says that the show is planning on doing "a sensitive piece on diabulimia" and is looking for "current diabulimics."

FYI, for those people concerned about their privacy, the TV show is "planning  to shoot the interview in shadow."

Incidentally, I'd like to thank my research assistant/blog contributor Jennifer Moore, who agreed to post something about diabulimia after both she and I read a compelling, informative article from AP writer Jim Ellis about this terrifying condition.

By the way, I'm also curious how many type 2 diabetics have the same problem.

Please spread the word. Help this TV show find a diabulimic. If you know someone or are willing to talk yourself, please contact the producer ASAP.

Note from Connie: Usually, we only cover news and trrends here relating to sugar research, obesity or type 2 diabetes. But since both my research assistant/part-time writer Jennifer and I were particularly touched by this poignant story relating to women with type 1 diabetes, I decided to include this, too. Here's Jennifer's take on the subject, thanks to an AP story we both read:

What sad, scary news this is.

AP writer Jim Ellis reports on a condition called diabulimia, in which young women with type 1 diabetes skip their insulin to lose weight.

He leads with the unfortunate story of Lee Ann Thill, now 34, who learned of the practice at a camp for diabetic teenagers. She came to the camp suffering from bulimia, worried because she'd recently gained 20 pounds. So skipping or cutting back on her insulin shots, which causes diabetics to shed weight, seemed a perfect solution.

Fast forward a few years, to when Thill was 25. She'd had surgery because a blood vessel in her eye had burst (remember, eye trouble is just one of many complications diabetes can cause). When she was 28, Thill's doctors diagnosed her with kidney damage, also a common complication of poorly-controlled diabetes.

Could Thill have avoided these problems if she'd taken proper care of her diabetes? She seems to think so.

"I feel strongly that had I taken care of myself, I could have lived as long as anyone without diabetes," she said in Ellis's piece. "I don't think that's going to happen now."

How tragic for someone so young to feel so hopeless. What's also disheartening is the possibility that her diabetes made her more susceptible to developing an eating disorder than she would have been had she not been diabetic.  (Several studies bear this out, including a 2002 study published in the Israeli medical journal Harefuah and one Diabetes Care published in 2004).

You see, Dr. Ann Goebel-Fabbri, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist at the famed Joslin Diabetes Center who does research on the connection between diabetes and eating disorders, theorizes that the vigilance diabetics need to have about food -- watching their carb intake, adhering to a diet, etc. -- can lead to an unhealthy relationship with it.

She estimates that 450,000 type 1 diabetic women, one-third of the total number of women with the disease, either skip or cut back on insulin to lose weight. But "diabulimics" who do this also suffer serious diabetic complications sooner than diabetics who take their insulin as they should, Goebel-Fabbri told Ellis of the AP.

But what's the solution to this problem? No responsible physician can counsel a diabetic not to carefully monitor what he or she eats because of the effects certain foods can have on blood sugar. Diabetics whose blood sugar is too high risk serious complications, too.

I can only shake my head in sadness at this.

From Jennifer Moore for the SUGAR SHOCK! Blog

Increased demand for Xylitol-containing sugar-free gum for humans is leading to an increasing number of pet deaths, according to an article in Confectionerynews.com.

Reportedly, dogs who ingest the sugar substitute Xylitol could develop hypoglycemia, which could trigger loss of coordination, seizures, liver damage, and in serious cases, jaundice and the breakdown of red blood cells. 

Xylitol, which Connie discusses in her book SUGAR SHOCK! -- is often used in chewing gum, as well as candy, baked goods and toothpaste.

The dilemma is that even a small amount of xylitol can be fatal for pets, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center reports. According to a Chicago Tribune report, less than 0.1 gram per kilogram of body weight can cause symptoms. 

In 2005, the APCC managed 170 cases involving xylitol-containing products, up from 70 in 2004, the center noted in a press release last year.

Humans with dogs, sounds like you best steer clear of xylitol for the sake of your pets!

From Althea Chang for the SUGAR SHOCK! Blog

New Yorkers -- or those of you who live near Manhattan -- come by my booth tomorrow at the New York Book Festival!

Would love to meet some of you who are readers of this SUGAR SHOCK! Blog.

If you show up, not only will you get a chance to chat with me, but you'll stand a chance to win some of the half dozen raffle prizes I'm giving out! (I'm giving out six spots to this teleseminar with children's obesity expert Dr. David Ludwig and three spots to my upcoming 21-day program to Stop SUGAR SHOCK!)

The New York Book Festival is in Central Park near the Naumburg Bandshell. (I'm entering at 72nd and 5th.) It runs from 10 to 6 p.m.  SUGAR SHOCK! is at Booth 72.

Hope to see you!