9 September 2021Diabetes and Obesity, Dietary Guidelines

The Cause of Type 2 Diabetes

The cause of type 2 diabetes has been known since at least the 1920s.

In 1923, Dr. P.J. Cammidge wrote “that one of the commonest causes of a seeming progressive failure of carbohydrate tolerance was a conscious or unconscious increase in the fat of the diet.” ¹

J.S. Sweeney Experiments wrote two papers in 1927 and 1928 that showed high fat diets increase insulin resistance. ² ³

Sir Harold Himsworth (1905–93) was a renown medical doctor and researcher. He was appointed Professor of Medicine at the University of London in 1939. He is best known for his work on diabetes although he had many other interests including the effects of radiation, tropical medicine and epidemiology. ⁴ ⁵

Himsworth presented a paper in 1935, ⁶

showing the different diets eaten by different races, nations and social classes throughout the world and a close correlation has been demonstrated between dietary preference and the incidence of diabetes mellitus. […] A high proportion of carbohydrate and low proportion of fat were found in all cases to be associated with low diabetic incidence, whilst a low proportion of carbohydrate and a high proportion of fat were associated with a high incidence.

Himsworth’s conclusions after a lifetime of diabetic experimental work, research and study was: ⁷ ⁸

It is now established that the sugar tolerance is impaired by starvation or the taking of diets with a high content of fat, whilst it is improved by taking diets containing an excess of carbohydrate.

and

In comparison with the diet of normal subjects, contained the same amount of protein, a diminished amount of carbohydrate and an increased amount of fat. It is pointed out that such a diet impairs sugar tolerance and sensitivity to insulin in nondiabetic subjects, and would favour the appearance of diabetes in the potential diabetic.

The reason was not discovered until the 1980s. If you type “intramyocellular lipids diabetes” into a Google Scholar search, you will receive hundreds of search results that documents the cause of type 2 diabetes. “Intramyocellular lipids diabetes” refers to fats inside muscle cells. Despite Muecke claims, it has very little to do with sugar consumption.

Download a 17 page fully referenced document that explains the causes of type 2 diabetes and how most instances of type 2 diabetes can be reversed. If a person is taking diabetic medication or blood pressure medication, the person can end up having severe hypoglycemia or very low blood pressure that can put their health at risk.

Carbohydrates DO NOT cause diabetes

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Footnotes

Cammidge, P. J. & Howard, H. A. H. (1923) New Views on Diabetes Mellitus. Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton.
Sweeney, J. S. (1927) Dietary Factors that Influence the Dextrose Tolerance Test. Archives of Internal Medicine. 40 (6), 818–830.
Sweeney, J. S. (1928) A comparison of the effects of general diets and of standardized diets on tolerance for dextrose. Archives of Internal Medicine. 42 (6), 872–876.
Gale, E. A. (2013) Commentary: The hedgehog and the fox: Sir Harold Himsworth (1905–93). International Journal of Epidemiology. 12 (6), 1602–1607
Black, D. & Gray, J. (1995) Sir Harold Percival Himsworth, K. C. B., 19 May 1905 – 1 November 1993
Himsworth, H. P. (1935) Diet and the incidence of diabetes mellitus. Clinical Science. 2117–148
Himsworth, H. P. (1934) Dietetic factors influencing the glucose tolerance and the activity of insulin. The Journal of Physiology. 29–48.
Himsworth, H. P. (1935) Diet and the incidence of diabetes mellitus. Clinical Science. 2 (1), 117–148.

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