Mark Bittman. Is Alzheimer’s “Type 3 Diabetes”? New York Times

In Mark’s 9-25-12 article (See link below), he hit the nail on the head when he said, “The idea that Alzheimer’s might be Type 3 diabetes has been around since 2005, but the connection between poor diet and Alzheimer’s is becoming more convincing.”

Mark Bittman, New York Times

Amen to that news. Once again, Mark distinguishes himself as the ONLY mainstream journalist out there who continues to share the deadly news about our many food-driven, non-communicable diseases. As for connecting the dots, here’s what he had to say:

Let’s connect the dots: We know that the American diet is a fast track not only to obesity but to Type 2 diabetes and other preventable, non-communicable diseases, which now account for more deaths worldwide than all other causes combined.

We also already know that people with diabetes are at least twice as likely to get Alzheimer’s, and that obesity alone increases the risk of impaired brain function.

He went on to say that roughly one third of all Americans are either diabetic or pre-diabetic and commented that those conditions are treatable but incurable. On that point I would disagree and so would all five of the pioneering medical doctors (in our book) who’ve been reversing (curing) type 2 diabetes for many decades—with nothing but a simple shift to a whole foods, plant-based diet. Here’s what one of them had to say on the cover of our book:

“What’s good for you is also good for our planet. Although heart disease and diabetes kill more people each year worldwide than all other diseases combined, these are completely preventable and even reversible for at least 95% of people today by changing our diet and lifestyle. This book shows you how.”

—DEAN ORNISH, MD, Founder, Preventive Medicine Research Institute; Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco; and author of The Spectrum and Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease

I’ll bet you fifty bucks you won’t find out exactly what you need to do to prevent this horrible disease on their website. They will no doubt recommend the same disease-promoting “lean meat and low-fat dairy” garbage that you’ll hear from the ACS, AHA and the ADA.

I am not sure why Mark continues to call these diseases incurable. Certainly, we don’t hear much about that fact from mainstream medicine; they prefer to talk about spending money “managing” your diseases with drugs, surgery and other expensive and invasive means.

But the reality is that you can simply get rid of those diseases in 95% of the cases. Esselstyn, Furhman, Barnard, McDougall AND Ornish all agree on that.

Aside from that one point, Mark’s article is brilliant. It is somewhat of a primer on what Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are all about and the staggering prediction of a great many more cases of Type 3 diabetes (Alzheimer’s) as our baby boomers approach their 70s and 80s. He writes:

If the rate of Alzheimer’s rises in lockstep with Type 2 diabetes, which has nearly tripled in the United States in the last 40 years, we will shortly see a devastatingly high percentage of our population with not only failing bodies but brains.

Even for the lucky ones this is terrible news, because 5.4 million Americans (nearly 2 percent, for those keeping score at home) have the disease, the care for which — along with other dementias — will cost around $200 billion this year.

The link between diet and dementia negates our notion of Alzheimer’s as a condition that befalls us by chance. Adopting a sane diet, a diet contrary to the standard American diet (which I like to refer to as SAD), would appear to give you a far better shot at avoiding diabetes in all of its forms, along with its dreaded complications.

Dr. Neal Barnard wrote an entire book about reversing diabetes—and it’s nothing new.

For your convenience, I have provided the source article along withe a few of my earlier blogs on diabetes and Alzheimer’s:

• Source article. Is Alzheimer’s Type 3 Diabetes? – NYTimes.com.
• Earlier blog. Alzheimer’s, like heart disease, may need never exist.
• Earlier blog. Alzheimer’s Prevention (with drugs)—the big story this week
• Earlier blog. Teenage diabetes rate triples in less than ten years.
• Earlier blog. Got Type 2 Diabetes? “Get rid of it,” says Dr. Ornish
• Earlier blog. Obesity, diabetes — still getting worse, with no end in sight…
• Earlier blog. Neal Barnard, M.D.—devotes entire book to “reversing diabetes.”

Sane Diet? As for Mark’s recommendation of a “sane” diet, provided here is exactly what that means. Quite simply, try to get the vast majority of your calories from whole, plant-based foods. Find out how to do that in this handy kit:

Consecutive daily blogs (numerals today from Spain)

Handy 4-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com

• The movie that’s changing the lives of millions: Forks Over Knives DVD 
• Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
• An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell
• Dr. McDougall’s new book, The Starch Solution, with lots of great recipes.

Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Diagnostic Survey. It takes less than five minutes and you can score it yourself. After taking the survey, please give me your feedback as it will be helpful in the development of our future 4Leaf app for smartphones. Send feedback to jmorrishicks@me.com

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J. Morris Hicks, working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.

For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4Leaf page or some great recipes at Lisa’s 4Leaf Kitchen.

Got a question? Let me hear from you at jmorrishicks@me.com. Or give me a call on my cell at 917-399-9700.

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Blogging daily at hpjmh.com…from the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

—J. Morris Hicks, board member, T. Colin Campbell Foundation