W. Gifford-Jones, MD and Diana Gifford-Jones – Common Sense Health

It’s not what we were hoping for at this time of year. The doom and gloom of Omicron has many people feeling down. But casting your gaze upwards might be just the right move. For a New Year’s Resolution, this might be a good time to channel your inner mountaineer.

Christmas and New Years should be the season for celebration, not hibernation. Families should be together, not torn apart by differing views on vaccination. Charitable giving should be the theme, not clamouring for rapid test kits. Yet so it goes. Even among those getting out for a would-be joyous wintertime walk, you can see, in the narrow space between their toques and their masks, the melancholy in their eyes.

So, what’s the relevance of mountaineering in these circumstances?

The attributes shared by people who climb high mountains are just what’s needed to fight back against the oppressive weight of pandemic fatigue.

Chase Tucker, founder of Base Camp Training, describes the mountaineering mindset as, “Unwavering self belief. Ability to visualize success in detail. Ability to accept and deal with fear. Ability to manage doubt. Bulletproof positivity.”  He acknowledges risk management skills, but this comes at the end of his list.

There are, undoubtedly, health benefits of climbing uphill. The most obvious are improvements to physical fitness, especially cardiovascular health. The aerobic exercise of climbing reduces body fat, lowering the risk of heart disease. Since climbing, especially with a backpack, is a weight-bearing exercise, it helps maintain bone density. Climbers have strong muscles in the hips and legs, resulting in better balance.

Most exercises done for 20 minutes or longer can help lower the risk of developing chronic diseases such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, stroke, arthritis, and even some types of cancer. Think of exercises that make you feel like you are climbing mountains as a natural antidote to chronic stress too.

There is a full-body exercise called mountain climbers. To do it, from a plank position on the floor supporting your body with your feet and hands, you perform it by taking alternate steps forward to the chest, each time returning to the plank position. It’s a killer, speeding up the heart rate and working all the muscles of the body. If you have ever tried it, you’ll know why climbers are in such tremendous physical shape.

You might want to skip directly to a more manageable, mostly mental, exercise.

But are there health benefits to merely thinking about mountains, and not actually climbing them?

The surprising answer is, yes. Mountaineering involves concentration. The climber’s steel resolve is a mental exercise, not a physical one. Focus on clearing the mind of festering worries has been shown to build confidence and self-esteem. Adherence to a regular routine of concentration exercises can alleviate the symptoms of some mental health problems.

Chase Tucker describes a technique to train your brain for the attribute of positivity using a bracelet. “When you catch yourself thinking negatively, stop take a breath, tell yourself that you can solve the situation with a positive approach and it will all work out fine. Then, swap the bracelet to the other wrist.”

He suggests recording how many times per day you swap wrists. The conscious effort required to stop, reflect, move the bracelet, and try to focus again only on positive thinking involves building commitment to the objective.

Who knows what it will take to break out of the entrenched pandemic mindset while the virus runs its course. But positive mental resolve is a good start for 2022.

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W. Gifford-Jones, MD and Diana Gifford-Jones – Common Sense Health

We said goodbye to a beloved 17-year-old dog this week. She had rapidly lost quality of life. As sad as it was, few would have any qualms whatsoever with the vet’s provision of humane, painless, and sensible euthanasia. But what’s going on with medical interventions at the great miracle of birth?

It’s no secret that humans commonly push the boundaries of scientific possibility – for better or for worse. Traditionally, interruptions in the natural birthing process have been overwhelmingly in the “for better” category.

Caesarean sections may not have been a desirable option for women prior to the advent of modern surgical techniques – uterine suturing, for example – not to mention anesthesia. But in the modern era, there can be no doubt that for countless millions of mothers and babies, the C section has saved their lives.

What’s questionable now are the projections. And concerns about C sections are just the start.

A report in the British Medical Journal Global Health states, “by 2030, 28.5% of women worldwide will give birth by CS (38 million caesareans annually).” That figure ranges wildly from place to place, with rates as low as 7.1% in sub-Saharan Africa and as high as 63.4% in Eastern Asia.

In some parts of Africa rates are skyrocketing. For instance, between 2017 and 2020, data on payouts made to Kenyan hospitals as compensation for birth-related services showed an almost 10,000% increase for C sections.

The safety of mother and child is the right rationale for decision making. A Caesarean might be planned to mitigate problem pregnancies, or become an urgent procedure if labour is not progressing and mother or baby is in distress.

A natural birth is the better option for healthy pregnancies. The risks of heavier bleeding, infection, blood clots, surgical errors, and higher complication rates for future pregnancies are part of the story. Slower recovery times after C sections combine with delays in establishing breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact.

The benefits of “kangaroo care” to the newborn include greater respiratory, temperature, and glucose stability, as well as decreased stress. Mothers and fathers who hold their newborns skin to skin after birth have increased parental attachment, more confidence in caring for their babies and longer breastfeeding duration.

Yet, with one in four births now being Caesarian sections, there is mounting evidence that the medical rational is being overtaken by a convenience factor. Some doctors report being pressured by patients for C sections for unjustified reasons – for example, to plan the day of the birth to coincide with a relative’s birthday or to avoid a holiday. Some patients give in to the convenience of doctors’ schedules.

But these issues are child’s play compared to those at the forefront of scientific advances involving birth. Artificial wombs are in development. A study published in Nature Communications in 2017 demonstrated the use of a liquid-filled, plastic apparatus allowing premature lambs an additional four weeks of growth in a simulated womb.

It is only a matter of time. The definition of ectogenesis, the development of an embryo in an artificial environment, used to include the caveat “chiefly in science fiction”. But artificial wombs are a rapidly advancing technology that will change the nature of mammalian reproduction, we humans included.

Parents wondering about the future employment prospects of their children might want to direct them to the study of ethics. We still have time to think this through and put in place a set of rules. But it is a lot easier today to find pioneering scientists than thoughtful ethicists.Sign-up at www.docgiff.com to receive our weekly e-newsletter. For comments, contact-us@docgiff.com. Follow us Instagram @docgiff and @diana_gifford_jones

W. Gifford-Jones, MD and Diana Gifford-Jones – Common Sense Health

Peter Drucker, the management theorist, who wore hearing aids later in life, famously remarked, “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.” The hearing aid industry would be wise to listen in. For all the big noise about what can be heard when people with hearing impairment are fitted with aids, is an important message being missed?

Hearing aids, in general, make life better for people with mild to severe hearing loss. But has the development of ever smaller technology made it needlessly difficult for people to enjoy the benefits? Does it seem as though the aids are designed to hide, for vanity’s sake, or worse, as if in shame, a hearing disability?

The focus should be on ease of functionality, not the gimmicks that escalate the price for hearing aids beyond the range of reasonable.

Manufacturing a hearing aid costs a few hundred dollars, but a single aid can retail at two thousand dollars each, with most people needing two of them. Companies market products based on attractive warranties, battery life, and connectivity with TV or phone.

But use of hearing aids is often a hard sell, and the prices and high-tech complexities are not the only deterrents.

A study in the International Journal of Audiology notes, “For a hearing-impaired person, a hearing aid is often beneficial, but noise and annoying sounds can result in non-use.”  The study found that 91% of participants experienced annoying sounds daily when using hearing aids. Researchers concluded that “improved clinical fitting routines” may be the solution.

For some people, perhaps. But there is something wrong when the hearing aid industry ignores challenges people face as soon as they leave hearing clinics.

Why, for example, must hearing aids be so ridiculously small? They are so small, in fact, that any senior with even minor arthritis in the hands struggles to grasp and place the teeny technology in the ear canal, while nudging itsy speaker and retention wires into place, and fumbling to find on and off buttons and volume controls no bigger than a tiddle. Compounding the problem, given that seniors have ears that have grown larger with long life, these little bits readily fall out. How much anxiety goes into the search for expensive aids that easily get lost?

Experts say stigma is associated with hearing impairment, making people hesitant to admit the problem. But this stigma stems from outdated societal perceptions that there is something bad about getting older and having hearing loss. It’s time for this to end.

Let’s have hearing aids come to market that are better suited to people who could care less what their ears look like so long as they can hear the conversation. Make these new devices so big that they define new style, offer “bling”, or even, gasp, involve piercings to hold them in place!

Hearing well has important health benefits too. People who suffer from hearing loss tend to develop problems with balance, leading to falls. The absence of mental stimulation from sound reception in the brain can also increase the risk of dementia. And the isolation that often ensues with the development of hearing impairment, especially later in life, is not good for health.

Take the advice of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a psychologist best known for his work on happiness, who died last month at the age of 87. He said, “It’s not the hearing that improves life, but the listening.”Sign-up at www.docgiff.com to receive our weekly e-newsletter. For comments, contact-us@docgiff.com. Follow us Instagram @docgiff and @diana_gifford_jones

W. Gifford-Jones, MD and Diana Gifford-Jones – Common Sense Health

This column, over 45 years, has begged people to make the lifestyle changes that will help them avoid the development of type 2 diabetes. Failing that, there’s mounting scientific evidence that natural supplements supporting glycemic control can help mitigate dietary obstinance and lack of exercise. And in the event diabetes takes hold, then give thanks to Banting and Best for their discovery of insulin 100 years ago. But is there one more opportunity for Gifford-Jones to get the “prevention, prevention, prevention” message out?

How about the publication of a Gifford-Jones timeless classic for children? A book as good as Goodnight Moon. A story as meaningful as Ferdinand the Bull. Perhaps, a variation on The Very Hungry Caterpillar? A story of “moderation in all things”. How many grandparents would give the gift of a lifetime of health to their grandchildren by reading over and over and over again a story in which the doctor whispers, “Good night, …and stop it!”

Type 2 diabetes is a lifestyle disease. It occurs when blood sugar (glucose), required to supply energy to cells, becomes elevated. Diabetics having a genetic defect experience a failure of the pancreas to produce enough insulin (type 1 diabetes). For others, the high sugar consumption associated with obesity results in elevated blood sugar that exhausts the ability of the pancreas to produce enough insulin (type 2 diabetes).

There have been other delightful Gifford-Jones ideas to help people think through the behavioural changes they need to make.  The “Gifford-Jones Stopper-Bopper” was one of them – a small hammer that could be used to knock sense into the head at the moment of an indulgent meal.

The “Gifford-Jones Talking Scale” is another example of a product we think would yield results. How many times have you read in this column, “Make your bathroom scale your best friend.” Or, “The best advice is to step on the scale at least once a day. Doing so means you are never faced with surprises.” How much more effective might the scale be if you heard the admonishing voice of Gifford-Jones, “You’ve gained three pounds. Stop it!”

Readers may have other ideas about what might work to convince people, young people in particular, to commit to a healthy lifestyle. We’d love to hear them.

But this week, let’s play tribute to the remarkable research of Banting and Best. It was 100 years ago this week, on November 23, 1921, that Banting injected himself with an extract from a foetal calf pancreas, obtained from abattoirs in Toronto. What an ethics committee would do to halt such approaches today! But millions of people owe their lives to these intrepid researchers.

The University of Toronto established the Banting Chair of Medical Research and the Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, housed from 1930 in a medical building named the Banting Institute. That location is being transformed into the currently rising Schwartz Reisman Innovation Centre, a research complex for artificial intelligence scientists and biomedical experts and home to an entrepreneurship network supporting student- and faculty-led startups.

But who will champion the simple things, like the nightly reading of a good children’s book with a short, clear message? “Don’t put too much sugar in your mush.” And when the scale talks back, don’t whisper “hush”. Listen to the doctor’s good advice and instill your grandchildren with words of wisdom. Start early in establishing healthy habits, and never stop. Anyone have a storyline to contribute to a Gifford-Jones children’s series of no nonsense bedtime reading?Sign-up at www.docgiff.com to receive our weekly e-newsletter. For comments, contact-us@docgiff.com. Follow us Instagram @docgiff and @diana_gifford_jones

W. Gifford-Jones, MD and Diana Gifford-Jones – Common Sense Health

Waking in the morning, the last thing you want is a health shock before you begin the day. If you are like most people, feeling a lump for the first time at the Adam’s apple, the thyroid gland, you will immediately jump to one conclusion, “I have a cancer.” But is this the right conclusion?

So, let’s report some good news that will decrease anxiety while you have your morning coffee. Fortunately, the majority of thyroid nodules are not cancers. Besides, the majority don’t even require removal.

Thyroid nodules are common in elderly people. In fact, a report from the University of California states that if you’re over the age of 60, there’s a 25-to-50 percent chance of developing a thyroid lump.

The older you are, whichever sex, the more likely that a nodule will develop in the thyroid. And the more likely the doctor is also going to tell you, “It’s not a cancer.”

You should also know these lumps are three times more common in women. But there’s a good possibility that neither women nor men will ever know that one or more nodules are present. This is because thyroid nodules do not always cause symptoms.

When symptoms do occur, patients may notice hoarseness, difficulty breathing, a voice change, the feeling there’s a lump in the throat, and sometimes discomfort in the throat.

The thyroid is a busy organ. It secretes the hormone that regulates metabolism. But its also responsible for heart rate, cardiovascular function, the central nervous system and bone remodelling.

If finding a nodule, the doctor will order thyroid tests of the blood to evaluate thyroid function. Usually, the test will show nothing wrong. The doctor will also order an ultrasound to obtain a general look at the gland.

The important test is what’s called a fine needle aspiration. A small needle is inserted into the thyroid gland to obtain tissue or fluid from inside the gland. This can be done in the doctor’s office. Usually, the doctor applies an anesthetic to the skin, then inserts the needle into the nodule. This takes only a few minutes. Thyroid nodules are 90 percent benign non-cancers. In general, if a nodule is under two centimeters (a little less than one inch), it’s less likely to be a malignancy.

If a cancer is found, surgical removal is done. This means hormone replacement medication may be required for the rest of the patient’s life. Fortunately, the 30-year survival rate for the most common type of thyroid cancer is 95 percent.

As we age, the thyroid gets smaller. Or it starts producing less of the hormone, an immune condition that damages the thyroid. Or, it may become more active with increased levels of hormone, a condition called Graves disease. This is why doctors are always feeling the neck for lumps.

Since prevention is always better than cure, there are tips to decrease the risk of a thyroid nodule. Researchers at the University of California report you are more likely to develop a thyroid nodule if you have a history of some type of cancer, such as a lymphoma, breast or kidney malignancy. Your risk also increases if you are obese, have had radiation to the neck or head during childhood, or have been exposed to nuclear radiation.

Finally, why do we have to keep saying it? Do not smoke.Sign-up at www.docgiff.com. For comments, contact-us@docgiff.com. Follow us on Instagram @docgiff and @diana_gifford_jones

W. Gifford-Jones, MD and Diana Gifford-Jones – Common Sense Health

Some health problems can be hard to pinpoint. An accurate diagnosis of celiac disease can be easily missed. Among adults in particular, symptoms can be so subtle it can go undetected for years, causing other problems that further complicate a definitive diagnosis. 

          Researchers at Duke University examined a randomized sample of 2,835 people over the age of 55, finding 2.13 percent had this disease but didn’t know it. Today, celiac disease affects one percent of the population in Western countries.

          Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder. Sufferers encounter trouble when eating foods containing gluten, found in wheat and other grains. The immune system attacks small, finger-like protrusions, called villi, lining the small intestine, causing inflammation and scarring of the intestinal wall.

          As the Gifford-Jones Law states, one problem leads to another. The villi in the small bowel become less effective in absorbing nutrients from food. Poor absorption of nutrients leads to problems for bones, muscles, and organs. Research has shown that people recently diagnosed with celiac disease are commonly deficient in fiber, iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc, folate, niacin, riboflavin, vitamin B12, and vitamin D.

          If celiac disease is not treated, nutritional deficiencies can cause more problems, such as anemia, neuropathy (nerve disorder) causing pain, numbness, tingling in the extremities, and weakening of the bones (osteoporosis), along with fatigue.

           Classic symptoms are diarrhea, bloating, pain, and weight loss. But since these symptoms may not be severe enough to prompt attention, people may live with it for years before the progression of disease leads to the medical tests required for diagnosis. For example, a study published in Digestive and Liver Disease found that of more than 2,000 adults tested 52 to 74 years of age, two percent were diagnosed with celiac disease. Most of the people had mild or no symptoms.

          To diagnose celiac disease, physicians look for a family history of type 1 diabetes, autoimmune thyroid disease, or liver problems.

Blood testing follows. It’s important the blood tests for celiac disease are done before trying a gluten-free diet. Eliminating gluten from the diet might make the blood test appear normal.      

A serological test looks for antibodies in the blood. Elevated levels of antibody proteins indicate an immune reaction to gluten. There is also a genetic test to rule out celiac disease.

The challenge is that a genetic mutation causes the problem, but unlike some conditions in which positive genetic tests confirm disease, a positive result for a celiac suggests a small likelihood, not certainty, of disease.

The next step is endoscopy. A small tube with a tiny camera is passed into the intestines and a biopsy is done to analyze damage to villi.

          There’s good news from Johns Hopkins University. Older people who have gone undiagnosed for years usually have a milder form of celiac disease. They therefore show less damage to the intestinal villi than those who encounter the disease earlier in life.

          Although new drug treatments are being explored, at the moment the only treatment is lifelong adherence to a gluten-free diet. This can be daunting as many foods contain gluten including pastas, breads, and baked goods. And it’s hard to avoid gluten when eating out.

Dieticians will advise focusing on “whole” foods that are naturally gluten free, such as brown rice, potatoes, vegetables, fruits, nuts and lean meats. Monitoring vitamin absorption is key.

After adopting a strict gluten-free diet, intestinal villi take about two years to heal. Most people notice symptoms dissipating and enjoy a new feeling of well-being.Sign-up at www.docgiff.com. For comments, contact-us@docgiff.com. Follow us on Instagram @docgiff and @diana_gifford_jones

W. Gifford-Jones, MD and Diana Gifford-Jones – Common Sense Health

What catastrophic event could end all lives on this small planet? Some say nuclear war; others, another pandemic worse than the current one that’s caused over 700,000 deaths just in North America. Still others, the failure to tackle the problem of climate change. But here’s a surprise. The ultimate disease is a population time bomb that keeps ticking every second of the day – and we all ignore it.

          It took 123 years for the human population to grow from one to two billion people. Then, only 40 years to reach six billion, and now the population is 7.8 billion. This year, 82 million people will be added to an already packed planet. It’s like adding another city the size of Richmond Virginia, or Buffalo, New York, to our planet every day!

Increased population is now causing huge health and migration problems. Recent years have seen enormous waves of refugees fleeing conflict in desperation using any means to get somewhere better. We’ve all seen the gut-wrenching images of flimsy boats in the Mediterranean, and now hundreds are attempting to cross the English Channel from France in the same manner. The U.S. southern border with Mexico offers more scenes of chaos. All need housing, food, and health care.

          In nature, if too many deer, wolves kill them. But humans have a different problem. Too many of us, and the threat arises of our own makings: poor quality air, water, land and sea.

What is going on is frightening. Climate change is just the start. This year, the heat dome in western Canada caused 446 deaths in British Columbia. Floods in Europe and China ravaged entire villages. Massive fires destroy forests and choke the air with smoke. Polar bears can’t find the sea ice needed to keep alive.

          A seminal experiment years ago provided an important lesson about animal behaviour. Two rats were placed in a cage. They survived without hostility. But with the addition of another rat or two, the fighting began for space. Similarly, humans do not fare well in confined settings when resources are lacking. Conflict inevitably ensues, not peaceful rethinking and behaviour change. We have always been a waring species. Like too many rats in a cage, we turn on each other.

          So while you are reading about carbon taxes so complex they are impossible to understand, think about what’s causing the root problem.

There will be more people on this planet. Projections suggest the global population will level out at 11 billion around the year 2100. That’s about 3 billion more people we need to accommodate.

To do so, will we keep cutting down trees, demanding more energy, tossing more plastic in the sea? Very likely, yes. Some good people will do all they can to find solutions. But efforts to fix those problems will have little impact if we keep behaving like rats.

We can all do some finger pointing. It’s easy to find somebody else who is making things worse. We can all disagree about solutions too. But we have got to get better, and quicky, at living together without conflict every time we don’t see eye to eye.

Yet, we couldn’t do it where there were only 1 billion on the planet. We aren’t doing it now with 9 billion. Squeezing in 3 billion more, what’s our plan for getting along?

We must take care of the planet. But we must also start taking better care of each other. Or are we going to be like rats in a cage?

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W. Gifford-Jones, MD and Diana Gifford-Jones – Common Sense Health

What helped to shape my career? As a small child I became spell bound when I read Paul de Kruif’s book “Microbe Hunters”, published in 1926. It offers a sweeping history of the earliest microbiologists and immunologists, dating back to the discovery of microbes in the 17th century. Louis Pasteur features prominently as the researcher who discovered how to make the vaccine that neutralizes the microbe that causes rabies. Scientists were producing vaccines to treat many other viral diseases. It became my burning desire to be a doctor.

Vaccines have saved countless lives. This is clear.

Three years ago, my column discussed vaccination. I explained that, as a surgeon, I could never guarantee that operations were 100 percent free of complications. I also stated that several billion dollars had been awarded to families due to severe complications following vaccination. My message was to be informed about vaccination and discuss it with your doctor.

Some critics accused me of being against vaccines.  How far from the truth!  They missed my message to weigh the risks.

For instance, scientific reports indicate that there are complications including deaths from COVID vaccines.  But these adverse reactions are infrequent, and deaths are a very rare tragic exception.  The risk is so, so, minimal versus the risk of dying unvaccinated. So, it is utter madness and so frustrating to see ill-informed people waving signs and blocking entrances to hospitals in condemnation of vaccination.

The Pasteur Institute in Paris is home to Pasteur’s tomb. It is an awe-inspiring experience to read the engravings of his discoveries on the walls.

Fortunately, Pasteur lived to see his success against rabies and anthrax recognized around the world. Moreover, his early discoveries set the stage for finding the germs that cause tetanus, pneumonia, diphtheria, typhoid, tuberculosis, cholera and gonorrhea.

Pasteur would tell thick-headed, anti-vaccine people that prior to this discovery there was no treatment for these fatal diseases. How fortunate that today people around the world can be free of these infections.

My father, dearly loved, always advised me that when annoyed, I was to calm down and wait 24 hours to reply. I’ve waited too long to respond to my critics.

For decades I have written weekly medical columns. I know I have expressed controversial opinions on some social issues. But let me state clearly, I have never been against vaccination and proven science.

I am honoured to be on the editorial board of the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, associated with the International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine. This professional association is comprised of professors, researchers and experts on viral diseases from around the world, and their research offers compelling evidence that to fight this and future pandemics, preventative measures involving daily vitamins and nutrients can arm our body’s natural immune functions.

For instance, I recommend taking 1,000 milligrams of vitamin C three times a day (because it is water soluble and we lose some by urination), plus 5,000 IU of vitamin D, 400 milligrams of magnesium, and 50 micrograms of zinc, all once daily. This combination supports the body’s natural defences against viral infections and is safe, inexpensive, and available at health food stores.

This preventive strategy, along with vaccination, will decrease the risk of developing an infection, and if infected, the risk of complications involving hospitalization or dying.

Paul de Kruif’s book is still available and still a great read.

I hope this clarifies my views on vaccination. As a young child no one could have changed my opinion about the Microbe Hunters. And no critics can change my opinion today.

My message. Get your vaccination NOW!

Sign-up at www.docgiff.com. For comments, contact-us@docgiff.com. Follow us on Instagram @docgiff and @diana_gifford_jones

W. Gifford-Jones, MD and Diana Gifford-Jones

Common Sense Health

Last week’s column claimed, “Wars are too important to be left to generals.” And “the type 2 diabetes pandemic is too important to be left to doctors.” We asked whether there was a difference between millions of North Americans dying quickly of COVID-19 and millions of people dying slowly of diabetes. In this week’s column, we challenge media outlets to help doctors fight this other pandemic that is having a disastrous effect on our health care system.

Consider what’s happened for 20 months now. Broadcasters in North America could hardly wait to tell us night after night about the daily number of deaths from COVID-19.

But what they have not mentioned is that 1 in 10 North Americans now have type 2 diabetes – in effect, that people are sick and many more are on soon to follow. Unfortunately, the majority are not aware of the terrible future they face as diabetes takes its toll.

We should not need to spoon feed the overwhelming mountains of data to journalists. The evidence is in plain sight to all. A visit to any supermarket quickly shows what’s happening to society. Overweight and morbidly obese shoppers are buying cheaper, easier, poor-quality food heavily marketed by powerful producers.

Obesity has been setting the stage for type 2 diabetes for decades. The blunt fact is that 65 years ago 95 percent of diabetes was due to being born with defective genes and just 5 percent to obesity and lifestyle factors. Today, what a reversal! Just 5 percent of diabetes is due to defective genes and 95 percent to obesity.

This is not an act of God. Defective genes do not proliferate so speedily. But human behaviour and faulty diets have changed over the years. Few people are getting enough exercise.

Why ask for media’s help? Doctors have been successful finding cures for diseases in the past. But this current challenge goes well beyond the capabilities of the medical profession. Despite a wealth of medical literature, hundreds of books and weight loss programs, and the tragic consequences of obesity, still the problem escalates.

Some predict that by 2050, rather than 1 in 10 people with type 2 diabetes, it will be 1 in 3! Since the cost of care is now $230 billion annually, this will trigger the most devastating economic and health wreck the world has ever witnessed.

Can it be solved? The medical profession cannot do it alone. But if the media issued an urgent alert, even a fraction of the magnitude of the COVID coverage, there might be hope.

Since COVID struck, the media has been unrelenting in hammering out news of the more than 600,000 U.S. citizens alone who have died. But according to the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S., there are 34 million diabetics in the U.S. and another 88 million have pre-diabetes. The World Heath Organization reports that diabetes is three times more deadly than COVID-19. Worldwide 463 million people have diabetes and about 4.2 million die of it every year.

Media giants in the U.S and Canada are all shooting at the wrong target. There’s a larger killer in our midst. Unlike the COVID-19 virus which will eventually fade away or be managed, type 2 diabetes will continue to creep forward, causing millions to suffer from amputations, blindness, kidney failure and other severe complications day after day, gradually killing far more and costing all of us dearly.

Will big media houses accept the challenge to cover this other pandemic? We want to know.Part three of a six-part series. Sign-up at www.docgiff.com. For comments, contact-us@docgiff.com. Follow us on Instagram @docgiff and @diana_gifford_jones

by W. Gifford-Jones, MD and Diana Gifford-Jones
Common Sense Health

Want some good news about the current viral pandemic? Vaccines are taking effect across global populations and will eventually end this horrible nightmare. But we’ve yet to face, let alone resolve, the truly catastrophic health crisis plaguing humankind.

It’s a disease for which there are no vaccines. Worse still, it is a completely unnecessary health tragedy that will continue unabated to kill millions of people worldwide year after year. It’s called type 2 diabetes and the coronavirus has made it deadlier.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the U.S., one in ten North Americans has diabetes. And 40 percent or more of the people who died of COVID-19 had diabetes.

According to an analysis of CDC data, people aged 25 to 44 showed a sharp increase in diabetes deaths. And this included long-term medical complications prior to death.

Why has this occurred? Type 2 diabetes, the main culprit, is a lifestyle disease. The human pancreas that produces insulin becomes exhausted due to obesity from too many calories and inactivity. School closures and restrictions have added to the problem for children.

If you have friends with diabetes, ask how they spend the day checking their numbers. If blood sugar is too high or too low, adjustments are vitally needed. They have to check with a laboratory every few weeks to see if the numbers are right. And often they may need to add insulin to survive.

For these millions of diabetics, atherosclerosis (hardening of arteries) is their mortal enemy. This results in a decreased flow of oxygenated blood to all organs of the body. The later diabetes is diagnosed, the longer this lack of oxygenated blood triggers degenerative medical complications.

One of the most frightening complications is the experience of sudden pain in the toe and then the sight of it gradually become black. Such toes must be amputated and sometimes later the leg is lost to the disease as well. Another major complication is blindness or kidney failure requiring either renal dialysis or a kidney transplant. About 50 per cent of diabetics die of heart attack.

So far nothing has been able to stop the pandemic of type 2 diabetes. Although it is unpopular to say it squarely, the main problem is obesity.  The solution involves both a huge reversal in individual lifestyle choices and major systemic changes in the goods society produces, the way we build our communities, the economics of work and play, and more.  It has been said many times, jokingly, that due to high sugar content of some breakfast cereals, it would be safer to eat the box! And everyone should step on the bathroom scale every day, as scales never lie.

Motivating individuals to take responsibility amid all the system problems is not a popular prescription. But changing behaviours would do more good in a few months of diligent effort than the billions of dollars being pumped into drugs, surgery, and public relations campaigns.

Here’s the key point. It’s been said that wars are too important to be left to generals. The type 2 diabetes pandemic is too important to be left to doctors.

Let’s challenge the news media. Doctors need help in getting the message out that fighting type 2 diabetes is both a healthcare priority and a needed urgent fix to save our health care system from bankruptcy. Next week’s column will challenge media outlets to ask this vital question, “Is there any difference between the millions of North Americans who die of COVID-19 quickly, and those millions of people who are dying of diabetes slowly?

Part two of a six-part series. Sign-up at www.docgiff.com. For comments, contact-us@docgiff.com. Follow us on Instagram @docgiff and @diana_gifford_jones