Diabetes is not caused by eating too much sugar !!!

 It makes me cringe every time I see a meme like this !

TLDR; -> Please help support finding a cure for Type 1 diabetes. I made this video for my local community Facebook page and it was rejected. I'm hoping you can help support the fight!

To Donate: https://jdrf.akaraisin.com/ui/jdrfwalk2023/p/1fc07cd8d6214688ad239471dfa31a88

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I worry, sometimes, that people really believe this is true, that eating a lot of sugar gives you diabetes. Suggesting that those that have diabetes are somehow 'responsible' for it because they ate too much sugar.

This is utter nonsense !

..and probably makes it hard to raise money to support finding a cure for diabetes - if the person is 'at fault' then why help them right?

A person who chooses to smoke cigarettes, drink excessive amounts of beer, or engage in 'recreational' drug use, literally made a choice (in most cases) to put toxic chemical in their body - and yes I know people have addiction problems and need help - but diabetes is a disease and anyone can get it regardless  of the choices you made in your life.

The pancreas and insulin 

First off, whether you want to believe it or not - we all eat ONLY SUGAR! 

The only food that a cell can survive in is GLUCOSE (which is basically a fancy name for 'SUGAR')

EVERYTHING YOU EAT BREAKS DOWN INTO GLUCOSE

Some foods take longer then others.  Breaking ground beef down into glucose takes a lot longer then a bananas, and eating refined table sugar takes 0 time to break down (because it was already done before you ate it)

So no matter how much SUGAR you consume - you will not get 'diabetes'

Our bodies produce the hormone insulin, the hormone is made in the pancreas. The role of insulin is to help move glucose (ie: SUGAR) out of our blood and into our cells, to give the cells the required energy to survive.

..unfortunately several things can go wrong

Sometimes, our pancreas is not able to make sufficient insulin. For example a virus can infect our body, and the antibodies we make can incorrectly target and kill the cells that produce insulin. When this happens our only way to survive is by daily insulin injections, this can happen at any age, but tends to happen more at young ages. This is called 'Type 1 diabetes' - You can see more of how the immune system works here -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXRxu94MOxI

Other, times our pancreas does make sufficient insulin, but the body is not using it properly, several thing can cause this, for example an excess of fatty tissue in our body can make us more resistant to insulin, as can things like increases in other stress hormones.  Sometimes, this can be helped by taking medications that help 'boost' our system and make our bodies more sensitive and less resistant to the bodies own insulin.  This is called 'Type 2 diabetes'.

Regardless of what 'type' you have. If you find out you have diabetes, it is not your 'fault' You did not do something wrong by 'eating too much sugar', you are not to blame.  You are, of course, responsible for the choices you make after your diagnosis - but we shouldn't be stigmatized for a condition which a) we did not ask for and b) which we did not cause.

So please stop spreading these memes, and if you have a moment, please help support to find a cure for people like me.