Hi Dew-- I saw the link to that story this morning via yahoo too. fyi, on a personal note, I've been a type I diabetic since the age of 26. Now at age 44 I've been living with Type I (3-5 shots/day; testing blood sugars 6-9 x/day). The technology in types of insulin, syringes, test machines etc. have become very refined since I was diagnosed in 1986. What I find is most important with diabetes is education and action (discipline). Behavorial modification is the most important part of staying in control, and have some studies have show, reducing chances of retinophathy, kidney disease, and neuropathy. My recent tests have show after 19 years of diabetes that I am not leaking any protein in my urine, I just reach an all-time low A1C of 5.6% (usually around 6-6.3%), and my eyes have shown no affects on the retina.
I am very disciplined with my diet, exercise regularly (am fit, marathon train), but I do have to deal with occassional yo-yoing of my blood sugar numbers. I can routinely see blood sugars in the 200's, and as low as the 30's. Amazing that I can still function in the 40-50 range, whereas many people will already have shakes, etc.
Anyway, I can tell you that the primary reason we aren't doing better with Type II's in the last 10 years is most likely due to our life habits: sit all day at the computer, don't exercise, and eat processed foods rich in carbs. If I were to go into a new career field at this point in time, I'd love to be an educator, modivator and instructor on ways to improve behaviors for diabetics. However, as we all know, there are many non-diabetic people in the world that are overweight and don't exercise. We just don't emphasize this enough in our lifestyles anymore, and many love their damn cars!
Ok, that's my 2 cents on this subject.
Best, Spartex
