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WorldWeird: Pollution causes diabetes?

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    • CommentAuthorKosmopolit
    • CommentTimeJan 27th 2008 edited
     (663.1)
    http://www.newsdaily.com/Science/UPI-1-20080127-21304900-bc-britain-diabetes.xml

    Experts: Pollution linked with diabetes

    CAMBRIDGE, England, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Environmental pollution may be causing the worldwide surge in type 2 diabetes cases, England's Cambridge University researchers said in a new article.

    High blood levels of POPs, a class of chemicals that includes many pesticides and other toxins, seem to have a relationship with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, the researchers write in a commentary piece appearing in the Jan. 25 issue of the Lancet.

    The commentary's authors call for more research into whether POPs can actually cause diabetes, an Environmental New Service release said, because so far nearly all efforts have been focused on the effects of genetics and obesity.


    Weird, my first thought is that this may be a spurious correlation - people with a diet high in animal products are likely to have higher levels of POPs.

    If the connection turns out ot be correct it's probably good news - most POPs were banned from production in 2005. It takes time for POPs to spread through the ecosystem but levels should be starting to trend down.
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      CommentAuthorChrisSick
    • CommentTimeJan 28th 2008
     (663.2)
    It's never bad news when scientists can isolate causes for diseases and disorders, however, it is bad news when you start to think about the number of people- at least here in the States- who will use this sort of thinking as an excuse for not having to make dietary changes or improve their health, choosing to blame some outside force as opposed to taking personal responsibility. I'll have to ponder this while I drink the other half of this bottle of scotch...
    • CommentAuthorKosmopolit
    • CommentTimeJan 28th 2008
     (663.3)
    Yeah but on the other hand for about 60 years people were told stomach ulcers were caused by stress and that they needed to mellow out and drink massive amounts of milk of magnesia when really all most of them needed was a dose of antibiotics.
  4.  (663.4)
    So does anything not cause cancer or diabetes in high enough exposure doses?
  5.  (663.5)
    This reminds me of the allergy studies they did in Venezuela. They looked at people in the richer parts of one city, in the poorer part of the same city, as well as tribes living a subsistence lifestyle. They compared the incidence of intestinal worms to the incidence of allergies, testing the theory that the upsurge in allergies that happens among industrialized nations might be caused by our bodies being evolved to constantly be on the lookout for parasites.

    Among the rich people, only 10 percent had intestinal worms, and 40 percent had allergies. The poor people had twice the incidence of worms and half the incidence of allergies -- and in the tribes they studies, 90% of the population had intestinal worms, and none suffered from allergies.

    (If you want to know more, it's in the final chapter of Carl Zimmer's Parasite Rex, which is an incredibly fascinating book.)
  6.  (663.6)
    You know, one day we'll all be having to use fucking gas masks...
  7.  (663.7)
    You know on the topic of odd things:
    Most murderers ate white bread 48 hours before they committed a crime.

    have YOU had white bread lately?
    • CommentAuthortezifon
    • CommentTimeJan 28th 2008
     (663.8)
    pollution cause allergies i think, the fuel particles combine with pollen making then nasty

    i cant see the relationship with diabetes
  9.  (663.9)
    have YOU had white bread lately?

    That belongs on a t-shirt, Roo.
  10.  (663.10)
    Spiral- make your own shirt :)
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      CommentAuthorChrisSick
    • CommentTimeJan 28th 2008
     (663.11)
    @ Roof

    So you're saying if I switched to wheat my murderous impulses would decrease sharply?

    OR

    Are you saying that I could use that as a defense in court were I to commit a crime, then- once acquitted- sue Wonder Bread for a titanic amount of money?

    My lawyers are anxiously awaiting your answer.
  12.  (663.12)
    @Roo

    Spiral- make your own shirt :)

    I'd add it to my growing list of shirts I need to make. ;)
  13.  (663.13)
    @Spiral- You make one, I'll make one, we can compare notes when we're done.
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      CommentAuthorEgon
    • CommentTimeJan 29th 2008
     (663.14)


    Now it makes sense why Wilfred Brimley is always talking to us from a ranch.
  15.  (663.15)
    Oh dear GOD.
    Thanks for the nightmares, Oct!
  16.  (663.16)
    Anyway back to the topic.
    I would suspect pollution as a contributing factor, a stresser to the diathesis-stress model, not the actual causation of diabetes; merely something that could cause a genetically predisposed individual towards that illness.


    High blood levels of POPs, a class of chemicals that includes many pesticides and other toxins, seem to have a relationship with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes


    Correlation does not equate to Causation.

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