Sounds plausible but if we are all so healthy why not die of old age. Then there is the obesity epidemic, that was not caused by better healthcare. There is too much correlation between diet and type two diabetes to place the blame elsewhere.
I got excellent healthcare from my Caracas doctors that kept me alive but did not prevent type two diabetes which was dealt with by healthy eating. There was one medication that kept me alive in Trinidad, Isordil 5 mg.
GoogleAI:
Isordil 5 mg (isosorbide dinitrate) is a prescription nitrate medication used to prevent heart-related chest pain (angina) and manage congestive heart failure. It works by relaxing and widening blood vessels, allowing more blood and oxygen to reach the heart.
My cardiologist gave me an interesting bit of advice, “If it does not relieve the pain, it’s not the heart. If it works, get help!” I got on a plane as fast as I could back to Caracas and got myself a brand new J&J stent. That was around 1997 or so. Yes, modern medicine is fantastic to keep you alive but not to stay heathy. That requires a change in lifestyle!
The Captain
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
As a good luck charm I keep a container of Isordil in my jeans, haven’t taken one in three decades.
So, I got to thinking and wondering some more …specifically whether “heart disease” secondary to metabolic dysfunction is different from disease due to FH. So, I got to Goggling again, asking that very question and, lo…AI overview is trying to be my buddy again. Turns out there are significant differences that seem to be well documented in scholarly journals and I guess I recognised but didn’t compute before.
The driver of the diseases associated with metabolic dysfunction (including but not limited to "heart disease) is thought to be a generalised systematic inflammation secondary to early insulin resistance. The overall lipid profile is different too…with elevated LDL-C oftentimes being the only feature. This comports with my experience of high HDL-C and low triglycerides along with low hs-CRP. So it seems that my request for circulating insulin wasn’t so off the wall after all (except my A1c was nowhere near pre diabetic)
I interpret this as being an even bigger example of supervised neglect by my primary care docs over the years. Rather than my LDL-C being inconsequential because it was a stand alone dodgy reading…it should’ve been a dead give away that something was amiss and needed further checking.
Here’s the problem with being a bit too creative in the cutting and pasting of posts. Unless I’m the one with poor reading comprehension,@JLC was actually responding to the comment regarding the implication that “heart disease” …not T2D per se … was rare before the 1900s and pointed out a reason for the appearance of a relative rise.
As you’ve since had the opportunity to read/ignore, ASCVD with FH as the primary driver shows all the signs of being a very different disease process from the obesity related version. Not unlike type 1 diabetes and insulin dependent T2D. One being largely congenital and the other acquired…and some might say voluntarily acquired.
Correlation is not proof of causation, maybe there is common cause. In my research into type 2 diabetes many related diseases were mentioned including leaky gut and ulcerative colitis. I got ulcerative colitis which in Caracas was misdiagnosed as amebiasis. A doctor in Palo Alto told me it was not amebiasis. I asked how he knew. You have no amebiasis antibodies. He diagnosed incurable ulcerative colitis and prescribed Prednisone for life. It so happens that Prednisone is not allowed in Venezuela. I tried to buy some in Florida, Sorry, you can’t use your California prescription. I found a drug exporter in Miami. They don’t need prescriptions. Bureaucracy! Every so often I stopped taking the Prednisone and stopped entirely when the bleeding didn’t return. So much for incurable diseases.
The above got me thinking, why correlate heart disease only with dementia and not with all the other insulin resistance related maladies. I asked Google, “Can you list the diseases that have been linked to insulin resistance?”
GoogleAI:
Insulin resistance—where your body’s cells stop responding properly to the hormone insulin—is a root metabolic defect linked to numerous chronic conditions. The most heavily documented diseases and disorders associated with insulin resistance include: [1, 2, 3]
Primary Metabolic & Endocrine Disorders
Type 2 Diabetes: The most direct and well-established consequence of untreated or chronic insulin resistance. [1, 2]
Prediabetes: Often the early stage preceding type 2 diabetes. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Metabolic Syndrome: A cluster of conditions including high blood pressure, high triglycerides, and low HDL cholesterol. [1, 2]
Polycystic bOvary Syndrome (PCOS): A hormonal disorder in women causing reproductive and metabolic issues, frequently worsening insulin resistance. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Lipodystrophy Syndromes: Conditions that cause abnormal fat loss or an inability to store fat properly, leading to severe insulin resistance. [1]
Gout: A form of inflammatory arthritis that has been shown in recent studies to have strong correlations with insulin resistance. [1, 2]
Cardiovascular & Liver Diseases
Cardiovascular Disease (CVD): Includes atherosclerosis, heart attacks, and blockages caused by damaged blood vessels.
Hypertension: High blood pressure.
Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD): Formerly known as Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), where fat builds up in the liver. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Neurological & Other Chronic Conditions
Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Disruptive breathing during sleep that is both caused by and worsens insulin sensitivity. [, 2]
Dementia/Alzheimer’s Disease: Often referred to as “Type 3 diabetes” in research, as the brain’s ability to use insulin is impaired. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Certain Cancers: Higher circulating insulin levels and chronic inflammation are known risk factors and accelerators for various forms of cancer. [1, 2]
Skin Markers (Acanthosis Nigricans): A condition marked by dark, velvety patches of skin, often an early visible sign of systemic insulin resistance. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
The above does not mention ulcerative colitis so I asked, “Is ulcerative colitis caused insulin resistance?”
GoogleAI
No, ulcerative colitis (UC) is not caused by insulin resistance
. UC is a chronic autoimmune and inflammatory disease driven by a combination of genetics, an abnormal immune system response, and environmental factors, whereas insulin resistance is a metabolic issue. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
However, the two conditions have a complex, two-way relationship:
Inflammation Connection: Severe intestinal inflammation during a UC flare can temporarily trigger insulin resistance in the body. Once the disease is brought back into remission, insulin sensitivity typically returns to normal levels. [1, 2]
Medication Side Effects: Corticosteroids (like prednisone or budesonide) are frequently used to treat UC flare-ups and are well known to induce high blood sugar and temporary insulin resistance. [1, 2, 3]
Long-Term Risks: Individuals with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) like ulcerative colitis have a statistically higher risk of developing metabolic issues, including type 2 diabetes. [1, 2, 3]
If you are managing UC and have concerns about your blood sugar or metabolic health, it is best to discuss screening and monitoring with your gastroenterologist or primary care physician.
What all this says is that to stay healthy one needs to live and eat healthy Prevention, not cure, is the better alternative.
