The Diabetes Pandemic

Raena Morgan: Frank, you say that diabetes, it's your belief that diabetes is beyond epidemic. Could you elaborate on that? Dr. Frank Murray: Oh, yes. I'm convinced it's the pandemic. You remember, like the flu that killed millions of people back in the 20s and teens. The reason I say that is because diabetes is on the increase, in all parts of the world in China, India, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates they have a tremendous diabetes problem. And, as I say, I think it's a pandemic because it's so pervasive around the world. And, as we know in the US, we have twenty million diabetics. We have over six million diabetics here who don't know they have diabetes. So they are at risk of blindness and kidney failure and amputations, heart disease. It's unfortunate, but can you imagine six million people have it and don't know it, maybe some of the people that we are talking to. Raena Morgan: Well, we're aware of the diet and lifestyle that affects Americans as far as diabetes is concerned but you talked about being in the Philippines. What kind of diet do they have? Dr. Frank Murray: Yes. Well, I was researching the Ampalaya book in the Philippines. And they eat too white rice. They do eat Ampalaya, which is a vegetable that lowers blood sugar Raena Morgan: That's bitter melon. Dr. Frank Murray: Bitter melon, bitter gourd we call it. But to a person that I talked to with the diabetes "oh, we ate too much white rice; we drank too many sweet drinks." It's a rather warm climate so they were guzzling sweet drinks all day long. And, you know, sugar is bad for you. It's just nothing but carbohydrates. Raena Morgan: But white rice is a staple of their diet. Dr. Frank Murray: White rice is terrible. It's a starch and the pancreas has to pump a lot of insulin to digest the glucose and disperse it. And if you get too much glucose, you need some, but if you have too much, it can clamp down kidneys, for example. But these people were eating too much white rice at every meal. I said, "oh, are you eating white rice right now?" And about half said no. The other half said, "my doctor allows me a half a cup a day." Raena Morgan: Half a cup. After being a staple of the diet. Dr. Frank Murray: Yes. Well, it's like us the potatoes Raena Morgan: Or while bread. Dr. Frank Murray: And white bread. Those are bad if you're pre-diabetic. You should just skip the white potatoes and the white bread. It's a lot of starch. Raena Morgan: And starch metabolizes like sugar. Dr. Frank Murray: Precisely. Yes.