Did you ever think how diabetes is a result of addiction? Ordinarily, when we think of addiction, we think drugs; we think alcohol; we think cigarettes and the fumes of tobacco. What about addictions to chocolate? What about addictions to sweet things like puddings and pies? What about addictions to junk food? Few people view these as “real” addictions, until one day when the blood report shows that your glucose level has climbed and you are diabetic.
The problem with the kinds of addiction that lead to diabetes is that, unlike tobacco, drugs and alcohol, these other addictions are not taken seriously until it’s too late. Your teenage child is using meth. Yes, that big issue needs treatment, rehab and family counseling. You have the whole U.S. governmental machinery behind you; you have the FBI, the INS and the Coast Guard to protect your child from drugs. You have presidents waging wars against drugs; drugs are serious addictions. However, no president says, wage a war against soda; wage another war against chocolate. No president puts the CEO of candy companies in federal prison – and yet addiction to these harmless things can kill as surely as Colombian cocaine.
There is another angle… another way to look at the relation between addiction and diabetes. If you think of addiction in terms of its ordinary meaning – drugs, uppers, hallucinogens, opiates – even these have a (negative) impact on diabetes. The jury is still out on a direct relation between drugs and diabetes, although some studies show that illegal drugs increase blood sugar levels, and at least one study in inner city Los Angeles found a correlation between drug abusers and diabetes. The relation between the two is under review. However, there is absolutely no doubt that illegal drugs are harmful for diabetes, because it makes you forget your insulin.