Diabetes 2 From Statin.

MY POST ON ABC HEALTH REPORT ON STATIN.

When I heard that Statin was on the menu this week I thought “Oh, how boring” but I thought that I'd better have look as one drug and it's action, side effects etc. throws light on another and one learns more biochemistry, endocrinology etc. at the same time Well I'm glad now that I did, One side effect among many that struck me was type 2 diabetes, 2 presumably being associated with weight gain. Now the diagnostic test of diabetes is as good as useless, 1.75 grammes of glucose per Kg of body weight taken at 9 am after a fast from the previous evening and after taking the first blood test, then one EACH HOUR, three all up. Now I've done quite a few 5 hr GTT's and I found that I HAD to do a test each 15 minutes to start off or miss the peak. One woman I tested went from around 6.5 to SIXTEEN then fell to a low of 4 (a 400% fall) in a bit over an hour and had glucose in her urine. Ok, the standard test will detect glucose in urine but that peak is every bit as important as far as arteriosclerosis is concerned because the arteriosclerosis of diabetes is every bit as much about hyperglycaemia as it is about hypercholestertolemia. It called non-enzymatic glycosation of protein, glucose acting like a glue binding to proteins on epithelial cells lining blood vessels and trapping cholesterol in this glue.
Now looking at the metabolic pathways the central molecule is acetyle Co enzyme A or acetyl CoA (vinegar with an enzyme) the CENTRAL molecule of all major metabolic pathways in almost all cells. Ethanol (alcohol) is converted to acetyle Co A (via acetaldehyde), as are ketones from the breakdown of fatty acids. But the liver doesn't import fatty acids to convert to ketones except with ketosis. However, look up what's called the glycolytic pathway and you'll see glucose coming in from one side, Here it can go up to be synthesised to glycogen, the storage form of glucose. Come back down to acetyle CoA and it can enter the TCA or citric acid cycle to make energy in the form of ATP, as well as intermediate molecules in the TCA cycle. But too much acetyle CoA into the TCA cycle and citric acid builds up and it inhibits glycolysis,
But what happens if glycogen stores are topped to the brim, made worse by liver pathology limiting storage and no more energy production is needed other than a base level to keep the cell running. There is ONLY one way out, turn acetyle CoA into cholesterol. So the synthesis of excess cholesterol is a BLOOD SUGAR REGULATING MECHANISM. Block it and up goes blood glucose, DIABETES. To me this is one of those examples where the body has to choose between two undesirable outcomes hyperglycaemia or hypercholesterolemia both of which gunk blood vessels, however hyperglycaemia means very high osmotic blood pressure, so the body chooses the cholesterol outcome. What the patient has to do is dramatically cut back on the sugar intake and chuck the statin down the loo. Better still go on a decent ketone diet with lots of execise and start reversing so much of the pathology of years of abuse and neglect, including the weight gain that contributes to the diabetes 2.