{"id":5150,"date":"2010-02-25T08:14:27","date_gmt":"2010-02-25T13:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=5150"},"modified":"2015-12-31T04:26:33","modified_gmt":"2015-12-31T09:26:33","slug":"dr-oz-how-did-you-get-it-so-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=5150","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Oz, How Did You Get It So Wrong?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dr.<\/a>
credit: \u00a9 RD \/ Kabik \/ Retna Digital<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Oh, Dr. Oz, what has happened that you are adding to the myths of diabetes? For you to say, “Type 1 is also called juvenile diabetes and you are born with it” here on the HuffPost?<\/a> Type 1 has not been called juvenile diabetes for years, says pediatric endocrinologist Francine Kaufman in her book, Diabesity: The Obesity-Diabetes Epidemic That Threatens America<\/a><\/em>, and much more important, you are not necessarily born with it. According to the International Diabetes Federation<\/a> “The disease can affect people of any age.” Further, the American Diabetes Association<\/a> says, “Type 1 is usually diagnosed in children and young adults.” You’ve continued the myths and confusion about diabetes that you began on Oprah’s show last week, “Diabetes: America’s Silent Killer.”<\/p>\n

I got type 1 at 18. My friend Paula at 20, Alyssa at 10, Ruth at 37, Blake at 29, Kelly at 8, Will at 2, Phyllis at 58 and on and on. I’ve interviewed 140 people with diabetes and don’t know a soul who was born with type 1. I worked with 21 leading diabetes experts on my book Debunking Diabetes Myths<\/a><\/em> and the experts<\/a> say you are not born with type 1 diabetes. Gerald Bernstein, M.D. is the Director of the Diabetes Management Program at Friedman Diabetes Institute at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City. He says, “You are not born with type 1 diabetes. Rather, a chromosomal abnormality that you are born with may put you at risk for type 1.”<\/p>\n

And why in the world would you use Laureen, a type 1 whose poor control left her a double amputee and on dialysis, as the poster girl for type 2 diabetes? Was this just a dramatic scare tactic? You have to know fear is not motivating for long.<\/p>\n

Then, over her bedside you asked Laureen, ” Why do you think there are almost 60 million pre-diabetics who aren’t taking it seriously?” and, “What would you say to the people who say, “I just have a little bit of sugar?” as if Laureen’s fate will surely be theirs.<\/p>\n

Countless in the diabetes community are stunned, and livid, about the hurried and confusing information that was delivered on the Oprah show blurring the lines between type 1 and type 2. Blogs and posts could barely contain their outrage:<\/p>\n

“Why show a type 1 diabetic with serious complications, and then say that diabetes is the fastest growing disease in the country? You need to specify that diet and exercise, or lack thereof, did not cause Laureen’s type 1 diabetes. Yet you want people to see the horrible effects of type 1 diabetes on her body and then say that a generalized “diabetes” is an epidemic. Type 1 is not an epidemic. Type 2 diabetes is. And thanks to your mishandling of the facts, ignorance now joins the epidemic status as well.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kerri Sparling, Type 1 patient-expert, sixuntilme<\/a><\/p>\n

“Over the next 40 minutes disappointment and, at times, dismay set in:<\/p>\n