Questions & Answers

Does the pancreas have any reserve capacity after it has been partially destroyed?

The pancreas has an enormous reserve functioning capacity. This has been proven experimentally in animals where large amounts of pancreatic tissue have been removed. In these experimental animals, diabetes mellitus has been induced by different methods. The method most often employed is depancreatectomy. In order to attain significant diabetes, at least 90 to 95% of the pancreas usually must be removed, otherwise, the islets of Langerhans in the remaining pancreatic tissue will often be able to hypertrophy significantly to supply enough insulin for normal metabolic needs. This indicates that the islets of Langerhans normally have a tremendous reserve capacity.

I heard about a high-carbohydrate and high-fiber diet that is supposed to be a "miracle cure" for diabetics. Is this true?

There are no "cures." The high-fiber diet may temporarily alleviate the symptoms because the glucose is entering the blood at a slower rate due to the types of complex carbohydrates that are eaten. However, no causes have been removed and the errors in living that resulted in diabetes have not been corrected. There is no other way to achieve health.

Why has the incidence of diabetes increased so dramatically in recent years?

Statistics show that many more people are going out to eat now than ever before and they most frequently go to the fast food restaurants. Consumption of prepackaged dinners and other junk foods are increasing.
Also, people are exercising less and indulging in other enervating habits such as cigarette smoking, coffee, alcohol, etc. All of these factors lead to toxicosis and the end result, in many people, is diabetes.

Is there any other clinical evidence that diabetics have had success on a raw foods program?

According to Dr. John M. Douglass, of the Southern California Permanent Medical Group and Kaiser Foundation Hospital of Los Angeles, diabetics who make an effort to eat more raw foods may be able to decrease or eliminate their need for insulin.
One of Dr. Douglass' patients, an elderly man, had been taking insulin twice a day. When he started eating more foods in their raw uncooked state, his insulin requirements began to fall. After four years, he was able to get by with just half his usual amount of insulin a day.
A second patient, a young Mexican-American man, complained to Dr. Douglass that he would rather die than continue taking insulin "shots." By shifting to an 80% raw diet, he was able to control his diabetes with oral drugs alone. (Perhaps if a 100% raw food diet were implemented, he would have been able to dispense with the oral drugs also.
What led Dr. Douglass to try the raw food regimen? "My rationale was that since early man lived entirely on raw food, perhaps such a diet would be less stressful to the human system in general and less diabetogenic than a cooked food diet." Raw vegetables, seeds, nuts, berries, melons and other fruits and part of Dr. Douglass program.