Suppression of Research Findings by the Pharmaceutical Industry

In his article “Insulin Resistance as a Symptom” (Townsend Letter, July 2015), Dr. William Ferril observes that there are a number of well-documented research findings that are of serious professional interest to physicians who treat type 2 diabetes, with which most currently practicing physicians appear to be unfamiliar. He gives the following examples: (1) although it is tacitly assumed by most practitioners that blood glucose is moderated by insulin alone, it is well-documented in the professional literature that there is at least one other chemical messenger that plays an important role in moderating blood glucose, and (2) potassium is a cofactor for insulin in its mediation of the process of cellular uptake of glucose from the blood. As he points out, either the persistent underproduction within the body of the former or a persistent dietary deficiency of the latter can easily result in a misleading appearance of resistance of the body cells to the glucose-moderating effect of insulin. While providing additional insulin to correct the resulting excessively high blood glucose levels will generally be effective in this respect, insulin in overdose can have severe long-term toxic side effects. The absence of professional recognition that there are multiple metabolic pathologies that could give rise to the professionally recognized symptoms of type 2 diabetes could easily result in inappropriate treatment strategies for many type 2 diabetics.