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Rare genital defects seen in sons of men taking major diabetes drug

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Re: Rare genital defects seen in sons of men taking major diabetes drug

#51
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a harmful stereotype to label obese people as lacking willpower as you have done. Many obese people don’t have the resources (time, money) or tools (nutrition understanding) to improve their situation. Many have metabolic or familial history of obesity which has both physical and psychological (normalization) impact on their ability to control their weight. The former can be helped with diet and/or medication,…

People weren't obese ages ago, and I am sure that's not because of better nutritional education. It's a multifactorial problem.

Robert Lustig talks about this quite a bit. The data shows widespread obesity in modern times is a direct result of all the added sugars in the standard American diet.

Re: Rare genital defects seen in sons of men taking major diabetes drug

#52
post #38

It’s sad seeing the crazy downstream multigenerational damage that massive sugar consumption is causing as obesity rates reach 50%. Good luck future humanity.

It’s an extremely sad situation and will guarantee every single healthcare system eventually breaks down.

Why was this down voted? You're not wrong. Regardless of whether we have a private or socialized healthcare system, we simply won't be able to afford to continue delivering high quality care to everyone with chronic conditions caused by bad dietary choices and sedentary lifestyle. The resources just aren't there so we will increasingly have to ration care.

Re: Rare genital defects seen in sons of men taking major diabetes drug

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People didn’t have McDonalds and cars ages ago. Barn-raising, (manual) farming, and hunting are hard energy-intensive work. Our calorie output required to survive dropped while the calorie inputs available cheaply dramatically increased. That is all part of “overcome metabolic efficiency.” :-)

> People didn’t have McDonalds and cars ages ago. Barn-raising, (manual) farming, and hunting are hard energy-intensive work. Our calorie output required to survive dropped Not saying I know any better, but at it's face I don't buy this. The change in day-to-day activity doesn't feel like it would account for the difference from just the 80s to now. > while the calorie inputs available cheaply dramatically increased.…

Even a small change in average daily activity can account for a large difference. If you cut your total daily energy expenditure by just 50 kcal (the equivalent of walking less than a mile) while keeping intake the same then you can gain up to 5 lb in one year. Add that up over a few years and suddenly you're obese.

Re: Rare genital defects seen in sons of men taking major diabetes drug

#54
post #2

Metformin is the first resort in diabetes treatment. If it proves to truly increase birth defects by 40% that may have to change. It was my doctor's first resort for me, but the side effects were too severe and I stopped it. He vaguely mentioned that it would help if I lost weight, but made no mention of what actually resolved my diabetes, a low carb diet. I hope that becomes the first resort. Apparently around here…

Are you able to go back to a regular diet or is this more about managing diabetes and keep doing it long term?

If by "regular diet" you mean a typical American diet including large portions of foods with high glycemic index then no. If you want to keep the disease in remission then it has to be a permanent lifestyle change.

Re: Rare genital defects seen in sons of men taking major diabetes drug

#55
post #17
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately the vast vast majority of people won't commit to a big lifestyle change like that in the first place, and a big majority of the people that due end up not following through. So most doctors won't bother suggesting it as a legitimate option because for most people it kind of isn't.

"So most doctors won't bother suggesting it as a legitimate option because for most people it kind of isn't." This is just flat wrong and borders on malpractice for deceptive counseling. Even if a patient is unlikely to accept an option, they still need to be presented with the best/standard options. This is also the lowest risk and highest gain option with a proven track record. I would stop seeing a doctor who is n…

So first off I never said I agreed with those doctors' reasoning and love that I'm getting downvoted despite it being a reply to a comment literally exemplifying what I'm talking about, and several other people are commenting things among similar lines.

It happens and I don't agree with it, but I totally understand why they do it. General practitioners and family practice doctors see dozens to hundreds of patients every week, and they get maybe half an hour with each patient and they know that out of the 300 people they see, maybe two or three of them will actually commit to the lifestyle changes they need to control their condition. So instead they optimize for what's going to work for the majority of their patients and skip straight to medication.

Re: Rare genital defects seen in sons of men taking major diabetes drug

#56
post #15

Metformin is also sometimes used to induce ovulation in non-obese women of childbearing age with polycystic ovarian syndrome.[0] Luckily, this study seems to only show an effect if taken within the 90 day window before conception, so it seems to be doing something to the sperm, and not causing genetic changes. Also, of course, we'd want to see corroborating studies. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC42…

I think "sometimes" is a bit weak here. My second-hand understanding (from multiple women who have gone through this) is that it's routinely the very first treatment tried for women with PCOS who are having trouble conceiving.

Re: Rare genital defects seen in sons of men taking major diabetes drug

#57
post #51
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People weren't obese ages ago, and I am sure that's not because of better nutritional education. It's a multifactorial problem.

Robert Lustig talks about this quite a bit. The data shows widespread obesity in modern times is a direct result of all the added sugars in the standard American diet.

What about other countries? America might be leading the way, but a lot of European countries brag about "only" having a 1 in 4 obesity rate, which is still incredible.

Re: Rare genital defects seen in sons of men taking major diabetes drug

#58
post #11

> In the United States, prescriptions to 18- to 49-year-olds with type 2 diabetes grew from fewer than 2200 in 2000 to 768,000 in 2015. What the hell… that has to be a mistake? What is going on? Can poor lifestyle really cause this massive increase in young people with diabetes??

Despite being used in Europe since the '50s, Metformin wasn't introduced in the US until 1995.

Re: Rare genital defects seen in sons of men taking major diabetes drug

#59
post #47
post #2

Metformin is the first resort in diabetes treatment. If it proves to truly increase birth defects by 40% that may have to change. It was my doctor's first resort for me, but the side effects were too severe and I stopped it. He vaguely mentioned that it would help if I lost weight, but made no mention of what actually resolved my diabetes, a low carb diet. I hope that becomes the first resort. Apparently around here…

> made no mention of what actually resolved my diabetes, a low carb diet. I hope that becomes the first resort Doctors know that if they compared "taking Metformin" to "eating a low-carb diet," the low-carb diet would win hands down. But that's not the comparison that's relevant for them, because it's not a choice they get to make. They have to choose between "advising someone to take Metformin" and "advising someone…

It isn't a choice.

It's quite practical to do both.

Re: Rare genital defects seen in sons of men taking major diabetes drug

#60
post #38

It’s sad seeing the crazy downstream multigenerational damage that massive sugar consumption is causing as obesity rates reach 50%. Good luck future humanity.

It’s an extremely sad situation and will guarantee every single healthcare system eventually breaks down.

You're saying that it's a guarantee that every single healthcare system (in the world?) will break down because of _sugar consumption_? Seriously?
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