I am not a politician, but a citizen. My son has been diagnosed as a juvenile diabetic at the age of seven, and he much later found out, after taking the C-Peptide Test, that he actually never had “Type 1” but always had Type 2 diabetes.

The insight my son gained from this test is that his pancreas is working and producing above normal insulin levels.  It points to the fact that too much research and attention is directed at replacing faulty beta cells, while the major problem lies in the mechanism of “Insulin Resistance”, the reason why so many people are Type 2 diabetics. 

Recently he discovered that Dr. Jesse Roth, formerly of the NIH made similar calls for such research, only to have his advice, knowledge and foresight completely ignored for almost 30 years. (March 30, 1979 – JAMA Vol. 241, No. 13 Pages 1324, 1335 – Jesse Roth: Redefining Diabetes by Receptors, by W. Check).

Since this discovery, my son has had the merit of working tirelessly to attract the media’s attention that much more research is necessary for the Type 2 diabetes population.
 
He wrote letters to all the Presidential Candidates, Democrats and Republicans and asked them how they wanted to stop this epidemic and how they intended to solve this problem.

Only two candidates answered him very nicely and each one in his own way and according to his knowledge.

To make it short, here are excerpts from each candidate’s answer:

Senator John McCain’s answer: “Pancreatic islet cell transplantation has shown great promise as a potential diabetes treatment and cure”. Senator McCain was not aware that pancreatic islet cell transplantation is not appropriate for Type 2 diabetics which are the majority afflicted by this condition of epidemic proportions. Senator McCain shows that he is not surrounded by people who understand diabetes and cannot satisfy the 18 million Americans who are suffering from it. 

Governor Mike Huckabee’s answer: “I want to encourage you to keep up the great work of educating others about the dangers of being misdiagnosed with type I Diabetes”. Governor Huckabee, himself a former Type 2 diabetic showed much more understanding in the matter.

Unfortunately none of these Democratic candidates found it necessary to even answer my son’s letter.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Senator Barak Obama
Senator John Edwards

For more information you may visit his website: www.diabetescasestudy.com