sweet treatment for diabetes

[Pravin Sabnis]

Please your views on this topic or any other relating to scientific temper...

Below is part of a discussion on another e-group

 http://groups.google.com/group/brights-india.

It is about a 3 page article in the November 2009 issue of
"Manorama Aarogyam"  magazine.

 

Viswanathan.C wrote:

This is about the 'revolutionary' treatment
strategy of Dr.M.V.Prasad of kenichira in Wynad, who does not restrict
intake of sugars for his diabetic patients. He is reportedly planning to
celebrate a festival by distributing ladduus to 5000 diabetics.
Dr.Prasad reportedly passed MBBS in 1995, from Calicut medical college, and
is presently working as Asst.surgeon at PHC, Kenichira.
According to the report, Dr. Prasad's sweet treatment 

started on the day when 'years back', a 73 year old lady was
brought to his clinic .Her blood sugar was 304 gm% , and she was on 80 units
of insulin, in addition to oral hypoglycemics. the report does not say which
mediicnes Dr. Prasad gave her during the consultation. However, we are told
about the details of waht her diet was like. I will try to translate the
relevant part:  " one chappathi each for breakfast and lunch, and 'muthaari'
for supper-this was her diet. Doctor sent her home with an instruction to
eat all types of food.immediately after reaching home, she drank tea with
sugar, and fell unconscious immediately. She was immediately taken to
doctor, and her (blood) sugar was found to be reduced to 27 (gm/dl) . Doctor
(Prasad) says that the nonfunctioning  pancreas must have tried to
'eliminate' accumulated insulin upon unexpected intake of
sugar. Thereafter, he thought about including sugar in the trweatment of
diabetics. Thougfh he has strted treatment about five to six years back, it
is only recently that patients are coming en masse , after getting to know
the benefits of this treatment." He is reported to claim that  " In the
conventional therapy for diabetes, artificial insulin is injected, and the
already damaged pancreas becomes more non-vital. Threfore,the non vital
pancreas can be rejuvenated and insulin can be generated in the body itself,
 only if all kinds of diets containing energy and sugar are included in the
diet".
To say the least, I am quite upset by this report. My own sister-  already
having retinopathy and recently on insulin- was quite enthused by this
'discovery ' by this good doctor who studied in the same institution as her
dear brother. I had to use very strong words to stop her from experimenting
on 'madhura chikitsa'.
 

Muralidharan added his response:

What do you have to say about other herbal remedies that suddenly appear
from nowhere, receive great publicity and popularity and then goes  out of
the picture. The 'insulin plant'  Costus pictus is one example.   Gymnema
sylvestre , Gur mar (Hindi )( Chakkarakolli in Malayalam) has a longer
presence. Chewing leaves of the latter does  temporarily numb the taste buds
that senses sweetness but how that can have an effect on blood sugar, I
cannot imagine.

I am worried more of the possible unforeseen toxic effects of these plants
when no sort of clinical trials are carried out. From that point of view
homeopathy is so harmless!