The Moldy Cupcake Awards: Yahoo! Shine Alarmist Crap

Copyright © 2010 Julie King 
/ Gleeful Things. All Rights Reserved.

*Re-edited* Now with 30% more gripe. 

So, today, a new diabetes alarmist article is making it's rounds on Yahoo! Shine, earning it a Moldy Cupcake Award. The article makes some tremendously sweeping generalizations, about some supposed research from France, showing that diet soda causes diabetes, and that high consumption of sugar causes diabetes.

#1 Where is the link for this research? I'd like to read it for myself, thank you. I don't need someone else interpreting it for me. As readers, and advocates, we deserve to be able to double check your sources.

#2. Sugar, nor high consumption of sugar, causes diabetes. It never has, and it never will. One has to have a genetic predisposition, and weight gain, to perhaps trigger the illness, but no consumption of any specific foods causes diabetes. Sugar is no different than any other carbohydrate. High fructose corn syrup, however, is a different matter. Why don't you do us all a favor, and tackle that, for a change?

#3. "Furthermore, aspartame, one of the main artificial sweeteners used today, causes an increase in glycaemia and consequently a rise in the insulin level in comparison to that produced by sucrose." WHERE ARE YOUR SOURCES? Aspartame DOES NOT raise blood glucose. Honestly, I don't know how you dare report that. That is irresponsible journalism. Aspartame does NOT raise blood glucose. It has no calories, and no nutritional value like sugar -- it does NOT raise blood glucose. Some of us who already have diabetes would be in a lot of trouble if it did. Where's your evidence? You have NONE.

#4. The only thing diet sodas have been LOOSELY shown to do is increase the craving for sweet things, in some people, who then go on to overeat, and then could go on to gain a lot of weight -- which if they have the genetic predisposition for getting diabetes -- could lead them to develop the disease. This is not extensive research, nor is it unequivocal. So no. It is an extreme grasping at straws to say that diet soda causes weight gain, much less diabetes. Don't believe me? Ask WebMD!

#5 Why not report on how overconsumption of soda (diet or otherwise) can cause a person to not give its body enough of the proper hydration it needs? How it might make the body 'swell' from dehydration, if one gets severely dehydrated? Oh, here's an idea, why not instead promote moderation??? You fail to see, Yahoo! Shine, that people who are diagnosed with such a life altering, and deadly disease, as diabetes, need transitional foods, and foods that given them a semblance of normalcy. Why? BECAUSE IT IS DAMN HARD, THAT'S WHY! Don't like soda, don't drink it. But don't LIE about it to get readership.

#6 "Type 2 diabetes—which can be controlled by diet and exercise rather than a daily insulin injection ... " Why can't you people ever, at least, talk to a doctor, advocate, or some expert when it comes to describing diabetes?  Do you now how simplistic, and moronic, this statement is??? Type 2 diabetes is NOT the same for every individual, and if they are on insulin, it is often NOT because they don't want to follow a good diet and exercise regimen. For many, many people, diet and exercise, alone, are NOT an option! Diabetes is a progressive condition in which treatments often need to be altered or changed, in order to keep up with a failing pancreas... and that includes insulin! And newsflash, I wish it were just one simple daily insulin injection! Obviously, you don't really know much about how a pancreas works, and the amount of insulin (basal, and bolus) that a body needs. No, no, but that's okay. Don't let your ignorance hit you in the ass on your way to misinforming people.

Cite your sources, or don't write an article at all. PROOF, or it didn't happen. 

Oh, and one more thing... if aspartame is good enough for Joslin, it's good enough for me. So when it comes to diabetes, SHUT UP, Yahoo! Shine. You don't know jack. Don't make things worse for persons with diabetes than they already are. Shame on you.