Written by Ana Nieto. Edited by Ivo Tomasini
Has the American Diabetes Association called you yet? If they do, prepare to be asked if you have recently been diagnosed with diabetes. I have always maintained my glycemic index in check and my nutritional intake at high levels. So, no. Funny how the conversation followed: “Well, has any member of your household been diagnosed with diabetes recently?”. The answer was still “no”.

I was surprised, not by the questions, but by the seeming desperation coming from the ADA. They must have launched a broad telemarketing campaign in search of millions of potential diabetic candidates. It definitely made me wonder what was behind the call as it felt like a typical outsourced agency from somewhere half way around the world, the heavily accented woman was completely disinterested in my health and more preoccupied with getting through her questions before moving on to the next prospect.

So, I decided to do a little research about the ADA and their statistics. According to their website 8.3 percent of the population of the United States has diabetes, which translates to roughly 18.8 million (diagnosed), and this number is only expected to increase…that sounds like a market dying to be tapped. I also noticed (to my surprise) that they offered a bit of information on preventative measures, such as exercise and diet. A good sign, I felt.

I kept on surfing the site until I stumbled on a pile of red flags. The thing I noticed were the heavy hitter corporations sponsoring this organization. Their top sponsors include such big pharmaceutical giants like Merck, Sanofi Aventis, Novo Nordisk, Amylin and Takeda to name a few. Having companies like these sponsor the ADA is like hiring Bernie Madoff to invest your money. It’s rather alarming to say the least considering that what seems at first like a feel-good, let’s get healthy and happy message on the surface, turns out to be yet another ruse to trap people into the big pharma drug cycle.

The sad truth is that the ADA has some serious money to toss into a marketing campaign that can blanket the nation, regardless of your health history. So they market to the worst case scenario, and it’s a pretty simple equation…there will be more diabetics…there will be a market of sick people…we have tons of marketing dollars at our disposal…we will sell our drugs.

Yet, as true preventive health practitioners, we know that the number of diabetics can go down, not up, and it can be done without drugs – if we could  reach out and teach people the truth behind diabetes, and how it can literally be stopped (diabetes type 2 cases have been reversed through implementing a proper regiment of nutrition and diet, while type 1 can be greatly controlled and minimized). Maybe someday, we too can have the endless funds that big pharma enjoys today. For now, let’s stick together, let’s grow, and just keep on spreading the word the best we can.