New ‘pain free’ insulin could be more dangerous than your diabetes
Last week, the FDA approved a new kind of insulin that doesn’t need to be given by injection. It is inhaled, and it’s for both types 1 and 2 diabetics.
Could this be what those with diabetes have been hoping for — an insulin treatment that can allow them to take fewer shots, or even none at all? It sounds too good to be true.
And it is.
In researching this new insulin, I found some very important things that your doctor may not tell you, or even know himself.
It will be hitting the market very soon. So before you’re told about this “pain free” and easy way to take insulin, here’s what you need to know right now.
The drug is called Afrezza, and it’s a fast-acting, inhaled insulin powder that’s delivered through a small device that looks like an asthma inhaler.
It’s coming on the market already wearing a black box warning — one for acute bronchospasm. That’s a sudden restriction in your ability to breath, just like an asthma attack.
Because of that, the FDA says that people with asthma or lung disease shouldn’t go near the drug. And anyone who is planning on taking it needs to have a thorough examination first to make sure their lungs are healthy enough to use it.
But even those with lungs in tip-top shape can be harmed by Afrezza.
In the drug’s trials they found a “decline” in lung function in those taking the drug — and these were people who had no lung problems at all!
And this damage to the lungs started in just the first 3 months of therapy. Since patients were only tested for two years, the FDA has no idea if they ever got their lung function back to normal even after they stopped using the drug.
But it gets even worse.
It looks like Afrezza may actually cause lung cancer.
That makes sense, considering that the only other inhalable insulin on the market had the same terrible side effect. The other drug was Pfizer’s Exubera, and it was only made for two years. Pfizer “said” it stopped selling the drug for financial reasons — it just didn’t catch on with patients.
But in 2008 — the year after the company stopped making it — it was forced to send a “dear doctor” letter out to warn physicians that the drug may cause lung cancer, as well as reduce lung function.
And it had to send that letter out even when there were very few patients who were still taking the drug. That’s just how dangerous it was.
And there’s no evidence that Afrezza will turn out to be any better.
But the FDA did what the FDA does. It went ahead and approved it anyway.
Now don’t think that’s because it’s so much better than injected insulin, either. The FDA’s own scientists had originally said that the drug is only “marginally effective” and may be “risky.”
But the FDA is right on top of that risk. It’s required that a “REMS” plan be put in place. That stands for “Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy,” and it’s a way to see how bad a drug is after it’s approved by monitoring all the guinea pigs — also known as patients — who take it.
Now you may have never heard of the company who developed Afrezza, I know I didn’t.
It’s called MannKind, and it’s named after its founder and head, Alfred E. Mann, an 88-year-old billionaire aerospace and medical device tycoon.
And Mr. Mann apparently was totally obsessed with bringing this drug to market. So much so that he kept it financed for years with his own money. And that was after two initial FDA turndowns.
He said that diabetes is a big problem and his company is “committed” to getting Afrezza in the hands, or lungs, of as many of these patients as possible.
Keep in mind, this may be a giant leap for MannKind. But it’s a giant risk for you.
Only Big Food could take something safe, sweet and natural and turn it into a killer.
I’m talking about stevia — the super-sweet plant that so many people are using as a no-calorie, no carb sweetener.
For decades the FDA had a hit squad going after any company that used it in food or beverages. It wasn’t safe enough to use as a sweetener, the Feds said.
That is until Coke partnered with the big food company, Cargill, to make a “stevia” sweetener. Then, miraculously, the FDA changed its mind.
But the big problem here is that the Truvia sweetener you see on every store shelf is no more stevia than a fruit punch is an apple. In fact, researchers have discovered that when you sprinkle Truvia into your coffee you’re actually adding a dose of pesticide!
Researchers from Drexel University have found that erythritol, the main ingredient in Truvia, is actually a “powerful ingested insecticide.”
The research team discovered this by doing a carefully controlled experiment in which fruit flies were fed Truvia and some other sweeteners. The flies raised on food spiked with Truvia “showed a significant reduction in longevity” compared to the controls.
Not only that, but the more Truvia the flies were fed, the faster they died. And the Truvia diet seemed to impair the flies’ climbing ability as well.
The study concluded that some component of Truvia was toxic to fruit flies. And it wasn’t the super-tiny amount of stevia it contains, either.
Exactly what makes it so toxic to fruit flies isn’t clear. Could it be because that erythritol comes from genetically engineered corn, as one observer suggests?
Sources:
“U.S. regulator approves Afrezza inhalable insulin” June 27, 2014, The Los Angeles Times, latimes.com
“FDA approves Afrezza to treat diabetes” June 27, 2014, FDA press release, fda.gov
“Truvia sweetener a powerful pesticide; scientists shocked as fruit flies die in less than a week from eating GMO-derived erythritol” Mike Adams, June 5, 2014, Natural News, naturalnews.com
