John Murphy (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I recently received a letter from the Australian Diabetes Council seeking my support to stop the epidemic of diabetes that, according to the Diabetes Council, every year sees 3,000 young Australians develop type 1 diabetes, 19,000 women develop gestational diabetes and 80,000 people develop type 2 diabetes. The Diabetes Council warns that 2.45 million Australians—more than 10 per cent of the population—are at immediate risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Australia is not alone in this growing catastrophe. Around the world, governments and scientists are alarmed by the number of people young and old who are being afflicted by this cruel malady, which brings with it an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, blindness, nerve damage, amputation and now dementia.

Using a spread sheet and figures for the growing incidence of diabetes it is easy to show that, if the numbers continue to increase at the present rate, 100 per cent of the population will be diabetic by around 2040. This outcome is unlikely, yet such is the rate of increase that there is no doubt that many more Australians will succumb to this largely preventable disease in coming years. Although the effects of type 1 and type 2 diabetes on bodily health are well known, recent research has identified a third type which principally affects the brain. There is now strong evidence that the effects of what is called type 3 diabetes should be identified by its better known name, Alzheimer's disease.

Insulin was once thought to be a hormone that principally regulated carbohydrate and fat metabolism and controlled blood sugar levels. That is, when a person eats a meal and blood sugar levels rise, insulin is released by the pancreas and stimulates cells in the liver, muscles and fat tissue to take up sugar from the blood and store it as glycogen or convert it to fat. In a normal person, insulin keeps blood sugar levels between four and eight millimoles per litre, which is why a person with insulin dependent diabetes must measure their blood sugar level and then inject enough insulin to keep their blood sugar within that range. This much has been understood for years.

However, recent research shows that insulin also has an important function in the brain and affects central processes such as the formation of memories. It is clear that normal levels of insulin are important for a healthy brain. A simple example will explain how insulin levels worked for our prehistoric ancestors. In the wild, so to speak, high energy foods rich in sugars are rare and valuable and the effects of a spike in blood sugar and resulting increased insulin levels arising from a sweet meal of fruit alerts the brain to reinforce a memory trace along the lines of 'remember this place: it is important'. These days, sellers of junk foods containing high levels of sugar exploit that biological mechanism and junk foods are cheap, widely available and heavily promoted through advertising that in many cases targets children and the less well-educated. The well-understood effects of the frequent ingestion of foods with high sugar levels is to cause insulin levels to rise to a high level, with the consequence that muscle, liver and fat cells stop responding to the hormone; blood sugar levels increase to toxic concentrations; and the pancreas, pumping out even higher quantities of insulin, eventually fails.

This process, clearly reinforced by frequently eating junk food, is now well understood to be the cause of type 2 diabetes and increasing evidence shows that it is also driving the growing incidence of type 1 diabetes. There is also growing evidence that persistently high insulin levels driven by eating junk food are responsible for the changes that may lead to Alzheimer's disease. In a manner similar to the response of other tissues to persistently high levels of insulin, the brain may turn down its response to insulin, impairing the ability to think and form memories. The eventual result is permanent brain damage.

In conclusion, the consumption of junk food, with its high levels of sugar, is the primary cause of the great increase in the incidence of types 1 and 2 diabetes and an increasing increase of Alzheimer's disease in the view of many experts beyond any reasonable doubt. Yet the unethical promotion of these harmful products continues by individuals and corporations concerned only with profits as they knowingly condemn their unfortunate customers to ill health and dementia. This is a national disgrace.