Even in a healthy body, pancreatic cells are unable to produce such large amounts of insulin required
to deal with regularly consumed animal protein. Part of the unused protein is broken down by the liver,
although this ability is greatly diminished in diabetics. The rest of the proteins circulate in the blood until
they are taken into the intercellular fluids. But since the diabetic’s cell membranes increasingly prevent
insulin from entering the cells, sugar, proteins and fatty acids are also rejected. Whereas some of the
excessive sugar can be converted into fats and fats can accumulate in the tissues, the protein must be
removed from the intercellular tissue or connective tissue through different means. The process used by
the body is the same one I have discussed in the last two chapters. The body converts the excessive
proteins into collagen fiber which in turn is being built into the basal membranes of the blood capillary
walls. This disappearance act of the protein makes it appear that protein poses no problem for the diabetic.
Sugar, on the other hand, doesn’t have such a seemingly untraceable escape route. Once the
intercellular fluid is saturated with the unutilized sugar, it naturally rises in the bloodstream. With
continued protein consumption, the basal membranes accumulate so much protein fiber that simple sugars
can no longer pass through them, even if the cells were to give up their insulin resistance and let the sugar
pass through their membranes again.
Since the protein-diabetes connection is so important to understand, I will reiterate here what I already
explained in chapter 6. If you eat concentrated protein foods such as meat or chicken, your body requires
much insulin to synthesize proteins from the amino acids derived from these foods. According to
research, the stimulation of protein synthesis is a classic action of insulin. Loss of the stimulatory effect of
insulin on protein synthesis would reduce growth and result in weight loss, which are hallmarks of type 1
diabetes. To make certain that the amino acids derived from the protein meal are synthesized into
proteins, the pancreas has to secrete insulin. In other words, the more protein you eat, the more insulin
your body needs to make, thus increasing the chances of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
Accordingly, eating a normal-sized steak forces your pancreas to secrete more insulin than it would
need to produce in response to eating 12 times the amount of sugar contained in one can of soda. In
addition to that, if you also eat potatoes, a sweet desert, and drink a soda along with your meal, like most
Americans do, you can expect to further increase insulin resistance. Currently, diabetes is the fastest
growing epidemic in America, and it is easy to see why. (More on diabetes in Chapter 11.)
The effect of insulin on protein metabolism is complex, and it involves changes in both the synthesis
and degradation of protein. If protein intake is excessive, insulin secretions increase to help with its
degradation. Protein synthesis and the control of carbohydrate and fat metabolism have now been linked
in unexpected ways, and many of the same signaling systems utilized by insulin to control glucose
metabolism, for example, have been found to be involved in the control of protein synthesis as well. The
bottom line is that excessive intake of protein is a direct cause of insulin resistance and may lead to the
onset of type 2 diabetes.
Thus, overeating protein foods makes Type 2 diabetes a permanent condition, a chronic illness. But
the progression of this illness doesn’t stop there.
pregnancy, overproduction or overadministration of steroids like cortisone or prednisone, overproduction of growth hormone
(acromegaly), infections, and prolonged or severe stress.