AlphaMale

Alpha-1 protein, the diabetes solution?

Two groups of researchers have reversed diabetes in mice by injecting them with Alpha-1 protein, or AAT.

AAT is the protein extracted from human blood plasma that we Alphas get infused into our veins to augment our own inadequate supply. It's intended to give us protection against the rapid loss of lung function that is common among Alphas.

AAT has several fine qualities, including being anti-inflammatory. (Since we're "deficient" in AAT, Alphas tend to have a lot of lung inflammation.)

So here's where diabetes comes in.

For years, it's been widely accepted that inflammation is one of the effects of Type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is the kind that can develop in the very young and brings the complete destruction of the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, making insulin injections a lifetime necessity.

Now researchers are testing the theory that inflammation is a major cause, rather than a result, of diabetes. They injected diabetic mice with AAT. Inflammation was reduced, the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas weren't just saved, but apparently grew, and in some cases the mouse diabetes was completely cured.

Of course, they were mice. And a special breed of non-obese diabetic mice. But everybody's having visions of a breakthrough in human diabetes.

So far, no AAT studies in people with Type 1 diabetes have been announced.

If the doctor says that, the doctor is an ass

Ten years ago, a lung specialist told a woman I know:

"You have Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency. There's no cure. You have about five years to live."

I know a LOT of doctors. I like and respect most of them. I have a decent regard for the work involved in getting an MD degree, the basic ability required to achieve it, the difficult and stressful work that most doctors do.

But THAT doctor, when he made THAT statement, was being an ass, an idiot, a fool, an ignoramus. Oh, yes: a fake, too. He knew next to nothing about Alpha-1, and he was too arrogant to admit it.

How DARE he tell that woman how long she had to live? Would HE want to be told he had five years to live? By some jerk who didn't know what he was talking about -- but pretended he did?

The doctor was full of crap. Let me count just a few of the ways.

1. The doctor knew next to nothing about Alpha-1. It's always the guys who don't know much about it who read a little bit in their medical reference book, then say wildly inaccurate things that cause their patients the most fear and heartache.

2. The doc had no way of knowing how long the woman had to live.

3. Even if the doc had been a world-class expert in Alpha-1, he STILL wouldn't have known how long the woman had to live. Of course a true expert would never pretend he could make an accurate prediction.

4. That ignorant fool of a doctor had a lot of company. I've heard the story all too often: the doctor gives an Alpha this scary-sounding diagnosis, then says, "You only have about five years to live."

For some reason, five years seems to be a popular estimate, but I hear two years is common as well.

So I asked a real world-class Alpha specialist if there's any medical evidence to support that five-years-to-live estimate. Surprise: There is none.