Diabetes UK - Tesco?s national charity partner for 2013/2014

[everydayupsanddowns]

Unfortunately Tina they have just ha a big shake-up if food labelling (with a public consultation etc) but the thing they are focussed on is the (largely useless) 'of which sugars'.

 

[Andy HB]

I hope progress is made towards the cure for both T1, T2 diabetes plus their variants. So I welcome this link-up between Tesco and Diabetes UK. Congratulations Joe. 🙂

However, I sense a certain negativity on this thread. 😉

Whilst I agree that we haven't sorted the common cold out yet, it is conversely true that major strides have been made in the treatment and, as recently reported, 'cure' for HIV (a baby in the US is apparently clear of it after initially being infected). So seemingly intractable diseases are being dealt with (albeit slowly).

It also depends on their relative 'importance'. On that basis, the common cold isn't that important.

Things may not happen quickly, but we will get there in the end! Assuming we don't all blow each other up first (darn it! I've hit the negativity button too!!).

Andy 🙂

 

[Northerner]

Unfortunately Tina they have just ha a big shake-up if food labelling (with a public consultation etc) but the thing they are focussed on is the (largely useless) 'of which sugars'.

My complaint about food labelling isn't what they don't put on the front, but the fact that they generally choose to print the complete table in tiny letters on the back. I'm totally opposed to 'the small text' on any document, to me it is a case of 'we have to put this here by law, but since we don't want you to really read it then we'll put it in tiny letters to dissuade you from actually trying'. It is pure deception.

I spy with my little eye,
A hundred food labels that just pass me by
Perhaps, Mr Food Man, you could explain why
The writing?s so small as if hiding a lie.

In bright coloured letters, and bold as can be
The packet says ?I?m healthy! And almost fat-free!!
But in tiny black letters you can hardly see
Is an excess of sugar that?s harmful to me.

Oh please, Mr Food Man, I?m not being rude!
Why can?t you be honest in labelling food?
If this was America, you?d likely be sued
For hiding the facts with a method so crude.

So, buck your ideas up and please make it clear
That your food?s really healthy, we?ve nothing to fear!
It would make our lives easier and fill us with cheer,
And perhaps, if you did it, we?d buy you a beer!

(c) Northerner 2009

 

[DeusXM]

I agree but we can't find a cure for the common cold so what chances are there for a cure for diabetes?

Pretty good, actually.

There is no such disease as 'the common cold'. A 'cold' is basically a catch-all for all the symptoms caused by a rhinovirus - there are over 200 of these at least, so to cure a cold requires finding at least 200 cures in the first instance - and in any case, because most colds only last a week or so, there isn't acutally any real pressure to find a cure.

Whereas diabetes (or T1, at least) is one set, standard medical condition. There's at least 6 cures currently under testing or showing promise at the moment (BCG vaccine interactions with the immune system, combining Exendin-4 with lisfyllene, basic islet transplant, stem cell research, islet cell with chitin shell transplantation, high-dose GABA administration) and the likelihood is if these could be fully funded, we'd be talking about cures in less than 30 years.

And if we do cure it, what problems is it going to store up for future generations?

Probably far fewer than the ones caused by not curing it!

However, in fairness to Diabetes UK, their research into T1 is grimly about numbers and makes a lot of cold, hard, logical sense. Vaccination against T1 is likely to be easier than reversing it. So why not pump a lot of cash into it? Then, at least we can prevent new cases ever happening again. The flipside of this is of course those of us who already have it will end up like glum historical relics, like those living today who survived Polio in the 1940s.

And you can bet once a vaccine is discovered, you'll see funding for T1 switched off - what's the point in spending all that money to either find a cure or even bother developing better treatments for the tiny number of people who'll be left with the condition, eh? Once that vaccine comes out, we can all kiss goodbye to any development of CGMS, closed-loop pumps, better insulins and I wouldn't be too surprised if we'd actually see a closing of basic care facilities like T1 clinics. It's a sad state of affairs, but from a logical and indeed medical point of view, it definitely makes sense.

 

[mcdonagh47]

Hello. We have some great news to announce this morning that we wanted to share with everyone:

"We have some brilliant news this morning. We?re excited to announce that we have been chosen as Tesco?s national charity partner for 2013/2014."

Opinion piece in the Daily Mail today by Blythman ....

"The big retailers, including the supermarkets and fast-food chains, know this. They have a vested commercial interest in feeding our addiction to sugar, pretending that they are doing us a favour by deluging us with their special offers and phoney marketing ploys.

Sugar is in itself addictive. Just like a junkie or an alcoholic, the more we have, the more we want

If they really had a sense of social responsibility, they wouldn?t be so eager to hype up their sugar-laden products.

It is telling that the supermarkets constantly boast of their diversity of choice to cater for every type of customer, with their gluten-free and wheat-free products, yet they never seem to have a sugar-free aisle.

And for sheer cynicism dressed up as public service, it is hard to beat Tesco?s announcement this week that it is to give ?10 million to the campaign group Diabetes UK in order to raise awareness about the disease.

If Tesco really cared about the problem, it would transform the type of stock it holds and the layout of its stores. Removing all the confectionary at the checkouts might be a start, as would the withdrawal of buy-one, get-one-free offers on multi-litre bottles of carbonated drinks."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/a...kets-pushers-addictive-drug-called-sugar.html

Its a big black mark DiABETES UK, you have effectively delivered your own members and the whole British diabetic community, bound and and foot, to TESCO on the promise of a bit of jam tomorrow.

 

[Northerner]

Supermarkets would find it hard to stay in business if they unilaterally chose to sell only what the latest furore told them they should. I wonder if the same person lambasted Tesco on their sponsorship of Cancer UK? They also seem to think that Tesco is giving DUK ?10m, rather than helping them raise the money.

I actually think it's a good thing that a major food retailer is putting diabetes at the forefront of people's minds when they are shopping. Tesco's doesn't sell exclusively unhealthy food - it will be interesting to know if shopping patterns change as a result 🙂

 

[LeeLee]

Wouldn't it be nice if they set up a low-carb section in each store. Manufacturers could use it to display their 'good' wares.

 

[rachelha]

My view on this is that if the companies want to give their money away to charities to try and look good then take it. It is not just D-UK doing this, alot of wildlife trust etc take money from oil companies, mining companies who are trying to "green" themselves.

 

[DeusXM]

Its a big black mark DiABETES UK, you have effectively delivered your own members and the whole British diabetic community, bound and and foot, to TESCO on the promise of a bit of jam tomorrow.

I think that's missing the point a bit. It wouldn't matter a damn if there a 'no-sugar' aisle because it would be filled with all sorts of 'diabetic' products that simply swap out the sugar for another, blood-sugar-raising carbohydrate. Demanding no-sugar aisles is frankly, the sort of consumer laziness that has led to obesity in the first place. I don't get what's wrong with having a store full of choices of all kinds and then making people think their choices through for themselves.

As for the BOGOFs on fizzy drinks...last time I checked, there were plenty of sugar AND carb free choices of drinks also on the same offer. Noteably, Tesco also do their own-brand versions of Dr Pepper, Lilt and Fanta which are ONLY available in sugar-free forms.

Tesco just want to see you more food. They couldn't care less what exactly you buy, as long as you buy from them. So in terms of charity impartiality, funding from Tesco shouldn't compromise what Diabetes UK recommends.

Pfizer, however, want you to buy more drugs and the only way they can do that is to make you iller in the first place. Why do you think so much emphasis is placed on putting people with D on high-carb (ie. high-cholesterol producing) diets? Why do you think the NHS indulges in a bit of double-think where it asks people with D to achieve far stricter cholesterol targets than the general population - but seems to think people with D shouldn't aim for stricter BG targets?

The theory goes that people with diabetes are more at risk of CVD. Rubbish. People with high blood sugar levels are at risk of CVD. If the NHS told people to aim for normal A1cs (ie. 4.5-6%, not this 6.5-7.5% rubbish), then our risk would be exactly the same as anyone else and we'd be fine on the same cholesterol targets as everyone else. But then we couldn't be prescribed loads of statins.....and so it goes.