# Diabetes

Category: Conditions

Also known as: type 2 diabetes, diabetes mellitus

Diabetes, in the framework advanced by Ray Peat, is not a primary disease of sugar excess but a disorder of fatty acid oxidation that blocks the cellular use of glucose. Peat argued that the medical concept of diabetes as a "sugar disease" has persisted for centuries despite…

10 passages · 2 authors · 2012–2021 · Most-cited: [Ray Peat](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/voices/ray-peat/index.md)

Canonical page: https://bioenergeticoracle.com/concepts/diabetes

## Synthesis

**Diabetes**, in the framework advanced by Ray Peat, is not a primary disease of sugar excess but a disorder of **fatty acid oxidation** that blocks the cellular use of glucose. [Source 2, 3, 7] Peat argued that the medical concept of diabetes as a "sugar disease" has persisted for centuries despite evidence that restricting sugar often accelerated death in the original wasting form of the illness. [Source 1] He maintained that the modern diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, which accounts for the vast majority of cases, is a *medical invention to sell products and services*, as it is defined simply by high blood sugar without investigating the underlying endocrine disruption. [Source 2, 4]

The core mechanism, according to Peat, involves the **Randle cycle**, where elevated *free fatty acids* in the blood directly suppress mitochondrial respiration and block the ability of cells to oxidize glucose. [Source 2, 7] This creates a state where sugar accumulates in the bloodstream not because it was consumed in excess, but because it cannot be metabolized. Peat identified **polyunsaturated fatty acids** (PUFAs) from vegetable oils as the primary dietary driver of this process, noting that populations free of these oils are resistant to diabetes, and animals deficient in them cannot be experimentally poisoned into a diabetic state. [Source 3, 7] Georgi Dinkov has extended this by explaining that in type 2 diabetes, cells are already "clogged" with fat, so any ingested sugar simply circulates, raising blood glucose and spilling into urine. [Source 8]

Peat stressed that insulin is only a minor part of a complex regulatory system involving the pituitary, thyroid, and adrenal glands. [Source 2, 4] He argued that chronically high blood sugar is often driven by elevated **cortisol**, which itself is frequently a consequence of *hypothyroidism*. [Source 2] A lack of thyroid hormone prevents the efficient oxidation of glucose, triggering a stress state that releases free fatty acids and further impairs sugar metabolism. [Source 2] Therefore, Peat's therapeutic approach centered on identifying the hormonal cause of the high blood sugar, recommending tests for cortisol, free fatty acids, and lactic acid, and using interventions like **thyroid** optimization, **aspirin**, and **vitamin D** with calcium to restore mitochondrial respiration and lower stress. [Source 2, 6, 10]

The destruction of pancreatic beta cells, which defines type 1 diabetes, is also driven by oxidative damage from circulating PUFAs, while **glucose** actually supports the regeneration of these cells. [Source 3] Peat illustrated this principle with the case of his father, who recovered from a severe wasting diabetic state by consuming only **brewer's yeast** for several weeks, a food rich in B vitamins and other factors that likely interfered with stress hormones. [Source 5] He also noted that the apparent heritability of diabetes is often an *epigenetic effect* of the maternal intrauterine environment and nutrition, rather than a fixed genetic destiny, as the metabolic state of a starved or poorly nourished mother can program a "thrifty" phenotype in the fetus that persists for generations. [Source 9]

## People also ask

### How does fat oxidation block glucose use in diabetes?

Peat argued that elevated free fatty acids, particularly from polyunsaturated vegetable oils, activate the Randle cycle, which directly suppresses mitochondrial respiration and prevents cells from oxidizing glucose, causing sugar to accumulate in the blood.

### Why did Peat recommend thyroid and aspirin for diabetes?

Peat viewed high blood sugar as often driven by cortisol from hypothyroidism, so he suggested thyroid optimization to restore glucose oxidation and aspirin to lower stress and free fatty acids, supporting mitochondrial energy production.

### What did Peat believe causes type 1 diabetes?

Peat maintained that type 1 diabetes results from oxidative damage to pancreatic beta cells by circulating polyunsaturated fats, and he noted that glucose itself supports the regeneration of these cells.

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## Cited passages

Passage numbers match the `[Source N]` markers in the synthesis above.

### Source 1 — Diabetes Type 1 KMUD the Herb Doctors 2014

Ray Peat · Interview · 2014

> **Ray Peat:** The medical understanding has changed very little in the last 200 years. It was called the sugar disease, and in ancient times, it was named, because of the excess urination, and the urine contained a lot of glucose, and people craved sugar, and discovered that the blood was loaded with glucose, so the medical concept, that it was the glucose, or the sugar disease. And the standard cure was to make them unable to eat sugar, imprison them if necessary. And they would just die, anyway. But they kept them from satisfying their sugar hunger. And then insulin was discovered, which would, for the people who were wasting away with what later was called type 1 diabetes, insulin would allow them to build muscle and put on fat, instead of breaking tissues down, and excreting them(?) in urine. But, the sugar disease concept stayed with the medical profession, and even though insulin deficiency came to be the idea of it's cause. But then, as they looked for more ways to sell insulin, they noticed that lots of people who weren't wasting away and dying at a young age, also had very high blood sugar. Some of them had sugar in their urine. Yet, when they tested their blood, they found it had a normal amount of insulin in it. But, anyway, they were good candidates for treatment. So, it came to be called type 2 diabetes, even though the original concept was that diabetes was a wasting disease in which you quickly died of tissue wasting. But now, fat people became something like 95% of the patients for treatment of their high blood glucose. So, it definitely, isn't a problem of insulin deficiency for the great majority of people who are diagnosed with diabetes.

### Source 2 — Dr. Ray Peat, Ph.D - Your Health Questions Answered - March 2, 2021 | One Radio Network

Ray Peat · Interview · 2021

> **Ray Peat:** Well, first I would identify the cause of the high blood sugar. I think the type two and the other proposed kinds of diabetes, like the pregnancy diabetes I think these are medical inventions to sell products and services. Its based way back in the 1940s, research on the pituitary, pancreas, thyroid, adrenal interactions showed that the insulin was only a very tiny part of the blood sugar regulatory system and yet doctors almost always fail to check what’s going on with your endocrine system which is known to regulate blood sugar. They just call it diabetes and leave it at that and give you something that directly lowers the blood sugar even though it’s achieved at the cost of damaging your mitochondrial respiratory system so that you go into an inefficient, glucose wasting condition and a traditional side effect problem of this treatment of diabetes has been increased lactic acid production with serious even deadly lactic-acidosis being a result. (49:33 ) The principle has continued to be damage the respiratory use of glucose so that you waste glucose and lower the blood sugar. I think the problem should be approached by first looking at what is causing the blood sugar and often its just a chronically high level of cortisol production, or of another hormone. If you find out why your cortisol is high, often that just due to hypothyroidism. The lack of thyroid hormone makes you unable to oxidize glucose and that put you in a stress state (see Hans Selye) and the stress state amplifies to raise the blood sugar it keeps the cells from using and shift you over forcing you to run on fats and putting fats into your blood stream, free fatty acids are the other essential blood test for anyone diagnosed with so called type 2 diabetes. Cortisol and free fatty acids and if possible checking on your lactic acid level. Your lactic acid should be at the the very bottom of the so called acceptable-normal range.

### Source 3 — One Radio Network: Ray Peat with Patrick Timpone — May 17, 2021

Ray Peat · Passage · May 17, 2021

> **Ray Peat:** Well, if you look at the actual mechanisms going on in diabetes, the polyunsaturated fatty acids are the real villain. Looking at the functions of the pancreas itself, the beta cells that make insulin are constantly regenerating and as soon as they regenerate, They are quickly killed by the oxidative damage done by the circulating fatty acids. But the regeneration is supported by glucose. So if you keep your glucose up, you're going to have constantly regenerated beta cells in the pancreas. And the problem is how not to kill them with an excess of fatty acids. And if you look at a population like Israel, the first generation immigrants to Israel from North Africa were free of diabetes. But as soon as they adapted and became... fully adjusted and started eating the European diet that was the common standard in Israel, their diabetes level came right up to the European level. So it was the availability of vegetable oil, polyunsaturated oils that made them adapt and become diabetic where they had been completely free of diabetes. And animal experiments, if you make them, starve them for these so-called essential fatty acids until you can't detect a significant amount in their blood, then if you poison their pancreas and try to create diabetes, they are extremely resistant. All of these, both the internal mechanism, the individuals demonstrated resistance to becoming diabetic, and the population level, where a whole population adapts, all of these show that it's the polyunsaturated fats, not the carbohydrates that cause the development of the so-called diabetes problem.

### Source 4 — Dr. Ray Peat, Ph.D - Your Health Questions Answered - March 2, 2021 | One Radio Network

Ray Peat · Interview · 2021

> **Ray Peat:** It changes, I’m currently working on a newsletter related to inflammation, but the holistic aspect of the organism has almost always been neglected as a component of inflammation. Why healthy people can avoid getting inflammatory conditions, a lot of it is simply a matter of their attention, how their brain is organized in daily work. If you’re scattered and distracted constantly by meaningless tasks, that seriously affects your inflammation processes and immunity.
>
> **Patrick Timpone:** Fascinating. It makes sense though doesn’t it..If we’re going around and not focused on who we are as spiritual beings and our strength, it would weaken us. PR- Yes, and I’m finding things in the history of psychology and Biology that support that in a very simple way.
>
> **Patrick Timpone:** Yeah, I think it’s more simple than we even imagine Dr. Peat, I really do, that if we’re worried or in fear. My experience is that it’s in the body at that moment, its right in there
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yeah, exactly
>
> **Patrick Timpone:** Here’s Linda, she says; “ Great show, Patrick, I am newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic. If you were consulting with me, what would you recommend to reverse these high blood sugar things?

### Source 5 — Diabetes II and How to Restore and Protect Nerves KMUD 2014

Ray Peat · Interview · 2014 · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj4ewp2YH1k

> **Herb Doctor:** A lot of people have corroborated your advices, and your material has been fairly controversial, at least to me, since the time i've been introduced to you, in 2007. In my education, herbal medicine, the same dogmatic and erroneous ideas in science were still perpetrated, and a lot of what you've been uncovering for these last 6 years certainly got me thinking differently. It's very difficult to unlearn. Like the constant suggestion that sugar and salt are bad for you. Concerning diabetes, your latest newsletter was relating to how to protect, nourish and restore nerves. The classical description of diabetes is a wasting disease, where the excess glucose is lost in the urine as a byproduct of protein metabolism, and the patient simply wastes away, deprived of the needed energy production to sustain cellular function, resulting in death. And obesity is now a universal disease, that diabetics are commonly presenting. So, rather than the classic description of diabetes, medicine now erroneously classes diabetes as insulin resistance, as well as insulin dependence, which is quite rare. Would you explain the processes that you understand diabetes to stem from, and outline your approach to it's management?
>
> **Ray Peat:** My father happened to be an example of the traditional, original type of diabetes: he wasted away to i think, it was under 100 pounds. It was just a few years after insulin had come into medical use, and he didn't want to become dependent on it. So he and my mother looked through the old naturopathic medical literature, and found that Brewer's yeast had sometimes cured people. So he went on an brewer's yeast diet for several weeks, and recovered his weight, and lived the rest of his life with no signs of diabetes.

### Source 6 — One Radio Network: Health & Diet

Ray Peat · Interview · Dec 4, 2013 · http://l-i-g-h-t.com/files/one-radio-network-patrick-timpone-dr-peat-answers-questions-regarding-health-diet-and-nutrition-part-1.mp4

> **Caller:** What happened to the book store and newsletter?
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yes, when they re reprinted. People can still sign up for the newsletter
>
> **Caller:** What is the ideal diet for Type 2 diabetes? I am taking 100mg of L Tryptophan at night for sleep, shall I discontinue.
>
> **Ray Peat:** There are articles on my site about Diabetes, explaining how the unsaturated fats are an essential problem in causing diabetes, and sugar is NOT a problem and has been used a s a cure, getting the right diet and making sure the Thyroid function is optimized are the basics. Aspirin is well-known to help to regulate blood sugar and help to lower inflammation, and the problems associated with diabetes.
>
> **Caller:** I keep getting Acne, how can I deal with it? I take chlorella, have saunas, make green smoothies, what can I do?
>
> **Ray Peat:** Thyroid and Vitamin A are the basic things, but the skin and intestine are very closely related, so you want to make sure you aren’t eating any foods that aren’t well-digested, or can irritate your intestine, because that can contribute to inflammation or problems with excretions of fats and sweat.

### Source 7 — Glucose and sucrose for diabetes.

Ray Peat · Article · 2012 · https://raypeat.com/articles/articles/glucose-sucrose-diabetes.shtml

> When a normal person, or even a "type 2 diabetic," is given a large dose of sugar, there is a suppression of lipolysis, and the concentration of free fatty acids in the bloodstream decreases, though the suppression is weaker in the diabetic (Soriguer, et al., 2008). Insulin, released by the sugar, inhibits lipolysis, reducing the supply of fats to the respiring cells.
>
> Free fatty acids suppress mitochondrial respiration (Kamikawa and Yamazaki, 1981), leading to increased glycolysis (producing lactic acid) to maintain cellular energy. The suppression of mitochondrial respiration increases the production of toxic free radicals, and the decreased carbon dioxide makes the proteins more susceptible to attack by free radicals. The lactate produced under the influence of excessive fat metabolism stimulates the release of endorphins, which are lipolytic, releasing more free fatty acids from the tissues. Acting through cytokines such as interleukin-6, lactate shifts the balance toward the catabolic hormones, leading to tissue wasting.
>
> Lactic acid itself, and the longer chain fatty acids, inhibit the regulatory enzyme pyruvate dehydrogenase (which is activated by insulin), reducing the oxidative production of energy. Drugs to activate this enzyme are being studied by the pharmaceutical industry as treatments for diabetes and cancer (for example, DCA, dichloroacetate).
>
> Oxidative damage of proteins is often described as glycation or glycosylation, but it really consists of many addition and crosslinking reactions, most often onto, or between, lysine groups. Carbon dioxide normally associates with lysine groups, so the destructive reactions are favored when carbon dioxide is displaced by lactic acid. The reactive fragments of polyunsaturated fatty acids are much more often the source of the protein-damaging radicals than the carbohydrates are.
>
> The importance of the fats in causing type-2 diabetes is coming to be accepted, for example Li, et al., recently (2008) said "The cellular link between fatty acids and ROS (reactive oxygen species) is essentially the mitochondrion, a key organelle for the control of insulin secretion. Mitochondria are the main source of ROS and are also the primary target of oxidative attacks."

### Source 8 — Episode 6: Georgi Dinkov (Haidut) on Diabetes and Insulin Resistance

Georgi Dinkov · Interview · May 1, 2020 · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_OxeTCw6J8

> **Georgi Dinkov:** The first standard test is that blood is taken and blood sugar is checked, but even to this day, if you have sugar in the urine, that is one of the tests for diabetes. In the famous Bulgarian film Dangerous Charm, our great actor Todor Kolev, may he rest in peace, saved himself from prison this way. He poured sugar into his urine, stirred it, and convinced the doctors that he was in some extremely serious phase of diabetes, and they kept him in hospitals for months, if not years, until they finally realized that he was obviously faking it and had begun to manipulate the sugar in his blood as well. And then the naked truth came out. But even to this day the urine test for sugar remains one of the easiest tests for diabetes, as long as you are not trying to cheat. But if we look at the Randle cycle, then the state of diabetes, at least type 2 diabetes, becomes extremely clear. Type 2 diabetes is simply a state of overloading the blood and cells with fatty acids, and until they are metabolized and turned into fuel, the cell simply cannot metabolize the sugar that is given to it and accordingly an increase in blood sugar is observed, as well as an increase in the excretion of sugar through these different pathways that I mentioned. Either fats will be synthesized from it, or glycogen synthesis and storage of glycogen will increase, or the level of sugar in the urine will increase. And this has been shown to occur in all diabetics. Now, if this is true, that would mean that if we lower the level of fatty acids in the blood, which accordingly will give the cells a chance to catch their breath, to metabolize whatever fat they have been given, because cells are supplied with fuel through the blood. That is, if the level of fatty acids in the blood decreases, the access, that is, the supply of fatty acids to the cells will also decrease.

### Source 9 — Ask the Herb Doctor: Genetics X Environment

Ray Peat · Interview · May 18, 2012 · http://l-i-g-h-t.com/files/herb-doctors-genetics-X-environment.mp4

> ## Caller: Diabetes and Epigenetics
>
> **Caller:** I've seen several doctors and never had one ask me what I eat, yet they give me weird looks when I tell them both my grandfathers died from type 2 diabetes. It seems like I'm destined to get it. I had an argument with a professor who said there was evidence for genetics based on twins separated at birth. How much of that is actually genetic versus the shared intrauterine environment?
>
> **Ray Peat:** That is an argument I've been making for a long time. There was a genetically oriented argument that working-class people would never rise to the middle class because of genetic influence on intelligence. I pointed out the evidence of the intrauterine environment and nutrition. The evidence from animal studies is clear: twins have a very similar environment and get the same nutrition. If the mother's health changes from pregnancy to pregnancy, the intelligence of the baby is influenced by what she was eating. Animal studies show this effect can be passed on for four generations. Studies of people starved during pregnancy in Holland and Russia showed that not only were their babies impaired mentally, but even their grandchildren showed impairment. It is inherited, but it is a physiological, environmental thing. If they had a super-supportive environment, that could be corrected and wouldn't be passed on.

### Source 10 — One Radio Network: Ray Peat with Patrick Timpone — August 16, 2021

Ray Peat · Interview · Aug 16, 2021

> **Ray Peat:** The things that reduce stress and inflammation help to get oxidation of sugar going. And vitamin D and calcium are crucial in that.
>
> **Patrick Timpone:** Vitamin D and calcium to help reduce stress.
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yeah, working to keep your mitochondria responding to the thyroid hormone so that they can oxidize. glucose.
>
> **Patrick Timpone:** Dr. Peat, thank you for being on the show. So are you suggesting that I get my TSH level below one and keep upping my thyroid medication or my pig thyroid they're using until I get there?
>
> **Ray Peat:** There was one study in which they found that In relation to their TSH scores, they found that the higher the TSH in the group was, the more risk of thyroid cancer they had. And in a group completely without thyroid cancer, they were below 0.4 on the TSH scale. And the... areas that are supplemented with iodine, even the salt, the amount of iodine in salt is sometimes several times higher than our requirement for iodine. And in those populations, thyroid disease and thyroid cancer is very seriously increased just from that slight chronic antithyroid effect of of the chronic excess iodine.

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