This article is NOT about Type 2 in juveniles or MODY!!!!! It is about TYPE 1 diabetes, which is an autoimmune disease! If a child gets Type 2, they have Type 2, not Type 1!!! MODY IS NOT TYPE 2 IN JUVENILES!!! IT IS DIFFERENT!

MODY is a rare genetic form of Type 2. I KNOW it is not caused by lifestyle, and I NEVER SAID IT WAS ANYWHERE IN MY POST!!!!!

Why is this so hard to understand!?

P.S. I thought you were a CDE (Diabetes Educator)?

P.P.S. Actually, most cases of Type 2 in children ARE because they are overweight!!! Search the web or ask any doctor! Type 1 diabetes means AUTOIMMUNE DIABETES, NOT DIABETES IN KIDS!!! Before kids started getting fat, virtually all cases in children were Type 1, so that's why they referred to Type 1 as "juvenile".

I also have to point out that the things listed for causing Type 1 DO NOT apply to Type 2 or MODY. They are not related in ANY way to Type 1 diabetes!!!! Type 2 and MODY are NOT caused by a faulty immune response!!! Sorry, but this is frustrating me!

I am Dr. Julia Sherman, DN, PhT, NDEP DE.
I am author of Factoring Diabetes, a dioabetes managment handbook created and with the NDEP, ADA, NIDDK, AMA, CDC adn WHO.
I work with teh WHO and CDC, NDEP as a traveling diabetes educator world wide.
Currently my handbook has been adopted by the Health Ministry in India, has been translated into five different languages and is used a begining workbook for those who are new to diabetes.
It has been reviewed by a number of medical organizations and CME.
I have written a number of Abstracts for Integrative and preventative medicine and am a research associate for the HH institute.
I have conducted a number of clinical studies in vitamin therapies and positive outcomes.

I suppose the language barrier is a factor in our miscommunication. While I am glad you are helping people, I have to point out that the focus of what you do applies to Type 2 diabetes, which is great because it is preventable. I have to admit that my focus is on Type 1, because I am interested in autoimmunity and this is the type of diabetes that I have.

I also want to point out that a DN is NOT a medical doctor though, and the training you receive is not medical or scientific training, but rather alternative treatments like homeopathy, which has never been proven to work. I do support the use of herbs along with diet and exercise for the treatment of Type 2. There are many "natural" things that can work for these people.

I do have to inform you though that your current knowledge of autoimmune diabetes (Type 1) and it's treatments are lacking. It will make you look more credible if you upgrade what you know. Plus, it may save you from giving bad advice. I know your goal is not to treat autoimmune diabetics, though.

Best of luck!

P.S. Have you looked into a Medical Doctor program? That would be able to help you more. It usually requires an undergraduate degree, and then 4 more additional years of study. The MCAT is not as hard as people think! You may be able to transfer any university science courses you may already have. I assume you have taken university biology, chemistry, and physics? What kind of courses did you take and where did you get your degree? How long was the program? I would be willing to tutor you in English, and can assist you with the biological sciences. My current grade is 90% in Biology. It is a pre-med course (MD), with a class average of 65%.

A Close Look at Naturopathy
Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Naturopathy, sometimes referred to as "natural medicine," is a largely pseudoscientific approach said to "assist nature" [1], "support the body's own innate capacity to achieve optimal health" [2], and "facilitate the body's inherent healing mechanisms." [3] Naturopaths assert that diseases are the body's effort to purify itself, and that cures result from increasing the patient's "vital force." They claim to stimulate the body's natural healing processes by ridding it of waste products and "toxins." At first glance, this approach may appear sensible. However, a close look will show that naturopathy's philosophy is simplistic and that its practices are riddled with quackery.

The notion of a "vital force" or "life force" -- a nonmaterial force that transcends the laws of chemistry and physics -- originated in ancient times. Historians call it the doctrine of vitalism. No scientific evidence supports this doctrine, but a huge body of knowledge, including the entire discipline of organic chemistry, refutes it. Vitalistic practitioners maintain that diseases should be treated by "stimulating the body's ability to heal itself" rather than by "treating symptoms." Homeopaths, for example, claim that illness is due to a disturbance of the body's "vital force," which they can correct with special remedies, while many acupuncturists claim that disease is due to imbalance in the flow of "life energy" (chi or Qi), which they can balance by twirling needles in the skin. Many chiropractors claim to assist the body's "Innate Intelligence" by adjusting the patient's spine. Naturopaths speak of "Vis Medicatrix Naturae." Ayurvedic physicians refer to "prana." And so on. The "energies" postulated by vitalists cannot be measured by scientific methods.

According to a comprehensive report presented to the United States Congress in 1970 by the now-defunct National Association of Naturopathic Physicians (NANP):

Naturopathy . . . is the technique of treatment of human disease which emphasizes assisting nature. It can embrace minor surgery and the use of nature's agencies, forces, processes, and products, introducing them to the human body by any means that will produce health-yielding results.

Naturopathy is based upon the tendency of the body to maintain a balance and to heal itself. The purpose of naturopathic medicine is to further this process by using natural remedies . . . as distinct from "orthodox" medicine (allopathy and osteopathy), which seeks to combat disease by using remedies which are chosen to destroy the causative agent or which produce effects different from those produced by the disease treated. . . .

Naturopathy places priority upon these conditions as the bases for ill health: (1) lowered vitality; (2) abnormal composition of blood and lymph; (3) maladjustment of muscles, ligaments, bones, and neurotropic disturbances; (4) accumulation of waste matter and poison in the system; (5) germs, bacteria, and parasites which invade the body and flourish because of toxic states which may provide optimum conditions for their flourishing; and (6) consideration of hereditary influences, and (7) psychological disturbances.

In applying naturopathic principles to healing, the practitioner may administer one or more specified physiological, mechanical, nutritional, manual, phytotherapeutic, or animal devices or substances. The practitioner's end aim is to remove obstacles to the body's normal functioning, applying natural forces to restore its recuperative facilities. Only those preparations and doses which act in harmony with the body economy are utilized, to alter perverse functions, cleanse the body of its catabolic wastes, and promote its anabolic processes [1].

The American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP) states that "naturopathic medicine has its own unique body of knowledge, evolved and refined for centuries" and is "effective in treating all health problems, whether acute or chronic." [4] According to a 1989 AANP brochure:

The main difference [between naturopathic and conventional medicine] is in philosophic approach. Naturopathic physicians treat patients by restoring overall health rather than suppressing a few key symptoms. Naturopathic physicians are more concerned with finding the underlying cause of a condition and applying treatments that work in alliance with the natural healing mechanisms of the body rather than against them. Naturopathic treatments result less frequently in adverse side effects, or in the chronic conditions that inevitably arise when the cause of disease is left untreated." [5]

Naturopaths offer treatment at their offices and at spas where patients may reside for several weeks. Their offerings include fasting, "natural food" diets, vitamins, herbs, tissue minerals, homeopathic remedies, cell salts, manipulation, massage, exercise, colonic enemas, acupuncture, Chinese medicine, natural childbirth, minor surgery, and applications of water, heat, cold, air, sunlight, and electricity. Radiation may be used for diagnosis, but not for treatment. Many of these methods are said to "detoxify" the body.

What's Wrong with the Above Picture?
Scientific research has identified measurable, causative factors and specific methods of preventing and/or treating hundreds of health problems. Naturopaths have done little more than create glib generalities. The above theories are simplistic and/or clash with science-based knowledge of body physiology and pathology. For example:

"Balance," "vitality," and "harmony with the body" are vitalistic concepts. Like "optimal health" or "supporting" of the body, these concepts are vague and cannot be objectively measured or scientifically tested.
Whether infectious disease occurs depends on the degree of exposure to an infectious organism, the virulence of the organism, and the body's ability to resist. A person does not need to be "toxic" or "imbalanced" in order to catch a cold.
Some diseases are an inevitable result of genetic make-up. Others have little to do with hereditary factors.
The general concept of treating disease by "strengthening the immune system" clashes with the fact that in some conditions, such as allergies or autoimmune diseases, the immune system is overreactive.
With respect to cancer, the notion that cancer reflects weakness of the immune system is false [6]. If it were true, people given immunosuppressant drugs to treat arthritis or prevent rejection of transplanted organs, or who are immunodeficient because of hereditary disease or AIDS, would be prone to develop the common cancers. Rather, they tend to develop unusual ones -- such as Kaposi's sarcoma in AIDS [7]. Naturopathy's claim that "natural methods" can treat cancer by strengthening the immune system is also unsubstantiated.
Naturopaths pretend that precise medical treatment is less important than "maintaining body balance."
Naturopaths assert that their "natural" methods, when properly used, rarely have adverse effects because they do not interfere with the individual's inherent healing abilities. This claim is nonsense. Any medication (drug or herb) potent enough to produce a therapeutic effect is potent enough to cause adverse effects. Drugs should not be used (and would not merit FDA approval) unless the probable benefit is significantly greater than the probable risk. Moreover, medically used drugs rarely "interfere with the healing processes." The claim that scientific medical care "merely eliminates or suppresses symptoms" is both absurd and pernicious.

Most of the things naturopaths do have not been scientifically substantiated; and some -- such as homeopathy -- clearly are worthless. In many cases, naturopaths combine sensible dietary advice (based on medically proven strategies) with senseless recommendations for products.

A Brief History
Modern-day naturopathy can be traced to the concepts of Sebastian Kneipp (1821*1897), Benedict Lust (1872*1945), Henry Lindlahr (1853*1925), Bernarr Macfadden (1868*1955), and John H. Tilden, M.D. (1851-1940). Father Kneipp, a German priest, opened a "water cure" center after becoming convinced that he and a fellow student had cured themselves of tuberculosis by bathing in the Danube River. Kneipp also developed herbal methods using whole plants. Lust, also German, was treated by Kneipp and in 1892 was commissioned to establish Kneipp's practices in the United States. In 1895, he opened the Kneipp Water-Cure Institute in New York City and began forming Kneipp Societies whose members had been using Kneipp's methods or other "drugless therapies." Subsequently, he acquired degrees in osteopathy, chiropractic, homeopathic medicine, and eclectic medicine [8].

In 1901, Lust organized a national convention and chaired a committee that endorsed the use of massage, herbs, homeopathy, spinal manipulation, and various types of occult healing. In 1902, he purchased the rights to the term "naturopathy" from John H. Scheel, another Kneipp disciple, who had coined it in 1895. That same year, he began referring to himself as a naturopath, opened the American Institute of Naturopathy, and replaced the Kneipp Societies with a national naturopathic organization. Lindlahr further systematized naturopathy and opened a sanitarium and a school in a Chicago suburb. Macfadden popularized exercise and fasting. Tilden contributed notions about "auto-intoxication" (said to be caused by fecal matter remaining too long in the intestines) and "toxemia" (alleged to be "the basic cause of all diseases"). [9]

Naturopathy's grandiose claims attracted the sharp pen of Morris Fishbein, M.D., who edited the Journal of the American Medical Association and spearheaded the AMA's antiquackery campaign for several decades. He noted:

Whereas most cults embrace a single conception as to the cause and healing of disease, naturopathy embraces everything in nature. . . .

The real naturopaths were, of course, such healers as Father Kneipp . . . and others who advocated natural living and healed by use of sunlight, baths, fresh air, and cold water, but there is little money to be made by these methods. Hence the modern naturopath embraces every form of healing that offers opportunity for exploitation. [10]

The practices Fishbein debunked included:

Aeropathy: baking the patient in a hot oven
Alereos system: spinal manipulation plus heat and mechanical vibration
Astral healing: diagnosis and advice based on reading the patient's horoscope
Autohemic therapy: giving a solution made by modifying and "potentizing" a few drops of the patient's blood
Autotherapy: treating infections with potions made from the patient's infected tissues or excretions
Biodynamochromic diagnosis and therapy: administering colored lights while thumping on the patient's abdomen
Bloodwashing with herbs
Chromopathy: healing with colored lights
Electrotherapy with various devices
Geotherapy: treating disease with little pads of earth
Irido-diagnosis: diagnosis based on eye markings -- now called iridology
Pathiatry: self-administration of spinal adjustment, massage, and traction
Porotherapy: treatment applied through the pores of the skin to the nerves said to the control internal organs
Practo-therapy, a fancy term for intestinal irrigation
Sanatology, based on the notion that acidosis and toxicosis are the two basic causes of all disease
Somapathy: spinal adjustment followed by applications of cold or extreme heat
Tropo-therapy with special nutritional foods
Vit-O-Pathy, a combination of 36 other systems
Zodiac therapy, combining astrology and herbs
Zonotherapy (now called reflexology): pressing on various parts of the body to heal disease in designated body "zones." [10]
Most of these methods disappeared along with their creators, but some (or their offshoots) are still used today.

The total number of naturopathic practitioners in the United States is unknown but includes chiropractors and acupuncturists who practice naturopathy. The AANP was founded in 1985 and is closely allied with the 4-year naturopathic colleges. Its membership is said to be limited to individuals who are eligible for licensing in states that issue licenses. Its online directory contains about 500 names. The American Naturopathic Medical Association (ANMA), founded in 1981, claims to represent about 2,000 members worldwide. Although some have recognized credentials in other health disciplines, others merely have an "ND" degree obtained through a nonaccredited correspondence school. The Homeopathic Academy of Naturopathic Physicians (HANP), which requires a recognized professional degree and additional homeopathic training, lists about 50 members in the United States and Canada.

The AANP publishes the Journal of Naturopathic Medicine, which has been issued six times between 1990 and 1996. The issues have run from about 80 to 100 pages. The third issue is devoted to "Non-Standard HIV/ARC/AIDS Management." The fifth, which attacks immunization, contains papers suggesting that vaccines may be a factor in causing cancer and that homeopathic prophylaxis using nosodes would be effective and safer than standard vaccines. (Nosodes are homeopathic products made from pathological organs or tissues: causative agents such as bacteria, fungi, ova, parasites, virus particles and yeast; disease products; or excretions.) The sixth issue promotes the use of "natural" products for cancer and contains an absurd article claiming that measuring the electrical resistance of the skin may be a useful way to diagnose the early stages of cancer and AIDS.

Education
A 1927 AMA study listed 12 naturopathic schools with fewer than 200 students among them [11]. During the 1920s and 1930s, about half the states passed laws under which naturopaths and/or "drugless healers" could practice. However, as modern medicine developed, many of these laws were repealed and all but a few mail-order schools ceased operations. The doctor of naturopathy (N.D.) degree was still available at several chiropractic colleges, but by 1957, the last of these colleges stopped issuing it. The National College of Naturopathic Medicine (NCNM) was founded in 1956 in Portland, Oregon, but, until the mid-1970s, had very few students. From 1960 through 1968, the average enrollment was eight and the total number of graduates was 16. [1]

Today, within the United States, a "doctor of naturopathy" (N.D.) or "doctor of naturopathic medicine" (N.M.D.) credential is available from four full-time schools of naturopathy and at least eight nonaccredited correspondence schools, of which seven maintain Web sites [A, B, C, D, E, F, G]. (One correspondence school, the Progressive Universal Life Church, offers a "Ph.D. in Naturopathy" for $250 plus "life experience with no coursework.) Another nonaccredited school offers a "Naturopathic Practitioner" diploma to eligible individuals who complete a 15-month program of home-study plus a dozen weekend seminars. Training at the full-time schools follows a pattern similar to that of chiropractic schools: two years of basic science courses and two years of clinical work. Three years of preprofessional college work are required for admission.

The leading naturopathy school, Bastyr University, in Seattle, Washington, was founded in 1978. Besides its N.D. program, Bastyr offers a B.S. degree program in Natural Health Sciences with majors in nutrition and Oriental medicine; a B.S. program in psychology; B.S. and M.A. programs in applied behavioral sciences; M.S. programs in nutrition and acupuncture/oriental medicine; and a certificate in midwifery. Bastyr has also provided health-food retailers and their employees with home-study programs that promote "natural" approaches for the gamut of disease. Students in the naturopathic degree program are required to take three courses in homeopathy and can elect to take three more. The Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and Health Sciences in Scottsdale, Arizona, was founded in 1992. The University of Bridgeport College of Natural Medicine in Bridgeport, Connecticut, began classes in 1997. Naturopathy schools receive much of their financial support from companies that market dietary supplements, homeopathic products, and/or herbal remedies.

Accreditation
In 1987, the U.S. Secretary of Education approved the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education (CNME) as an accrediting agency for the full-time schools. As with acupuncture and chiropractic schools, this recognition was not based upon the scientific validity of what is taught but on such factors as record-keeping, physical assets, financial status, makeup of the governing body, catalog characteristics, nondiscrimination policy, and self-evaluation system. NCNM, Bastyr, and Southwest became accredited.

In 1999, the U.S. Department of Education staff and the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) asked U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley to deny CNME's application for renewal of recognition. The recommendation was based on evidence that CNME did not respond appropriately to violations of its standards at Southwest College. The staff report [12] and testimony at a NACIQI meeting [13] indicated that in 1997 and 1998, the school underwent an administrative upheaval that had nearly led to its closure. Several officials resigned or were abruptly fired, classes were suspended for two weeks, and the school's bank accounts were temporarily frozen after the school's chief financial officer was fired. CNME testified at the hearing that it had closely followed the situation and urged school officials to correct the problems. However, the Department of Education staff and a majority of NACIQI members concluded that CNME had failed to issue a timely order to show cause why Southwest should not have its candidacy for accreditation ended [13].

In January 2001, Riley agreed that CNME's approval should not be renewed, which means that naturopaths in the United States no longer have a national accrediting agency recognized by the United States Education [14]. Curiously, none of the naturopathic college Web sites mentioned that CNME lost its recognition. Three of the schools remained accredited and the fourth was a candidate for accreditation by recognized regional accrediting agencies that are not health-related. Although Riley's decision may make have made it more difficult to promote licensing, it received almost no publicity. Riley's decision could not be appealed, but CNME was free to reapply, which it did. In June 2003, The National Advisory Committee recommended that the U.S. Secretary of Education approve CNME's application. In September 2003, the U.S. Secretary of Education granted two-year recognition.