Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: There is a whole lot of money to be made by keeping you sick. The late Sara Hallberg said that in a TED talk in 2015, and the statement remains true. Welcome to the Duster Mud podcast, episode 57. Today, we're going to dive in to the subject of diabetes and how it is a very, very lucrative illness.
[00:00:23] Speaker B: After 25 years in the United States Air Force, we decided to leave the Department of Defense and start a regenerative farm in southwest Missouri. We now farm and sell our products. And as part of the whole operation, we have this podcast. And in this podcast, we focus on food freedom and farming. Today's focus is going to be on food and freedom, I think, and we're going to dive right into the diabetes epidemic.
[00:00:57] Speaker A: The American Diabetes association has a set of guidelines out there on the Internet that I personally, wholeheartedly disagree with.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: It was an interesting post recently from the American Diabetes association, and that's really what caught our attention and got us really thinking about this topic in the post.
The ADA. I'll just call it ADA. American Diabetes association. The ADA was describing how to eat pizza when you're diabetic. And it just. It really piqued our interest, because we all know that diabetes is a food food related issue. And the. The idea that the ADA would be describing how. How you should eat pizza as part of your diet, diabetic diet, was just appalling to me.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Absolutely absurd.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: That really got us looking and thinking and researching this specific topic.
[00:02:03] Speaker A: Right. Well, we may be talking about the American Diabetes association. Diabetes is a global epidemic and problem right now. The problems that are. That we have in the west have spread quite nicely across the globe.
Yeah, they have. And the costs for everyone across the globe have gone up significantly, and not just for the wealthy countries, but also for the middle and lower income countries that are out there. What are some of the numbers that we have as far as the cost of this on the globe as a whole? First?
[00:02:41] Speaker B: Yeah. Globally in 2015, the. The estimate is that it was diabetes. The global economic burden, we'll call it, of diabetes in 2015 was $1.32 trillion, and that's expected to rise to over $2.1 trillion by 2030.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: So that's just a couple of years away.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:06] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:06] Speaker B: So it is truly a very expensive illness or disease, like, very.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: Well, it is expensive, but somebody's making money on it, right?
[00:03:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: So if we dial it back a little bit and look at just the United States.
[00:03:29] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:30] Speaker B: In 2022, the health expenditures for diabetes was 412.9 billion.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: In the United States alone, yeah. Okay.
[00:03:43] Speaker B: And they.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: Some of them disease.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: Right. Some of that was direct costs, direct medical costs. And some of that, a little over 100 billion of that is due to lost productivity. Productivity because people are out of work because of the illness.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: Right. Which is. Which is huge in the workforce and keeping our economy going.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
So the thing with it, and you mentioned it a little bit, is that the money is going somewhere, right? Like, if there's $400 billion spent, or even, just say the 360 or whatever it is, trillion dollars spent direct, that money is going somewhere. It's not just a nebulous, it costs this much. So we really started looking at where is that money going? And that drove us to the main drug companies that make the drugs to treat diabetes. So, like, Lilly is one of the main companies. In the early 19 hundreds, really, 1930s, they were able to make exogenous insulin, so not produced in your body. It was the first time that medicine was able to make insulin, which saved lives. Absolutely save lives.
[00:05:12] Speaker A: At that time, it was mostly type one diabetics, though, that didn't. Their system doesn't work properly and they have to have it to live. So huge medical.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: So just companies like that. So I started looking and I dove into their financials a little bit.
So what they had to report from 2023, now, these are all 2023 financials. So Lilly, their revenue reached approximately 34.12 billion, making an impressive 19.5% increase from the previous year. So they. They increased their revenue almost 20% in 2023.
Merck, which is another company that makes diabetes medications, they reported total sales of $60.1 billion in 2023. And then the newcomer, really, is the Novo Nordisk, with. They're the ones that make Ozempic and Wagovi, which we've talked about Ozempic before on the podcast. So, Novo Nordisk, their net sales were 35 and a half billion dollars dollars in the US.
Surprisingly to me, though, their net profits. So Novo Nordisk profits were $14.3 billion.
So that's after they've spent all of their money developing all of their money advertising.
[00:06:49] Speaker A: They have pretty good profit margin on their product.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: Well, yeah, you bring that up. I found an article recently that was published March 28 of 2021, and this one is called $5 Ozempic.
New study sparks calls for Novo Nordisk to cut prices. So what? A team of researchers from Yale King's College Hospital in London and Boston based Harvard Medical School published findings showing that semaglutide, which is the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wagovi, could be manufactured for between eighty nine cents and four dollars. Seventy three cents per month. Now the current cost for these medications in the United States, in the article Novo Nordisk charges Americans nearly $1,000 a month for this drug.
[00:07:49] Speaker A: Americans, it's a tiered pricing system.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: Yep. Because it can be purchased the same thing purchased for $155 a month in Canada and $59 a month in Germany and can be manufactured for somewhere between eighty nine cents and four dollars and seventy three.
[00:08:09] Speaker A: So they're price gouging us then.
[00:08:11] Speaker B: Well they're, they're able to charge that amount of money.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: And get it, and get it to the point that it's sold out. Like you can't get the, yeah, they're.
[00:08:23] Speaker A: They'Ve got some significant shortages. Right.
[00:08:26] Speaker B: Only the, from what I can find, the only thing limiting their profits really is the amount of medication that they can produce.
[00:08:34] Speaker A: I believe it. Yep. So it's because right now I believe one third of Americans are diabetic or pre diabetic.
[00:08:43] Speaker B: Yeah. It's over 130 million Americans and there's.
[00:08:47] Speaker A: 330 some odd million people total.
[00:08:50] Speaker B: Over a third are either diabetic or pre diabetic.
[00:08:53] Speaker A: Right. So yeah, the market, they've got a, they've got a heck of a market.
[00:08:58] Speaker B: Right.
[00:08:58] Speaker A: For sure. For sure.
[00:09:00] Speaker B: The thing, and as we continued diving into it, the, the government, like these, these drugs are funded by Medicare when.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: They'Re, when they're now available through Medicaid.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: When they're prescribed as um, as they're advertised. Right. Like, so Ozempic, if prescribed for diabetes, can be covered, right? Ozempic, if prescribed for weight loss, is not covered.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: Right.
[00:09:32] Speaker B: Wagovi now it's coming like right now. The, the rules are changing currently to where it is going to be approved or has already been approved in some cases when it's prescribed for weight loss, especially if there are other associated problems. But the point being that we've seen that it costs potentially as little as seventy three cents to produce it. They sell it in Germany for less than $60, but in the United States it's being sold for $1,000 and funded through the US healthcare system and Medicare.
[00:10:11] Speaker A: Paid by the taxpayers.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what I meant by, yeah, but, yeah, absolutely. Right. And Medicaid in some states.
[00:10:18] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: So that, that led us to, okay, what about the association, the american, back.
[00:10:28] Speaker A: To the American Diabetes.
[00:10:29] Speaker B: Diabetes association. Right. Like where, where are they falling in on all of this? Why back to the pizza thing.
[00:10:37] Speaker A: Well, and if I might add, pharmaceutical companies are for profit companies and they don't have any.
They have every right to be able to make a profit on the things that they created.
Yes.
[00:10:49] Speaker B: Well, there is debate on that. And if we go back to this article, we're looking at a statement from Senator Bernie Sanders.
He says Ozempic has the potential to be a game changer in the diabetes and obesity epidemics in America. But if we do not substantially reduce the price of this drug, millions who need it will be unable to afford it, he said, adding that the drug has the potential to bankrupt Medicare.
Okay, so, like, there are, that's huge.
[00:11:22] Speaker A: That it could bankrupt Medicare. One, one type of drug.
[00:11:28] Speaker B: Well, when a third of Americans have it and it's costing $1,000 a month in order to treat it, like, you can't afford to just pay for it out of pocket.
[00:11:39] Speaker A: Right.
[00:11:40] Speaker B: But there's still, most people can't.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: But it is still a for profit company.
[00:11:45] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. But just saying, with the senator chiming in like that, there are certainly policy decisions and discussions that are being made right now to try to at least influence these for profit companies to potentially reduce their profit margin or something like, I don't know. I'm not.
[00:12:07] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:12:08] Speaker B: Maybe, maybe they would limit the amount that the national healthcare system would pay for these drugs. Maybe an answer, like, I don't know what they're planning to do with it, but you go back to, so go back, going back to Ada.
Why?
We've talked about it before, and we know there's tons of research that has been done, especially recently. But even as far back as 2015 with the, with the TED talk, we were watching that a low carbohydrate ketogenic diet is extremely effective at the, the treatment or prevention or even some claim reversal of type two diabetes. So what? Why wouldn't the ADA even mention it? Like, I went all through their website, and there's so much.
[00:13:04] Speaker A: You did and you got to the sponsorship page.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: There's so much dietary guidelines, and none of it mentions any kind of dietary approach to controlling diabetes. It's, it's simply managing it. So all of their dietary guidelines talk about portion control and how much of each thing you should eat. It's all, all a way to manage diabetes with your medication.
Yes, manage diabetes with your medication.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: Nowhere are they a proponent of, or do they even suggest that you could manage it outside of medication. No, that doesn't exist in their vernacular.
[00:13:50] Speaker B: But if you make it in their website, to their sponsor page, you'll see that their top sponsor is Lily, who makes diabetes medication. And then you keep going down, you'll find Novo Nordisk, you'll find Merrick, you'll find all of these. You'll find Pfizer, you'll find all of these other pharmaceutical companies are their main sponsor.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: Here's another interesting sponsor that they had on there, which just really was just wild for me, was the Idaho potato commission.
[00:14:27] Speaker B: Yep. They're on there. And. Okay, so Idaho Potato commission sponsors.
[00:14:33] Speaker A: Do you know Idaho potato Commission sponsors the American Diabetes association?
I'm sorry, that's like Jack Daniels sponsoring Alcoholics Anonymous, y'all.
[00:14:52] Speaker B: Could be. Could be similar. And the Idaho potato commission. Really, they touted. If you click on their little info blurb on the ADA website, they're one of the first something carbohydrate foods to get the approval of the American Diabetes association. It's like, it's. It's silly.
[00:15:16] Speaker A: It is silly.
[00:15:17] Speaker B: And then if you look in the, in the recipe section, if you go to low carb foods, the first recipe in the low carb foods section, the number one recipe is mashed potatoes.
[00:15:32] Speaker A: Better mashed potatoes.
[00:15:34] Speaker B: I'm not kidding.
[00:15:35] Speaker A: Mashed potatoes.
[00:15:36] Speaker B: It's mashed potatoes to control diabetes.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: Diabetes. Nothing's gonna happen. But walking away hungry.
[00:15:43] Speaker B: Better mashed potatoes because they add cauliflower to it. So that makes it better mashed potatoes.
[00:15:50] Speaker A: I don't know, y'all.
[00:15:52] Speaker B: Okay, so this, this whole thing has just got us really scratching our nuggets on this one. Like, there is. There is a lot of money.
[00:16:03] Speaker A: A lot of money.
[00:16:04] Speaker B: If you just take those three drug companies profits. Just those three?
[00:16:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:10] Speaker B: You're over a hundred billion dollars in 2023 alone.
The revenue coming in for those three companies, over $100 billion. That's crazy. There is a lot of nefarious potential there.
With that kind of money.
Yes. I'm not claiming anything.
[00:16:35] Speaker A: Nope.
[00:16:35] Speaker B: I am saying there is a lot of potential when you've got over $100 billion on the table. On the table from just three companies.
[00:16:44] Speaker A: Do you think that those companies and those associations benefiting from those companies because there are salaried employees that work for those associations? Do you think for 1 minute that any of those people are going to advocate for some olive oil?
[00:17:00] Speaker B: I have not seen that. No.
No, I haven't seen.
[00:17:04] Speaker A: Why would you.
[00:17:04] Speaker B: Why would you. I haven't seen them advocating for anything outside of continued consumption of the standard american diet on a controlled basis and continued use of medication.
[00:17:18] Speaker A: Right.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: That's the only answers that I've seen offered.
[00:17:22] Speaker A: Because. And looking at the profits, the revenue, whichever, coming in just based on the wagovi and the ozempic, it's my understanding that both of those medications are lifelong.
[00:17:39] Speaker B: They are intended to be life.
[00:17:41] Speaker A: They're intended to. Once you go on them, you stay on them. And so the amount of profit, the amount of money that is on the table for these companies is. Is significant now and growing because the more it's unbelievable. And yet we all continue to listen to the guidelines, we continue to be sheep and follow exactly what they say to do.
And by doing so, continuing to break our bodies, break our banks, break our entire economy, and get those people even richer when we could just do it by simply following a diet that's lower in carbohydrates, real food, higher fat, and managing it that way.
[00:18:30] Speaker B: The only reason I can find is that the american diabetes says, association says that people are going to eat this food anyway.
[00:18:44] Speaker A: Here's how to eat it.
[00:18:45] Speaker B: Here's how to eat it in a controlled manner and take your medication. So the idea that a diet such as ketogenic could solve the issue, since.
[00:18:59] Speaker A: The american people have absolutely no control over themselves and are too stupid to figure this thing out, will tell you, oh, this is how you can maybe just control it since you can't seem to control yourself.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: I haven't seen anything that where they're calling people stupid, but they're.
[00:19:19] Speaker A: I'm dealing with the assumptions that they're making. There is definitely.
[00:19:22] Speaker B: Yeah, there is definitely data. Like, if you look at it, it's very clear that the assumption is that people have zero willpower in order to be able to control their health through their diet.
[00:19:37] Speaker A: I happen to completely disagree with the American Diabetes association and believe that people have both willpower and the understanding and can learn how to eat differently if we will stop all the propaganda.
That's just my opinion, though. I believe people can change.
[00:19:57] Speaker B: Yeah. No, I believe that they absolutely can. And I believe that they are definitely underestimating the will of someone to actually change their own health under their own power. Right. The freedom. And I mentioned that we would talk about freedom a little bit here.
The way that this system is set up right now is you are totally enslaved. You are enslaved to hunger, and you are enslaved to the medicine that you're required to take because you ate, because you were hungry.
[00:20:34] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:20:36] Speaker B: The whole thing is designed to keep you a slave, and in so doing, the very organizations that are treating you are enslaving you and making profits off of you.
[00:20:49] Speaker A: Mm hmm. Yep.
That's exactly what's happening.
Exactly.
[00:20:56] Speaker B: It really is frustrating.
[00:20:58] Speaker A: It is frustrating, but here's the coolest part of all of it. We have a choice.
We human beings have a choice as to what we put down our throats.
We have a choice.
[00:21:09] Speaker B: We absolutely do. But if you read all of the information out there, it is like from the American Diabetes association, it would appear that we're just too soft. We're just too weak. We just can't actually do it. We just need some guidance on how to eat the bad things in a better way so that our medicines can keep everything sort of at bay.
[00:21:43] Speaker A: Well, how's that working out for us?
[00:21:48] Speaker B: If you're the three diabetes pharmaceutical companies, it is working out extremely well.
If you're an investor in any of those companies where you see profits increasing by 20% or $14 billion of profits annually, I would say it's working out extremely well for you.
[00:22:13] Speaker A: Really, really well.
[00:22:14] Speaker B: If you're one of the people who is suffering while eating the standard american diet and taking your diabetes medication and.
[00:22:23] Speaker A: Not understanding why you can't get well.
[00:22:25] Speaker B: Then I would say it's probably not working out well for you at all.
[00:22:29] Speaker A: No, but there is a better answer if that's not working out for you.
If you find that I'm still sick, even though I'm following these guidelines, I'm still sick and I'm taking all of the medications. I can't get the weight off, whatever the heck. Well, we can all get the weight off now with the Olympics and the wagovis, but in those medications, like we've said before, have a place.
They absolutely have a place. I am all about modern medicine. I believe modern medicine is amazing. However, so is food. And I believe hippocrates thousands of years ago said, let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food. And meaning, while the modern medicine has created things that are amazing at the same time, so is food. And food can also be amazing and can heal us. And while I trust these things on one side, I do.
I'm not knocking modern medicine, but how can we knock real food and the ability for real food? Remove all of these medications, remove the bad foods, and go to the good food and see what happens to your body.
[00:23:54] Speaker B: I encourage you to look at Virta Health, check out their website, and check out the research and the studies that are ongoing, and look, just. Just go check it out and see that, you know, the idea that this can be controlled, treated, reversed through diet alone is not an out there idea. It's something that's actually studied and proven.
[00:24:21] Speaker A: Yep, you can save money out of your pocket, quit breaking your own wallet, and our bodies heal at the same time.
[00:24:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:30] Speaker A: Um, if you don't mind, please put the link to the TED talk in the description of Sarah Hallberg in 2015. She. She gave the TED talk. It's got over 11 million views. If you haven't seen it, highly encourage you to go and watch it, because in 15 minutes, she nailed it.
[00:24:49] Speaker B: She did.
[00:24:49] Speaker A: Sarah has. She passed away in 2022 of a long battle with lung cancer. She never smoked a day in her life. Sometimes things just go wrong in our bodies, no matter what we do. But her message out is amazing, and it is still out there. And I would highly encourage anyone who. You know what? Just go watch it, even if you don't have a problem, because it is some amazing information.
[00:25:15] Speaker B: Yeah, it really is.
[00:25:16] Speaker A: And it still resounds today.
We were watching it going, I'm sorry. I'm not sure why we're still talking about this in 2024. We should not be talking about this anymore. But we are, because we have to. Because one third of Americans are suffering from type two diabetes or are pre diabetic.
[00:25:35] Speaker B: Right.
[00:25:36] Speaker A: And so that's why we have to keep talking about it.
[00:25:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:39] Speaker A: And beat the drum. Because we believe here on this farm and in our family, that there is an answer to our health diabetes epidemic in this country. We believe that there is an answer, and it isn't the medications and the American Diabetes association. It is good whole foods, eating a high fat, moderate protein, no to low carbohydrate diet.
In our opinion. We are not doctors.
