Type 2 Diabetes: Q&A With Dr. Richard Bernstein

What role does tumor necrosis factor play in insulin resistance? Have you noticed improved insulin sensitivity when you use an anti-TNF agent such as Etanercept ? Do you recommend Etanercept for all your type 2 patients?

Answer: Tumor necrosis factor alpha is a factor in the insulin resistance of type 2 diabetes. One treatment for it is green tea, but it doesn’t have a lot of anti-TNF effect. It’s only slight.

Etanercept has a number of severe potential adverse effects, and therefore is the sort of thing you’d only want to use for urgent situations. I don’t recommend its use for insulin resistance, but urge that we do all the things to lower insulin resistance that I mention in my book, Diabetes Solution.

Can fatty liver be corrected by lowering blood sugar?

Answer: I had fatty liver from the age of 13 until I got my blood sugars normalized, and it took a few years of normal blood sugar to make the fatty liver go away. How do I know the fatty liver ceased? It used to hang below my right ribs, and when I pressed on it, it hurt. Eventually after a few years of normal blood sugars, I could no longer feel it.

Richard K. Bernstein, MD is one of the most knowledgeable, committed, and successful pioneers in the field of diabetes today. He invented blood sugar self-monitoring  and basal/bolus insulin dosing when he was an engineer.

Dr. Bernstein is Director Emeritus of the Peripheral Vascular Disease Clinic of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, NY. His private medical practice in Mamaroneck, NY specializes in treating diabetes and obesity.

He is a physician, research scientist, thriving type 1 for  67 years, and best-selling author of nine diabetes books including Diabetes Solution, The Diabetes Diet and several e-books. The link diabetes-book.com will give you more information about his publications. To sign up for his free monthly tele-seminars, visit askdrbernstein.net.