Tuesday October 31, 9:05 am Eastern Time

Press Release

SOURCE: SmithKline Beecham

Celebrity Chefs Across the Nation Crusade for Diabetes Awareness
New, Free Cookbook Features Healthy, Regional and Ethnic Recipes
November Is American Diabetes Month
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Association of Diabetes Educators and culinary masters joined forces today to encourage people with type 2 diabetes to cook healthy meals at home. Renowned New York City chef Michel Nischan, whose son has type 1 diabetes, led the effort with 15 chefs nationwide to develop a new cookbook titled, Celebrity Chefs Across America - The Ingredients for Managing Diabetes. The cookbook, available free during American Diabetes Month by calling toll-free 1-866-4U2-COOK (1-866-482-2665), includes more than 50 recipes, a variety of informational resources and suggested meal plans to help people manage diabetes.

As America's waistline expands -- with an estimated 97 million people now overweight -- so do cases of type 2 diabetes. When overweight, the body often loses the ability to use its own natural insulin -- a condition known as insulin resistance -- which, over time, can lead to type 2 diabetes. A proper diet can help control insulin resistance. Good nutrition also can positively impact the onset of long-term devastating complications associated with poor blood sugar control in diabetes. Celebrity Chefs Across America, made possible by SmithKline Beecham (NYSE: SBH - news), a leader in diabetes care, is designed to help make cooking at home easier, healthier and more enjoyable.

``People with diabetes often feel frustrated at meal times because they think that they are limited in their food choices,'' said Ginger Kanzer-Lewis, President, American Association of Diabetes Educators. ``This unique cookbook offers diabetes-friendly recipes that capture the flavor and flare of America, while maintaining good nutritional balance.''

Physicians who specialize in treating diabetes agree that proper nutrition is integral to successfully treating the disease. ``Many people underestimate the importance of a healthy diet in a diabetes treatment plan,'' said James Gavin, MD, PhD, Senior Scientific Officer, Howard Hughes Medical Institute. ``But diet alone is not enough. Eating healthy and exercising regularly are essential for the proper treatment of diabetes. When this is not enough, there are other options available. For many patients, the addition of a medication that targets insulin resistance may help control blood sugar.''

Celebrity Chefs Across America - The Ingredients for Managing Diabetes

The 96-page cookbook, authored by Anthony Dias Blue of Bon Appetit magazine, features easy-to-prepare recipes including appetizers, entrees, sides and desserts. Seared Flank Steak Salad, Pueblo Squash Stew and Coffee Amaretto Parfait are a few recipes featured in the cookbook. Chefs like Emily Luchetti, Executive Pastry Chef at Farallon in San Francisco, Martin Yan, host of Yan Can Cook and Marcus Samuelsson, Executive Chef of Aquavit in Minneapolis, who have a similar passion for cooking and in some cases, a personal tie to diabetes, also contributed to the cookbook.

``When I learned how important diet is to preventing and treating diabetes, I knew I could be at the forefront of diabetes management by developing healthy recipes that anyone could follow,'' said Michel Nischan, Executive Chef, Heartbeat Restaurant. ``Since my son, Chris, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I have worked hard to make sure he and other people with the disease can enjoy food as much as I do.''

Diabetes Cases Soaring

Diabetes is growing at an alarming rate, according to a recent study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Diabetes affects approximately 16 million Americans, 90 to 95 percent of whom have type 2 diabetes. People with type 1 diabetes make little or no insulin because their beta-cells -- cells produced by the pancreas, have been destroyed. Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or the body's cells are resistant to the action of insulin. An underlying cause of type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance. Insulin resistance occurs when cells become resistant to insulin, making it difficult for blood sugar to enter the body's cells. Responding to high levels of sugar in the bloodstream, the pancreas produces more insulin. Eventually, insulin- producing cells in the pancreas can no longer perform properly. As a result, glucose levels rise and diabetes develops.

Those at risk for developing type 2 diabetes are people who are obese, people who have a family history of the disease, people over age 45 and members of certain racial or ethnic groups, such as African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders. If not managed properly, diabetes can lead to devastating complications such as blindness, heart and kidney disease, stroke and amputations.

Adding an Insulin Sensitizer to Diet and Exercise

Many people with diabetes strive to eat healthy and exercise regularly in an effort to manage their condition, but often find it difficult to keep their blood sugar at normal levels. In fact, many people can benefit from a medication that targets insulin resistance, such as Avandia® [rosiglitazone maleate], an insulin sensitizer, in addition to diet and physical activity to effectively manage their diabetes. Avandia works by making the cells in the body more sensitive to its own natural insulin.

Celebrity Chefs Across America - The Ingredients for Managing Diabetes is one of several educational activities provided by SmithKline Beecham, the maker of Avandia. More than five million prescriptions have been written, and well over one million patients have been treated with Avandia in the United States.

Avandia was generally well tolerated in clinical trials. In studies, the most common side effects included cold-like symptoms and headache. A small percentage of people experienced anemia and/or mild to moderate swelling of their legs or ankles. Before and during Avandia therapy, periodic liver monitoring is recommended because of liver problems with a similar drug. A physician should be consulted if a patient taking Avandia experiences an unusually rapid increase of weight, swelling or shortness of breath, unexplained tiredness, stomach problems, dark urine or yellowing of the skin.

SmithKline Beecham

SmithKline Beecham -- one of the world's leading healthcare companies -- discovers, develops, manufactures and markets pharmaceuticals, vaccines, over-the-counter medicines and health-related consumer products. For company information, visit SmithKline Beecham on the World Wide Web at http://www.sb.com. For Avandia information, visit http://www.avandia.com.

American Association of Diabetes Educators

The American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE), a multidisciplinary organization of healthcare professionals who provide diabetes education and care, helped develop and ``favorably reviewed'' Celebrity Chefs Across America - The Ingredients for Managing Diabetes to help people with diabetes manage their condition through meal planning. For more information about diabetes educators across the country, contact the AADE at 800-TEAMUP4 (800-832-6874).

SOURCE: SmithKline Beecham

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001031/pa_diabete.html

What about the supermarkets which are responsible for this rapid expansion, not only in diabetes, but in numerous public health problems. Supermakets have changed in their few short years, on how the public eats, cooks, and shops. This in turn has clearly had an adverse effect on small food retailers, on farmers, and other producers of food, all done for pecuniary motives without consideration to the public's health.

When next in a supermarket take note of how many shelves are volumn stocked with either denatured processed foods or carbohydrate-dense foods or vegetable oils that were previously used to make paint products. Even our morning cereal is suspect in raising insulin to damaging levels and hence the alarming rate in diabetes.

There appears to a correlation between the expansion of the supermarkets and the alarming increase to public ill-health, but, then, no one wishes to hear bad news. The general attitude seems to be, why kill the goose that lays the golden egg, but, that's a seriouly flawed premise.

Sally Fallon's book, 'Nourishing Traditions' reminds us of how things were. It is wrongly listed as a cookery book; rather, it's a treatise on nutrition and a very worthy read. Dr Ron Rosendale's article, 'Insulin and its Metabolic Effects' which can be read at www.mercola.com/fegi/pf/2001/jul/14/insulin.htm is also a worthy read.

Both those authors unwittingly lend support to the Aitken's diet and indirectly to the adverse effect of supermarkets, but, owing to the convenience factor, the supermarkets are destined, regretfully, to be here to stay.

The pharmaceutical giants (our new world leaders) welcome this feature which will keep them in business making pills for the medical profession and those pills, undoubtefdly, will have side- effects that require further pills to offset the side-effects!

My apologies for this apparently jaundiced view which is so manifestly obvious!

Even though I blame myself for my diabetes, that being no one forced me to cram MacDonalds, Burger King and 1001 other processed foods, stuffed with Sugars and Fats down my throat, its nice to see that Celebrity Chefs are raising the banner.

I live in the UK and the only mainstream places that we can eat out here which cater for low carb diabetics are TGI Fridays and Subway . Hopefully now that Celebrities are making an issue of it more diabetic friendly food will make it onto the shelves and into the restaurant kitchens.

If there weren't still pushing this version of the diabetic diet: http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pu...ng_ez/index.htm I might be tempted to call for a free book, but given that the information on their site is standard ADA protocol (low fat, high carb), I think I'll skip it.