Syndrome X
Aboriginal Diabetes, Kidney Disorders And Indigenous Health
The myth of Aboriginal genetic difference is being made reality through malnutrition, resulting in a plague of Syndrome X.
The picture for this article is ochangan, a traditional medicine for diabetes. Ironically, it wasn't enough to save the person who taught me about its use.
Third World In Your Backyard
Would you be shocked if you stepped out into your community and saw amputees everywhere on crutches due to advanced and untreated diabetes? You would never expect to see such a thing in this country - Africa, maybe? Well, this is the reality for many Indigenous communities in wealthy nations such as America and Australia.
What Causes Syndrome X?
It is particularly a problem in cultures that have traditionally had a protein-based diet for thousands of years, and then suddenly switch to a diet dominated by sugar and refined carbohydrates. Although this is not to say the myth of "weaker genes" is true, or that Aboriginal people are somehow biologically different.
There is a plague called "Syndrome X" that ensures that half of us fellas won't live to see middle age. It has to do with fewer nephrons in the kidneys, nephrons being the things that process sugars. For years this was used as proof that Aboriginal people were biologically different, and therefore a different "race" with serious genetic flaws.
Scientific Findings Silenced
It is amazing how stupid some people with doctorates can be, how blind researchers are when it comes to supporting white hegemony with scientific proof. It has only been recently that anybody has bothered to do comparative studies of Syndrome X across ethnic groups.
These studies show that Syndrome X appears across all cultures on the planet, with one factor in common - poverty. Children born underweight due to poor nutrition are born with fewer nephrons, and never catch up. But this study is too late. Nobody has quoted it or disseminated the information, and effectively the truth has been silenced. The public now has an entrenched belief that Indigenous racial difference and inferiority are "scientific fact".
This perpetuates Aboriginal disadvantage in the wider community, which in turn exacerbates poverty and malnutrition, resulting in an entire generation afflicted with Syndrome X. The syndrome is now becoming a hard-wired genetic flaw in many people. Thus the myth has been made reality.
For more info on diabetes, read the blog by Tom Donohue entitled Diabetes Management in the medical issues section of Suite101.
For a portrait of Indigenous community health that will make your skin crawl, check out the article Aboriginal Health Shame.
