Educational Media Reviews Online

The demands that a chronic disease like diabetes makes on those who have it are far-reaching, involving careful attention to diet, medications (if required), consistent self-monitoring of blood glucose levels, regular exercise and maintaining a schedule that combines all of these. The consequences of neglect can be devastating: blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage (including impotence), heart attacks and strokes.

Not So Sweet is a video from the CBC, an episode of the program "The Nature of Things" hosted by David Suzuki, that interviews several persons with diabetes, some with Type 1 (insulin-dependent) and others with Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent). Several of the interviewees have diabetic complications; for instance, we meet a couple of blind diabetics and discover how they have learned to deal with diabetes and blindness. One person interviewed tells how she has succeeded in cycling competitions by tandeming with a sighted partner.

Especially interesting is an interview with an aboriginal Canadian. Canada's aboriginal population, like Native Americans, suffers from an extraordinarily high incidence of Type 2 diabetes, a consequence of having a genetic tendency to develop the disease and having adopted a highly refined Western diet and less exercise. The Native Canadian describes the Aboriginal Wellness Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, where she, her husband and others learn the essentials of diabetic self-care both from the perspective of Western allopathic medicine as well as traditional aboriginal techniques of healing.

My one criticism of this otherwise outstanding video is the commentator's conflation of "seizures" (episodes of extremely low blood sugar caused by insulin overdose) with diabetic coma (very high levels of blood sugar associated with an absolute absence of insulin).

With this one caveat, this video can be enthusiastically recommended for general adult audiences. Diabetes is a common disease amounting to nearly epidemic proportions in this country and worldwide. Its toll in suffering, disability and death is beyond calculation. A video like Not So Sweet, presenting the facts about diabetes in an engaging, thought-provoking and sometimes heart-rending way, is just what the doctor ordered.