Quantum Medicine Update – Townsend Letter for Doctors May 2009 Paul Yanick, Jr. Ph.D.

©2009 1

Diabetes and the Afferent Vagus

Paul Yanick, Jr. Ph.D- American Academy of Quantum Medicine www.aaqm.org
 
       The core physiological issue underlying diabetes and insulin resistance has been linked to
impaired afferent vagal function.1 Disruption of vagal afferent fibers by toxicity or surgical
activates the glucocorticoid induction of diabetes and hypertension.2 Other researchers
have shown that intact vagal afferent fibers are required for glucocorticoid-induced glucose
intolerance.2-4
The vagus nerve derives its name from the Latin word for “wanderer”, to explain the meandering
anatomic distribution of the vagus nerve which has been documented to suppresses inflammation,5 inhibit
seizure activity6 and depression7 and establish a regulatory circuit between the liver and central nervous
system leading either to enhanced insulin sensitivity or diabetes or hypertension.4

The Forgotten Neurological Link: Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome

Diabetes and metabolic syndrome due to insulin resistance cause aberrations in visceral-abdominal fat
that generate a cluster of physiological abnormalities: high triglycerides, high blood pressure, high fasting
blood sugar, and low HDL Cholesterol. While insulin injections help to controls diabetes, they are not
addressing the afferent vagal deficit and this leads to elevated risks of severe neurological and vascular
complications, primarily due to autoimmune destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells. When the body
lacks insulin, cells starve and glucose levels soar, causing blindness, kidney failure, and a wide spectrum
of diseases. No treatment on the market has been proven to correct insulin resistance by addressing
neural mechanisms underlying the death of pancreatic beta cells.
Excessive abdominal fat is a strong predictor of heart attacks in young men and chronic heart failure in
older people, high blood pressure and is even implemented in the development of Alzheimer’s disease,
colon cancer, gallstones, ovarian cystic disease, breast cancer, and sleep apnea. Unlike other kinds of
body fat, visceral-abdominal fat can become dysfunctional and produce a stew of menacing molecules that
can expand to the point of rupturing. Ruptured fat cells trigger immune cells (macrophages), interleukin-6
(IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha, which adhere to the endothelium of the blood vessels causing
atherosclerosis. Indeed, elevated levels of IL-6 and C-reactive protein (CRP) predict the development of
type 2 Diabetes and support the role for inflammation in diabetogenesis. Baseline levels of CRP and IL-6
were significantly higher in 188 diabetic women versus 362 matched “normal” controls. And, large scale
studies (the Physician's Health Study and the Women's Health Study) revealed high CRP levels to be a risk
predictor of myocardial infarction or stroke in men,8 cardiovascular events in women,9 and cardiovascular
events in patients with the metabolic syndrome.10,11 A cross-sectional study revealed that CRP levels were
related to insulin resistance, obesity, endothelial dysfunction, hypertension and diabetes,12-15 and
excessive visceral-abdominal fat,16,17 all of which have been linked to impaired afferent vagal function.1-7
These studies raise the prospect that doctors might forestall autoimmune disease by restoring afferent
vagal function which, in turn, will restore immune function and glucose metabolism.
The vagus afferent-efferent physiology provides a two-way highway of communication between the
brain and the liver, duodenum, stomach and pancreas that regulates digestion, detoxification,
steroidogenesis, glucose metabolism and immunological function. Studies have shown that the afferent-
specific neurotoxin capsaicin increased the levels of circulating glucose and triglycerides and negated the
actions of insulin on these and free fatty acids and ketone bodies.18-19

In summary, alternative medicine needs to address the efferent cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway
and the afferent vagus as these are central mechanisms behind excessive inflammatory responses and
diabetes. The involvement of vagus efferent neurons in neuro-immunomodulation provides a protective
role against prolonged inflammation via the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway.20,221 Thus, being
“holistic” requires that we nourish and support the reciprocal afferent-efferent vagus function as this is
undoubtedly is a missing link in current natural protocols for diabetes which, for the first time, fully
explains the aberrant physiology underlying diabetes.

To Learn More – www.quorumnutritionllc.com

 
 
Quantum Medicine Update – Townsend Letter for Doctors May 2009 Paul Yanick, Jr. Ph.D. ©2009 2

 
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