Herschel Walker, Asked About Insulin Costs, Says ‘You Got To Eat Right’

During Friday night’s debate against Senator Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia), Herschel Walker didn’t pull out a stethoscope as a prop. The debate rules did not allow props, as Walker was told after he had flashed a police badge during the debate. But Walker, the Republic nominee for one of Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats, did make a statement during the debate about what could be considered a very medical doctorly topic. It was about insulin, diabetes, and “eating right” and got a not-so-sweet response on social media.

Walker’s statement came after Warnock had said the following: “I think [Walker] should tell the people of Georgia why he thinks they should have expensive insulin and why the pharmaceutical companies should be able to charge us whatever they like.” Walker then replied with “I believe in reducing insulin, but at the same time you got to eat right.”

Presumably, Walker meant that he believes in reducing insulin costs, because reducing insulin in people’s bodies could lead to many more cases of diabetes and more deaths. Walker continued with, “Because he may not know and I know many people that’s on insulin, and unless you have eating right, insulin is doing you no good.” Walker went on to say, “ You have to get food prices down and you got to get gas down so that they can go get insulin.” You can see the whole exchange in the video accompanying this tweet from The Recount:

The exchange emerged because Walker has repeatedly emphasized that he wouldn’t have voted for the Inflation Reduction Act had he been in Congress. That Act includes limits on the cost of certain prescription drugs for those on Medicare including a $35 cap on a month’s supply of insulin. During the debate, Warnock said that he has supported such legislation, so folks “don’t have to choose between buying medicine and buying groceries.”

OK, let’s unpack what Walker said medically. There are two issues with diabetes and insulin use that Walker appears to have overlooked, namely that there are two types of diabetes. These two types are different in many ways. First of all, Type 1 diabetes used to be known as insulin-dependent diabetes because typically the bodies of those with Type 1 diabetes can’t naturally produce enough insulin. That’s why those with Type 1 diabetes typically need insulin treatments to survive as Jasmine Clark, PhD, who earned a PhD in microbiology from Emory University and serves in the Georgia House of Representatives, tweeted:

And Renee Rayles tweeted “I need insulin to live. Without it I will die, most likely in a week,” as you can see here:

Yeah, as Rayles indicated, without insulin, your life would go off the rails, so to speak, quite quickly. Insulin is a pretty darn important peptide hormone. If someone were to ask you, “can I stop your body from producing insulin, please,” your answer should be “no” even though that person said “please” and asked really nicely. You probably don’t wake up every morning and say, “thank goodness for my functioning beta cells in the islets of my pancreas,” because you can’t see these islet cells in the mirror and they don’t appear in selfies. But no matter how much of an alpha you think you are, you depend heavily on these beta cells. They normally secrete insulin at different levels throughout the day, depending on when you need the hormone.

Say you eat something like hummus shaped in the form of Simon Cowell’s head. That food then goes down your gastrointestinal (GI) tract where it’s broken into smaller components such as sugar, which then get absorbed from your GI tract into your bloodstream. At the same time, signals go to your beta cells to produce insulin.

Sugar will circulate in your bloodstream until insulin helps the sugar move from your bloodstream into different cells. Your cells need sugar for fuel to do the stuff that cells do. Your liver can also produce and release sugar into your bloodstream when needed. But you don’t want your liver to that willy nilly. Too much sugar in your bloodstream for too long can lead to all sorts of problems such as damage to blood vessels in various parts of your body such as your eyes, heart, legs, and kidneys. Insulin can effectively tell you liver, “dude, stop all that sugar producing and releasing stuff. We’ve already got plenty of it in the bloodstream right now.” The ability of insulin to regulate what your live does is super important as well.

As Rayles railed about, no amount of eating right will overcome the fact that those with Type 1 diabetes can’t produce enough insulin themselves naturally. Real scientists [flash a test tube prop now] believe that Type 1 diabetes can result when your immune system mistakenly perceives your own beta cells to be invaders. Your immune system can then destroy your beta cells in an autoimmune reaction. No amount of beetroot, prunes, or wheatgrass is going to replace the missing or non-functioning beta cells. Again those with Type 1 diabetes need to purchase insulin to survive.

Type 2 diabetes can be a bit different. Two mechanisms can be at work. The beta cells in your pancreas may not produce enough insulin. At the same time though, the cells throughout your body may not respond as well to insulin. Lifestyle modifications such as physical activity and eating healthily can help manage Type 2 diabetes. However, it is important to emphasize that such lifestyle modifications alone are enough for everyone with Type 2 diabetes. There are still plenty of people who do all the right things but still are saddled with Type 2 diabetes and need insulin.

Walker is not a Texas Ranger. And he is not a medical doctor. So take what he said during the debate about medical subjects with a fanny pack of salt. (Although you should be careful about eating too much salt in general.) Yes, eating a healthy diet will always be important. But saying “unless you have eating right, insulin is doing you no good” would not be accurate. Your body needs insulin. And if your body can’t produce enough insulin, you need to get that insulin from somewhere. Otherwise, your body will have to pay a very hefty cost.