Actress Halle Berry, who is probably best known for her Oscar-winning performance in the film "Monster's Ball," has long been suspected of stretching the truth about her diabetes diagnosis. A self-proclaimed type 1 diabetic -- a form of the disease that involves the complete cessation of insulin production by the pancreas, regardless of diet or any other external factor -- Halle Berry claims to have done something that medical doctors, research scientists, and entire health organizations have not been able to do: Cure It.

If I seem a bit snarky, it's for good reason. I'm engaged to be married to a wonderful young woman, who also happens to be a type-1 diabetic herself. Not only is she an active member of the diabetes support community, but she is also quite adept at managing her chronic illness. However, regardless of how perfect her diet is or can be, how physically active she is or can be, or what holistic health practices she follows or can follow, the fact remains that none of these measures will cause her pancreas to produce insulin. This also holds true for the estimated 1.5 million other Americans who are afflicted with type-1 diabetes, Halle Berry certainly notwithstanding.

The fact of the matter is that Halle Berry never had type-1 diabetes. It's impossible. Why? Because, despite her claims of "weaning" herself off of insulin shots, the reality of the matter is that if she stopped taking insulin, she would die. I hate to sound so callous, but a fact is a fact. Remember, when you are type-1, your insulin-producing cells in your pancreas stop working altogether, meaning that you do not MAKE insulin. So, to compensate for this fact, you absolutely must continue to TAKE insulin in order to survive.

What Dr. Berry, ahem, I mean Halle Berry likely 'cured' herself of was an insulin dependency associated with type-2 diabetes, the more common form of the disease, affecting an estimated 19 million Americans. It is possible for a person with type-2, who is regularly taking insulin injections, to lower their blood glucose levels to a point where synthetic insulin is no longer needed to maintain health. In most cases, Halle Berry's ostensibly being one of them, this is accomplished through proper nutrition and exercise.

Couple Halle Berry's misinformation with the enormous amount of public ignorance that already exists about diabetes (Be honest, did you even know that there were two different types?), and an unfortunate systemic rationale is created to support the already popular, though tragically mistaken, belief that people with diabetes would be fine if they just ate right. You would assume that someone who supposedly has/had type-1 would make it a point to condemn such a rationale, rather than say things that only serve to propagate it further.

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