Strict diet: turn back diabetes in 12 weeks
Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.
More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.Type 2 diabetes is considered a disease that progresses chronically. In fact, however, various studies show that a normalization of the sugar metabolism is possible in those affected.
Type 2 diabetes develops slowly. The ability of the cells to respond to the hormone insulin - and thus to absorb sugar from the blood - deteriorates unnoticed. At some point this can no longer be compensated for by increased insulin release - the blood sugar rises.
A radical change in diet can reverse this process. This was shown by a team of researchers from the University of British Columbia in a study with 188 participants.
The participants were between 30 and 75 years old and had type 2 diabetes between 2 and 20 years - an average of around 12 years. They all also had a body mass index (BMI) of over 30 and were therefore obese.
12 kilos in 12 weeks
Half of them were put on a strict diet by the researchers: over a period of 12 weeks, these participants consumed an average of only 850 kilocalories a day. In addition, the daily amount of carbohydrates was reduced to a maximum of 50 grams, but the protein content was increased. The control group only received regular recommendations for a healthy diet.
In the end, the participants in the diet group had not only lost an average of 50 pounds; one in three of them was also able to do without blood sugar-lowering medication. This also applied to those subjects who were previously dependent on insulin injections. The rest could at least reduce their drug doses. Blood pressure values, blood lipid values and the general health of the participants in the diet group had also improved.
Additional effect due to low carbohydrates
The researchers attribute the improved blood sugar metabolism not only to the serious weight loss - the reduction in carbohydrates also made a significant contribution to the results. “There are data that show that reducing carbohydrates improves blood sugar control when the patient is not losing weight,” reports head of the study John Little when asked by
"This probably affects liver insulin resistance and beta cell function," says Little. The beta cells are the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. According to Little, statistical analyzes had shown that weight loss was responsible for 57 percent of the effects, and the strict reduction in carbohydrates was responsible for 43 percent.
Risk of hypoglycaemia
During the study, the participants were not looked after by their doctors, but by local pharmacists. The main aim was to adjust the drug dosage in order to avoid dangerous hypoglycaemia due to the drastic change in diet. Diabetics should therefore not embark on such a radical diet on their own.
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