Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Gerri on June 24, 2011 at 10:04am

It is not possible to eliminate diabetes period. No diet, no supplement is going to cure diabetes.

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Permalink Reply by Doris D on June 24, 2011 at 12:36pm

my thoughts too.

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Permalink Reply by BadMoonT2 on June 24, 2011 at 1:04pm

I would be inclined to agree with you except it is a study done by a university and it produced a physical result namely a reduction of fat in the pancreas. Remember this is a study done on obese T2s and would have no relevance for T1s and perhaps not thin T2s as well.

I'm certainly not qualified to judge how true this is, after all the scientists who discovered "Cold Fusion" also worked for a university. However, I do give it more credibility than someones blog claiming a miracle cure The next step will be to replicate the study and see if the results hold. Also long term monitoring would be necessary before the word cure could be used.

I am surprised they were able to find 10 subjects to stick with this diet for 2 months, it would be tough.

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Permalink Reply by BadMoonT2 on June 24, 2011 at 10:46am

Here's a link to the study. The subjects were obese long term T2s. The study was done to see whether extreme weight loss could replicate the results of bariatric surgery which can reverse T2. They theorize that the diet prompts the body to remove the fat clogging the pancreas and preventing it from making insulin. "After just one week into the study, the pre-breakfast blood sugar levels of the study group had returned to normal. And MRI scans showed that the fat levels in the pancreas had returned to normal. The pancreas regained its ability to make insulin."

The diet consisted of diet drinks and non starchy veggies. After the diet the study participants returned to normal eating but had advice on healthy foods and portion size. Ten of the group were retested and seven had stayed free of diabetes.

A study participant said the diet was extremly hard to stay on and that he lost and "astounding amount of weight". 18 months later he is still off his diabetes meds and his blood sugars are normal.

It should be noted that this was a university study and that the sample size was small.

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Permalink Reply by Etramon on June 24, 2011 at 12:28pm

Thank you very much for the link, I read the news in a Venezuelan newspaper and they didn't write all the information that the link show.

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Permalink Reply by LaGuitariste on June 24, 2011 at 5:12pm

How so, Alan? I don't understand the negativity.

As a morbidly obese T2, I was very interested to see how much the fat deposits in the pancreas and liver went down after two months, and VERY interested to see how much fasting glucose went down -- with NO diabetes meds -- after only a week.

People who get their guts cut open for a gastric bypass see these kinds of results -- what if it was possible to get the same results without surgery? Drastic? Sure, but less drastic than surgery, surely?

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Permalink Reply by Ed on June 24, 2011 at 5:35pm

I don't believe you have to go to that extreme of 600 calories a day to lose weight and get type 2 diabetes under control. I was dx in 2004 with type 2 at the time I weighed 323 lbs, I changed my diet to the dash diet eating plan, while I was losing weight I was eating 1600 to 1800 calories a day and exercising 30 minutes a day. I lost 150 lbs in 1 1/2 years and have kept it off. I'm still following the dash diet and eating around 2400 to 2600 calories a day and have my diabetes under control.

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Permalink Reply by LaGuitariste on June 24, 2011 at 9:08pm

Thanks for your reply, Ed. I'm very impressed with your program and your results. It gives me hope.

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Permalink Reply by neilin on June 24, 2011 at 4:03pm

The story I heard is that it works for Type 2 obese diabetics, causing them to lose a good deal of weight in a short period of time. Also, in a very controlled environment. The headline made it sound like a cure for all T2s. If there is really anything significant to the story, we will likely continue to hear about it.

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Permalink Reply by Lila on June 24, 2011 at 4:14pm

The most interesting part of this study is the claim that the starvation diet regenerates beta cells as a result of the decrease in fat in the pancreas from 6% to 4%.

I wasn't aware that beta cells could be regenerated? Or 'reversal' of beta cell failure as it says in the abstract. If that's the case, then this is indeed something new.

The other interesting thing which of course is not headlined, is that the starvation diet is not just low-calorie, it is also LOW CARB.

But of course such fine details are lost beneath the misleading, headline-grabbing claim that the starvation diet can 'reverse' Type 2.

Which of course feeds into all the crap about Type 2s causing their own condition by reckless overeating, the opposite of a starvation diet.

Never mind that all 11 (!!!) subjects in the study were clinically obese Type 2s.

Before I had time to get spitting mad about how such crap can be published as 'research', I realized that Jenny Ruhl of bloodsugar101 fame had already posted an excellent rebuttal. The pithy title says it all really : 'Idiotically Dangerous Diet "Reverses Diabetes" but So Does Moderate Carb Restriction Without Calorie Restriction'

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Permalink Reply by ultravires on June 24, 2011 at 4:23pm

This is the actual study and I would encourage people to read it before jumping to conclusions about what it does or does not prove. It got published in a peer reviewed journal (lots of university-sponsored studies do not) and actually does seem to indicate that insulin secretion increased:

"In the diabetes individuals, peak insulin secretion rate at 6 min was minimal at baseline (0.19 ± 0.02 vs control 0.62±0.15 nmol min−1 m−2; p<0.001; Fig. 2). The first-phase insulin response steadily increased and was significantly different from baseline by 8 weeks (0.29± 0.05, 0.34 ± 0.06 and 0.46 ± 0.07 nmol min−1 m−2 at 1, 4 and 8 weeks; p = 0.20, p = 0.09, p = 0.006, respectively). At 8 weeks in the individuals with type 2 diabetes, the insulin secretion rate was not significantly different from control (0.46±0.07 vs 0.62±0.15 nmol min−1 m−2; p=0.42.)"

I'd love it if someone with a background in this stuff could comment on the research methodology and how valid/significant the findings appear to be.

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Permalink Reply by Lila on June 24, 2011 at 4:29pm

Ultravires, thanks for the link. I realized with horror that one of the authors is a personal friend! I can foresee a long exchange of emails coming up!

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