Forms of Lowered Calorie Intake Treat Even Late Stage Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is a lifestyle disease for near all patients. It results from excess visceral fat tissue, with some evidence suggesting that the specific issue is excess fat in the pancreas. Low calorie diets produce a reversal of symptoms, perhaps in large part due to loss of visceral fat. Here researchers show that intermittent fasting, another approach to reducing calorie intake, also helps to reduce the symptoms suffered by patients and the dependency on medication.
One might conclude that most type 2 diabetics are choosing to remain type 2 diabetics by refraining from lowered calorie intake and consequent weight loss. It isn't exactly easy to control one's diet, but then suffering type 2 diabetes seems quite challenging as well. Given the choice between those two options, it is strange that so few people choose to control their diet. Rationality is not a human specialty!
Intermittent fasting diets have become popular in recent years as an effective weight loss method. With intermittent fasting, you only eat during a specific window of time. Fasting for a certain number of hours each day or eating just one meal a couple of days a week can help your body burn fat. Research shows intermittent fasting can lower your risk of diabetes and heart disease.
Researchers conducted a 3-month intermittent fasting diet intervention among 36 people with diabetes and found almost 90% of participants, including those who took blood sugar-lowering agents and insulin, reduced their diabetes medication intake after intermittent fasting. 55% of these people experienced diabetes remission, discontinued their diabetes medication and maintained it for at least one year.
The study challenges the conventional view that diabetes remission can only be achieved in those with a shorter diabetes duration (0-6 years). Sixty-five percent of the study participants who achieved diabetes remission had a diabetes duration of more than 6 years (6-11 years). "Diabetes medications are costly and a barrier for many patients who are trying to effectively manage their diabetes. Our study saw medication costs decrease by 77% in people with diabetes after intermittent fasting."