New Diet Is Wonder Cure For Diabetes

[Northerner]

I'm afraid it's another one of those stories where a controlled study has come up with the conclusion that going extremely low cal can 'cure' diabetes No mention at all about the very stringent medical supervision of the participants ...


EATING a low-calorie diet for just four months can cure Type 2 diabetes, it was revealed yesterday.
People who slashed the calories they ate each day had a far more significant improvement in the condition and in their general health than medication offered.
They no longer needed life- saving insulin, the level of dangerous fat built up around their hearts was significantly reduced and their cardiac function improved.


http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/286646

...and from the Daily Fail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...2-disorder-just-months.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Expect well-meaning friends to be calling you with the wonderful news!

 

[Dizzydi]

Whooo I've been cured and I'm not really a type 2 diabetic on drugs and insulin - especially since I have a bmi of 23 down from 28 cured 3 1/2 years after diagnosis.


What a crock of ........

 

[Caroline]

Am I reading this right, is it a cure for ALL diabetes? I know a healtheir diet and more exercise are better than slouching in front of the telly with a full English breakfast folloed by fish and chips.

The bit that is getting me is the need not to use insulin. Perhaps I am reading it wrong, but a number of peope are uanble to make their own so need to use insulin from another source.

 

[Northerner]

Am I reading this right, is it a cure for ALL diabetes? I know a healtheir diet and more exercise are better than slouching in front of the telly with a full English breakfast folloed by fish and chips.

The bit that is getting me is the need not to use insulin. Perhaps I am reading it wrong, but a number of peope are uanble to make their own so need to use insulin from another source.

It does specify Type 2 but as you say it is a generalisation to suggest that ALL could stop insulin as many are in the same boat as Type 1s.

 

[cherrypie]

I think you will find that the Daily Fail missed out quite a lot of what was said.
http://www.theheart.org/article/1320297.do

4 months on a 500 calorie diet that was medically supervised. It's a near copy of the Newcastle Study.

 

[Salinda]

I am ashamed to admit that I read the Daily Mail online but after reading the article I might just give it up. What a load of utter rubbish and inaccuricies. Will the press ever learn?

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

It is so frustrating that this sort of extreme nonsense gets so much coverage, when appropriate treatment by carb moderation/testing etc (with or without assistance of oral meds) never gets so much as a look in 😡

Journos are only ever interested in extremes (self-destructive obesity behaviours and/or impractical medical supervision only niche studies). Genuine information seems beyond them.

 

[lauraw1983]

Phew thank heavens for the Fail eh? How would we ever know such miracle medical discoveries without them?

I haven't even clicked the links....I don't need to to imagine what they wrote!

 

[HelenM]

It's interesting that it's a second trial with similar results but again with very small numbers of subjects. (the first was the Newcastle study) I haven't yet tried to look it up for more detail though.
After the Newcastle study there were several people who attempted to follow the diet themselves and reported on another forum. Some with GPs assistance/blessing, some without.
It's very, very hard to sustain such a low calorie diet and I don't think I read of anyone who managed to keep it up without 'cheating' on at least a few occasions. They certainly lost weight ... as you would expect with so few calories. They had lower glucose levels, during the diet, again not unexpected but as far as I know they are all still diabetic. Only time will tell if the improvements are lasting.Towards the end of their n=1 trials, it's been noticeable that some people seem to have 'disappeared' and others no longer mention it.

 

[mcdonagh47]

as far as they went I thought both reports were balanced and a fair summary of the claims being made by MEDICS, not the media itself for the research. The Daily Mail even had the miracle in miracle cure in ironic, questioning speech marks - "miracle" cure.
So I don't think that knee jerk attacks on the Press for misreporting a diabetic story are appropriate here.
So 15 t2s had 500 calories a day for 4 months, lost weight improved their numbers and the gains were still apparent when they regained some weight 16 months later.
It mirrors my own experience in the second year of dx (1993). I lived on 1200 calories a day for nearly a year and the Consultant said to me "What have you done ?". The numbers were great.
So the implication is that new t2s should be given low calorie advice dx,perhaps not as rigid as 500 because few could cope with that.
Specific dietary advice, even a diet sheet, saying eat this breakfast on day one etc, would be better than the impossibly vague stuff about Diet and Exercise that they habitually give
out. Its always baffled me why new T2s are not given a specific diet to follow with an induction phase and a maintenance phase once targets have been achieved.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

So the implication is that new t2s should be given low calorie advice dx,perhaps not as rigid as 500 because few could cope with that.

Specific dietary advice, even a diet sheet, saying eat this breakfast on day one etc, would be better than the impossibly vague stuff about Diet and Exercise that they habitually give out. Its always baffled me why new T2s are not given a specific diet to follow with an induction phase and a maintenance phase once targets have been achieved.

Absolutely! That sort of induction/maintnance phase is a great idea. It would surely make such a transformation of diet seem more achievable.

Even better if they were able to have a (short-term?) quota of strips, with detailed usage instructions to make sure the 'Low GI' reputation of various things works for them.

 

[imtrying]

surely, SURELY when journalists write articles about medical conditions, someone from the appropriate body should be approving them for accuracy?????????????????????????

Just goes to show papers are just made up of lie after lie.

 

[HelenM]

some more detail available here (from a student on the research groups thesis)
https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/17801
chapter 6 seems to be the one about cardiac benefits
chapter 9 summary in English is just that a detailed summary of the study
haven't had time to read but cursory look suggests that though there were improvements in other aspects improved blood glucose levels were not sustained aftern 18months