600 calories to "reverse" Type2

josie38

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Hi catherinecherub,

I read this article with interest but i dont think they could recommend it as they only did it on 11 people which for me is not a big indicator of it working. My big question would be what happens when they return to their normal eating habits does it come back! If getting t2 is not incentive enough to help them get healthier lifestyles on their own then i dont know what will

josie
 

noblehead

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josie38 said:
Hi catherinecherub,

I read this article with interest but i dont think they could recommend it as they only did it on 11 people which for me is not a big indicator of it working. My big question would be what happens when they return to their normal eating habits does it come back! If getting t2 is not incentive enough to help them get healthier lifestyles on their own then i dont know what will

josie

Reading the article on DUK it says they were on a follow-up diet after pancreatic function had been restored but it doesn't say what this was or what the maximum calories were, interesting article non the less.

Nigel
 

josie38

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Hi nigel,

I was a bit puzzled by no mention of what the follow up diet was or maximum calories. I agree is was interesting to read.

josie
 

Patch

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Sounds a little like the "Lighter Life" Diet. I know a few people who have had great success on that diet, losing over 3st each. (None are diabetic, though...)

I'd LOVE to know where those 600 calkories came from. I'd certainly give this a try!
 

noblehead

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Patch said:
Sounds a little like the "Lighter Life" Diet. I know a few people who have had great success on that diet, losing over 3st each. (None are diabetic, though...)

I'd LOVE to know where those 600 calkories came from. I'd certainly give this a try!


It says on DUK that it was a liquid diet and non-starchy vegetables.... that's all the article says!

Nigel
 

Funky Mum

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Sounds interesting! I did Cambridge a while back and lost 30lbs but had some emotional eating issues and ended up back where I started.
I'm tempted to give this another go.
 

ebony321

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Again the word 'reverse' is used incorrectly.

It's not exactly 'reversed' if you still have to follow a diet afterward to maintain BG levels, if it was 'reversed' then you'd be able to tolerate foods like someone without diabetes. :?
 

phil2440

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Hmmm - 11 people is way to small a sample to be making the statement that this wonder diet "reverses" T2 Diabetes. The article doesn't mention how much weight the subjects lost, which may be more of a cause than this particular diet. The lack of certain nutrients in the diet may be the cause of the pancreatic cells reactivating, which would be a valuable route of further research.
 
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catherinecherub

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I haven't read the DUK. On this diet they would probably have been medically supervised throughout as it is such a low calorie one. I remember when the liquid diets came along and everyone was raving about them. A lot of people fell by the wayside in a very short time and then had to be so careful when they started eating properly again that they didn't overdo it.
Diabetics need a plan that lasts a lifetime and as food should be enjoyable, not a chore, it would defeat the purpose.
 

BAZZA_P

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Interesting but surely not a cure - 1 week seems a bit fast! Maybe they might be able to use this research to come up with some very good drugs to help diabetes though
 

ClaireG 06

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I agree, very interesting but we need to know a lot more and eleven people is far to few to really know if it works or not.
 

the_exile

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BBC Story on Type 2 reversal

Nice to see them differentiate between the two types as per usual, particularly enjoyed this bit....

Professor Edwin Gale, a diabetes expert from the University of Bristol, said the study did not reveal anything new.

"We have known that starvation is a good cure for diabetes. If we introduced rationing tomorrow, then we could get rid of diabetes in this country."

Full article here, interesting reading, feel kind of guilty reading it whilst munching on a toffee crisp which my humalog will take care of :lol: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13887909
 
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catherinecherub

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Re: BBC Story on Type 2 reversal

Doesn't really ring true.
Slim people can get Type 2 diabetes and there were Type 2's around when rationing was around admittedly in the older age group.. There is more to Type 2 than overeating. :roll:
 

the_exile

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Re: BBC Story on Type 2 reversal

Yep, friend of the family is type 2 and she's as healthy as you can get, fit, eats well etc, hope the media's bandwagon is big enough for them all to jump on!

Edit: Just noticed there's already a thread on this on the type 2 board 8)
 

ally5555

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Interesting - as a newly qualified dietitian we had patients admitted to a ward to try and kick start wt loss using 600 calories. It would mean 2 small protein portions , a small CHO portion, a scrape of spread, 2 fruit, veggies and a small amount of milk. That is starvation!
They all had supplements

I remember pts found it very difficult to follow. But if it kick starts a change in insulin sensitivity maybe it has some worth - need to read the whole paper and look at what the participants were eating previously!
Ally
 

phoenix

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As Catherine says, don't try this at home folks , these people were carefully monitored and a 600 cal diet is extremely low.
but it is very interesting
http://www.springerlink.com/content/68r ... lltext.pdf
First the subjects; type 2 diabetes (age 35– 65 years,
HbA1c 6.5–9.0% [48–75 mmol/mol],
diabetes duration <4 years,
stable BMI 25–45 kg/m2). ( my comment:this would exclude the 'thin' 'type 2s')
None of them were on insulin or had any other problems.

There were 15 subjects, 3 did not comply with the diet and one dropped out for an unrelated medical reason so 11 finished it.

The actual diet was basically liquid based (510 calories) 46.4% carbohydrate, 32.5% protein and 20.1% fat; vitamins, minerals and trace elements; supplemented by 3 portions of non starchy vegetables to make up the remaining 90 calories.
I make that as 59g carb, 45g proten. 11.3g fat + whatever is in the veggies .

The return to normal diet :
At the end of the 8 week intervention participants returned
to normal eating but were provided with information
about portion size and healthy eating.

An OGTT was done 12 weeks after the diet ie at 20 weeks since the start. Of the 11: 1 couldn't do the test for unrelated reasons, 3 had returned to diabetic results (ie above 11mmol after glucose challenge) but the others 'passed' the OGTT.


There are a lot of interesting bits in the results. The fasting glucose dropped after the first week. The C peptide (showing how much insulin is being produced) dropped over the 8 weeks, trigs dropped a lot. The circulating fatty acids rose initially (and the liver function test showed a biref deterioration) but then steadily improved. At 20 weeks these levels had dropped further still.

The authors say
The data are consistent with the
hypothesis that the abnormalities of insulin secretion and
insulin resistance that underlie type 2 diabetes have a
single, common aetiology, i.e. excess lipid accumulation in
the liver and pancreas [11].
There is a lot in the discussion section about the role of fats in the organs and free fatty acids in circulation. There is aso some discussion about the genetic susceptibility to 'pancreatic fat accumulation in terms of inhibition of glucose-dependent insulin secretion.'

There are limitations
1) the numbers involved, though they say the low numbers meant it could be a carefully controlled study and also so that they could use MRI scans to determine liver and pancreatic fat.
2) I think that due to the limltations of MRI scans in measuring the pancreatic fat.
They can't actually look at the fat in the insulin producing islets and that this would be better but animal studies suggest the amount of fat in the islets and pancreas are related.
3)People had only had diabetes diagnosed for a short time. It doesn't necessarily apply to people who have had it for longer. (further studies etc)
4) There needs to be longer follow up after return to normal diet.

Conclusion
This study demonstrates for the first time the time course of a return of normal beta cell function and hepatic glucose output by acute restriction of dietary energy intake in individuals with type 2 diabetes. The changes occurred in association with decreases in pancreatic and liver triacylglycerol concentrations. This new insight allows an understanding of the causality of
type 2 diabetes in individuals as well as in populations. It carries major implications for information to be given to newly diagnosed patients, who should know that they have a potentially reversible condition and not one that is inevitably progressive
.