I was about to bow out of this Forum, faced with the sanctimonious resentment of some members, who see my arguments as biased, wrong and bent on proving that I am right at all costs (and , of course, the others wrong , without listening to them.) ..I do listen more than some may think, but I also listen to those who have different opinions than Dr Unwin’s. This is the difference.
I will step in again, though, because I read somebody in this Forum referring to Dr David Unwin as “ Our guru” and a red light immediately flashed in my mind..
This person has probably used the term guru more as an analogy than in the full literal, ( and uncritical) sense of a devotee blindly obeying his Guru’s precepts, but, still, the reaction of some members to my rebuttal, in which I questioned the LCHF diet, sounded somewhat more akin to the reaction to heresy than a simple disagreement..
I will point out the following:
1.The same site hosting your Forum (
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/blog/201...vidence-of-low-carb-diet-benefits-in-the-bmj/, while saying that
Quote
The low-carb diet has been shown to improve blood glucose control and HbA1c levels, while it can also help with weight loss and type 2 management.
Unquote,
Also explicitly recognizes
Quote
However, most medical guidelines in the UK do not recommend the diet. The NHS advocates eating relatively high-carb and low-fat foods, while Diabetes UK highlights a lack of evidence regarding the “long-term safety”
Unquote
Precisely! This lack of evidence is exactly the point I have been making all along! You cannot accuse me of harboring prejudices or not listening to the others, when Diabetes U.K. itself expresses my same reserves..
Regarding the effectiveness and long term safety of the diet, I asked my doctor yesterday..
In all fairness, contrary to my initial belief, I must admit that both her and the head-nurse of the clinic, who deal with diabetic patients all the time, didn’t deny that a low calories diet has some benefits, but there is a perverse flip side: if you go off the diet, there is a dangerous rebound effects: the hyperglycemia then soars up with a vengeance and in the end the damage outweighs the advantages of the diet… They have seen this time and again…
In the end, they believe that with Diabetes 2, the traditional approach, i.e. exercise and medication, is still the best and the safest approach, because not everyone and probably only a few , have the discipline and the resolve to stick to the diet..
Metformin, widely used for Diabetes 2, has been around since 1922 ! It wouldn’t be so widely prescribed if it was not effective, or worse, if it had serious long-term side effects.
Exercising is certainly easier and more rewarding, even in the short term.
In fact, even those days that I feel sluggish or ..lazy, I make an effort to go to the gym , because of the “ kick “ it gives me, in terms of mood and physical well-being.
It may be ..the placebo effect, too, but it is also scientifically well-documented that exercise, especially jogging, somehow enhances the production of endorphins, our… natural and healthy drugs..
In a way, like many, I ..am addicted to exercise, but this is why I can still eat carbs and keep my sugar within an acceptable range: according to numerous sources and my doctor’s diagnosis , 7.3 fasting and 8.4 p.p. , while not normal, are within the pre-diabetic range ( which goes up to 11 mmol/L contrary to the opinion of others in this Forum) .
In the end, exercise is demonstrably 100% safe and efficient for everybody, including diabetics, while low calories diet is widely controversial and may be only 50% safe (for every Dr Unwin there is bound to be at least another doctor, if not more, with a different opinion.)
In the doubt, I choose the 100% option : exercise. I think it stands to reason.
I am sure that among those who swear on a low carb diet and perhaps struggle hard to stick to it day in , day out , there are many able-bodied diabetics who would enjoy ( and greatly benefit from) one hour of jogging, treadmill, swimming , jumping around , ANYTHING (!) at least 2, 3 times a week., without gambling with their diet.
2.Concerning the list of eminent doctors and scientists who can dispel my “misconception” about the metabolism of fats and who, assumedly support a low carbs diet, I am sure they exist, but if you read the Australian clinical study I mentioned earlier (
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/diacare/38/6/1008.full.pdf),
you will also see a list of other equally eminent doctors, scientists, universities and Health Organizations that have the same” misconception” about fat metabolism..( actually that “misconception”, if it is one, was not really mine. I simply quoted it from the study. So you have to argue it out with them, not me..)
4.As to the argument” It worked for me”, I do not intend to question that many, probably most of those who followed Dr Unwin’s guidelines have seen some improvement in their diabetic condition , but , once more, I am not too sure that there is a scientifically proven causal link between the LCHF and a better glucose management.
There are too many variables at play and the causes of these improvements in the diabetic condition may lie elsewhere…
Also, the placebo effect ( i.e. the psycho-somatic element) is well known : there have been thousands of well documented gravely ill religious believers recovering from deadly diseases or crippling conditions after dipping in the “holy “ waters of the Holy Virgin’s Shrines at Lourdes( France) or Fatima( Portugal) , waters that were appallingly dirty and bacteria infected like those of a cess-pool . But they believed and, for some reasons, many healed completely..
This is my take
Ittiandro