A few months ago I posted a request on this forum for low carb diet research papers in the attempt to persuade Diabetes UK to change its policy on low carb diets. I've presented these papers to a member of the Care Team at DUK. I don't know who, despite several requests for their name, they declined to give it.
The Care Team seem to be made up of a bunch of dieticians, so this was a tall order. In the end I managed to get their statement on low carb diets for Type 1s changed from, succinctly, "there is no published evidence that it works", to "there is no published evidence that it works, but we know some Type 1s use it to control their levels". I couldn't get anywhere with persuading them to change their advice on Type 2s. You can see the full statement here: http://www.diabetes.org.uk/About_us...tion-of-carbohydrate-in-people-with-diabetes/
Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to get any further with them on this. I work in oncology clinical trials and have spent a decade in scientific research. I'm lucky that in my job, I am surrounded by high-calibre clinicians who will explore every avenue to improve efficacy (how well a treatment plan works). The person on the Care Team that I was dealing with is, regrettably, nowhere near the standards that I am used to. They have clearly deliberately chosen to only include negative references regarding low carb diets in their summary. It is the most bias scientific summary I have ever read. I have been quite candid with them on this, but like requests on the name of the person I was dealing with, I had no response from them on this.
To improve the results of the National Diabetes Audit, where only 7% of Type 1s and 25% of Type 2s achieve the HbA1c target of 6.5%, all efficacious treatment paths must be embraced. Consequently, I don't have any confidence that the Care Team will embrace such methods to improve efficacy.
I subsequently had a meeting with one of the directors of Diabetes UK, who agreed with me that potentially innovative and efficacious treatments must not be dismissed by the Care Team and should be followed up upon. She forwarded the papers I referenced onto the research director at DUK, but I'm yet to hear back.
The worst thing that a clinician, or group like Diabetes UK can do is to ignore patient experience, but that is what they are doing, in my opinion. I expect that we will be looking at the dreadful HbA1c statistics for many years to come.
The Care Team seem to be made up of a bunch of dieticians, so this was a tall order. In the end I managed to get their statement on low carb diets for Type 1s changed from, succinctly, "there is no published evidence that it works", to "there is no published evidence that it works, but we know some Type 1s use it to control their levels". I couldn't get anywhere with persuading them to change their advice on Type 2s. You can see the full statement here: http://www.diabetes.org.uk/About_us...tion-of-carbohydrate-in-people-with-diabetes/
Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to get any further with them on this. I work in oncology clinical trials and have spent a decade in scientific research. I'm lucky that in my job, I am surrounded by high-calibre clinicians who will explore every avenue to improve efficacy (how well a treatment plan works). The person on the Care Team that I was dealing with is, regrettably, nowhere near the standards that I am used to. They have clearly deliberately chosen to only include negative references regarding low carb diets in their summary. It is the most bias scientific summary I have ever read. I have been quite candid with them on this, but like requests on the name of the person I was dealing with, I had no response from them on this.
To improve the results of the National Diabetes Audit, where only 7% of Type 1s and 25% of Type 2s achieve the HbA1c target of 6.5%, all efficacious treatment paths must be embraced. Consequently, I don't have any confidence that the Care Team will embrace such methods to improve efficacy.
I subsequently had a meeting with one of the directors of Diabetes UK, who agreed with me that potentially innovative and efficacious treatments must not be dismissed by the Care Team and should be followed up upon. She forwarded the papers I referenced onto the research director at DUK, but I'm yet to hear back.
The worst thing that a clinician, or group like Diabetes UK can do is to ignore patient experience, but that is what they are doing, in my opinion. I expect that we will be looking at the dreadful HbA1c statistics for many years to come.