Baking bread certainly spurs on your thinking processes
@helensaramay !
From reading and thinking (whilst flying or making kites - a non-edible pastime) and not as professional opinion or advice.
When I think about pre-diabetes and T2D, they are described as due to a mistiming of insulin release which seems to allow BSLs from a meal to rise before the belated insulin surge can catch up and quell it. And that insulin surge is larger than otherwise as it attempts to catch up with the BSL peak.. Then maybe at the 3 to 4 hour mark that surge of insulin can cause a drop in BSL and low blood sugar causes hunger and need to eat more. Weight gain may be a consequence of this. And the more body weight gained the more insulin required to service the body's needs.
Now if I think about being a TID and having so much insulin that I am experiencing that horrid BSL see-saw - I go hypo then eat, go hyper, inject more insulin, go hypo, eat, go hyper. Whilst not caused by the same thing as T2D, the pattern of increased insulin, eating, carbs taken for hypos assists conversion of glucose into triglycerides and entering into fat cells is likely to lead to weight gain.
Of course we are all different in how we handle food and how difficult or easy it is for us each to gain or lose weight.
Some of us store fat easily and that is often explained as a form of metabolism which worked well in times when food was scarce.
Think of hunter-gatherer societies. T2D becomes a problem when these societies with their metabolic inheritance encounter modern times, food becomes plentiful and the traditional diets are no longer followed.
A study of Australian aborigines with T2D showed that by returning to their traditional foods (bush tucker) diabetes control improved markedly. "Diabetes in Australian aboriginals: possible ways forward". MJA.com.au K. O'Dea May 2007.
Such traditional diets are low carb, high protein and fat. Surprise, surprise!
As an aside, there is a theory about why TID is more prevalent in temperate and cold climates. It is thought those best able to survive harsh cold climates had metabolisms which stored fat well, and also relatively higher BSLs make blood less likely to freeze. nbci.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15893109 "The sweet thing about Type 1 diabetes: a cyto-protective adaption. Moelem 2005.
This may have enabled them to survive and reproduce and their relatively short life times did not allow time for diabetic complications to arise.
If we store food less well, maybe to not absorb it as efficiently as others, we do not gain weight as readily. We can tolerate a more steady food intake and store less bodily. ? does this fit with societies who farmed the land more extensively than hunter-gatherer societies and did not need to migrate with the seasons??
Of course other factors with diabetes such as increased chance of developing thyroid conditions, coeliac disease might also affect body weight.
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