London: Following a low-carb diet has shown promise in reversing type 2 diabetes and new research suggests it could even help the hardest-to-treat patients ditch their medication. More than four million people in the UK have type 2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity and a poor lifestyle. A further seven million have prediabetes — and underdiagnosed condition which means they are up to 15 times more likely to develop type 2.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when insulin, a hormone that is produced by the pancreas to turn the sugar in food into energy, either doesn’t work properly or the pancreas doesn’t make enough of it. This leads to abnormally high blood sugar levels which, if left untreated, can damage organs and tissues. In turn, type 2 diabetes may increase the risk of heart disease, blindness, and circulatory problems, which can lead to amputations.
Eating sugary foods increases blood sugar levels, as can carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, potatoes, and cereals, because once digested, they break down to form sugar. However, as Good Health has previously highlighted, weight loss, including with the help of a low-carb diet, can help to reverse type 2 diabetes.
Older people who have had type 2 for many years are often considered the hardest patients to treat. This is partly because age-related deterioration of the liver and kidneys makes it more difficult for them to process diabetes drugs. This raises the risk of side effects, such as hypoglycemia — low blood sugar levels that can cause confusion and dizziness, leading to falls.
But new research, published today in the journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, shows for the first time that even in this hard-to-treat group, adopting a low-carb diet can reverse type 2 diabetes, so that medication is no longer necessary.
This diet typically involves eating less than 130g of carbohydrate a day (there is 43g of carbohydrate in a large bread roll, and 66g in a 90g serving of pasta). The bulk of the diet is made up of vegetables, fish, meat, full-fat dairy, eggs, nuts, and berries, which have less of an effect on blood sugar levels.
The new study involved 199 people, aged 24 to 91, from an NHS GP practice in Southport, Merseyside; 128 had type 2 diabetes and 71 had prediabetes. Each volunteer followed a low-carb diet for an average of 23 months, with the support of three one-to-one GP appointments each year, and support groups every six weeks.
Some 46 percent reversed their condition, meaning they no longer needed insulin or other medication to keep their blood sugar levels within a healthy range. Plus, 93 percent of those with prediabetes returned their blood sugar to normal levels. (Typically, up to two-thirds of people with prediabetes will develop type 2 if they make no lifestyle changes.)
