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Study: Type 2 diabetes can be cured through weight loss
- mhkool 11y agoDr Mark Hyman explained in this video from 2011 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abGeRIEyEoE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abGeRIEyEoE how to cure diabetes. He also explained that you do not have to be large to be "fat" since thin people with diabetes have fat around the organs which has the same effect as the belly fat. A very interesting video where Mark Hyman also explains how functional medicin works and what diet is best.
- medymed 11y agoWent to functional medicine website. Says it integrates traditional medicine plus things like [mind body spirit etc, supplements, detoxification, holism]. Sounds like a few mds wanted to start a brand and get on the supplement train. Choo choo!
- sageabilly 11y agoFrom WebMD: "Holistic medicine is a form of healing that considers the whole person -- body, mind, spirit, and emotions -- in the quest for optimal health and wellness." There are doctors aboard the woo-woo tinfoil hat train, for sure, but from what I've experienced it's more of a trend towards going "Huh, so you're not sleeping well, let's see if that might be caused by stress in your life or lots of coffee in your diet" instead of going "Can't sleep eh? Here have these drugs!"
- medymed 11y agoI agree with your trend and think it's a good one.The first consideration on the medical differential for sleep anormalities is poor sleep hygiene, as in caffeine in evening, poor environment for sleep, change in daily schedule, acute stress, etc. Doctors who jump to pushing pills first do not do so because they are doctors, but because they are bad/lazy doctors. The non-medical holistic supplement camp has created a false dichotomy in care considerations to win market share. Functional medicine appears to be a means of reversing that trend, but with its branding and endorsement of things like detoxifixation I start to worry. Unfortunately, as you mentioned, there do appear to be too many docs pushing pills to get people in and out quickly, and for those shitty docs the dichotomy is not very false.
- merpnderp 11y agoMD Anderson in Houston, Texas, the number one cancer treatment center in the world (gets the hardest cases with the best outcomes), does holistic treatment in addition to clinical treatment.
- miseg 11y agoWhat's the diet he advocates?
- drivingmenuts 11y agoHoora ... uh, I'm 6'5 and weigh 185. Houston, we have a small problem here.
- Shebanator 11y agoSee the comment from mhkool above. (specifically the part about fat in the organs themselves, not the "functional medicine" part)
- DrScump 11y agoI think the Rockets could use you about now.
- raverbashing 11y agoWell, not really surprising (though the part about fat in the organ is surprising) But people will keep demanding a pill to solve their problems and not move their fat bottoms and continue to splurge so
- dualogy 11y agoThat sounds harsh, I bet numerous freshly diagnosed and devastated T2D sufferers told by doctors "incurable, a progressive disease" would be thrilled at this very glimmer of hope that just showed up.
- raverbashing 11y agoTrue but the association of T2D and Obesity is not new
- refurb 11y agoExactly. It's been common practice for a while to recommend T2Ds lose weight to help control their disease. In fact, if you're just starting to show signs of insulin resistance, pretty much every doctor will tell you to lose weight. It's quite reversible at that stage.
- crusso 11y agoIt sounds a bit harsh, but the fact that this treatment hasn't been obvious and recognized for some time is an indicator of how unlikely it is for people suffering from T2D to lose weight.
- jonlucc 11y agoSomeone in my family was recently diagnosed as pre-diabetic, but ate just as lavishly at Thanksgiving. I don't actually blame him, but I blame his doctor. It's obvious from discussions with him that he doesn't understand how important it is to take pre-diabetes seriously. Of course, it's also very difficult to grapple with making those serious changes after 50 years of not worrying about it.
- dualogy 11y ago"Scientists at Newcastle University have shown the disease is caused by fat accumulating in the pancreas and losing less than one gram from the organ can reverse the life-limiting illness and restore insulin production." That vaguely implies to me they have proven that pancreatic beta-cell burnout is always caused by inter-organ fat, and that losing just 1g (9kcal) of said inter-organ fat will always result in complete regeneration of the pancreatic beta-cells in a short period of time.. happy to hear that for all T2D's if that were indeed the case, still I'm slightly doubtful. Over the long run of course, barring other chronic conditions, hormonal mega-mess or organ malfunction, the pancreas should be able to regenerate just like the liver and other crucial organs, given nutrients time rest and absence of undue stressors. Well that's a long list of "if"s already. By the time a T2D is usually diagnosed, shockingly chronically elevated insulin has been doing quite a bit of damage on their bodies all while still performing the job of keeping blood sugars stable. By the time this is no longer possible and "high sugar" is finally diagnosed, a lot will be well out of whack and healthy regeneration will be a lengthy slow process. OTOH, I'm not a medical professional.
- DrScump 11y agoPeople need to pay attention to the extremely narrow scope of the study - ALL subjects were gastric-band patients. Given the subsequent findings that stomach-reducing surgeries have significant favorable effects on hormonal balance unrelated to reduced food consumption, I don't see this generalizing well to other populations who lost similar amounts of weight via other means.
- coldpie 11y agoTHANK YOU for putting "Type 2" in the title. Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are unrelated diseases. They were given the same name because they have the same symptoms. It is critically important to specify which disease you are talking about in any situation, otherwise you might as well conflate cancer and tuberculosis.
- emehrkay 11y agoI never thought about this, and google searches just confirmed, but a person can have type 1 and 2.
- TazeTSchnitzel 11y agoI wonder if the conclusions of the OP would still apply in such a person. Would losing weight cure their type II, but not their type I? Are their two forms of diabetes coupled and this would not make a difference?
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- keletappi 11y agoBasically the difference is that Type I your body is no longer able to produce insulin. Type II means that your body is not using the insulin it produces properly, and eventually your body will not be able to produce enough insulin to keep your blood sugar at reasonable levels. There is absolutely no coming back from Type I diabetes at the moment. But Type II should be reversible for anyone with both Type I & II.
- maxerickson 11y agoType I is (usually) an immune disorder where the immune system destroys the cells that normally produce insulin. I don't want to make an absolute statement about that not reversing, but it would be incredibly unusual. (There are cases of Type I with no evidence of immune activity being the cause, but they are a minority)
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- reasonattlm 11y agoThis is not new news, but people really don't want to hear that being fat is bad in the sense of greatly raising the risk of all common age-related disease and reducing life expectancy. E.g. here is news from 2011, covering a demonstration of reversing type 2 diabetes via low calorie diets: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-13887909 http://www.bbc.com/news/health-13887909 Note that the diabetes you create through your negligence is not the same as the diabetes you develop by being old and suffering an age-altered immune system: http://www.salk.edu/news-release/blocking-immune-cell-treats-new-type-age-related-diabetes/ http://www.salk.edu/news-release/blocking-immune-cell-treats...
- miseg 11y agoThey may also not want to hear they're fat in the first place.
- softawre 11y ago#bigboned
- MollyR 11y agoThis is fascinating. I can't believe I didn't hear about this in 2011. That second article is extremely well written, and I had no idea there was more than 2 types of diabetes either. Edit: Really appreciate links to articles
- aklemm 11y ago"people really don't want to hear that being fat is bad in the sense of greatly raising the risk of all common age-related disease and reducing life expectancy." Surely there are very few people denying these risks. Do you have evidence that this is a widespread trend, or have you just taken that viewpoint by choice? Any attempt to deny fat risks could be construed as a misguided strategy by fat people to be treated with respect. If they explain away the health risks, then they're less open to shaming. Anyway, this is the empathetic viewpoint I choose to take on the issue, and I suspect it's better for everyone. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/09/11/fat-shaming-doesnt-work-a-new-study-says/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/0...
- radicalbyte 11y agoI love how the "advice" is to not drink, no soda/sweet drink, eat greens, whole-wheat and limit fatty red meat. I do all of that. I systematically consume more calories than I use and am on the path to becoming a type 2 diabetic (and recently started corrective changes). #1 piece of advise should be to not run a systemic calorie excess.
- Synaesthesia 11y agoIt's a lot easier to consume excess calories through sodas, alcohol and junky food, and a lot worse for you.
- magic_beans 11y agoA shocking number of people are quite ignorant about the nutrition of the food they consume.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- smaddox 11y agoThat is one set of recommendations, but it's not necessarily the best. Under a ketogenic diet (high-fat, low-carbs), nearly all Carbs should be eliminated---including whole wheat, and fatty meats (red or not) should be consumed to satiety. Such high-fat low-carbs diets have been shown to be particularly effective in insulin resistant individuals.
- OldSchoolJohnny 11y agoActually, everything you wrote besides "eat greens" is outdated incorrect information according to current first class research.
- atom-morgan 11y agoSoda and sweet drinks?
- illumen 11y ago"2.2 stone" is 13.97 Kg. I really dislike how the UK uses half metric system and half imperial. Such a mess. I wonder how much exercise which works on internal organs would help compared to drastic weight loss? For example, yoga. Of course weight loss has lots of other benefits, but I'd guess doing exercise which concentrates on internal organs might help sooner. This might help skinny-fat people too, who have internal fat but not that much weight.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- jfoutz 11y agoi would guess not much. you don't get to pick where fat is burned. So, for example, doing lots of situps won't burn belly fat. Bodies will pick whichever fat cell is handy and consume that. some % will come from the belly of course, but it's more like a table of all fat cells in the body where you pick a random row. it's kind of like electricity production. A power plant might be built right on top of one of the richest veins of coal in the world, but the power plant burns whatever it can get it's hands on, not necessarily what's closest.
- jon-wood 11y agoIf its any consolation we're slowly growing out of our mixed measures phase. Medical professionals all think and talk in kilos now, and people of my generation and younger trend towards doing so as well. I know that any time somebody starts talking stone to me I have to put some effort into translating it to more sensible measures.
- athenot 11y agoA related gripe of mine is when precision magically appears when conversions occur. 2.2 stone is 14 Kg if you maintain the same precision. I think in part that contributes to the metric system being perceived as complicated. - "Keep heater 3 feet (0.91 meter) away from flammable items" vs. - "Keep heater 3 feet (1 meter) away from flammable items"
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- quux 11y ago"Scientists at Newcastle University have shown the disease is caused by fat accumulating in the pancreas and losing less than one gram from the organ can reverse the life-limiting illness and restore insulin production." Wait... I thought type 2 diabetes was caused by too much insulin in the blood leading to insulin resistance in the rest of the body, weight gain, metabolic syndrome, etc. Am I confused?
- spuz 11y agoAs I understand it's the other way round. Your body's cells become resistant the the presence of insulin which encourages the pancreas to create more insulin in order to process sugar in the blood. Eventually resistance is great enough that blood sugar levels become high enough to cause damage.
- pouetpouet 11y agoLink to the study http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2015/11/29/dc15-0750.full.pdf+html http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2015/11/29/dc...
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- nonbel 11y agoThis appears to be the paper: http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2015/11/29/dc15-0750.abstract http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2015/11/29/dc... I tried reading it but couldn't figure out which panel corresponded to what group in figure 2B/C so I stopped.
- hyperchase 11y agoLosing 100 pounds and a ketogenic diet basically cured me. The main thing was cutting out all refined carbohydrates from my diet, but I just feel better when I replace nearly all carbs with fats. Putting on some muscle in the weightroom also made me substantially more insulin sensitive. My bloodwork has never been better, and I'm off my bipolar medication. From what I've read, it's most likely because of the slightly nootropic effect that ketones have on the brain.
- culturestate 11y agoI'm not diabetic, but I completely agree with the subjective improvement that comes with a low-carb diet. Even a light-ish carby meal -- say, penne with pesto -- makes me feel substantially heavier and more bloated than eating a steak slathered with butter.
- eclipxe 11y agoAnother vote of confidence here. Keto makes a huge difference.
- kruhft 11y agoWhat signs made you know it was safe to go off your bipolar meds?
- jawilson2 11y agoI don't think this is standard-of-care yet, though some docs I know will go this route. There is a good amount of emerging research of the positive effects of the keto diet on brain health, including bipolar disorder: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=ketogenic+diet+bipolar&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C14&as_sdtp= https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=ketogenic+diet+bi... https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=ketogenic+diet+neuroprotective&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C14 https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=ketogenic+diet+neuropro...
- hyperchase 11y agoMy psychologist decided they weren't needed any more.
- srameshc 11y agoI am 142 lbs now. Not much weight, and eat very less fat, mostly from olive oil, which helps regulate my sugar levels well than other veg oil or corn oil. I measure a lot my levels. But still I am type 2 diabetic and I believe it will stay with me forever. Wonder what exercise I need to do to get the pancreatic fats out. Update: Loosing about 13% of the body weight helps loose 0.6 grams of pancreatic fat. Maybe that should be my goal to become Type 2 free.
- Ueland 11y ago>Wonder what exercise I need to do to get the pancreatic fats out. The only thing that makes it happen is a calorie deficit. It is easier to avoid eating them than training them away afterwards.
- athenot 11y ago- While the study is interesting, it was conducted on only 18 people. It will be more interesting to see the result of their 200-person study in a few years. - "Just" losing weight appears misleading since we're talking about pancreatic fats, which may be present in non-obese people.
- itchyouch 11y agoI wonder if it is just a given or obvious, but it is rarely mentioned that glucose is stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen. Insulin signals for uptake of glucose by the muscles and liver. It appears obvious that glucose absorption/insulin sensitivity would be directly affected by the glycogen storage capacity of the muscles. So it makes sense that increasing muscle mass, increasing energy use (physical activity/muscle recovery), or decreasing glucose intake (caloric deficit/ketogenic diet) would have dramatic effects on the symptoms of diabetes. Ultimately, addressing diabetes is an issue of handling glucose storage through increasing capacity, increasing energy and/or reducing high-glycemic intake of glucose.
- vinceguidry 11y ago> Ultimately, addressing diabetes is an issue of handling glucose storage through increasing capacity, increasing energy and/or reducing high-glycemic intake of glucose. Am I going crazy or did you just outline the standard clinical type-2 diabetes treatment?
- peterhadlaw 11y agoIANAD - I am not a doctor.
- armandososa 11y agoI was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes this year (at 34). It was not a surprise really, I knew I was fat and too sedentary, but I didn't expect to get this sick so young. It's weird, because I was so apathetic about being healthy and stuff, but the moment I got diagnosed something clicked inside my head and I thought "I don't want to die". So I changed my habits drastically and started exercising and eating healthier. I've lost around 35 pounds and my glucose levels from 300+ to ~100. Most of the symptoms are gone and I feel great. I still take meds, but I'm confident that if I keep this pace of life it will be reverted or, at least, I'll got to live longer.
- SCAQTony 11y agoCongratulations, that trigger in your mind shows character. I suspect most people capitulate (obesity stats as a reference) and just take medicine. I have found that creating activity goals for myself such as races has been a real motivation to jump in a pool when it's a cold night so that when spring and summer comes I am ready.
- Bjartr 11y agoWhy does that trigger in his mind show character, and what does character mean in this context? I'm asking seriously, not facetiously.
- medymed 11y agoIt means that his decision and commitment overcame the tendency to eat (I assume) excessively and unhealthily, which most people appear to be incapable of without extreme external intervention.
- SCAQTony 11y agoYou said it better than I could: Character : one of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual. And what you said makes our friend here an outlier compared to the norm since he took the effort to grab his disease by the neck, shake it around, and making it tell him whose his daddy is. ;-)
- jason_slack 11y agoI was told I was type 2 about 2 years ago. I was 36 and weighed about 240 pounds the heaviest I had every been. My daily fasting number was 188-200 Now, I am 195 pounds and my daily fasting number is 116-120. I did through diet and exercise. I stopped bread, soda, bought low sugar soy milk, major meal changes. I also started to exercise by buying a home gym. This has also helped my wife. We now work out together. At 195 pounds my dr still says I am overweight (although I don't look it) and next wants me under 180. If anyone wants advice on how I adjusted my meals, ask. I am not perfect, but I have experience.
- itchyouch 11y agoChuckles. I am 165 with 15% body fat at 5'6" which puts me at overweight based on BMI. You can be "heavier" as long as the weight is in muscle rather than lipids (fat).
- Shebanator 11y agoYep, BMI is pretty much useless. Body fat percentage FTW.
- jtuente 11y agoBMI is far from useless. Unless you're sporting a six-pack, over 6'4 or under 5'1; BMI will fairly accurately gauge your overall fitness level. The range for a normal adult is absolutely huge. Small-fat and body-builders are the only people who have any reason to be skeptical of their own BMI.
- tvon 11y agoI'm always curious to see the plans people followed, if you wouldn't mind sharing.
- aggieben 11y agoSpeaking out of absolutely zero personal experience with diabetes, I have always been under the impression that Type 2 was basically solvable through weight loss and changes in diet. Is this study telling us anything new?
- angelbob 11y agoIt is frequently believed to be preventable by those things. Systematic study is uncommon, I believe. Of course, this is at least a terrible summary article, not clear if it's a good study.
- angelbob 11y agoIt's interesting that the article says "18 people" were cured. Was that a 100% yield? Or was it from a larger group? Overall, not a wonderfully written article, and I didn't see a link to the original study text :-/
- DrScump 11y agoI was shocked, shocked, to hear that 18 people with gastric band surgery lost weight and improved their blood sugar control. Again, how well that generalizes to the general no-surgery public is the question.
- known 11y agoI doubt weight loss will fix https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_resistance https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_resistance
- rizjoj 11y agoI'm not sure why this is news? Every endodrinologist has been saying this forever (my wife is one) and she said that this article has needlesly spread. It's like saying: Study finds eating less causes weight loss! It's also why doctors sometimes recommend weight loss surgery.
- ivan_ah 11y agoCan someone recommend an exercise app? I need something simple that will tell suggest random exercises and serve as a timer, e.g. `say "do 20 push ups"; say "now do 30 sit-ups";` etc.
- DrScump 11y agoHere's a very interesting paper from a year ago that popped up elsewhere today. Note the effect of TRF even when calories and macronutrients are kept constant: http://www.pnas.org/lens/pnas/111/47/16647 http://www.pnas.org/lens/pnas/111/47/16647