Intermittent Fasting Could Help Tackle Diabetes Heres The Science
Intermittent fasting could help tackle diabetes heres the science The 5:2 diet consists of long periods of unrestricted eating and short periods of eating very little / Shutterstock There is growing evidence that the fad could actually have health benefits Intermittent fasting is currently all the rage. But dont be fooled: its much more than just the latest fad. Recent studies of this kind of fasting with restricted eating part of the time, but not all of the time have produced a number of successes, but the latest involving diabetes might be the most impressive yet. The idea of intermittent fasting arose after scientists were impressed by the effects of constant calorie restriction. A number of studies in many different animals have shown that restricted eating throughout adulthood leads to dramatic improvements in lifespan and general health. The reasons for these improvements arent yet clear. Part of it seems to be that going without food gives cells in the body a much needed break to perform maintenance and repair. But the lack of food also forces cells to resort to alternative sources of energy. Some of these, such as ketones molecules created in the liver from recycled fat appear to be beneficial. The problem is that constant calorie restriction isnt practical: its easy for scientists to impose upon lab animals, but hard for humans to impose upon themselves in the real world. Fortunately, weve learnt that constant calorie restriction isnt really necessary. Intermittent fasting seems to have many of the same benefits. There are two main types of intermittent fasting. One type, known as time restricted feeding, requires eating only during a few hours of the day say between 10am and 6pm. This approach gives the body a long break from food each night, and also reinfo Continue reading >>
Fasting To Prevent Diabetes?
Fasting has been a human tradition for thousands of years. Whether for religious, political, or perceived health benefits, people all over the world still practice some sort of abstinence from food for a 24 hour period of time. In some forms of fasting, liquids are not allowed either. Humans can survive for weeks fasting while drinking water. Without water, a person will die within a few days. In an interesting in Medical News Today , researchers have found that people with prediabetes who practice intermittent fasting have a better chance of averting diabetes as well as heart disease. This is interesting as over 86 millions Americans have prediabetes . People with prediabetes (and type 2 diabetes) suffer from insulin resistance. Unlike type 1 diabetes, the pancreas manufacturers insulin, but not enough to lower blood glucose levels. The body's cells have become resistant to the glucose lowering effects of insulin. The more fat cells and bad cholesterol in the body, the higher the resistance. The pancreas goes into overload, trying to produce ever more insulin, but it does not help and may even damage the pancreas. After 12 hours of fasting, our body runs out of fuel so it starts burning fat cells to generate the energy required to function. Researchers theorize that this burning of fat cells decreases insulin resistance. In any case, the observed success did not happen in a single 24 hour fasting (with water allowed). It happened over the course of 6 weeks, with several fasting days. Will physicians start prescribing weekly fasting days to patients?#DiabetesLow-Carb #Diabetes #MedicalNewsToday #InsulinSensitivity #FatCells #Fasting Continue reading >>
Fasting Diet 'regenerates Diabetic Organ'
The pancreas can be triggered to regenerate itself through a type of fasting diet, say US researchers. Restoring the function of the organ - which helps control blood sugar levels - reversed symptoms of diabetes in animal experiments. The study, published in the journal Cell, says the diet reboots the body. Experts said the findings were "potentially very exciting" as they could become a new treatment for the disease. People are advised not to try this without medical advice. In the experiments, mice were put on a modified form of the "fasting-mimicking diet". It is like the human form of the diet when people spend five days on a low-calorie, low-protein, low-carbohydrate but high unsaturated-fat diet. It resembles a vegan diet with nuts and soups, but with around 800 to 1,100 calories a day. Then they have 25 days eating what they want - so overall it mimics periods of feast and famine. Previous research has suggested it can slow the pace of ageing. Diabetes therapy? But animal experiments showed the diet regenerated a special type of cell in the pancreas called a beta cell. These are the cells that detect sugar in the blood and release the hormone insulin if it gets too high. Dr Valter Longo, from the University of Southern California, said: "Our conclusion is that by pushing the mice into an extreme state and then bringing them back - by starving them and then feeding them again - the cells in the pancreas are triggered to use some kind of developmental reprogramming that rebuilds the part of the organ that's no longer functioning." There were benefits in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes in the mouse experiments. Type 1 is caused by the immune system destroying beta cells and type 2 is largely caused by lifestyle and the body no longer responding to insulin. Further t Continue reading >>
A Fasting Diet Could Reverse Diabetes And Repair The Pancreas, Says New Research
Researchers have been able to reverse symptoms of diabetes and restore pancreas functions in mice by putting them on a version of the fasting-mimicking diet. The diet tricks the body into a fasting mode for a few days a month, even while carefully selected foods are still being eaten, and it could be enough to reboot the organ's key functions and restore insulin production, scientists say. Diabetes occurs when the pancreas cannot make insulin (type I) or is damaged by insulin resistance (type II), and the team from the University of Southern California says the diet reversed symptoms of both types of diabetes in mice. "By pushing the mice into an extreme state and then bringing them back... the cells in the pancreas are triggered to use some kind of developmental reprogramming," says the head of the research team, Valter Longo. In humans, the fasting-mimicking diet has been credited with helping people lose weight more effectively, and previous studies have also linked it to reducing risk factors for diseases like heart disease and cancer. The diet has also been credited with reducing the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis, so it's earning quite a reputation amongst scientists. In each case starving the body seems to reset the production of healthy cells. In the latest study, mice were put into the artificial fasting mode for four days a week over a period of several months. Scientists found this was enough to regenerate beta cells in the pancreas, responsible for storing and releasing insulin. Damaged cells were replaced by working ones. The team also experimented on pancreatic cell cultures from human donors with type I diabetes. Here too, simulated fasting produced more insulin and more of the Ngn3 protein required for normal pancreatic function. In other words, the sign Continue reading >>
Intermittent Fasting: Not So Fast
I’m sure that at least a few of you have heard or read about the latest trend in weight loss called “intermittent fasting.” The very word “fasting” is probably less than appealing, as it pretty much means you don’t eat or drink anything (except perhaps water) for a specified amount of time. Starvation is not exactly recommended among health professionals. But intermittent fasting is different. Is it something you should try? What is intermittent fasting, anyway? Intermittent fasting has been the talk of the town, so to speak, thanks to two recent books to hit the market: The Fast Diet by Dr. Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer, and The Overnight Diet by Caroline Apovian, MD. Intermittent fasting essentially means that you skip a meal or severely restrict calories on certain days of the week with the intention of losing weight, controlling blood glucose, and/or decreasing heart disease risk. But on the other days of the week, you can pretty much eat what you want (within reason, of course). For many people, this concept sounds appealing. Limiting calories for a couple days a week doesn’t sound that bad if you can eat what you want the rest of the time. The Fast Diet, also called the The 5:2 Diet has you eat between 500 and 600 calories (women get 500 calories, men get 600 calories) for two days out of the week, spread over two meals of about 250 to 300 calories. These fast days should not be right in a row, and your food choices ideally should be more plant-based and emphasize protein. The premise is that after several hours of fasting, the body burns up its carbohydrate stores and shifts to burning fat for fuel. Many claim that intermittent fasting also helps to blunt appetite. The Overnight Diet emphasizes getting enough sleep; a lack of sleep can disrupt met Continue reading >>
Fasting Diets Like The 5:2 'can Help Prevent Diabetes By Reducing Cholesterol After 10 To 12 Hours'
Study identifies process that converts bad cholesterol to energy Researchers say these diets can help combat diabetes risk factors Researchers at the Intermountain Medical Centre in Salt Lake City, Utah, fasting reduces cholesterol levels in people with pre-diabetes (file picture shows a patient testing for the condition) Diets that involved fasting - such as the 5:2 - can reduce cholesterol, according to a new study. Researchers found fasting reduces cholesterol levels in people with pre-diabetes over an extended period. The study of periodic fasting has identified a biological process in the body that converts bad cholesterol in fat cells to energy, thus combating diabetes risk factors. Researchers at the Intermountain Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Centre in Salt Lake City, Utah, noticed that after 10 to 12 hours of time fasting, the body starts scavenging for other sources of energy throughout the body to sustain itself. The body pulls LDL cholesterol, which is considered bad, from the fat cells and uses it as energy. Lead researcher Doctor Benjamin Horne, director of cardiovascular and genetic epidemiology at the Intermountain Medical Centre Heart Institute, said: 'Fasting has the potential to become an important diabetes intervention. 'Though we've studied fasting and it's health benefits for years, we didn't know why fasting could provide the health benefits we observed related to the risk of diabetes.' Pre-diabetes means the amount of glucose, also called sugar, in the blood is higher than normal but not high enough to be called diabetes. Previous research by Dr Horne and his team focused on healthy people during one day of fasting and showed that routine, water-only fasting was associated with lower glucose levels and weight loss. Dr Horne said: 'Whe Continue reading >>
Periodic Fasting 'may Protect Against Diabetes In At-risk Groups'
At the 2014 American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions in San Francisco, CA, researchers present new findings on how diabetes risk in prediabetics may be combated by periodic fasting. In people who have prediabetes, the amount of glucose in the blood is higher than normal but is not high enough to be classed as diabetes. In 2011, researchers at the Intermountain Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, UT, investigated how glucose levels and weight were effected by 1 day of water-only fasting in healthy people. "When we studied the effects of fasting in apparently healthy people, cholesterol levels increased during the one-time 24-hour fast," says Benjamin Horne, PhD, director of cardiovascular and genetic epidemiology at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute and lead researcher on the new study. "The changes that were most interesting or unexpected were all related to metabolic health and diabetes risk," he adds. "Together with our prior studies that showed decades of routine fasting was associated with a lower risk of diabetes and coronary artery disease, this led us to think that fasting is most impactful for reducing the risk of diabetes and related metabolic problems." Consequently, Dr. Horne and team began investigating the effects of fasting in prediabetics. Although Medical News Today does not have details on the number of participants included in the new study, the team has revealed that participants were between the ages of 30 and 69, and each subject also had at least three metabolic risk factors, such as: Body 'feasts' on bad cholesterol in fat cells, negating insulin resistance effects The researchers found that during fasting days, the participants' cholesterol went up slightly, as it had done in the previous study of he Continue reading >>
How Intermittent Fasting Can Help Reverse Diabetes
The “Fast Cure” for Diabetes Though we may not like to admit it, type 2 diabetes is a disease chiefly brought on by our lifestyle choices.[1] Yes, genetics come into play too, but when it comes to type 2 diabetes, you are not a slave to your gene pool. You have the power to even alter your genes.[2] According to the American Diabetes Association, type 2 diabetes is increasing worldwide at an alarming rate due to obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.[3] So, let’s say that you (or someone you know) became overweight, were less and less active, and finally one day at a routine doctor visit, your doctor announced that you have type 2 diabetes and put you on medication to lower your blood sugar. Perhaps you’ve been taking diabetes meds for years now and the idea of reversing your diabetes seems far-fetched, even fanciful. Maybe your doctor doesn’t believe that type 2 diabetes is reversible. That has been the traditional medical thought greatly influenced by the pharmaceutical companies who want to push their expensive drugs. But a new day has dawned and many doctors are seeing their patients reverse their type 2 diabetes. One effective way people reverse their type 2 diabetes is by intermittent fasting. Dr. Jason Fung, MD, writes, “While many consider type 2 diabetes (T2D) irreversible, fasting has been long known to cure diabetes.”[4] Wow, “cure” is a strong word coupled with diabetes and spoken by a medical doctor! Harvard University is home to the famous Joslin Center for Diabetes. The center is named after Dr. Elliot Joslin, one of the greatest specialists in diabetes of all time. In 1916, Dr. Joslin wrote an article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal about fasting for the treatment of diabetes. Based on his experience, he was convinced that all i Continue reading >>
Fasting Cures Type 2 Diabetes – T2d 4
While many consider Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) irreversible, fasting has also been long known to cure diabetes. In our previous post, we considered bariatric surgery. While extreme, these surgeries have proven the point that the metabolic abnormalities that underlie T2D (hyper insulinemia, insulin resistance) can often be fully reversed after a short (weeks) period of intensive treatment with bariatrics. Many early studies were done with the heavy-duty Roux-en-Y surgery, which is the heavyweight champions of surgeries. The best weight loss. The most complications. This is the surgery that has ‘Go Big or Go Home’ tattooed on its massive bicep. But even milder forms of bariatric surgery show the same reversibility of T2D. A gastric band is essentially a belt implanted around your stomach. They keep tightening the belt so that you can’t eat. If you try to eat too much, you’ll puke it all back up. Loverly. It ain’t pretty, but it sure do work. Again, long term results are kind of iffy, but short term results are pretty good. You can see the results of gastric banding versus medical treatment from the graph above. Patients randomized to the gastric band showed a significant and pretty damn good drop in their fasting blood sugars. In other words, T2D was reversing in a b-i-g way. Those given medicines alone didn’t do very well at all. Basically they stayed the same. They were no better than before. So, yes, even gastric banding these 500 pound patients with 20 years of diabesity can reverse within weeks even before the weight comes off. One of the main questions is why? There are many hypotheses – which we will consider in a later post, but it is the sudden severe restriction of all calories that causes this beneficial effect. This is the same thing as the time teste Continue reading >>
Intermittent Fasting Could Help Tackle Diabetes – Here’s The Science
Intermittent fasting is currently all the rage. But don’t be fooled: it’s much more than just the latest fad. Recent studies of this kind of fasting – with restricted eating part of the time, but not all of the time – have produced a number of successes, but the latest involving diabetes might be the most impressive yet. The idea of intermittent fasting arose after scientists were wowed by the effects of constant calorie restriction. A number of studies in many different animals have shown that restricted eating throughout adulthood leads to dramatic improvements in lifespan and general health. The reasons for these improvements aren’t yet clear. Part of it seems to be that going without food gives cells in the body a much needed break to perform maintenance and repair. But the lack of food also forces cells to resort to alternative sources of energy. Some of these, such as ketones – molecules created in the liver from recycled fat – appear to be beneficial. ‘Fasting’ without fasting The problem is that constant calorie restriction isn’t practical: it’s easy for scientists to impose upon lab animals, but hard for humans to impose upon themselves in the real world. Fortunately, we’ve learned that constant calorie restriction isn’t really necessary. Intermittent fasting seems to have many of the same benefits. There are two main types of intermittent fasting. One type, known as “time restricted feeding”, requires eating only during a few hours of the day – say between 10am and 6pm. This approach gives the body a long break from food each night, and also reinforces beneficial circadian rhythms. The other type of intermittent fasting – made popular by the 5:2 diet – is known as “periodic fasting”. This approach involves alternating be Continue reading >>
Is Intermittent Fasting Safe For People With Diabetes?
When the now 46-year-old Mary Roberts from Lockhart, Texas, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2008, her doctor immediately put her on Metformin (glucophage), a drug to help stabilize blood sugar. “When I got the diagnosis, I guess I wasn’t surprised,” says Roberts, explaining that not only was she overweight but her mom had been on insulin for type 2 diabetes. Not wanting to be on medication herself for her entire life, Roberts set out on a path to control the diabetes through diet, but a few years of nutrition classes proved unsuccessful in lowering her blood sugar level. It was after her doctor suggested insulin on top of the high dose of Metformin that Roberts switched gears. “I really wanted to find a way to get healthy,” she says. She found the solution in changing her approach to eating — just not the way she expected. Intermittent fasting (IF) combined with the popular ketogenic diet, which emphasizes dramatically reducing carbohydrate intake, helped her lose weight and lower her A1C. “I feel amazing,” Roberts says. What Is Intermittent Fasting and How Is It Done? Although IF has become more popular in recent years, the diet plan isn’t new. In fact, many religions (including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) have followers who practice fasting of some variety throughout the year. Fasting is often required for blood tests, medical procedures, or surgery. The reason IF has gained so much attention recently is likely due to the release of new diet books plugging the plans and celebrity endorsements. “I think that it has gained popularity because anytime a person drastically cuts calories from their diet, they’re going to lose weight. And we’re so results driven that by seeing that happen we think, This is a great solution,” says Despina Continue reading >>
Caveman Fasting Diet May Leave Women Diabetic
Its promise to melt away pounds with minimal pain is seductive and, unlike so many fad diets, comes with promises of extraordinary health benefits. Just like the Atkins, cabbage soup and blood group diets before it, however, the latest flavour of the month weight loss regime could leave a bad taste in the mouth. The few studies which confirm its benefits also reveal a potentially dangerous divide. Intermittent fasting is very effective for men but potentially dangerous for many women. There is increasing evidence that women are less likely to lose weight and more prone to unpleasant side effects such as insomnia, impaired fertility and increased stress hormones. According to Michael Moseley, the doctor turned-television presenter who popularised this new approach to weight loss, the proof is in the pudding (which remains on the menu for five out of seven days). After trying the feast-and-famine regime for five weeks for the BBC documentary Eat, Fast and Live Longer, he lost almost a stone and reduced his body fat, cholesterol and blood sugar. He also halved his levels of IGF-1, an insulin-like growth factor, which increases the risk of cancer. However Dr Catherine Collins, Chief Dietician at London’s St George’s Hospital, warns that basic differences in biology make it effective for men, but unsuitable for many women. For starters, men have a higher percentage of muscle, which gives them a faster metabolism, so if a man and woman of comparable size restrict their intake to 800 calories a day the man will lose more weight. Their greater muscle mass also protects men from some of the downsides of the diet. Dr Collins explains: “The average adult turns over 300grams of protein a day. Eighty per cent of that is recycled, broken down and reused; a bit like Lego bricks, Continue reading >>
5:2 Fasting Diet
Tweet The 5:2 intermittent fasting (IF) diet, more commonly referred to simply as the 5:2 diet, has become one of the more popular diet plan in recent years. Studies have shown that the diet helps with weight loss and may also reduce insulin resistance, both of which are of particular interest for many people with type 2 diabetes or borderline diabetes. One reason for the popularity of the diet is that it allows a certain amount of flexibility, in comparison to low calorie diets, on most days of the week. Theory behind the diet The idea of the diet is that short periods of fasting prompt the body to repair damage but not enter a starvation mode of conserving energy. Whilst the theory has yet to be conclusively proved, clinical studies have shown promising results for the diet, however it has only been examined over relatively short time spans, of less than a year. How the 5:2 diet works The 5:2 intermittent fasting diet is based on a simple idea. 5 days a week you stick to meeting the daily calorie intake advised for people of a healthy weight, that being: 2,500 kcal per day for men 2,000 kcal per day for women For the other 2 days each week, the diet stipulates that you have only around 25% of the values above, which is equal to: 600 kcal on these days for men 500 kcal on these days for women The fasting days can be taken at any time during the week as long as you do not take 2 fasting days consecutively. Benefits of the 5:2 diet Clinical studies have shown that the benefits of intermittent fasting are largely similar to those of a calorie restricted diets. The most commonly reported benefits among people from following the 5:2 diet: Research has shown that periods of fasting can help to improve life expectancy and decrease risks of diseases including nerve disorders, Continue reading >>
Why Fasting Is Such A Powerful Treatment Strategy For Diabetes
Why Fasting Is Such a Powerful Treatment Strategy for Diabetes An estimated 30.3 million Americans, nearly 1 in 10, have Type 2 diabetes. Another 84 million American adults about 1 in 3 are prediabetic, defined as an elevation in blood glucose over 100 mg/dl Any fasting blood sugar regularly over 90 mg/dl really suggests insulin resistance, and work by the late Dr. Joseph Kraft suggests 80 percent 8 out of 10 Americans are in fact insulin resistant Type 2 diabetes is curable, and the cure is less than inexpensive its free. You actually save money, as the remedy is to fast and not eat anything for a number of days on a regular basis Type 2 diabetes should not be treated with insulin, as insulin forces glucose into cells that are already saturated with excess glucose and cannot take in more. Instead, the glucose gets turned into fat, which is why insulin injections result in dramatic weight gain The answer for Type 2 diabetes is to stop feeding your body sugar and burn off the sugar already in your cells, and the most effective way to do this is fasting We have an epidemic of diabetes in the United States. An estimated 30.3 million Americans, nearly 1 in 10, have Type 2 diabetes. 1 Another 84 million American adults about 1 in 3 are prediabetic, and most are unaware of this fact. Prediabetes 2 is defined as an elevation in blood glucose over 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) but lower than 125 mg/dl, at which point it formally becomes Type 2 diabetes . However, any fasting blood sugar regularly over 90 mg/dl really suggests insulin resistance, and seminal work by the late Dr. Joseph Kraft, author of Diabetes Epidemic and You: Should Everyone Be Tested? suggests that 80 percent 8 out of 10 Americans are in fact insulin resistant, 3 which means theyre already on their w Continue reading >>
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Intermittent Fasting May Help Prevent Type 2 Diabetes
Intermittent fasting may help prevent type 2 diabetes Fasting could help protect against type 2 diabetes and heart disease , according to a new report published in the British Journal of Diabetes and Vascular Disease. Researchers at Aston University believe intermittent fasting can be as beneficial as bariatric surgery for treating obesity and lowering the risk of related conditions like heart disease and type 2 diabetes . Intermittent fasting involves restricting calorie intake every other day or just two days a week. This form of weight loss has been reported to assist weight loss , improve existing heart disease and prevent onset of new cardiovascular events. According to the researchers, previous studies have also shown that it's easier to adhere to this diet than it is to a general calorie-limiting diet . "What we've done is to look at research that's previously published and try and tie it all together," lead author of the study, Dr James Brown, said. "We think people who are either pre-diabetic , or at risk of getting diabetes or heart disease, would benefit from this diet." The team at Aston University is now planning human clinical trials to confirm initial findings and investigate what impact fasting has on type 2 diabetes specifically. "Whether intermittent fasting can be used as a tool to prevent diabetes in those individuals at high risk or to prevent progression in those recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes remains a tantalizing notion and we are currently in preparation for clinical trials to assess the effectiveness of this form of lifestyle intervention in various patient groups," Dr Brown added. Continue reading >>
