Fasting Diet Could Regenerate Pancreas And Reverse Diabetes, Researchers Say

Fasting diet could regenerate pancreas and reverse diabetes, researchers say

A fasting diet has the ability to regenerate the pancreas and could potentially reverse diabetes, researchers have found.
A US study, published in scientific journal Cell, tested a modified version of the fasting-mimicking diet (FMD) on both mice and human cells.
The findings showed cycles of the diet could regenerate pancreatic cells to restore insulin in type 1 diabetes patients and could also reverse both type 1 and 2 diabetes in mice.
The study's co-author, Dr Valter Longo from the University of Southern California, told the ABC the findings were "potentially very exciting" because they could lead to cures for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes, unlike type 2, is an autoimmune condition for which there is no known cause or cure. In patients with type 1 diabetes, the pancreas stops producing insulin.
Dr Longo also said a FMD could also regenerate other organs because their research had shown similar effects for blood cells.
"They show that extreme diets with very specific compositions can trigger self repair and regeneration processes in the mouse and possibly humans," Dr Longo said.
Taking into account the challenges and side-effects of fasting in humans, Dr Longo and his team developed a modified low-calorie, low-protein and low-carbohydrate but high-fat four-day FMD.
The diet caused changes in the levels of specific growth factors, glucose, and ketone bodies and reduced the blood glucose on pre-diabetic patients.
Mice receiving the FMD showed improved glucose tolerance and insulin tolerance.
The pancreas helps to control blood sugar levels and restoring Continue reading

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Reversing Type 2 Diabetes

Diagnosis of type 2 diabetes is on the rise along with its dire health prognosis and earlier death. The good news is it can be prevented and reversed. Diabetes has been cited as the most challenging health problem in the 21st century. Over 29 million people in the United States have diabetes.1 According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the prevalence of type 2 diabetes has more than tripled in the past 30 years, and if current trends continue unabated, one-fifth to one-third of all Americans will have diabetes by the year 2050.2,3
Excess weight promotes insulin resistance and is the chief risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Currently 68 percent of adults are overweight or obese.4,5 The number of people with this disease has been increasing steadily, largely due to the increasing numbers of overweight people in both the young and the old.
Diabetes severely damages one’s health and shortens life expectancy
More than 80 percent of adults with Type 2 diabetes die of heart attacks and stroke, and these deaths occur at a younger age compared to people without diabetes. Diabetes also ages the body more rapidly, causing harm to the kidney, nervous system and other body systems. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure and blindness in older adults. Over seventy thousand amputations each year are performed due to complications of diabetes. Diabetes also increases cancer risk, especially colorectal cancer.1,6-8
Type 2 diabetes is a preventable, reversible lifestyle disease
The heavier you are, the greater the risk you will develop type 2 diabetes. W Continue reading

Dogs Cured of Type 1 Diabetes

Beagles no longer showed diabetes symptoms following a single course of gene therapy.
Gene therapy has successfully banished type 1 diabetes in dogs, the first time this treatment has worked to treat the disease in a large animal, according to a study published online in the journal Diabetes earlier this month (February 1).
For the study, Spanish researchers induced diabetes in beagles between 6 months and 1 year old. They then injected the dogs’ skeletal muscles with viruses carrying genes for insulin and glucokinase, an enzyme involved in processing glucose. Following the treatment, the researcher confirmed that the genes had been incorporated into the DNA of the dogs, which were able to regulate their own blood sugar levels without medical help. And when they exercised, they no longer had episodes of hypoglycemia.
Dogs that were injected with viruses carrying only the gene for insulin or only the gene for glucokinase continued to have symptoms of diabetes, indicating that the genes acted in concert.
Following more tests in dogs, the researchers hope to try out the treatment in humans. But sources warned New Scientist that the treatment might not work the same way in humans that it did in canines, as the dogs’ diabetes was induced by chemically destroying pancreas cells that produce insulin. In naturally occurring type 1 diabetes, on the other hand, the immune system destroys the insulin-producing cells.
Still, “this work is an interesting new avenue which may give us a completely new type of treatment,” Matthew Hobbs, head of research at Diabetes UK, told New Sci Continue reading

Type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (known as type 2 diabetes) is a metabolic disorder in which the cells of the body become resistant to insulin and/or the pancreas doesn’t make enough insulin. Your body needs insulin to regulate the levels of sugar (glucose) in your bloodstream.
Type 2 diabetes often goes hand in hand with obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. It is increasingly affecting younger people and some people with type 2 diabetes have to use insulin.
Symptoms
Type 2 diabetes often develops with no symptoms at all or the symptoms are so mild that they go unnoticed. For this reason, blood glucose testing is important because it can detect diabetes early and allow prompt treatment to prevent complications developing.
The symptoms of diabetes may include:
fatigue (tiredness);
feeling abnormally thirsty;
increasing hunger;
increasing urination;
blurred vision; and
frequent infections and slow healing of sores or wounds.
What causes type 2 diabetes?
Type 2 diabetes doesn’t develop overnight. It usually begins with insulin resistance, where the body’s cells can’t use insulin properly. Glucose builds up in the bloodstream, and the pancreas keeps on producing insulin to try and get the blood glucose level down. Over time, the pancreas loses its ability to secrete enough insulin. This can eventually result in the person with type 2 diabetes having to inject insulin every day.
The good news is that because it doesn’t develop overnight, if people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes are identified early enough, they may be able to take measures to avoid it.
Thi Continue reading

Pills or Paleo? Preventing and Reversing Type 2 Diabetes

The incidence of type 2 diabetes continues to skyrocket, but current drug treatments are inadequate and potentially dangerous. The Paleo diet offers a safe and effective alternative.
This article is the first in an ongoing series that compares a Paleo-based diet and lifestyle with medication for the prevention and treatment of chronic disease. Stay tuned for future articles on high blood pressure, heartburn/GERD, autoimmune disease, skin disorders, and more.
Insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes have reached epidemic proportions. In the U.S. today, someone dies from diabetes-related causes every ten seconds, and recent reports suggest that one-third of people born in 2010 will develop diabetes at some point in their lives.
Find out how the Paleo diet can prevent and even reverse diabetes naturally.
What is particularly horrifying about this statistic is that many of those who develop diabetes will be kids. Type 2 diabetes used to be a disease of the middle-aged and elderly. No longer. A recent Yale study indicated that nearly one in four kids between the ages of four and eighteen have pre-diabetes. And some regional studies show that the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in children and young adults has jumped from less than 5 percent before 1994 to 50 percent in 2004.
It’s clear that type 2 diabetes is one of the most significant and dangerous health problems of our times, and we desperately need safe and effective treatments that won’t bankrupt our health care system. With this in mind, let’s compare two possible ways of addressing type 2 diabetes: Continue reading