Is It Really Possible To Reverse Your Type 2 Diabetes?

Is it really possible to reverse your type 2 diabetes?

There has been much written in the news recently about the possibility of people being able to 'reverse' their diabetes by using certain diets but before looking at whether this is or is not possible it's important to understand exactly what diabetes is in the first place. This is a condition where the blood sugar level is higher than normal.
There are two main types of diabetes – type 1 and 2. Type 1 diabetes (also called insulin-dependent diabetes) is usually seen in young people whereas Type 2 diabetes (usually non insulin-dependent diabetes) tends to affect adults over 40 and overweight people. Other types of diabetes include gestational diabetes that is only associated with pregnancy, and secondary diabetes where the diabetes is caused by other conditions (e.g. inflammation of the pancreas) or by certain medications such as steroids.
Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas gland in the abdomen, and this controls the use of glucose (sugar) within the body. The blood sugar level will rise if the pancreas produces little or no insulin (Type 1 diabetes), or if the pancreas produces insulin, but it's inadequate for the body's needs and its effectiveness is reduced (Type 2 diabetes). Type 2 diabetes is undoubtedly related to factors associated with a Western lifestyle, since it's most common in people who are overweight and who don't get enough exercise.
Typical symptoms of diabetes include:
Increased thirst
Frequent urination
Tiredness
Weight loss, although appetite often increases (especially in Type 1 diabetes)
Itchiness, especially around the genitals
Recurrent i Continue reading

Rate this article

Total 1 ratings

How to deal with diabetes

Diabetes has become a lifestyle epidemic. Globally, the number of adults suffering from this disease has risen from 4.7% of the total population in 1980 to 8.5% in 2014, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). India ranks among the top 3 countries with a large diabetic population, according to a 2016 Lancet study. The number of cases rose from 11.9 million in 1980 to 64.5 million in India in 2014, up 50% among men and a whopping 80% among women, according to the Lancet data.
Diabetes is caused by the inefficient functioning of the hormone insulin, which helps the body’s cells convert glucose, derived from the food we eat, to energy. Insulin also helps the cells of muscles, and the liver among other organs, to absorb glucose from the bloodstream for daily metabolic activity.
The two common kinds of diabetes are type 1 and type 2. In type 1 diabetes, a chronic autoimmune condition that usually affects children and young adults, the body’s immune system destroys the beta cells of the pancreas that produce insulin. Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for almost 90-95% of all diagnosed diabetes cases, occurs due to insulin resistance and, according to the American Diabetes Association 2017 guidelines, progressive insulin secretory defect.
Insulin resistance is a condition in which the body’s cells fail to respond normally to insulin signalling and/or an inadequate amount of insulin is produced by the pancreas. While type 1 diabetes is caused by the malfunctioning of the body’s immune system, a genetic predisposition and factors like obesity and lack of exercise can Continue reading

Diabetes Mellitus: Epidemiology & Prevention

1. 1
2. Diabetes: Dr. S. A. Rizwan, M.D., Assistant Professor, Dept. of Community Medicine, VMCHRI, Madurai
3. At the end of this lecture you should be able to  Describe the burden of diabetes at the global and regional level  Describe the epidemiological features of diabetes  Discuss the trends in diabetes prevalence over the years  List out the strategies needed for prevention of diabetes  Appraise the diabetes scenario in India 3
5. 6 IDF Diabetes Atlas, 2015
6. Type 1 DM Type 2 DM Gestational Diabetes LADA (latent autoimmune diabetes in adults) MODY (maturity-onset diabetes of youth) Secondary DM 7 IDF Diabetes Atlas, 2015
7.  Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular share a common antecedent.  The concept The Metabolic Syndrome  Clustering of central obesity with several other major cardiovascular disease risk factors 8
8. 9 American Diabetic Association
9. 10 Fasting Plasma Glucose Post Prandial Plasma Glucose 100 200 100 200 126110 140 Normal Impaired Fasting Glucose Impaired Glucose Tolerance Diabetes Mellitus OR
18. The Lancet 2011 378, 31-40DOI: (10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60679-X) 20
21. Indian J Med Res 125, March 2007, pp 217-230 24
22. Indian J Med Res 125, March 2007, pp 217-230 25
26. 30 Overweight and obesity Physical inactivity High-fat and low-fiber diet Ethnicity Family history Age Low birth weight Urbanisation
27. 31  Non Modifiable  Genetic factors  Age  Ethnicity  Modifiable  Obesity and physical inactivity  Metabolic factors: IGT, IFG and GDM
28. Host factors  Age  Sex  Genetic factors: HLA DR3 and DR4 � Continue reading

Laws that Protect People with Type 1 Diabetes

Federal Legislation has forever changed the way that individuals live with Type 1 diabetes and other disabilities. The fight to have governmental involvement in advocacy across the globe has been a slow and sometimes frustrating process, however it continues to progress.
The United States: Americans with Disabilities Act
The most far-reaching legislation for those with disabilities is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Passed in 1990, the ADA prevents discrimination against qualified individuals on the basis of disability.
Under Title I of the ADA, private employers with 15 or more employees, states, and local governments cannot require a medical examination before offering a new employee a job. This means your future employer cannot ask you whether you have diabetes before hiring you. Furthermore, once hired, an employee with diabetes can request reasonable accommodations, such as extra breaks to eat, test blood sugar levels, or take medication. If such accommodations are not an undue hardship to the employer, the employer must fulfill the requests.
Under Title II of the ADA, state and local governments must provide you with services that are not any different from those they provide people without a disability. They must not screen out or exclude you because of your disability and they must modify their policies and provide reasonable accommodations if necessary. For example, a courthouse should permit you to carry your diabetes supplies with you even if it means a modification of a general policy against allowing sharp objects and food.
Under Title III of the ADA Continue reading

Innovative Type 1 Diabetes Approach Licensed to Encellin

Encellin, a San Francisco–based biotechnology company, has obtained exclusive worldwide rights from UC San Francisco for a proprietary cell encapsulation technology aimed at improving physicians’ ability to perform cell transplants without the need for immunosuppressive drugs.
Based on ongoing preclinical trials in animal models, the technology – in the form of a pouch approximately the diameter of a quarter, made of an ultrathin nanoporous membrane – represents a significant advance towards the ability to transplant donated cells without danger of immune rejection or harmful fibrosis at the transplant site, while also ensuring that transplanted cells cannot infiltrate other parts of the body.
Encellin first aims to apply this technology – originally developed in the laboratory of Tejal Desai, PhD, chair of the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences in UCSF’s schools of Pharmacy and Medicine – to treat type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease affecting over 1 million Americans, with over 9,000 young people newly diagnosed each year.
Type 1 diabetes is caused by the loss of the islet cells of the pancreas, which normally secrete the hormone insulin to coordinate the body’s use of blood glucose. The transplantation of functional, insulin-producing pancreatic islet cells from a donor has shown clinical efficacy as a treatment for some people with type 1 diabetes, but – like most transplantation techniques – this treatment requires lifelong immunosuppression to prevent patient immune systems from destroying the donor cells. However, these immuno Continue reading