Diabetes ‘Cure’: Diet And Exercise Work For Some

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From Your Health Journal…..”As I said earlier today, I love many of the health related articles on FOX News. I strongly recommend your visiting their site to read not only this story (link below), but others as well. In today’s review, it discusses type 2 diabetes. As many of you know, Type 2 diabetes used to be called adult onset diabetes or non-insulin dependent diabetes. Many people with this disease may produce insulin, but just may not be producing enough or the body is not using it properly. In most cases, it is environmental – as obesity can cause it in many individuals. If someone is able to control their obesity, they may be able to also control their diabetes, and possibly eliminate the disease completely. The article we are reviewing states how proper diet and exercise can reverse the effects of diabetes. After one year of regular counseling sessions to encourage weight loss and physical activity, 11.5 percent of obese adults with Type 2 diabetes saw their condition at least partially reverse — meaning their blood sugar levels decreased to those of a prediabetic, without the need for medication. Please visit the FOX web site to read the entire article.”

From the article…..

People with Type 2 diabetes can reverse their condition with diet and exercise, although remission is not very common, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

After one year of regular counseling sessions to encourage weight loss and physical activity, 11.5 percent of obese adults with Type 2 diabetes saw their condition at least partially reverse — meaning their blood sugar levels decreased to those of a prediabetic, without the need for medication. Just 2 percent of those who did not receive intensive counseling partially reversed their diabetes. After four years, the rate of partial diabetes remission in the counseling group declined slightly, to 7 percent.

Full remission — achieving normal blood sugar levels — was rarer, with just 1.3 percent of people in the counseling group and 0.1 percent in the non-counseling group meeting this goal after one year.

Type 2 diabetes has traditionally been seen as a progressive disease that is managed rather than cured. Recent studies have suggested it can be reversed with weight loss surgery, or by following an extreme diet that mimics surgery.

However, until this study, little was known about the rate of long-term diabetes reversal without surgery or extreme dieting. About 26 million Americans have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study confirms that complete Type 2 diabetes remission is rare, but that partial remission is an obtainable goal for some patients, the researchers said.

Experts said that, because the definitions of complete or partial diabetes remission are arbitrary, researchers should not focus on these measures. What’s more important is that patients improve their weight and blood sugar levels, as people in this study did, said Dr. Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a general internist at Cambridge Health Alliance.

To read the full article…..Click here