Dear Reader,
Pop quiz: If you have type 2 diabetes, how likely is it that you will into remission?
I’m talking about all the symptoms of the disease disappearing, along with all the drugs used to treat it!
You’ve got four choices:
A. It’s a lost cause.
B. It’s not likely at all, and it can only happen if you undergo a risky operation to force weight loss by surgically reducing the size of your stomach.
C. It could happen eventually… as long as you faithfully take one or more drugs to lower your blood sugar for years on end.
D. It’s likely if you can shed some extra pounds.
Ask the American Diabetes Association, and it’ll tell you that “B” is the only answer here.
But the ADA, a group supported by Big Pharma companies such as AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, and Merck, is either out of the loop… or has its own “special” reasons for saying that.
Because research has found that not only is complete remission from type 2 possible without going under the knife, but it’s entirely probable with just a few lifestyle changes!
Now, an additional study has revealed the science behind the success.
It’s not a fluke or some crazy trial on rats in a lab… but a proven fact that huge numbers of those with type 2 may be able to kick their diabetes meds to the curb!
And it changes the entire diabetes picture from a future of simply managing the disease to basically curing it.
Rejuvenation of the beta cells
There are over 30 million Americans with diabetes, along with hundreds of millions more around the world – and many of them gobble up billions of dollars of type 2 drugs annually.
If half of those customers stopped filling their prescriptions, numerous drugmakers would probably go broke!
So, when Pharma Land executives heard about the DiRECT trial in the UK, during which half of all participants were able to accomplish the amazing feat of putting their type 2 diabetes into remission, they must have had a meltdown.
The Diabetes Remission Clinical Trial began ramping up seven years ago with just 11 volunteers — and the latest study involving hundreds. And now that it’s finally wrapped up, almost 50 percent of its participants have gone into complete remission from type 2 (more on the methods that were used in a minute).
While DiRECT was incredibly successful, researchers from Newcastle University (including some involved in the trial) wanted to know why it didn’t work for everyone. And as it turns out, it wasn’t a coincidence or some kind of a quirk — it has a sound scientific basis.
They found that those who went into remission were able to have a rejuvenation, so to speak, of their pancreatic beta cells, which produce the insulin that controls blood sugar. In those with type 2, their beta cells just don’t make enough of the hormone to efficiently control glucose levels.
For doctors and scientists, this was a bombshell. The line of thought has been that when beta-cell function is gone, it’s not coming back!
But now we know that’s not entirely true. Although not all of the volunteers in the study were able to get another chance with their beta cells, the ones who did have proven that the odds can be beat.
And that should give doctors a whole new approach to treating those diagnosed with the disease.
So, the question is this: What did those patients do to “rescue” their beta cells and get them back on the job?
The DiRECT trial started participants out on a daily 800-calorie diet consisting of shakes and soups for several months. Then, they transitioned over to a “normal” healthy way of eating. And a year later, half were still in remission from type 2 – with no drugs required.
It’s important to remember that being on a strict low-calorie diet such as that, especially one that involves liquids in place of solid food for weeks at a time, should only be done under close medical supervision.
But it brings the entire issue of how lifestyle changes and weight loss, especially during the first years after a diabetes diagnosis, can relieve what was previously thought to be a lifelong burden.
Of course, not everyone will be gung-ho for drinking their meals for two or three months!
However, as we’ve shared with you before, there are less restrictive ways of eating that can substantially lower a diabetic’s risk of heart attack or stroke, such as the Mediterranean diet (more fruits, veggies, olive oil and fish, with fewer sweets and red meat).
Eating that way — versus a low-fat, high-carb diet — has also been found to slash the risk of developing type 2 in the first place by a whopping 40 percent!
The more science looks for alternative ways to manage the disastrous diseases of today, the more we’ll learn about how risky operations and drugs are far from the only answers.
“Why weight loss produces remission of type 2 diabetes in some patients” Cell Press, August 2, 2018, ScienceDaily, sciencedaily.com
