Study Reveals Diet’s Role in Reversing Type 2 Diabetes

A new study shows that a healthy diet change, with help from pharmacists, can significantly reverse diabetes.

Researchers in Canada and Britain conducted a 12-week study. They found that involving pharmacists to monitor medications and manage a special diet could offer new hope. The diet was high-protein, low-calorie, and low-carbohydrate for patients with Type 2 diabetes.

“Jonathan Little,” a co-author of the study, stated, “Type 2 diabetes can be treated, and sometimes reversed, with dietary interventions.” The study was published in Nature Communications. “However, we needed a strategy to help people implement these interventions while keeping an eye on their medication changes,” he added.

The Pharmacist’s Role in Diabetes Care

According to Little, who teaches at the University of British Columbia’s School of Health and Exercise Sciences, pharmacists are often more accessible than doctors. Patients with Type 2 diabetes tend to visit their pharmacist more frequently than their physician, especially in rural areas.

“Community pharmacists have expertise in medication management and can serve an important role in overall diabetes care,” said Little. He explained that when patients follow a very-low-carbohydrate or low-calorie diet, they must reduce or stop their glucose-lowering medications. “Community pharmacists are ideally positioned to safely and effectively deliver interventions targeted at reducing diabetes medications while promoting Type 2 diabetes remission.”

Study Results Show Promising Outcomes

Half of the study’s participants followed the low-calorie, low-carb, high-protein diet. They checked in regularly with their pharmacists for 12 weeks. After this period, more than one-third of these participants no longer needed diabetes medications. This group also showed significant improvements in their overall health. They saw better glucose control, lower average body weight, and reduced systolic blood pressure.

In contrast, none of the participants in the control group, who were not on the diet plan, stopped taking their diabetes medications.

Alan Batterham, a co-investigator and professor at Teesside University in England, said the study used a targeted nutritional approach. A community pharmacist supervised the plan and monitored medications.

“The intervention was effective in reducing the need for glucose-lowering medications for many in our study,” said Batterham. “This indicates that community pharmacists are a viable and innovative option for implementing short-term nutritional interventions for people with Type 2 diabetes, particularly when medication management is a safety concern.”

Edited by Siân Speakman and Kristen Butler

The post Study Shows Diet Can Put Type 2 Diabetes Into Remission appeared first on Zenger News.