Posted on 07/28/2006 4:30:14 AM PDT by grundle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who ate a low-fat vegan diet, cutting out all meat and dairy, lowered their blood sugar more and lost more weight than people on a standard American Diabetes Association diet, researchers said on Thursday.
They lowered their cholesterol more and ended up with better kidney function, according to the report published in Diabetes Care, a journal published by the American Diabetes Association.
Participants said the vegan diet was easier to follow than most because they did not measure portions or count calories. Three of the vegan dieters dropped out of the study, compared to eight on the standard diet.
"I hope this study will rekindle interest in using diet changes first, rather than prescription drugs," Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, which helped conduct the study, told a news conference.
An estimated 18 million Americans have type-2 diabetes, which results from a combination of genetics and poor eating and exercise habits. They run a high risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and limb loss.
Barnard's team and colleagues at George Washington University, the University of Toronto and the University of North Carolina tested 99 people with type-2 diabetes, assigning them randomly to either a low-fat, low-sugar vegan diet or the standard American Diabetes Association diet.
After 22 weeks on the diet, 43 percent of those on the vegan diet and 26 percent of those on the standard diet were either able to stop taking some of their drugs such as insulin or glucose-control medications, or lowered the doses.
The vegan dieters lost 14 pounds (6.5 kg) on average while the diabetes association dieters lost 6.8 pounds (3.1 kg).
An important level of glucose control called a1c fell by 1.23 points in the vegan group and by 0.38 in the group on the standard diet.
DROPPING DRUGS
A1c gives a measure of how well-controlled blood sugar has been over the preceding three months.
In the dieters who did not change whatever cholesterol drugs they were on during the study, LDL or "bad" cholesterol fell by 21 percent in the vegan group and 10 percent in the standard diet group.
The vegan diet removed all animal products, including meat, fish and dairy. It was also low in added fat and in sugar.
The American Diabetes Association diet is more tailored, taking into account the patient's weight and cholesterol. Most patients on this diet cut calories significantly, and were told to eat sugary and starchy foods in moderation.
All 99 participants met weekly with advisers, who advised them on recipes, gave them tips for sticking to their respective diets, and offered encouragement.
"We have got a combination here that works successfully," said Dr. David Jenkins of the University of Toronto, who worked on the study. "The message that we so often get with diet is that it is no good because nobody follows it for very long."
Dr. Joshua Cohen, George Washington University associate professor of medicine, said everyone diagnosed with diabetes is told to start eating more carefully.
"That may be among the hardest things that any of us can do," Cohen told the news conference.
The vegan diet "is at least as good, if not better than traditional approaches," Cohen said.
Vance Warren, a 36-year-old retired police officer living in Washington, said he lowered his a1c from 10.4, considered uncontrolled diabetes, to 5.1, considered a healthy level, over 18 months. "My life is much better being 74 pounds (34 kg) lighter," Warren told the news conference.
Perhaps a dumb question...
Don't animals have a different digestive system than we do?
One that would make it easier for them to obtain protein from plants?
Or no?
Your liver turns ALL that stuff into sugar. The trick is to eat only low glycemic vegetables to get your carbohydrates. That's going to be tomatoes, lettuce, celery, raw carrots, and so forth, forever!
The "complex carbohydrates" stuff was fake anyway. Doesn't matter whether the carbs are complex or simple, the body has ways of converting all of them instantly to exactly the type of sugar it prefers. Unless those carbs are wrapped in fiber (which is not converted to a preferred sugar), it's going to go in right now, not later, and it has nothing to do with the chemistry of the particular digestible carbohydrate you are consuming.
Thank you! You beat me to it. Unfortunately this fact will get lost in the "I turned my life around by eating tofu" noise.
I'm on Byetta (proper spelling) as well. Gee, it's been a year now. It's not a 'last step before insulin,' You can be prescribed Byetta after being on insulin. Byetta is a hormone and works differently than insulin.
I used Topamax for a number of months, went on Atkins, which really helped control the blood sugars, helped with weight loss, and let me eliminate insulin. While I thought I was watching the carbs before, it's not until you do something like Atkins that you really get a feel for staring those damn carbs in the face, not just watching them. : )
Now I take Byetta. I keep a fast acting insulin on hand for when I forget or am traveling (hard to lug that Byetta cold pack around - I'd rather just eat and treat w/the insulin pen).
I go to a university diabetes center. They tell me that in about a year we'll be able to take Byetta once a week. See also: http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3060
Well, go eat something before you get sick!
Reread my posts, I never said meat was the only source of protein, I said I don't see how cutting out meat is going to have any effect on diabetes... Dairy, yes, its full of sugars, but meat? Its fat and protien, neither of which messes with blood sugar levels.
I'm with you on wild game being more healthy than the chemically-loaded farm animals. That and lower carb intact are the way to go. CRM nutballs don't give a rip about humans; they want to stop the harvesting of animals.
I wasn't challenging your statement, just talking about my experiences with protein.
Have no idea. I know that I've not had issues.
I never joined PETA, PCRM is a arm of the PETA organisation. I do all my vegetarian advocacy and animal welfare campaigning on my own. They're too radical for me to associate with. MY FIL will never stop eating meat. I won't try as it's keeping him in very good shape. He also grows a substantial garden and works in it almost every day. Country life has big benefits. I see this now that I've returned to Long Island for a visit.
A vegan diet...one of the main mandates, I mean objectives, of Healthy People 2010.
I've always said that it's the chemicals, additives, and preservatives in processed foods which are probably the root cause for 90% of the "dieases" today, especially neurological diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's and MS.
As already said, of course it reverses symptoms because it’s less carbs. Meat and dairy would do the same thing. It’s hard to cut down when you are so used to it. As a Type I myself, I never realized how much people snack until after I was diagnosed. Now at just 3 meals a day I have to pound down food to keep up with the calorie intake of my former snacking habits.
Cut out the red meat, sugar, white bread and pasta, add greens to every meal, and you will see drastic results.
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